A summit on the global food crisis has asked rich nations to help 'revolutionise' farming in Africa and the developing world to produce more food for nearly 1bn people facing hunger.
'The global food crisis is a wake-up call for Africa to launch itself into a 'green revolution' which has been over-delayed,' Nigerian Agriculture Minister Sayyadi Abba Ruma said on the second day of the three-day summit in Rome.
'Every second, a child dies of hunger,' the minister said. 'The time to act is now. Enough rhetoric and more action.'
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon received a petition signed by more than 300,000 people saying there was no time to lose. A draft declaration from 151 countries taking part said 'we commit to eliminating hunger and to securing food for all'.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization called the summit after soaring commodity prices threatened to add 100m more people to the 850m already going hungry, and caused food riots that threaten government stability in some countries.
The cost of major food commodities has doubled over the last couple of years, with rice, corn and wheat at record highs.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development sees prices retreating from their peaks but still up to 50% higher in the coming decade.
Mr Ban said the summit was already a success. 'There is a clear sense of resolve, shared responsibility and political commitment among member states to making the right policy choices and investing in agriculture in the years to come.
'Hunger degrades everything we have been fighting for in recent years and decades,' he told reporters. 'We are duty-bound to act to act now and to act as one.'
Mr Ban's predecessor as the head of the UN, Kofi Annan, was also in Rome to sign an agreement with UN food agencies for a new drive to increase farm production in Africa.
Click here to watch the food summit live
