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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| New UN task force on food crisis | New UN task force on food crisis |
| (29 minutes later) | |
| The United Nations is to set up a task force to tackle the global food crisis. | The United Nations is to set up a task force to tackle the global food crisis. |
| The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said the rise in food prices around the world had turned into a challenge of global proportions. | The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said the rise in food prices around the world had turned into a challenge of global proportions. |
| The task force, chaired by Mr Ban, will be made up of the heads of UN agencies and the World Bank. | The task force, chaired by Mr Ban, will be made up of the heads of UN agencies and the World Bank. |
| It will explore both emergency and long-term measures to tackle the crisis caused by the recent sharp rise in the price of staple foods such as wheat. | It will explore both emergency and long-term measures to tackle the crisis caused by the recent sharp rise in the price of staple foods such as wheat. |
| 'Unprecedented challenge' | |
| "We consider that the dramatic escalation in food prices worldwide has evolved into an unprecedented challenge of global proportions that has become a crisis for the world's most vulnerable, including the urban poor," the UN said in a statement after a meeting of agency heads in the Swiss capital Berne. | "We consider that the dramatic escalation in food prices worldwide has evolved into an unprecedented challenge of global proportions that has become a crisis for the world's most vulnerable, including the urban poor," the UN said in a statement after a meeting of agency heads in the Swiss capital Berne. |
| "The challenge is having multiple effects with its most serious impact unfolding as a crisis for the most vulnerable," it went on. | "The challenge is having multiple effects with its most serious impact unfolding as a crisis for the most vulnerable," it went on. |
| The cost of staple foods like rice, grain, oil and sugar are all at least 50% higher than they were this time last year. | |
| The UN believes 100 million people are going short of food, and the World Food Programme says it will need an extra $755m (£380m) this year to cope with the rising number of people it needs to feed. | The UN believes 100 million people are going short of food, and the World Food Programme says it will need an extra $755m (£380m) this year to cope with the rising number of people it needs to feed. |
| Rising food prices are worrying governments across the world | |
| The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Berne says the biggest challenge is the long term - how to promote sustainable agriculture, tackle climate change, and at the same time ensure enough food is produced. | |
| The meeting in Berne was also attended by the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, and the head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy. | |
| In a statement after the meeting, the World Bank said that it would double its lending for agriculture in Africa over the next year. | |
| It said it was also considering providing quicker and more flexible financing for poor countries. |