Global effort urged on grain yields

BEIJING/BRUSSELS - Senior United Nations officials said all countries should make special efforts to greatly boost grain yields to feed the growing global population and combat price volatility, while warning that global food prices are expected to stay high for the coming decade.

To increase output, the officials urged governments across the world to massively boost agricultural research.

"The international community and governments worldwide have no other option but to continuously enhance agricultural investment to boost yields, which can efficiently boost stocks," Li Zhengdong, China representative to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, told China Daily.

Li said the chronic fluctuation of food prices results from population growth and a decrease in arable land, water and genetic resources.

Meanwhile, frequent occurrences of extreme weather and natural disasters globally have also reduced agricultural yields.

"So we must enhance investment in agricultural sectors to increase grain yields, which is the essential solution to the current situation," Li said.

Kanayo Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), said advancing food security and poverty reduction lies in the hands of smallholder farmers, particularly female ones.

"In China, Africa and other parts of the developing world, smallholders produce 80 percent of the food that is consumed by 80 percent of the (world) population," Nwanze told China Daily in an exclusive interview in Beijing last week.

According to Li Zhengdong, the FAO Food Price Index averaged 234 points in June 2011, 1 percent higher than in May and 39 percent higher than in June 2010. The index hit an all-time high of 238 points in February.

Li added that a strong rise in international sugar prices was behind much of the increase in the June value of the index. International dairy prices rose slightly in June, while meat prices were stable. Of all the major cereals, wheat prices fell most and rice increased, and among oils and fats, soybean oil prices were steady but palm oil weakened.

In the coming decade, Li said average global grain prices will rise at a faster pace but the grain yield will achieve slower growth than the previous decade.

"The new situation will put more pressure on global food security and harm developing countries, especially those facing food shortages," said Li.

To address the challenges, Li called for more market regulation of agricultural products and improved transaction transparency.

"We need to take the strictest measures to keep an eye on global capital flows and financial tools, and prevent massive speculation," said Li.

Meanwhile, Li warned that every country should be cautious about introducing the measures to limit exports and subsidize imports.

"We need to strengthen global policy coordination and avoid introducing improper trade policies," said Li.

Nwanze said it is logical that the productivity of small farmers should be increased.

"But the mistake that we've made is that we have marginalized them, because we thought they were not important, we thought they might just need some handouts, but actually it goes beyond that," he said.

"Women in the developing world carry out most of the agricultural activities. In Africa, for example, 60 to 80 percent of the activities from planting to marketing are done by women. Studies have shown that women are better managers. When the women are empowered, the communities are empowered."

As one of the world's major three Rome-based UN agricultural agencies, IFAD was established in 1977 to help finance agricultural development projects primarily for food production in developing countries.

The organization started to work with China in 1981 and since then it has financed the operation of 23 projects, with a total investment of $560 million, mostly in remote and mountainous areas of northwestern China, such as Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.

Although poor and having less access to education, smallholders and family producers in these areas, with a strong personal incentive to get the most from their land, have an important role in feeding the country and that's why IFAD devotes "100 percent" to investing in them, said Nwanze, who recently visited a project in Gansu.

With 20 percent of the world's population but only 9 percent of the farming land, China has made "tremendous progress" in terms of poverty reduction, which also sets a model for South-South cooperation, Nwanze said.

Besides sending experts to and sharing technology with other countries, one thing that impressed Nwanze is that China is also trying to learn from them through mutually beneficial exchanges, rather than simply teaching them what they should do.

Many of China's agricultural policies and technologies, including promoting agricultural investment and developing value chains, can be of value to small farmers elsewhere in Asia and in Africa, he said.

"China has surpassed Millennium Development Goal (MDG) One, and through China, we would like to achieve the global target for MDG One," Nwanze said.

Beyond food security, developing agriculture boosts employment, offers better health and nutrition and creates a better future for children and gender equality, he added.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/01/2011 page11)