A United Nations summit on the global food crisis called on Tuesday for trade barriers to be reduced and food export bans scrapped to help stop the spread of hunger that threatens nearly one billion people. "Nothing is more degrading than hunger, especially when man-made," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the Rome summit, where the United States and Brazil defended biofuel production from charges that it pushes up world food prices.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown agreed Monday on the importance of the Group of Eight industrialized nations coordinating closely in tackling the rising prices of crude oil and food around the world. Speaking at a joint press conference following their talks in London, the two leaders also shared the view that the G-8 leaders must send out a strong message for dealing with the climate change issue during their summit scheduled for early July in Hokkaido.

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and his British counterpart, Gordon Brown, agreed Monday on the importance of the Group of Eight nations coordinating closely to tackle rising crude oil and food prices around the world. Speaking at a joint news conference following their talks in London, the two leaders also shared the view that the G8 leaders must send out a strong message for dealing with climate change during their July summit in Hokkaido.

The SAARC Food Bank is likely to be operational soon with the completion of ratification by the member states, reliable sources said. According to a highly placed source, among the member states of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC), so far four -- Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka -- have ratified the declaration for establishment of the proposed SAARC Food Bank. The declaration is now awaiting the ratification by the other SAARC nations.

RAGHU DAYAL Shifting paradigms of food security and the impact of trade liberalisation on it FOOD SECURITY

Under the public distribution system

The Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federation has started selling camel milk at its dairy milk parlour at Bikaner House in New Delhi. The new pasteurised milk packets have been priced at Rs.20 for half litre. Federation Chairman and Managing Director Madhukar Gupta said here on Monday that researchers had recently found camel milk good for the health of diabetes patients. The initial reports of the camel milk sale in Delhi were very encouraging, Mr. Gupta added.

In the search for renewable energy, turning low-value materials like switchgrass and corn husks into ethanol to fuel cars is something of a Holy Grail. In theory, these materials would replace corn as the main feedstock for ethanol in North America, reducing the pressure on farmland that has played a role in rising food prices and put drivers into competition with hungry people. But scientists on the front lines of this search are finding that making the process commercially and environmentally viable is proving much harder than some of the hype would suggest.

UNITED Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will issue an urgent plea to world leaders at a food summit in Rome today to suspend immediately trade restrictions, agricultural taxes and other price controls that have helped fuel the highest food prices in 30 years.

Lennart Bage, President, IFAD