ROME—A U.N. food agency is forecasting improved prospects for world cereals production in the 2011-2012 seasons.
But the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization says that despite expected production gains, especially for wheat and rice, there is uncertainty about the improvement's impact on food security because of the global economic slump and increased risks for recession.
Thursday's FAO report also cited concern over the effect of irregular rains in West Africa in the 2011 cropping season and of severe monsoons on crop prospects in Far East Asia.
The food agency also says 750,000 people risk dying in the next few months because of Somalia's famine and drought.
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