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Latin America and the Caribbean Hit Hard by Soaring Prices 30th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean Brasilia, 15 April, 2008 – The problem of soaring food prices is being analyzed at the 30th FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean. The meeting, which takes place from 14 to 18 April in Brasilia, is the main forum of debate among the 33 countries that comprise the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in the region. FAO Director General Jacques Diouf, who participated in the inaugural session along with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, affirmed that while “the rise in food prices could increase hunger, these higher prices could at the same time benefit millions of small farmers, men and women who produce food for their own consumption and for sale to local markets. Taking advantage of the opportunities, however, requires consistent and sustainable policies, as well as investments in human capital, rural infrastructure and other public goods.” For his part, referring to rising food prices, FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean Jose Graziano da Silva, asserted that “the challenge is to support the small farmers to produce more and better, strengthening both their food security and their incomes. If we can achieve that, we can advance in the reduction of extreme rural poverty in the region, which affects some 36 million people, or 30 percent of the rural population.” The FAO Regional Conference provides a neutral forum to Ministers of Agriculture, Livestock, Food Security, Environment, Rural Development, and Natural Resources, as well as other high-ranking civil servants and governmental specialists, to analyze the challenges facing the Region in these areas. The Secretary of the Regional Conference, Carlos Carneiro, noted that, "in addition to the subject of the rise of food prices, (we) will discuss an ample range of subjects, including the opportunities and challenges of bio-energy, food security and the environment, control and containment of trans-boundary diseases, joint action between public and private sectors in rural development and the fight against hunger". Given that this region produces an estimated 30 percent more daily food calories than is required to meet the minimum nutritional needs of the entire regional population, the main impediment to food security is access to food. In the short term it is probable that the rapid expansion of bio-fuel production at the global level will have significant effects on the agricultural sector of Latin America and the Caribbean. It may occasion changes in demand, foreign trade, the allocation of productive inputs (land, water, investment, etc.), and finally an increase in the price of traditional and energy-related crops, putting at risk the poorest sectors access to food. Bio-energy presents opportunities and risks to food security and the environment in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. The opportunities lay in the possibility of generating more jobs and better incomes by including family farms in the response to the increasing demand for bio-diesel and ethanol. However, bio-energy will only bring benefits if its production is environmentally friendly and takes into consideration the different realities of each country, which is why FAO insists that it is indispensable to implement a set of policies that diminish the risks and contribute to the sustainable and equitable development of bio-fuels. It is up to governments to create policies and suitable support mechanisms (financial, technical, logistical, etc.) that guarantee and promote access to food for the most vulnerable groups. Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Hunger The FAO initiative “Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Hunger”, launched in 2005, aims to position hunger high on national agendas. The initiative has the financial support of the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation (AECI) and places emphasis on the implementation of medium- and long-term public policies and collaboration between countries to fight hunger. The project seeks to reinforce the policies and initiatives associated with the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations (MDGs), while proposing an even more ambitious target: the complete eradication of the hunger in the region. The three major objectives, raising awareness, training and monitoring of the food situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, are meant to contribute to a better understanding of the urgency of hunger in the Region and establish that the eradication of this scourge is not only an ethical obligation but also an attainable achievement. Between 1990-92 and 2002-04, the percentage of the population in Latin America and the Caribbean that was undernourished declined from 13% to 10%, which means that more than seven million fewer people live with hunger. But the scourge of hunger still batters the 52.4 million undernourished people in the Region, nine million of who are minors under five years of age. Within the overall effort to eradicate hunger in all of Latin America and the Caribbean, the intermediate goal is to eradicate chronic infant undernourishment by 2015. Concretely, the FAO project supporting the Initiative has contributed to the development of food security and nutrition laws in Ecuador and Guatemala, and is supporting the design of new laws in Bolivia, Haiti, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay and Peru. Related links:
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