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THE era
of cheap food is over as surging demand for food, feed
and fuel will put more pressure on global food supply,
according to a report released by the International Food
Policy Research Institute (Ifpri).
Ifpri
said in its report, “The World Food Situation: New
Driving Forces and Required Actions,” that income
growth, climate change, high energy prices,
globalization and urbanization are all converging to
transform food production, markets and consumption.
“Food
prices have been steadily decreasing since the Green
Revolution, but the days of falling food prices may be
over,” said Joachim von Braun, lead author of the report
and director general of Ifpri.
“Surging
demand for feed, food, and fuel have recently led to
drastic
price increases, which are not likely to fall in the
foreseeable future, due to low stocks and slow-growing
supplies of agricultural outputs. Climate change will
also have a negative impact on food production,
compounding the challenge of meeting global food demand,
and potentially exacerbating hunger and malnutrition
among the world’s poorest people,” he stressed.
Von
Braun noted that economic growth has helped reduce
hunger, particularly when it is equitable. “But
unfortunately, growth does not always reach the poorest
people.”
The
report noted that policymakers must make explicit
measures to mitigate the negative effects on poor
households.
Ifpri
recommends that developed countries facilitate flexible
responses to drastic changes in food prices by
eliminating trade barriers; developing countries must,
on the other hand, increase investment in rural
infrastructure and market institutions to improve
critical agricultural inputs.
The
institute also urged national and international research
systems to invest more heavily in agricultural science
and technology and for policymakers to take into account
farm and food issues when developing national and
international climate-change agendas. |
