Agencies mark World Food Day, call for increased transparency in commodity markets

At a ceremony marking World Food Day on Monday, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) "called for more transparency on commodity markets to prevent sharp spikes in global food prices and deplored the scale of world hunger," Agence France-Presse reports (Le Roux, 10/16). "FAO chose the theme of 'Food Prices -- From Crisis to Stability' for this year's day to shed light on the trend and what can be done to mitigate its impact on the most vulnerable," the U.N. News Centre writes.

The U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) marked the day "with an effort to connect the lives and dreams of hungry children in developing countries with activists and supporters who are in a position to help them, through a new online platform" called "Feed a Child, Feed a Dream," the news service notes (10/14). In a USAID "IMPACTblog" entry marking the day, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah called this year's World Food Day "especially important" because of the ongoing drought and famine in the Horn of Africa and urged readers to visit USAID.gov/FWD to learn more about U.S. efforts to fight hunger and food insecurity (10/16).