Celebrities to attend UN talks on food prices

PanARMENIAN.Net - Global food price volatility will be the focus of World Food Day celebrations in Rome on Monday, October 17, which will also address the issue of massive farmland purchases by rich countries in the developing world, AFP reports.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) talks coincide with a meeting of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), expected to adopt a set of voluntary guidelines on these controversial investments for the first time.

The issue is commonly referred to as "land grabbing" and non-governmental organizations warn that the practice is threatening the livelihoods of small farmers in poor countries and raising food prices around the world.

International aid group Oxfam called for the CFS to fight price volatility by agreeing on scrapping subsidies for turning food into fuel, regulating commodity markets and increasing food reserves in poor countries.

It also called for greater regulation of investments and land governance, as well as a commitment to increased gender equality in agriculture and a massive increase in public investment in small-scale sustainable farming.

FAO director general Jacques Diouf and the head of the World Food Program, Josette Sheeran, whose agency is heavily involved in relief efforts in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa region, will also take part in the talks.

British actor Jeremy Irons is expected at the event to be appointed as a FAO goodwill ambassador, joining U.S. actress Susan Sarandon, Canadian singer Celine Dion and Senegalese music legend Youssou N'Dour.

U.S. jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater will perform at the ceremony.

French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire and FAO chief Diouf will hold a press conference on Tuesday on the issue of price volatility - a key concern for France's presidency of the G20 group of leading world economies.