FAO calls for alignment of trade, agricultural development policies to achieve food security

The Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published the State of Agricultural Commodity Markets (SOCO) 2015-2016 on Wednesday, calling for a pragmatic approach that would align agricultural and trade policies at the national level.

Rules governing international trade of food and agricultural products should be crafted with an eye to improving countries' food security and other development objectives. However, the linkages between trade and food security were highly complex and have been subject to intense debates, at the national and global levels, the report said.

The new edition of this flagship FAO report aimed to reduce the current polarization of views on the impacts of agricultural trade on food security, and provide guidance on how agricultural trade should be governed.

The report expected increase in global trade of farm products along with shifting patterns of trade and multiples sources of risks to global supplies would give trade and its governance a heightened influence over the extent and nature of food security everywhere.

As a result, the challenge for policy makers had evolved into one ensuring that its expansion "works for, and not against, the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition," according to the report.

Subtitled "Achieving a better balance between national priorities and the collective good," the report emphasizes that the role of trade varies greatly with country characteristics, such as income, economic and landholding structure, the stage of agricultural development and the degree of integration of farmers in global value chains.

Amid such variety in country conditions, international rules for formulating national trade policies should be supportive of efforts to mitigate disruptions that affect any of the four dimensions of food security: availability, access, utilization and stability.

The report also stressed that balancing short-run and long-run objectives is becoming vitally important considering that the nature of disruptions varies greatly and that market shocks would likely become more frequent due to geopolitical, weather and policy-induced uncertainties.

Meanwhile, efforts to intervene and shield domestic markets from global price volatility could in fact lead to increased domestic price volatility, agricultural incentives play an important role in in boosting agricultural production and efficiency and fostering broader economic growth.

FAO Deputy Director-General Daniel Gustafson stressed in his forward that trade in agricultural and food products was significant in assuring that countries meet the sustainable development goals and particular goal to eliminate hunger, improving food security and promoting agricultural sustainability.

Gustafson said, this report would explain how trade could affect food security and nutrition, while providing guidance to identify the most appropriate interventions in different contexts.

World Trade Organization Deputy Director-General, Yi Xiaozhun also attended the conference as a manifestation of collaboration of two organizations in this report.

Yi said many aspects of WTO's work were informed and influenced by food security. FAO and WTO maintained a strong synergistic collaboration with regard to many of these aspects, including a partnership through the area of food safety, and the promotion of international standard.

Yi expressed his confidence in this study. "It would offer important insights to help its readers to understand complex relationship between trade and food security, and contribute to further enrich the food security debate," he said. Endit