FOOD SURPLUSES OBSCURE CONTINUING STARVATION
Western bickering over food surpluses is
obscuring the fact that starvation is now a bigger problem than
ever before, a senior World Food Council official said.
    Alain Vidal Naquet, head of external relations for the
council, told a news conference that a meeting organised by the
United Nations body in Peking next week would try to force
governments to take a more serious attitude to the food crisis.
    "The world is facing two crises -- poverty in developing
countries and paradoxically an overflow of food surpluses in
the northern part of the world," Naquet said.
    "This is affecting dangerously the balance of the
international economy," Naquet said.
    He said it was ironic that the leaders of the western world
would discuss food over-production during the summit in Venice
next week at the same time as the Peking meeting would be
discussing food shortages.
    "Hunger is not a problem kept in mind by governments. The
urgency of the problem is hidden by the (food surplus and
trade) problems of the rich countries," he said. "There are more
people today in the world lacking enough food than there were
in 1974 (the year of the World Food Conference in Rome)."
     Progress has been made in some parts of the world,
especially Asia, but Naquet said that increasing food
production and aid from the developed world were not in
themselves the answer to the world food problem.
    He said developing countries should not rely entirely on
aid from developed countries and should increase cooperation
amongst themselves to increase local food production and
improve distribution of existing food stocks.
    More than 30 government ministers are expected to attend
the Peking meeting, including delegations from Third World
countries, the U.S., The Soviet Union and Europe.
 REUTER
