By Megan Davies UNITED NATIONS, May 23 (Reuters) - More and better seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and transport facilities are needed to combat food shortages around the world, a U.N. economic forum concluded on Friday. After high-level meetings this week in New York, the United Nations Economic and Social Council, or ECOSOC, outlined a plan to help millions of people who are struggling to get enough to eat amid soaring food prices. Skyrocketing prices and food shortages affect the health and survival of millions around the world, ECOSOC President Leo Merores told the special meeting of the 52-member forum, according to a transcript posted on its Web site. In the past two years, world prices of basic food commodities have risen steeply, a report on the ECOSOC's Web site said, with rice prices more than doubling since late January this year. In the short term, the U.N. council aims to help farmers meet production needs for the next growing season, Merores said in a statement. He also said there should be a renewed urgency in concluding the Doha round of trade negotiations, which should address agricultural subsidies and tariffs of developed countries, with a view to helping agricultural development in poor countries. The World Trade Organization's Doha round of negotiations for a global trade deal was launched in 2001. The meetings this week were designed to serve as a bridge between a recently concluded Commission on Sustainable Development meeting and a food summit to take place in Rome in two weeks, the U.N. economic group said. At the Rome meeting, hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, government leaders and ministers will seek ways to prevent millions more people falling into hunger.
A group of student protesters shouts slogan during a rally protesting against the government's announcement of raising fuel prices in Jakarta May 23, 2008. Indonesia will raise fuel prices with immediate ...
