According to the FAO, for the first time in the last 15 months, there has been a reduction in the prices of wheat, dairy products, sugar and soy. According to the director of Policies at the FAO Regional Office, Fernando Soto, the price of wheat dropped 40% in comparison with November last year.
The organization estimates that there should be a 2.6% rise in global production of grain this year. A record high crop is expected, according to Soto.
The UN Food and Health Organization (FAO) hopes to form a partnership with the Brazilian government so that, up to the end of the year, the programs for living with droughts and supporting family agriculture by buying the production, created in the country, help fight hunger and poverty in Africa and Latin America.
The statement was made by José Graziano da Silva, special advisor for the presidency of the government of Brazil, who just took over the FAO coordination for Latin America and Caribbean. Earlier this month, he participated in a meeting with the entity's general director, Jacques Diouf, and the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, before the latter travelled to England.
According to Graziano, Diouf highlighted to Lula the need for Brazil to share its good experiences in these areas. "We agreed to prepare and hand in by FAO, to the Brazilian government, a project within one month."
Representatives from FAO are gathered in Porto Alegre, city in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, for the International Conference on Land Reform and Rural Development.
The idea to teach technicians from other countries to deal with the construction of cisterns and other small construction works for living with droughts, such as underground barrages, came from a suggestion by FAO, explained Graziano.
According to Diouf, 80% of the serious hunger cases existing in the world today are related mainly to droughts and also floods. "Brazil is also one the few countries in the world that have successful experiences with small irrigation works," said Graziano.
Anba/ABr