Financial donations and other efforts to attack food insecurity around the globe need to be “scaled up,” the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization said on Wednesday, as the World Summit on Food Security concluded in Rome. But the lack of attendance at the summit by all G8 country leaders–except Italy, where the three-day summit was held–did not bode well for increasing investment, donations and food aid to where they are needed most.

While U.N. dignitaries and leaders exchanged presentations about the global food crisis, smallholder farmers and their advocates were holding another conversation across town. Our Day 2 coverage of the World Summit on Food Security in Rome turns to the People’s Food Sovereignty Forum.

Our coverage of the World Summit on Food Security in Rome begins today. Check here for ongoing live coverage of the day’s events.

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