Just enough food to last 2-3 months

The world had just about enough cereal stocks to feed the global population for two to three months. With a crisis looming worldwide, food prices too are far from coming down, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation revealed .The rise in prices of food commodities all over the world will not ease in the short term in view of supply-demand situation,FAO director general Jacques Diouf told reporters after meeting agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.Diouf said the world has 4-5 million tonne of cereals stocks that can feed the global population for only 8-12 weeks.

The world food situation is very serious today with food riots reported from many countries like Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Senegal. The fear is that this may spread to other countries.World food prices have risen 45% in the last nine months and there are serious shortages of rice, wheat and maize.

The increasing demand from developing countries, particularly in China and India, and diversion of food grains towards production of bio-fuels to rising commodity prices across the world.However, Pawar expressed confidence that India's food situation was comfortable."We have over half a million tonne of food grain surplus than the buffer norms as on April 1," Pawar said.

According to Food Corporation of India, the wheat stock as on April 1 is 5.5 MT against the buffer norm of 4 MT.