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FAO conference and the Consea's analysis
Inesc reproduces the National Council of Food and Nutrition Security - CONSEA analysis of the current crisis of the global food system and its consequences for the food and nutrition security in Brazil and in the world. The Council expects to contribute to the decisions which may be taken to face the effects of such crisis, as well as in the position taken during the "High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy", held by FAO on June 3 to 5, 2008, and in other international events.
The world is now facing a critical moment which is harming the performance of the human right to adequate and healthy food of great part of the population. The impact of food price increases is greatest on poorer countries and more vulnerable populations and makes unstable the food supply in almost all countries in the world. The rise in food prices expresses more than just an unbalance between the world supply and demand, but rather reflects a crisis of the global model of food production and consumption which consequently challenges countries’ food and nutrition security and sovereignty, and harms the social inclusion initiatives of great parts of needy populations. Therefore, the CONSEA understands that:
1. The organization of the world production, trade pathways and international agreement terms have been dictated by the policies adopted by the European Union and the United States, which have favored the transnational oligopolization of seeds markets and agricultural input and the consequent empowerment of big corporations to determine the production and consumption standards.
2. The decision for free trade and deregulation of markets reduced the regulatory power of the State in most countries, depriving them of instruments of economical policy capable of dealing with the current crisis.
3. In such instance, negotiations such as the Doha Development Round of the World Trade Organization, founded under the auspices of trade liberation, become inappropriate and may further destabilize food production and commercialization in many countries.
4. The current crisis has already affected food consumption, with repercussions in the health and nutrition state of populations due to lack of diet diversity, local culture food, and nutritional quality of food.
5. The rise in food prices is caused by several factors, including developmental policies based on market values rather than performance of human rights. In that sense, food trading has favored the increase of speculation over agricultural products markets, worsening the price instability and restructuring production and supply systems in such markets.
6. Among the factors which have determined the rise of prices is the continuous elevation of food demand resulting of increased general income in large developing countries (China, India and Brazil, among others). In addition, there are climate changes effects on crops production in countries that are important for the international supply. Such picture has been worsened by the use of basic grains such as corn, soybeans and other food goods for ethanol production. In Brazil, the availability of vacant farmable lands has been used to justify the reproduction of monoculture (sugarcane), besides hiding the fact that, in many regions, the food production loses space for biofuel production.
7. Another factor is the recent increased of oil price, which more than doubled last year alone, which contributed for the elevation of costs of agricultural production, especially fertilizers and transport.
8. The impact in Brazil has been reduced due to several public policies targeting agricultural production, in particular those focusing on family agriculture (PRONAF – PAA), which is responsible for nearly 70% of the food consumed in Brazil. Such policies are combined to others in social security, social assistance, income transference, school meals, and minimum wage restructuring areas.
9. Being a large exporter, Brazil is a potential beneficiary of such situation from a solely mercantile point of view. The country has been adopting a pattern of large-scale and intensive agricultural production in agrochemical products, with concentration of land and income which utilized small workforce. While this concept does not endure with the rise of prices, it does not sustain the successes related to food access and food rights of the majority of the Brazilian population. It is necessary to reexamine the current production patterns due to its social-environmental impact, as well as the concept of food security based on the false principle of the free-market.
10. The evident consequence of the rise in food prices is the increase of living cost (especially amongst the most vulnerable and poor, especially children, women, native populations, black people, and other traditional communities) with the probable increase profit in the commercial and agroindustrial chains.
