The World Trade Organization’s (WTO) chief countered the perception put forward by development experts that the international food trade was key to the recent global food crisis.
Speaking at the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council conference in Austria, Pascal Lamy, the Director General of the World Trade Organization, rebuffed the idea put forward by UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food that unfair trade practices contributed to the recent global food crisis and persistent food insecurity in the developing world. Lamy stated,
“International trade was not the source of last year’s food crisis…If anything, international trade has reduced the price of food over the years through greater competition, and enhanced consumer purchasing power.”
Some food security and development experts have previously stated that some trade policies for food are responsible for keeping food prices low, which has a negative effect on farmers in the developing world seeking to make a profit on food products. Reuters reports that Lamy’s response to this position is that “…agriculture accounts for less than 10 percent of world trade, while only 25 percent of world farm output is traded globally…” meaning trade policies alone could not account for price fluctuations that end up hurting farmers.
Instead, Lamy called for changes in local policies on land use, taxes on agricultural goods, infrastructure, credit and new technology for agriculure, etc. will have a greater impact on food security than global trade policy.
