Feed the world

By 2050 the world’s population will hit nine billion, which will mean a doubling of the global food supply. The chilling figures heard at a conference in the European parliament earlier this month prompted a call to action from EU leaders.

With this week’s round of world trade talks getting under way in Geneva, WTO partners will be squaring up to each other to thrash out the best way to solve the food crisis and ensure their economies remain competitive. But for French agriculture minister, Michel Barnier, although Doha is an important forum to discuss the food crisis, the real solution is to find another forum where food and agriculture can be discussed separately to trade.

“I don’t think the only place we can talk effectively about food and agriculture is the WTO. We need to find some other rather broader forum to tackle the very serious question of the link between food and agriculture and the way land is shared,” he told a conference asking ‘Who will feed the world?’ on 3 July.

He held up a suggestion made by French president Nicolas Sarkozy for a world partnership involving all major international organisations – the WTO, the UN’s food and agriculture organisation, the IMF and World Bank – with the idea that they would be supported by a group of experts, much like the international panel on climate change.

However, while Barnier is behind this crucial international dimension, he is also pushing for regional partnerships between developing countries on agricultural issues. “It’s important for countries to work together rather than going their separate ways. It’s a sovereign matter for each country to decide its method of production. But in regional agricultural projects, countries which are close together have an interest in looking at their distribution of production, risk management, water strategy and health and safety.”

Europe’s role in all of this, says Barnier, is to encourage a pact similar to the EU’s common agricultural policy, where countries in, say, west Africa come up with coordinated solutions to natural disasters, famine and water shortages. “With the CAP, we set the goal of feeding Europe by joining forces. That’s what we’re developing in terms of regional agricultural countries. They could join forces to reach the same objectives.”

Throwing his weight behind the plan, the EU’s development chief Louis Michel added, “The response to the food crisis is linked to a more regional approach rather than a national approach. Reserve stocks, access to water, infrastructure issues, access to land-locked regions – all such issues can be resolved more effectively at regional level.”

Not neglecting direct aid, the EU also announced at the same conference that it would contribute unspent farm aid from the CAP to developing countries to enable them to purchase seed and fertilisers and increase their own production. Commission president José Manuel Barroso later confirmed the aid would amount to €1bn.

Still, despite EU generosity, agriculture chief Mariann Fischer Boel remained adamant last week ahead of the Geneva talks that European farmers would not suffer an unbalanced deal. “We now have the real possibility of a truly historic WTO deal on agriculture if the other parts of the negotiation can match the level of ambition in agriculture. I have always been open with our agricultural constituency that this will involve a certain amount of sacrifice.

We have never hidden that fact. And that is why it’s absolutely crucial that we have payback in other areas. The time has come for a cross-cutting negotiation process with other areas outside agriculture. Much will depend on the readiness of other players to show sufficient flexibility. We intend to be constructive and engaged, but we will not accept a deal at any price. A balanced deal is something we will not compromise on.”