The 2008 Food Price Crisis: Rethinking Food Security Policies
The 2008 Food Price Crisis: Rethinking Food Security Policies, the latest in the G-24 Discussion Paper Series, is a timely report as member states of the United Nations come together 16-18 November, 2009 at the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, in an effort to find lasting solutions to world hunger. Intended to inform current policy discussions on how to address ever-growing food insecurity, the report contends that it is essential to examine the structural causes of growing food insecurity and to understand the dynamics that have propelled the food crisis.
The report authored by Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, explores the different factors that are affecting food security in developing nations, such as the systemic decline in investment in agricultural productivity; state’s reduced role in agricultural production and trade; indiscriminate opening of agricultural markets which has resulted in import surges and volatile food prices, and emphasis on cash crops.
The report also examines both national and international responses to the 2008 food price crisis and growing hunger, which according to latest estimates impacts over a billion people, and proposes several short-term and long-term measures to address it. However, the effective implementation of these policies, the report argues, depends on the firm application of the principle of food sovereignty, which would allow governments in developing countries to support and protect their agriculture, markets, and be in a position to fulfil their responsibility for the realization of the right to food of their citizens.
The G-24, the only formal developing-country grouping within the IMF and the World Bank, was established in 1971 to increase the analytical capacity and the negotiating strength of the developing countries in discussions and negotiations in the international financial institutions. The G-24 Discussion Paper Series are discussed among experts and policy makers at the meetings of the G-24 Technical Group, and provide inputs to the meetings of the G-24 Ministers and Deputies in their preparations for negotiations and discussions in various forums.