Developing countries need to take comprehensive action to protect their poor in the face of soaring global food prices, a Washington-based research centre has warned.
The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said in a paper released on Tuesday that the food price index calculated by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation rose by nearly 40 percent last year.
The increase had been nine percent the year before.
In the first months of 2008 prices had again increased drastically, the paper, authored by IFPRI director general Joachim von Braun, said.
Since 2000 - a year of low prices - the wheat price in international market had more than tripled, and maize prices had more than doubled.
Continues Below ↓
The price of rice had jumped to unprecedented levels last month, while dairy products, meat, poultry, palm oil, and cassava had also experienced price hikes.
IFPRI said the increases had raised serious concerns about the food and nutrition situation of poor people in developing countries, about inflation, and - in some countries - about civil unrest.
Some of the poorest people in developing countries were not dependent on markets and would therefore feel few effects from rising prices.
"But the much higher international prices could mean serious hardship for millions of poor urban consumers and poor rural residents who are net food buyers," the report said.
"These people need direct assistance."
It said that in the short run, developing-country governments should implement safety-net programmes like food or income transfers and early childhood nutrition programmes for the poorest people, both urban and rural.
Some countries, such as India and South Africa, already had programmes that they could expand to meet new needs.
Countries that did not have them would not be able to create them quickly enough to make a difference in the current situation.
The might feel forced to rely on cruder measures like export bans and import subsidies.
IFPRI urged donors to expand food-related development aid, including social protection, child nutrition programs, and food aid.
For long-term agricultural growth, there was a need for investment on a global scale in agriculture, particularly in agricultural science and technology, and in market access.
At the same time, developed countries should eliminate domestic biofuel subsidies and open their markets to biofuel exporters like Brazil.
They should also take this opportunity to eliminate agricultural trade barriers.
The IFPRI report follows concern expressed last month by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon over what he said was the soaring price of food and the growing threat of hunger and malnutrition.
Warning that millions of the world's most vulnerable people were at risk, he said an effective and urgent response was needed.
The Millennium Development Goals, set by world leaders in 2000, aim to reduce the proportion of hungry people in the world by half by 2015. - Sapa
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
