G8 Agriculture Ministers Conclude Summit on Food Stability

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Agriculture ministers from the major industrialized nations called on Monday for increased agriculture production as a way to combat world hunger. At the end of a 3-day meeting in northern Italy, G-8 ministers also took a first step toward fighting speculators who have helped push up the price of basic foods, sparking riots in several poor countries.

Agriculture ministers from the major industrialized nations called on Monday for increased agriculture production as a way to combat world hunger. At the end of a 3-day meeting in northern Italy, G-8 ministers also took a first step toward fighting speculators who have helped push up the price of basic foods, sparking riots in several poor countries.

After three days of talks in northeastern Italy, the Group of Eight agriculture ministers, joined by representatives from key emerging and developing countries, called for a study into setting up a global system to stockpile essential foodstuffs.

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In their final declaration, the ministers called on the relevant international institutions to examine whether a system of stockholding would be effective in dealing with humanitarian emergencies or as a means to limit food price volatility.

The head of the U.N. food agency, Jacques Diouf, said he was pleased by the fact that so many top agriculture officials had met to draw attention to the fact that the international community had not resolved the food crisis. Officials acknowledge that the U.N.'s goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half by 2015 is still far from being achieved.

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