- ROME: The incoming head of the UN food agency has predicted high and volatile food prices for years to come and says he hopes the UN will take a bigger role in trying to help countries deal with the impact.
Jose Graziano da Silva, a former food security minister of Brazil, was elected Sunday as director-general of the UN
Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN agency tasked with eliminating world hunger at a time of near-record high food prices.
At his first press conference Monday, Graziano said high commodity prices weren’t a temporary phenomenon but they would remain high for several years since they are related to overall instability in world financial markets. Until those markets stabilize, he said, commodities will be hard hit.
