UN Ready to Tackle Hunger

Ban plans task force, calls on donors to deliver on sorely underfunded pledges
Posted Apr 29, 2008 10:52 AM CDT
UN Ready to Tackle Hunger
A girl begs for some wheat grains as the laborers pack the grains at Bhagatanwala grain market in Amitsar, India, Friday, April 25, 2008.   (AP Photo/Aman Sharma)

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is putting together a task force to deal with an "unprecedented" world crisis that's left 100 million without enough food, the BBC reports. Ban also called on donors to follow through on pledges for the World Food Program, saying only 62% of the $755 million needed has been promised—and only $18 million delivered.

"Without full funding of these emergency requirements, we risk again the specter of widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale," Ban said today. The task force, led by Ban and staffed by UN agency heads, will focus heavily on helping farmers in the poorest countries produce their own food. (More United Nations stories.)

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