聯合國秘書長潘基文29日在馬尼拉表示：全世界最大的糧食救濟組織，聯合國世界糧食計畫署（WFP）採用新的糧食採購系統，可以更妥善地支持小型農場生產力。
潘基文提到，糧食計畫署一直以來都在國際市場收購農產食品，但是在新的系統下，該機構將和小型農場訂定多年合約，以補充所需糧食。他表示：「最長可達3年合約將多少給予農民收入保障，可以讓他們提前規畫。穩定的收入也代表農民可以負擔肥料、作物品種更優質的種籽，並採用現代化的農耕技術。」
潘基文說明，「這可鼓勵有計畫長期使用農地的投資、減緩農地地力惡化、並增加農業生產力。雖然效果緩慢，但農民肯地能擺脫仰賴補助的處境，能有保障收入，藉此打破農村的貧窮循環。」他呼籲「改善市場進場機制，加強交通，以及一個真正公平公開的農產品貿易系統。」
潘基文上述講話是在菲律賓總統雅羅育頒給菲律賓大學榮譽博士學位的慶祝晚宴上提到的，他主張「農業和其他發展上的新思考」。
糧食計畫署此刻仍一如往常，忙著將糧食送到世界各地重度災區，日前才將17噸高能量餅乾空運到葉門，協助10月24日遭受熱帶風暴襲擊的災區民眾。總共有180人在此次風災中喪生，上萬人被迫逃離家園。糧食將從阿拉伯聯合大公國杜拜的聯合國人道救援應變倉庫發出，配給位在穆卡拉東邊城鎮的210個受災戶。
就在10月29日，巴基斯坦西南部的俾路支省才受到芮氏規模6.4的地震襲擊，至少2萬民眾必須撤離，暴露在寒冷的天氣下，獲得安全食物和飲水的管道為主要健康議題。恐怕至少有160人在這場地震中喪生，死亡人數預期會繼續上升，許多人失蹤，很可能仍被埋在倒塌損毀的數千戶民宅下。
然而，有時糧食計畫署的工作人員仍無法將救援物資傳遞到飢餓、流離失所的難民手中。例如在查德東部，武裝攻擊迫使救援單位停止對數以萬)的難民進行人道援助。救援工作人員提出警告，除非安全問題獲得改善，否則在該區47萬多名的難民和流徙者都會受到影響。
聯合國紀錄顯示，2008年共發生124起對人道援助單位、工作人員、流徙者和難民的攻擊事件，其中包含劫機和武裝搶劫。有4名人道工作人員遭到殺害，其中一名是英國救助兒童會（Save the Children-UK）負責援助查德的主管。
在剛果民主共和國北基伍省的省府戈馬，也發生民眾恐慌事件。糧食計畫署後勤官夏勒（Peter Shaller）稱基伍省「引人注目地富有，卻也引人注目地暴力和危險」， 10月29日他透過衛星連線表示，部份特別針對聯合國人員和財產的暴力行為，導致人道救援「暫時止步區」的產生，20多萬名流離失所的民眾無法接受援助。
夏勒表示：「人員和物資越來越難送抵流離失所的民眾手中。現在外頭的街道比平常異常安靜，人們都很緊張，都在擔心接下來不知道會發生什麼事。」
The world's largest food relief organization, the United Nations' World Food Programme, has a new system of buying food that better supports the productivity of small farmers, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today in Manila.
In the past, the WFP has purchased food on the international markets, said Ban. But under the new system, WFP will enter into multi-year contracts with small farmers to supply the required foods.
"Multi-year contracts, lasting up to three years long, will give farmers some income security. This will enable them to plan ahead. A steady income stream means farmers can afford fertilizers and better seed varieties, and adopt modern farming techniques," said the secretary-general.
"This will encourage investment in land for long-term use. This will reduce land degradation, and increase agricultural productivity. Slowly but surely, farmers will move from aid dependency to income security, breaking the cycle of rural poverty," he said, calling for "improved market access, better transport, and a truly fair and open trading system in agricultural products."
Speaking at a dinner hosted by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to celebrate the honorary doctorate degree conferred on him by the University of Philippines, Ban called for "fresh thinking, on agriculture and on development in general."
The World Food Programme was busy today, as it is every day, delivering food to the world's worst disaster areas.
The WFP today airlifted 17 tons of high-energy biscuits to assist Yemenis affected by a tropical storm that struck Yemen last Thursday, killing 180 people and sending some 10,000 others fleeing from their homes.
Departing from the UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the rations will go to 210 affected households in the eastern town of Mukala.
Exposure to cold weather and access to safe food and water are major health concerns facing the at least 20 000 people displaced by today's magnitude 6.4 earthquake in Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province.
At least 160 people are feared to have died in the earthquake and the number is expected to rise, with many people missing and feared buried under the rubble of hundreds of homes that have been damaged or destroyed.
Sometimes, World Food Programme workers cannot even reach hungry, displaced people to deliver aid.
Armed attacks have forced aid agencies to suspend humanitarian assistance to thousands of displaced people in eastern Chad. Aid workers warn that unless the security situation improves, more of the some 470,000 refugees and displaced people in the region could be affected.
UN records show that in 2008 there have been 124 attacks on humanitarian staff and on displaced persons and refugees, including carjackings and armed robberies. Four humanitarian workers have been killed, including the country director of Save the Children-UK.
Today in Goma, the capital of what Peter Schaller calls the Democratic Republic of Congo' s "spectacularly rich, yet spectacularly violent and dangerous North Kivu province," people are frightened.
Schaller is the World Food Programme's logistics chief in Goma. He said today by satellite link that violence directed in part against UN personnel and property has now resulted in "temporary no-go zones" for humanitarian deliveries to as many as 200,000 people displaced by the fighting.
"It's getting harder and harder to reach the displaced," Schaller said. "The streets outside are much quieter than usual. People are nervous. They are worried about what might happen next."
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
