Bigwigs miss the big picture

THE mystery of how to feed the world seemed to elude more than 40 heads of state, and governments from 181 nations, at the Rome Food Security Summit, hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

Making it worthwhile for farmers didn’t seem to enter the picture much — beyond talk of supporting farmers in underdeveloped, hungry countries.

Making it pay for farmers is the number one requirement — if UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon’s target to lift food production 50% by 2030 is to be met.