A Ministry for “Food, Agriculture and Fisheries”

In the latest French cabinet reshuffle, the ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries underwent a name change to broaden its area of expertise to include food. This name change stresses the basic link between agriculture and food, or even food security.

Be it in developing countries, where the recent food riots proved that food security was far from being a certainty, or in developed countries, where the issue is more one of food supply quality that is far from being a vested reality.

The expansion of the ministry’s portfolio is indeed proof that food security is becoming highlighted again––not a luxury in a world where over a billion people suffers from hunger. Bruno Le Maire, the new Minister for “Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, will have his plate full to convince his contacts, particularly at the European Commission, that the right to eat one’s fill has no price, whatever will be the market regulatory policies that need to be implemented to guarantee food security.