G8 G5 First Meeting on Food Security

Government agricultural heads from the Group of Eight (G8) and the Group of Five (G5) recently met in Treviso, Italy last week to discuss food security issues and was to limit food price volatility. For AFP story discussing the goals of the G8 & G5 meeting, click here. The meetings concluded on Monday with different solutions for current food security issues. The report released by the members called for an increased in agricultural production to combat world hunger. For AP story on this issue, click here. The report states:

“It is necessary to focus on all the shared strategies to put in place to reduce poverty and increase world production," the document said, adding that further studies are needed to coordinate approaches on managing food stocks.”

This would all be needed to help meet the U.N. goal of reducing the number of hungry people by half by 2015. For Brownfield story click here. Although the report calls for an increase in food stocks, no clear directions were given to reach this goal. The report only calls for a need to examine food stocks, but offers no way to address this issue. For Deutsche Welle story, click here. From statements released some appeared in favor of stockpiling.

French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier told reporters he would push for a global system for stockpiling essential foodstuffs.

Barnier said the world needed supply management systems similar to those that operate across the European Union, with reserves that "fight against speculators preying on primary foodstuffs, which is scandalous."

But the United States and other countries warned that stockpiling may not stabilize prices. There was some call for tools to combat financial speculation for farm products. For AP story on this issue, click here. The Italian Agricultural Minister, Luca Zaia, released this statement on the issue.

[T]he ministers were "drawing up the market model that we want for the future. Obviously we are for the free market economy, but not completely without rules."

"One of the main aims is to prepare efficient tools to fight financial speculation," Zaia said of the meeting, which ends on Monday with a news conference.”

Posted: 04/21/09