The high-level conference at Rome was called to find a way out of the global food crisis. A series of consultations with experts preceded this important event that went to show that the UN had all good intentions. The good intentions unfortunately did not translate into good policy decisions that could slow, stop and reverse the food shortage. savvy soumya misra reports from Rome on an opportunity squandered

REUTERS World Bank President Robert B Zoellick holds up a bag of rice and a loaf of bread at a news conference in Washington The un acknowledges that in the past few decades governments and international financial institutions have not paid any attention to agriculture. Now the un, states and

  ASTRID AGOSTINI Economist

The final press conference of the meet was postponed by an hour and a half because there were disagreements on the final document to be read by DG Diouf. According to fao sources, the dispute was to do with biofuels and the liberalization of agricultural trade. The delay did not come as a surprise; an undercurrent of dispute, stemming from differing concerns, was there all through the

  AKINWUMI A ADESINA Vice-president, policy and partnerships,Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)   Though AGRA says it is supporting small farmers, Annan held a separate meeting with private players, including the International SeedFederation and the International Fertilizer Association , and not with civil