Addressing the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) conference on food security in Rome, Rajapaksa called on the UN organisation to take steps to develop regional buffer stocks of staple food to ensure enough stocks during times of crisis.
He also suggested the setting up of regional and global food security funds to help countries have proper storage and distribution systems so that food could be delivered to the needy in times such as the present food crisis.
"It is regretted that warnings of this crisis, although seen, were largely ignored, until it assumed today's magnitude," Rajapaksa said.
"It is a crisis that has come from the growing demand for fuel, the failure to act in time on climate change, the ravages of terrorism, and problems of distribution.
Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka, like many other developing countries, is affected by all of these factors; total dependence on imported fuel, success in agriculture being dependent on changing weather patterns, and problems of storag