The Global Food Crisis: A Social Democratic Assessment
Democratic Left › Vol. 36 Nbr. 1, July 2008
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Summary
The crisis is compounded by extreme weather due to climate change, including drought such as in Australia, one of [the] world's leading agricultural producers where wheat and rice crops have been devastated, and increasingly violent storms such as those that have wreaked havoc in Central America and parts of Asia and other regions in recent years.
4. The worst effect of current policies has been the neglect and undermining of domestic agriculture in developing countries. The change in emphasis in recent decades from domestic production to importing basic grains and processed foods heavily subsidised by governments in the developed world has been driving small farmers out of business practically everywhere.At the international level there should be a reorientation and strengthening of programmes to support agricultural production and food distribution on the part of the OECD nations, international agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, as well as regional institutions including the Inter-American Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Particular emphasis should be placed on increasing the budgets of vital agricultural research centres and earmarking loans and resources to help farmers in developing countries adopt improved methods in their fields.See the full content of this document
Extract
The Global Food Crisis: A Social Democratic Assessment
1. The Socialist International believes that the global food crisis is among the great threats to peace and security in the world, particularly in the most vulnerable of the developing countries, and advocates for a thorough reconsideration of the ways in which the world's agricultural system currently operates.
2. ...See the full content of this document
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