Significantly higher agricultural investment is necessary to eradicate poverty and secure food supplies, a senior Food and Agriculture Organization official said Tuesday.
During an address to the five-day 25th FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific, which entered its second day Tuesday in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, T.C. Ti, a senior economist at the FAO Regional Office for Asia-Pacific, said that a "business as usual" attitude will not suffice.
He said that countries in the region must ensure that the flow of capital investment into sustainable agriculture and rural development increases significantly, while warning that the food and agriculture sector will not move without substantial public and private investment in infrastructure, services and technology.
He added that progress under conventional approaches to eradicating poverty -- such as building infrastructure, improving technology and creating employment -- has been slow.