Abstract
Version francaise de l'articleThe recent food price increases in international markets threaten food security and have led many researchers, policy makers and NGOs to analyse them in order to address them. Most analysts talk about price spikes, which they characterise in terms of price volatility. This characterisation leads them to advocate measures – market liberalisation, private risk management instruments, and safety nets – that have been showing their limitations for almost 30 years. Clearly there is a certain level of volatility inherent in agricultural product prices, which has been compounded by trade policies and speculation. But since 2005, a steady upward trend in food prices has been observed, sometimes resulting in spikes. Several factors can explain these spikes: the lack of coordinated storage; insufficient and inappropriate agricultural investment; the depletion of resources; and growing demand from biofuels and emerging countries. Placing these spikes within the context of an upward trend opens new avenues for national and global action that depart from the predominant vision today: basing the rules of international trade on food security; coordinating storage policies at the global level; investing in ecological agriculture; and limiting growth in demand for agricultural products.
Highlights
The recent food price increases in international markets threaten food security and have led many researchers, policy makers and NGOs to ana
This characterisation leads them to advocate measures – market liberalisation, private risk management instruments, and safety nets – that have been showing their limitations for almost 30 years
There is a certain level of volatility inherent in agricultural product prices, which has been compounded by trade policies and speculation
Summary
The recent food price increases in international markets threaten food security and have led many researchers, policy makers and NGOs to ana-. Several factors can explain these spikes: the lack of coordinated storage; insufficient and inappropriate agricultural investment; the depletion of resources; and growing demand from biofuels and emerging countries Placing these spikes within the context of an upward trend opens new avenues for national and global action that depart from the predominant vision today: basing the rules of international trade on food security; coordinating storage policies at the global level; investing in ecological agriculture; and limiting growth in demand for agricultural products. Despite a diagnosis centred on rising prices, and on their determinants and consequences, the report only suggests solutions for addressing volatility It does not venture far from the “package” of policy options defined in the mid-1980s by the OECD and the World Bank and promoted continuously and insistently despite mixed results, to say the least: liberalisation, private risk management instruments (price, climate), and social safety nets. Changes are required; the need to launch fresh discussions
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