THE People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) has joined with the rest of the world in welcoming the observance of the 2010 United Nations World Food Day, observed today, under the theme “United Against Hunger”. World Food Day was initially observed in remembrance of the launching of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 1945. However, with the passage of time and experience, particularly the adverse impact of so-called ‘Food Aid and Free Trade’ policies by developed countries on agriculture in developing countries, coupled with the disappointing international support for the work of the World Food Programme (WFP), international attention has been focused on the devastating impact of hunger, malnutrition and poverty on an alarmingly high proportion of the world’s population.

The PNCR, in a statement, said it has long been recognised that Guyana has the natural agricultural resource endowments to potentially be the ‘Bread Basket’ for the Caribbean.

Information from the United Nations has revealed that, in 2009, there were more than one billion hungry people in the world, as a result of the drastically increasing food prices and the world economic downturn. 

It is to be noted that, for 2009, the WFP set as its goal the feeding of 108 million people in 74 countries across the world, but, due to the major shortfall in international financial support for its budget, the WFP was forced to reduce the rations to hungry people in some countries and to suspend altogether in others. In fact, donors contributed around US$2.9 billion towards the WFP 2009 budget of US$6.7 billion.

The PNCR, therefore, is fully supportive of the initiatives of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization to arrest the decline of food production, including its efforts to achieve Universal Food Security as a means of eliminating hunger in the world.

The PNCR said it continues to believe and remains committed to the pursuit of policies that are directed, as a matter of Governmental priority, to combat and eradicate hunger, malnutrition and poverty in our nation.