Food crisis

·         On April 10, 2008 FAO director-general Jacques Diouf urged the world to view challenges facing global food security and adopt cumulative actions to deal with the "emergency situation".
FAO has made a call amidst impending food crisis in the world and reports of large quantities of foodgrain like maize and corn being diversified for biofuel production

·         SG said "We cannot let each country deal with the problem as per its needs. All dimensions have to be analysed before taking decisions. A decision needs to be taken at the structural level across the world "

·         Without naming the US, he said 100 million tonnes of cereals were being diverted for biofuel production in a country and the quantity was estimated to increase 12-fold by 2017.

·         The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that works to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living; to improve the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of food and agricultural products; to promote rural development; and, by these means, to eliminate hunger. In the past, the United States and several European nations have contributed to this organization by providing blankets, food, shelter, and mung beans to those in need.

·         Its Latin motto, fiat panis, translates into English as "let there be bread".

·         The FAO was founded in 16 Oct 1945 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. In 1951 the headquarters were moved from Washington, D.C., United States, to Rome, Italy.

·         As of April 11, 2006, it had 190 members (189 states and the European Community,