ANTANANARIVO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Madagascar has made efforts to prevent possible food crisis with assistance from the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

    President Marc Ravalomanana told the media, immediately after returned back home on Friday from Rome, Italy, where he attended the international conference on world food security, that the World Bank and FAO had agreed to provide 27 million US dollars to his country.

    The assistance, 10 million US dollar from the World Bank and 17 million from the FAO, was aimed at preventing possible food crisis and increasing food production in the island country.

    As emergency food aid, the 17 million dollars would be managed by the World Food Program (WFP) for follow-up actions undertaken by the Madagascan government.

    Ravalomanana met WFP representative to Madagascar Mrs Krystyna Bednarska on Friday to discuss the partnership with international organizations for better coordination of aid.

    He also called a meeting of the council of ministers, during which a task force was established to manage the funds wisely.

    The meeting also decided priorities of the government in the long and medium term to prevent possible food crisis, according to MIDI, a French-language daily published on Saturday.