Rising food prices and food shortages are again gaining notoriety worldwide.
They are blamed for inciting rebellion in the Middle East and have sparked panic buying and panicked reactions as countries try to maintain their slippery grips on dwindling food stockpiles.
It’s no wonder that food prices have attracted the spotlight at the United Nations as countries scramble to come up with ways to limit the fallout.
U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton recently warned that rising food prices represent widespread destabilization. She told members of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization that the consequences of inaction would be grave.
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Clinton’s call “to blunt the negative impacts of rising food prices and protect people and communities” is something most, if not all, of us agree with in principle.
The effects of high prices on developing nations can be significant as food becomes more sparse and less affordable to those who are most in need.
The international community must be ready to help ease the harsh impacts of high prices to those most affected.
In 2008, a similar blip sparked riots and fears about international stability before prices fell back to more sustainable levels.
At that time, a few countries adopted rash actions such as export bans on particular commodities in efforts to protect domestic stocks, but, overall, calmer heads prevailed and more people benefited in the end.
Trade protectionist measures are counterproductive in that they lead to hoarding among buyers and can also keep a lid on domestic prices in countries with export bans, which discourages farmers from seeding the following year, and that in turn further shortens supplies and drives prices higher once again.
For the supply-demand equation to work itself through, farmers must be provided with the proper market signals about how much of which crops to grow.
So what can be done?
Targeted and immediate food aid to regions in desperate need is, of course, a top priority. Beyond that, delivering the proper tools to lift farmers up in less developed regions is paramount. “Teach a man to fish…” as the proverb says.
To do that, we need a multi-pronged approach:
• agronomic outreach to spread the word of best management practices in terms of yield improvements and long-term sustainability (not necessarily organic);
• make technology available to developing countries including machinery, precision farming tools, chemicals, fertilizers and the latest higher yielding seeds;
• improved storage facilities and distribution networks in developing nations.
A recent UN report said 1.3 billion tonnes of food is lost or wasted worldwide.
That equals about one-third of all the food produced in the world. Of that amount, 630 million tonnes occurred in developing nations, with the largest losses occurring at storage, transportation or processing facilities.
In setting international food strategies, we must heed arguments about conventional agriculture not being a friend to Third World producers in the past.
However, to encourage only small, local production vastly underestimates the potential of people living in those areas to reach higher.
Empowering local farmers to produce plentiful food efficiently and profitably is the nub of the issue. But that can only be achieved by ensuring farmers have access to the best in seed genetics, seeding technology, fertilizer, pesticide controls, storage and distribution.
The international community would do well to attack the food shortage through comprehensive policies that address these myriad problems and avoid knee-jerk reactions.
Bruce Dyck, Terry Fries, Barb Glen, D’Arce McMillan and Joanne Paulson collaborate in the writing of Western Producer editorials.
