euro|topics - Was the food crisis inevitable?

Główny temat z dnia Czwartek, 17. Kwiecień 2008

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Was the food crisis inevitable?

The riots over the soaring prices of foodstuffs have grown across the world over the last weeks. Several governments have announced measures controlling the trade of these commodities. The European press seeks the causes of the lack of basic foods and proposes solutions to the crisis.

Le Monde - Francja

According to the daily, "new eating habits in developing countries, for the most part imported from developed countries, largely explain the explosion of demand, and thus the price tensions. But it's not the only reason. Competition from biofuels is another essential one. The United States, so generous with the World Food Program, confirmed its desire to double the acreage currently devoted to growing fuel crops. Faced with the American driver, the Haitian peasant can't compete. It's the case in Europe. Not only does Europe want to develop biofuels, but, during international negotiations, it maintains protectionist policies that have for so long destabilised third world agriculture and hampered the fight against poverty." (17/04/2008)

Dagbladet Information - Dania

Two of the major EU states have proposed entirely different schemes for combating the global food crisis. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke out in favour of a new trade agreement and trade facilitations for the world's poorest countries, while the French Minister of Agriculture Michel Barnier calls for more protectionism and subsidies for EU farmers. The daily comments: "The solution is not a 'pure market economy' but the combination of what the European Commission calls 'liberalisation of production' with intelligent political measures aimed at protecting the environment, the climate and the many poor and hungry of this world. The EU must work hard for a plan like this. It requires a sensible and coordinated European response - and an end to the feuding between London and Paris." (17/04/2008)

Financial Times - Wielka Brytania

Columnist Victor Mallet argues in the financial daily that the worldwide food crisis is not due to a lack of supply - for the time being - but rather to interruptions in free trade. "The immediate cause of this crisis is not - perhaps surprisingly - a shortage of food. The problem is the sudden reluctance of traditional exporters to sell their surpluses. As with credit providers in the seized-up credit markets, each producer is hoarding its own supply in case of hard times at home, because it suspects trading partners will do the same. Trust in the efficiency and liquidity of the market has collapsed. Farm protectionism is not new. ... International farm trade has nevertheless managed to satisfactorily for decades redistribute surpluses of staple foods. The current seizures in the markets are therefore a cause for general alarm." (17/04/2008)

Der Tagesspiegel - Niemcy

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." (17/04/2008)

» Cały przegląd prasy z dnia Czwartek, 17. Kwiecień 2008

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