Lack of progress in tackling poverty and problems in balancing supply and demand mean fears over how to feed the developing world will persist, a draft G8 farm ministers' paper said on Sunday. "The Millennium Declaration aimed to halve the proportion of the world population facing poverty and undernourishment by the year 2015," the draft declaration said.
"We are very far from reaching this goal, according to the alarming data provided by the relevant international bodies." The pledge to ease hunger for millions has been worsened by the financial turmoil while fears about global food security will continue because of price volatility and a tenuous balance between supply and demand, it said.
"Structural factors may underpin prices over the medium term and increased volatility and demand raise important questions about food security for the future," said a G8 draft on the conclusions from the first meeting of agriculture ministers from G8 and G5 countries. It said prices have fallen for many consumers but remain well above previous lows. The depth of the economic recession means the number of poor and hungry people has increased since last year.
The final version of the document will be issued on Monday and its wording may change before then, officials say. International aid agency Oxfam said the apparent lack of concrete commitments to tackle the global food crisis meant the three-day summit, held in a hillside castle in northern Italy, would go down in history as a "profound failure".
"Right now, it looks like the only way this summit will make history is as another nail in the coffin of the goal to reduce world hunger," said Chris Leather, Italy-based food policy adviser at Oxfam International. Apart from the Group of Eight industrialised countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Britain and the United States - agriculture ministers from the G5 are invited: Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa. The European Commission and various UN agencies are also present as are ministers from Argentina, Australia and Egypt.
GRAIN STOCKS, LAND-GRABBING:
On the idea of setting up global grain stocks, the wording is likely to be vague since many delegations, including the United States, have voiced doubts about how effective such a system would be or if it would even work, or be needed at all. "There's going to be language on real and virtual stocks," one summit delegate told Reuters. It would be "uncommitting", call for further examination of the issue, and refer to humanitarian needs and managing stocks to limit price volatility, he said.
The declaration will also refer, albeit vaguely, to other sensitive issues debated: "land-grabbing", as well as the roles of biotechnology and biofuels. A growing trend is for governments to invest in farm projects beyond their borders. Countries in the arid Gulf Arab region have blazed the trail, hoping to achieve greater food security and also spend less on major grain purchases.
The phenomenon has, however, drawn sharp criticism for ignoring the interests of local populations.
The heads of two UN agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said cross-border farmland deals could be mutually beneficial and help boost global food security. "I would not call it "land-grabbing"... There is a potential for win-win situations", IFAD President Kanayo Nwanze said.
There was a risk of depriving poor farmers of access to farmland in their own countries when foreign investors moved in. But if the deals took both parties' interests into account they could help raise farm production, exports and provide jobs. The summit declaration will mention "public and private investment in sustainable agriculture" and the "importance of innovative technologies", the draft showed, and to say that renewable energies should be increased in a sustainable manner.
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