Many countries failing on UN hunger goal

Many poor countries will fail to meet a UN goal of halving world hunger by 2015, the UN food agency's newly-elected Brazilian chief told AFP Friday in one of his first interviews since being nominated. "Many poor countries will not be able to reach the target," Jose Graziano Da Silva said, referring to the aim of more than halving the number of the world's hungry to around 400 million people from the current level of around 925 million. "Eradicating hunger by 2015 will not be possible," he said. "What is missing are two things: the resources and international cooperation to support these countries which are among the most vulnerable because they are incapable of reaching the targets on their own," he added. Graziano was elected on Sunday by FAO member states with 92 votes in his favour and 88 against, becoming the first Latin American leader of the Rome-based agency which is tasked with fighting global hunger. Graziano, a former food security minister credited with helping reduce hunger in Brazil, formally takes over at FAO on January 1. He replaces Senegal's Jacques Diouf, who has held the FAO post for 17 years. Critics say the FAO is too centralised and chronically inefficient, and badly in need of reforms that Graziano is expected to begin implementing. "You don't have to re-invent the wheel to eradicate hunger... There are well-known types of programmes like increasing the productivity of family farms and developing local food markets to ensure food security," he said. "There are many countries that have advanced like Mali or Vietnam," he said. "Others have made substantial progress and have exceeded the UN millennium development goal of halving hunger rates because they have dedicated resources and concentrated efforts on that aim," he said. "The countries that have shown major progress have involved their societies in the issue of eradicating hunger," said Graziano, the man behind the Zero Hunger programme in Brazil. Graziano said he expected FAO member states to approve an increase in the organisation's budget later on Friday, saying: "The solidarity of the developed world is crucial."