By (AFP) Rome – Current food production methods are harming the planet while failing to provide millions of the world's poor with enough to eat, the UN food agency warned Tuesday. Instead, the adoption of "agro-ecology", which improves soil quality and costs less for farmers, would help reverse growing food insecurity, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said. "We need to put forward sustainable food systems that offer healthy and nutritious food, and also preserve the environment," FAO director general Jose Graziano da Silva said. He was speaking at the second International Agro-ecology Symposium, a three-day event that kicked off Tuesday at FAO headquarters in Rome. The chemical-heavy processes used to produce foods since the end of World War II have increased production while causing immense damage to the planet, he said.