Joint statement from FAO, IFAD and WFP on international food prices

04 Sep 12

Tackling the root causes of high food prices and hunger
by José Graziano da Silva, Kanayo F. Nwanze and Ertharin Cousin* The current situation in world food markets, characterized by sharp increases in maize, wheat and soybean prices, has raised fears of a repeat of the 2007-2008 world food crisis. But swift, coordinated international action can stop that from happening. We need to act urgently to make sure that these price shocks do not turn into a catastrophe hurting tens of millions over the coming months. Two interconnected problems must be tackled: the immediate issue of some high food  prices, which can impact heavily on food import-dependent countries and on the poorest people; and the long-term issue of how we produce, trade and consume food in an age of increasing population, demand and climate change.  In responding to those challenges, we are better placed today than five years ago. We have developed new policies and new instruments, like the United Nations High-Level Task Force on Global Food Security and AMIS, the G20's Agricultural Markets Information System, which improves transparency in global markets. We also have the AMIS-related Rapid Response Forum, set up to facilitate coordinated policy responses by the major world producers and traders of key cereals and soybeans in the event of market upheavals.

*The authors are respectively the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme.

To read the full statement click here

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