Bill Clinton, ex US president, was speaking at world food day recently. He said:
Right on Bill. Oh and we need to sort out international trade in food. Should it be protected by tariff walls? That would have the advantage of keeping food local, but I don't think that it would do much for price swings... what do you think? It would have the merit of showing how much of the local food crop could be used to produce fuel, I suppose.
"We should go back to a policy of maximum agricultural self-sufficiency," Clinton said. While there would always be a global market for crops like rice, wheat and corn, he added, "it is crazy for us to think we can develop a lot of these countries where I work without increasing their capacity to feed themselves and treating food like it was a color television set."
Right on Bill. Oh and we need to sort out international trade in food. Should it be protected by tariff walls? That would have the advantage of keeping food local, but I don't think that it would do much for price swings... what do you think? It would have the merit of showing how much of the local food crop could be used to produce fuel, I suppose.
Comments (2)
Ideally every region and country grows enough basic foodstuffs so that those people can (usually) feed themselves. Specialty crops (coffee, etc.) then goes into trade. Excess basic foodstuffs go to helping those with drought or flooding problems.
Maybe some import/export tariffs or controls are also required for such food sufficiency programs to work. The Doha round died on just such issues.
Posted by David B. Benson | October 28, 2008 11:43 PM
Posted on October 28, 2008 23:43
Hi David,
I guess that world trade in oil is pretty simple in comparison with about 20 producing countries/companies and millions of customers producing one product which is 90% used for one use. The world trade in food (and by extension biofuels) is more complex than that with millions of producers and consumers with many uses. The complexity issue makes trade agreements in this area very very hard to reach.
Posted by Simon Robinson
|
October 29, 2008 9:36 AM
Posted on October 29, 2008 09:36