Political squabbling put a U.N. summit on the global food crisis at risk of closing on Thursday without a powerful declaration on how to stop millions more people going hungry.
"The food crisis which the world faces today is so serious that it would be disastrous for the survival of mankind if the conclusions reached suffer the same fate at this historic summit," said Ghana's President John Kufuor in speech delivered by an aide.
Delegates from 151 countries at the Rome talks, which began with speeches from 44 leaders on Tuesday, missed their Wednesday deadline for agreeing a final statement about "eliminating hunger and securing food for all".
"They will look at a new draft which they can either approve, try to amend or, in the worst case, reject," said a U.N. official as the last day of the meeting began.
The issue putting the talks at risk was not the most contentious debate -- biofuels, which anti-hunger campaigners say diverts food from mouths into gas tanks -- but disagreement between opponents and supporters of communist Cuba about mention of U.S. sanctions against the communist island, as well as other marginal issues.
The summit was called by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation to discuss securing food supplies in the face of rising demand - especially from rapidly developing Asian countries - poor harvests and rising fuel costs.
Those factors have contributed to a doubling of commodity prices over the last couple of years which the World Bank says has put 100 million people at risk of joining the 850 million already going hungry.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development sees prices of rice, corn and wheat retreating from peaks but still up to 50 percent higher in the next decade. The FAO says food production must rise 50 percent by 2050 to meet demand.
BRUTAL PRICE RISE
