Trying to make food cheaper – Governments have to invest in long-term solutions to keep food prices down
JOHANNESBURG, 16 March 2010 (IRIN): The price of maize, sorghum (durra), wheat and other staple grains (grundnæringsmidler) is likely to climb again in many food-importing east African countries, agricultural economists warn.
In the third of a four-part series on food security – “Are we heading for another crisis?” – IRIN looks at a region where 20 million people are in need of food aid, and what could be done to avoid another food-price crisis.
Globally, the price of most staples like maize and wheat have been falling, but people in east Africa are still paying up to double the 2007 price, said the new food security update by the UN Food and Agriculture Organi-zation (FAO).
A complexity of factors influences food prices in most of the regions countries: inade-quate rainfall and poor harvests, dys-functional markets, civil conflicts, poor infrastructure and high transport costs.
In some instances a combination of all these factors, as in Somalia, could see prices shoot up again, the FAO update said.
Analysts offer a range of viewpoints on why food continues to be expensive, but everyone concurs (samtykker i) that the long-term solution of investing in agricultural infrastructure and improving crop yields is eastern Africas only way out of expensive food.
Christopher Barrett, a leading food aid expert who teaches development economics at Cornell University, in the US, pointed out:
– Lack of supporting infrastructure (such as roads and water supply for irrigation) and institutions (such as contract enforcement, seasonal credit availability) drive up costs enormously in more remote areas where the poorest and hungriest continue to live.
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