ROME - 
(NewMediaWire) - October 6, 2014 - Governments ought to review the way
international agricultural commodity markets are governed, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told
ministers from around the world gathered for a meeting on the subject Monday.
Commodity markets caught global attention due to volatile food prices in the
past five years. While prices are currently declining, Graziano da Silva noted
that underlying issues lurk in market institutions largely forged in the 1970s.
Enormous changes since then, in production and distribution fronts, "have
had far-reaching implications not only for how international commodity markets
work but also for food security, property rights and access to productive
resources, and the position of smallholder commodity producers," he said in
opening remarks at FAO's third ministerial meeting on international
agricultural commodity market governance.
FAO has piloted the idea of creating
inclusive "multi-stakeholder fora" involving all stakeholders in a
particular commodity market: government, private sector producers and traders,
consumers and non-governmental organizations. It also hosts AMIS, the
Agricultural Market Information System, an early-warning monitoring service
that allows for coordinated response in times of stress, such as the 2012
droughts in North America and the Black Sea
region.
"We need more," Graziano da Silva said.
Lassaad Lachaal, Minister for Agriculture of Tunisia and chairperson of the
ministerial meeting, said there were "deficiencies" today in amassing
reliable, up-to-date information on commodity stock levels and trends and that
a stronger institutional scheme to promote policy coordination is needed.
"Governance-related issues are gaining increasing attention, especially in
light of the post-2015 Development Agenda," he said.
Ministers in
attendance included those from Burkina Faso, Central African
Republic, Georgia,
Haiti, Lebanon, Malawi,
Mauritania, Portugal, South
Africa, Sudan,
Tonga, Ukraine, United
Republic of Tanzania
and Zambia.
Other countries sent vice ministers or senior officials, including Italy, Japan,
the United
Kingdom and United States.
The Committee on Commodity Problems,
a FAO technical committee with more than 100 members set up in 1946 to survey
and review international aspects of commodity production, trade and
distribution, will meet from Tuesday 7 October through Thursday 9 October.
New priorities
One question ministers have been asked to discuss is how commodities should be
related to the broader international development goals of the Post-2015
Development Agenda. Commodity production and export account for a fifth of the world's economic
activity and are estimated to provide incomes and employment for more than a
billion people.
Smallholders in developing countries produce the lion's share of the world's
agricultural commodities, including non-staple foods such as sugar and coffee.
Improving their productivity and relative prosperity is central not only to
FAO's goal of eradicating hunger, but to the broader United Nations agenda of
supporting sustainability in all policy arenas.
Nearly two-thirds of developing countries rely on primary commodity exports for
more than 50 percent of their export earnings. Many countries have high levels
of dependence on commodities such as bananas, jute or cotton. Coffee alone
account s for two-thirds of Burundi's
export earnings.
Globally, 80 percent of coffee is produced by smallholders, and the figure is
higher for cocoa. Both products are part of global value chains that are often
dominated by distributors.
LEARN MORE:
Director-General Opening speech
Committee on Commodity Problems
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