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

  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

During the conference several countries and international banks and donors pledged funds to fight hunger and help agricultural development.

This paper estimates and compares the paid-out cost of cultivation of wheat in India, the most state-protected crop, during the input subsidy regime of the 1970s and 1980s and after its abolition in the 1990s, when economic reforms were initiated. The study uses the valuable time series information collected as part of the "comprehensive scheme' of the ministry of agriculture.

This paper discusses the various factors that have been identified as responsible for the current global crisis in the availability of food and for the rise in prices of cereals. It argues that the crisis is different from the ones in the 1960s and 1970s in that there is now likely to be a permanent upward shift in real prices. It is important that developing countries place renewed emphasis on selfsufficiency to ensure food security, since they are unlikely to be able to afford expensive food imports.

In your Editorial 'A research menu' (Nature 453, 1

We thought wide-scale food shortages were behind us. Just a few years ago, most countries - with the exception of some in Africa - were looking as if they would be capable of adequately feeding their people, and the rich world was trying to figure out what to do with its food mountains. How things have changed. Droughts, high oil prices, changing diets, the rush to grow biofuels and other factors have caused shortages of most of the major food crops. On every continent there is concern over high food prices, and in some places even rioting. (Editorial)