WASHINGTON, June 25, 2007 -- There is a crisis in international agricultural trade and the World Bank and World Trade Organization have shown themselves incapable of adequately or effectively addressing agricultural issues, according to speakers at an international conference on agriculture held here today.
This message, and the need for a new model for regulating international trade in agricultural production to reduce wild swings in prices and maintain the viability of agricultural economies, were key themes at the first American meeting of the World Organization for Agriculture, a private, Paris-based organization.
Its conference at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, attended by representatives of more than 20 countries, presented new research on the failures of the current trade system and called for a fresh consideration of issues of risk, equity and security that would bring greater fairness and stability to international agriculture and trade.
The world’s future food security could be at stake, speakers warned.
“The incessant fighting among WTO negotiators does nothing but mask a simple reality – the WTO cannot adequately or effectively address agricultural production,” declared Pierre Pagesse, president of the World Organization for Agriculture.
The basic problem is that WTO focuses only on trade and makes no distinction between industries, ignoring the fundamental fact that agriculture is unique, Pagesse said.
“Markets for agricultural products do not follow the same laws as markets for manufactured goods.” Weather fluctuations alone can lead to price variations as high as 500 percent, he noted.
“This volatility creates imbalances that are incompatible with the viability of agricultural economies and the economies of developing countries. The volatility often causes global prices to drop below the cost of production.
“Under such conditions, the worldwide market for agricultural products, far from contributing to development, actually exacerbates these imbalances.”
Pagesse and other speakers called for “intelligent market regulation” as the essential basis for development, growth and food security. This should integrate all aspects of agriculture – economic, social, territorial, humanitarian, environmental, technological and cultural.
Speakers included Jean Bizet, prominent agricultural leader in the French Senate, Jacques Carles, executive director of the World Organization for Agriculture, and economist Bertrand Munier. The program was introduced by Sandra Polaski, director of the Carnegie Endowment’s Trade, Equity and Development Project.
Contact: Bob Cuthriell, John Adams Associates, 202-737-8400, rcuthriell@johnadams.com
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