THE Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Organisation of American States (OAS) are convening a high level food security conference scheduled for October in Washington D.C.

The organisations yesterday said the theme is “Agriculture for Development and Food Security in the Americas.”

IICA Director General Chelston Braithwaite said a new development model that places agriculture as a priority in the development agendas of countries in the region is needed to address the challenges of food security.

OAS Assistant Secretary General, Ambassador Albert Ramdin said “the objectives of the conference serve to elevate the vital importance of increasing agriculture development in Latin America and the Caribbean and promoting national food security plans.”

“There is no doubt that food security is a significant issue that must be country-driven and focused at the local and community level,” he said. “We must place food security as a long-term top priority in this hemisphere, not only to address needs now, but to prevent a worsening situation in the near future,” he warned.

“We hope to bring awareness to the staggering statistics and address the critical needs and solutions for increased investment in agriculture in the Americas,” said IICA’s Associate Deputy Director General, Director of Strategic Partnerships and IICA Representative in the United States, David C. Hatch.

He added that government and civic leaders and leaders of the private sector have an enormous responsibility to contribute to alleviating food insecurity.

A press release said conference organisers also seek to position food security for discussion at the Fifth Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Rural Life in the context of the Summit of the Americas Process, and the Fifteenth Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Board of Agriculture (IABA) to be held in Jamaica in October.

The theme of the week is ‘Building Capacity for Enhancing Food Security and Rural Life in the Americas.’

The two organisations noted that food security has long been considered a primary goal of sustainable agricultural development.

“However, more and more people wake up hungry every morning and the long term effects of poor nutrition are staggering. Seventy-five percent of people living in poverty depend on agriculture to survive”, they said.

According to the press release, earlier this year, the global community increased its commitment to ending food insecurity.

“At the G-8 Summit, leaders of the eight largest countries agreed that food security is an international problem and they are committed to increase international assistance for agricultural development to US$20 billion over the next three years. Furthermore, President (Barack) Obama recently asked Congress to double its commitment to global agricultural production in 2010”, it noted.

It said food security “is one of the most urgent issues of our times, for the Americas and for the world as a whole. For example, a recent World Bank 2008 World Development Report makes the case that investments in agriculture are a necessary component to addressing poverty: ‘Agriculture alone will not be enough to massively reduce poverty, but poverty reduction will not happen without agriculture.’ The World Bank estimated that agricultural sector growth positively impacts the incomes of poorest people two to four times more than the economic growth of other sectors.”

The press release said senior officials from international organisations such as: the World Food Programme (WFP); the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); the World Bank; the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the OAS; the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO); the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture; the International Markets Bureau-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO); the University of California-Davis; and the Latin American Agribusiness Development Corporation are confirmed to participate in the event.