Food security and global security - IEEE

José María SumpsiThe volatility of the agricultural markets and the world food crisisIn particular, investments in research and development into agriculture havebeen demonstrated to produce very high yield rates and have a potentiallyimportant role to play. Currently a large body of public research is carriedout by international centres within the Consultative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research (CGIAR). Although there is general acknowledgementof the usefulness and the advantages of this system of international researchbodies and affiliated organisations -which has made an enormous contributionto the worldwide stock of agricultural technology and knowledge- it continuesto be a matter of debate as to how to finance these bodies, as often governmentsdo not consider that it is in their interests to provide substantial donations to abody whose benefits are distributed far beyond its components or borders. Forthis reason it is understandable that the reform and financing of the CGIARappeared on the G-20’s agenda as a central element for increasing agriculturalproductivity and reducing the volatility of the agricultural markets.162Agriculture is not a public activity; it is a private activity, even though it maygenerate public externalities which benefit the whole of society and whichshould be remunerated (payments for environmental services, conservationof natural resources -particularly soil and water-, carbon sequestration, andothers), and for this reason a large part of the investment in agriculture shouldbe private. However, in order to increase private investment in agriculture itis necessary to have a favourable legal and economic climate. With regard tothe first, it is essential to address the security of property rights, -includingintellectual property- and the regulation of foreign investments -including thepurchase of land-, and the repatriation of profits. With regard to the economicclimate, the essential variable is agricultural commodities prices. The situationof high prices for agricultural commodities that we saw in 2007 and 2008, andhave again been experiencing since August 2010, has a serious negative impacton global food security and on food for poorer consumers, as well as on thepublic finances of low income countries and net food importers; however itdefinitely represents an opportunity for increasing agricultural investment andproductivity, and farmers’ incomes.Nevertheless, the poor in developing countries have a limited capacity to resolvetheir investment deficit. The proportion of public spending corresponding toagriculture has dropped to approximately 7% in developing countries and to aneven lower level in Africa, whereas the percentage of Official Development Aidthat is dedicated to the sector has gone from 17% in the 1980s to 3.8% today (29) .The proportion of loans from the World Bank and regional development banksthat are granted to agriculture in developing countries is also very low, andis less than 10% in sub-Saharan Africa. Although private investment fundsdedicated to African agriculture represent an interesting new development inrecent years, the actual volume of these investments is still very low.(29)Data from OECD reports on the ODA (Official Development Assistance).