Ahmad Macky
23 July 2008
opinion
Port Louis — The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has disclosed that the number of hungry people that increased by another 50 million last year is alarming. This is mainly due to the unprecedented food crisis in the entire world. The prices of many essential commodities have risen drastically, leaving many food items out of the reach of low income earners. Both developed and developing countries like Mauritius have been affected. But developing countries have received a 'double blow' in the form of the oil crisis.
The FAO has attributed the food crisis to rising demand for agricultural products due to population growth and economic development in emerging countries like ours; the rapid expansion of biofuels; and insufficient supply as production is negatively affected by climate change, in particular droughts and floods, at a time when cereal stocks are at their lowest levels in 30 years.
These trends are exacerbated by restrictive measures taken by some exporting countries to protect their consumers and the speculation of hedge, index and other funds on the future markets. One can argue that the most obvious solution is increasing agricultural output. But the high prices of agricultural inputs are a major obstacle for developing countries to increase agricultural production. From January 2007 to April 2008, fertilizer prices rose at a much faster rate than food prices.
All countries affected by food crisis have one option, that is to team up and work together in order to find the true solution to the food crisis. Mauritius needs to consider this option if it comes in force. As the FAO says, we urgently need new and stronger partnerships to address the growing food security problems in Third World countries. Donor countries, international institutions, governments , civil society and the private sector have an important role to play in the global fight against hunger.
There is another school thought, endorsed by the FAO, that developing countries have neglected agriculture in prioritizing industrialization. There is an element of truth in this argument as most developing countries have seen industrialization as a 'saviour' and an easy route to development, instead of agriculture. Another factor is that the pace of modernization in agriculture is low, thus limiting harvests. There is little or no research on issues such as obtaining higher yields and growing disease-resistant crops.
Eliminating, or even reducing hunger will not be an easy task. In order to reduce the number of undernourished in the world and meet growing demands, global food production needs to double by 2050. Individually and collectively, countries like ours must strive to increase agro-production. With this target in mind, only then will it be possible to resolve the food crisis.
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