G8 admits losing battle against hunger

By Javier Blas in Cison di Valmarino, Italy

Published: April 20 2009 14:03 | Last updated: April 20 2009 14:03
The Group of Eight leading nations called on Monday “for increasing public and private investment” in agriculture, but their communiqué after the first meeting on the subject acknowledged that efforts to tackle hunger were lagging.

G8 agriculture ministers, meeting in northern Italy, said that the world was “very far from reaching” the United Nations’ goal of halving by 2015 the world’s proportion of malnourished people, after they reviewed what they called “alarming data” on hunger.

Although officials have in private suggested that the so-called Millennium goal target was almost unachievable, this is the first admission of failure by leading countries.

The communiqué, first reported by the Financial Times on Sunday, reiterated the G8’s determination to achieve its goal of “defeating hunger”.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation told the G8 that the number of chronically hungry people is set to increase by 75-100m this year as result of persistently high food prices and the economic crisis, bringing the number of malnourished well above the one billion mark.

The communiqué outlined general principles such as opposition to trade protectionism, and support for investment in research. It also called for studies of the role of speculation and whether global stocks of grain could help to mitigate price volatility. But it lacked fresh proposals to tackle hunger.

“Agriculture and food security are at the core of the international agenda,” the ministers said at the end of their three-day meeting, reflecting a consensus to reverse what officials called 25 years of decline.

Hailing what he called ”a strong declaration of support for the critically important task of promoting food security,” Tom Vilsack, US secretary of agriculture, said: ”Supporting food security is not only our moral obligation... it is our responsibility. We took an important step toward building a consensus around issues affecting access, availability, and utilization of food among vulnerable populations.”

Delegates said that a summit of G8 leaders, due later this year in La Maddalena, could take further steps on food security and provide funding. But charities and some UN officials characterised the meeting as a lost opportunity to resolve the problem.

Juergen Voegele, director of agriculture at the World Bank in Washington, said it shared the “impatience” to resolve the food crisis, but added that it was a good political sign that the G8 for the first time was discussing the problem.

The gathering was prompted by last year’s spike in the price of agricultural commodities, from wheat to rice, which triggered riots in more than 30 countries, from Bangladesh to Haiti.

The G8 ministers, who were joined by representatives of developing nations such as China, India, and key exporters of agricultural commodities, including Brazil and Argentina, acknowledged that the food situation has not improved markedly following last year’s crisis.

While agricultural commodities prices had fallen from last year’s record highs, they were “well above previous lows in many countries”.

“The depth of the current economic recession means that the number of people who are poor and, consequently, hungry has increase since last year,” the statement said. “Structural factors may affect prices over the medium term, and increased volatility and demand raise important question about food security in the future.”

On the thorny issue of a global grains stockpile, the communiqué reflected the lack of agreement postponing any decision to future studies. “We call upon the relevant international institutions to examine whether a system of stockholding could be effective in dealing with humanitarian emergencies or as a means to limit price volatility.”

The communiqué also sidelined disagreements over biofuels, simply stating that production “should be increased in a sustainable manner through balances combination of the energy policies needs and agricultural production”.

G8 ministers also vowed to reform the FAO, the main UN body dealing with agriculture and food.

For more information:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3db36d9c-2da7-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1