U.N. Issues Warning on Food Crisis

Elisabeth Rosenthal & Andrew Martin | Rome | June 4

NYT - Resolving the global food crisis could cost as much as $30 billion a year and wealthier nations are doing little to help the developing world face the problem, United Nations officials said Tuesday.

At a U.N. food summit attended by dozens of world leaders, Jacques Diouf, head of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, opened the meeting by sharply criticizing wealthy nations who he said were cutting back on agriculture programs for the world’s poor and ignoring deforestation — while spending billions on carbon markets, subsidies for farmers and biofuel production.

“The developing countries did in fact forge policies, strategies and programs that — if they had received appropriate funding — would have given us world food security,” Mr. Diouf, said, adding that international community finally began to mobilize to help after images of food riots and starvation emerged in the media. He said there had been plenty of meetings on the need for anti-hunger programs and agricultural development in poor nations in the last decade but not enough money to make them a reality.

Another major debate that emerged at the conference was the role of biofuels in producing food shortages. The U.S. delegation here maintains that only 2 to 3 percent of food price rises were attributable to the biofuel boom. The U.N., however, said the impact was much greater. Biofuel production affects food prices because farmers in many countries have switched from growing crops for food to growing crops for fuel.

[...]

“Nobody understands how $11 to $12 billion a year subsidies in 2006 and protective tariff policies have the effect of diverting 100 million tons of cereals from human consumption, mostly to satisfy the thirst for fuel for vehicles,” Mr. Diouf said.

But Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, pointed out that some biofuels could provide a solution to world hunger if properly deployed. In Brazil, where biofuel is made from sugar cane, the industry has provided jobs for poor people as well as sustainable fuel, he said.

The idea that biofuels have cause the world hunger crisis was “an oversimplification” and “an affront that does not stand up to serious discussion,” Mr. da Silva said.

He instead blamed the high cost of food on high fuel prices: “It offends me to see fingers pointed at biofuels, when the fingers are coated in oil and coal.”

Raja June 3, 2008 - 7:25am

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( categories: News | Global | Health Issues )

US biofuel subsidies under attack at food summit

The Guardian, By Julian Borger, June 3

US subsidies for biofuel production were condemned by the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) this morning, who said they were depriving people of food.

Opening a UN food crisis summit in Rome, Jacques Diouf attacked the subsidies for corn ethanol during a wide-ranging critique of global policies on climate change and food security, which he said were slanted to favour the west.

"Nobody understands [why] $11-12bn of subsidies in 2006 and protective tariff policies [should be used to] divert 100m tonnes of cereals from human consumption, mostly to satisfy a thirst for fuel for vehicles," Diouf, the FAO director general, said. It was a thinly veiled attack. The FAO estimates US subsidies for the production of corn ethanol at $11-12bn.

Diouf also asked how a $64bn (£33bn) carbon market could be created in developed countries while "no funds can be found to prevent the annual deforestation of 13m hectares, especially in developing countries, whose tropical forest ecosystems act as carbon sinks for some 190 gigatonnes."

_{"Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years." - General Colin Powell}

Raja June 3, 2008 - 7:28am

'Obscene': Mugabe's arrival at food summit provokes outrage

He inflicted starvation on his nation. Now Mugabe has arrived in Europe for a UN summit to tackle the global food crisis

The Independent, By Peter Popham, Anne Penketh & Colin Brown, June 3

Rome - He's turned up again like a bad penny. President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is back in Rome, staying in five-star accommodation for the duration of a United Nations food summit while his people starve as a result of his disastrous farm policies.

The unexpected arrival of President Mugabe and his shopaholic wife, Grace, prompted a flood of international protests yesterday after he joined more than 60 world leaders flying in for the three-day conference. Although the Zimbabwean leader and his wife are targeted by an European Union travel ban, the sanctions do not apply to UN meetings conducted on UN premises.

The grotesque irony of the situation was lost on no one. "Robert Mugabe going to Rome for the food summit is like Pol Pot going to a human rights convention," said Lord Malloch-Brown, the Foreign Office minister for Africa, referring to the mastermind of the Cambodian genocide.

The British representative to the meeting, Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, said Mr Mugabe's appearance was "obscene".

_{"Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years." - General Colin Powell}

Raja June 3, 2008 - 7:30am

World food crisis: Production must rise by 50%, says UN chief

The Guardian, By Lee Glendinning, June 3

World food production must rise by 50% by 2030 to meet increasing demand, the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told the UN food summit today.

He urged a quick resolution of world trade talks and said nations must minimise export restrictions and import tariffs to alleviate the food crisis.

"The world needs to produce more food," Ban said. "Food production needs to rise by 50% by the year 2030 to meet rising demand."

He said a UN task force set up to deal with the crisis was recommending that nations "improve vulnerable people's access to food and take immediate steps to increase food availability in their communities".

"Some countries have taken action by limiting exports or by imposing price controls," added Ban. "They only distort markets and force prices even higher."

_{"Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years." - General Colin Powell}

Raja June 3, 2008 - 7:32am

Hunger crisis pact agreed as biofuels clash set aside

The Times Of London, By Richard Owen, June 6

ROME - A United Nations food conference in Rome adopted a final declaration yesterday vowing to “eliminate hunger” caused by soaring food and fuel prices but shelved the contentious issue of biofuels because of unbridgeable differences.

Biofuels emerged as the single largest sticking point at the three-day High Level Conference on World Food Security, held by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). However, other issues such as food export restrictions also held up the final agreement, with Argentina passionately defending them with support from Venezuela and Cuba.

Food export taxes are a contentious issue in Argentina; farmers have gone on strike to protest against increased taxes on grain and beef exports which Buenos Aires says shield consumers from food inflation and fund schemes to help the poor.

Ed Schafer, the US Agriculture Secretary, said that export restrictions caused inflation. “We understand that countries want to protect their food supply and make sure that there’s enough food for their own citizens, but when there’s a lock-out from the marketplace prices go up,” he said.

_{"Frankly, we've lost a lot in recent years." - General Colin Powell}

Raja June 6, 2008 - 7:35am

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U.N. Issues Warning on Food Crisis

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