Cao Duc Phat, minister of agriculture and rural development, said food security and rural poverty reduction needed to be urgently addressed because there were nearly 1 billion people in the world living in hunger and poverty – 65 per cent of whom were from the Asia-Pacific region.
Moreover, factors such as the global economic crisis, climate change, reduction of agricultural land and water resources and falling agricultural investment had aggravated the situation, he said.
Phat urged senior FAO officers in the Asia-Pacific to work out effective ways to combat these issues. Read More
