国际英语新闻：United Nations calls for united front against hunger on World Food Day

Kanayo F. Nwanze, the president of IFAD, urged world leaders to boost investments in agriculture and in enhancing farm productivity.

It is estimated that half of the world's poor are smallholder agriculturalists, with more than two billion men and women in Africa, Asia and Latin America depending on smallholder farms.

"Smallholder farmers can feed the world, but they cannot do it alone," he told reporters. "Greater long-term investment in agriculture is needed, creating conditions to bring rural people out of subsistence and into the marketplace."

Nwanze underlined the crucial role of agriculture in fighting poverty.

"Agriculture is the key to food security and a fundamental engine of economic growth and wealth generation," he said.

For its part, the UN World Food Program (WFP) hailed the bold leadership of governments in finding lasting solutions to hunger and malnutrition.

"When we act together, we have the power to bring about real change in the lives of millions of people who would otherwise struggle to feed their families," said the agency's deputy executive director for hunger solutions, Sheila Sislu.

She pointed to the example of Cape Verde, whose government took full ownership of the national school meals programmes last month after more than three decades of cooperation with WFP.

Meanwhile, Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said on Friday that there is little to rejoice about on World Food Day, calling for a shift to low-carbon agriculture to ensure there is enough food for all, especially in the face of climate change.

There are nearly one billion hungry people in the world, "but the worst may still be ahead, since current agricultural developments are also threatening the ability for our children's children to feed themselves," he said.

Current farming methods focus on the provision of chemical fertilizers and a greater mechanization of production. "Such efforts are far distant from the professed commitment to fight climate change and to support small-scale, family agriculture," he said.

The current approach, De Schutter stressed, is a "recipe for disaster," calling for reliance on agro-forestry, better water harvesting techniques and other low-carbon methods to ensure that farming plays a large role in mitigating climate change's effects instead of exacerbating them.