WASHINGTON - The United States will propose biotechnology as a strategy to boost agricultural production at a UN global food crisis summit in Rome next week, the top US farm official said Thursday.
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer, who will lead the US delegation to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) world food security conference that opens Tuesday in Rome, said he would deliver a "straightforward" message.
With the United States contributing more than one-half of all the world's food aid, he said, "the world's other developed nations have an obligation to provide food efficiently without obstructing access to it or limiting safe technologies to produce it."
Schafer said he would propose "a long-term, three-pronged strategy to combat rising global prices."
The US will focus "immediate and expanded" humanitarian aid to countries unable to meet minimum nutrition standards and supports "urgent measures" to combat the underlying causes of food scarcity in developing countries that have the capacity to rapidly increase production and availability of staple foods.
The third measure, he said, will be a US proposal "that all countries consider strategies that expand research, promote science-based regulations, and encourage innovative technology -- including biotechnology."
Schafer said he would host an exhibit on new technologies on the sidelines of the three-day Rome summit "to showcase developing countries that have moved forward with public investment in adoption of bioengineered products."
