Was the food crisis inevitable?

Gerd Appenzeller sees the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development presented by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) as confirmation that the Western world is protecting its prosperity at the cost of less developed countries: "To put it simply, the accusation directed in particular at the US, Canada, Australia and Western Europe is that these states - the richest in the world - are treating the rest of the planet like colonies. ... By imposing their supposedly superior economic and agrarian system on the Third World - albeit with the best intentions - and exploiting their economic power, the industrialised nations are ruining these countries. There are plenty of straightforward examples. The European Union is subsidising the construction of increasingly large fishing fleets and purchasing all the fishing rights for Africa's coasts. As a result, Portuguese and Spanish trawlers are taking over the traditional fishing grounds of, for example, the Senegalese, so the latter, totally impoverished, are forced to sail the coasts of the Canary Islands on dilapidated fishing boats in the hope of finding a better future there."

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