Global agreement nears:

Target to tackle food speculators

ITALY: The world’s leading industrialised and developing nations inched closer to agreement Sunday to target food speculators in plans to be put to leaders at July’s G8 summit.

Italian farming minister and host Luca Zaif said that a final declaration following weekend talks was imminent, and that “the atmosphere is good and gives rise to hopes of a positive outcome.”

Cartels that seek to drive up the price of crops such as rice are in the firing line after skyrocketing prices for basic foodstuffs last year triggered riots in some poorer nations around the world.

Italy is pushing for action to tackle commercial price-fixing, with both Rome and French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier pushing for global stockpiling of essential foodstuffs.

Barnier told reporters that an international system to manage food reserves was being sought “to fight against speculators preying on primary foodstuffs, which is scandalous.”

He said the world needed the sort of supply management systems that operate across the European Union, adding: “There are no excuses for not reacting — a billion people are suffering from hunger.”

Fears of underinvestment in agriculture in developing nations have also risen due to the global economic downturn since farm ministers were instructed to find ways to limit food price volatility at the last G8 summit in Japan.

The United Nations says nearly one billion people suffer from hunger across the globe, and food security is a key theme for G8 leaders going into their next summit in Sardinia, Italy on July 8-10.

The current talks gather G8 and G5 agriculture ministers — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States being joined by Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa.

Ministers from Argentina, Australia and Egypt are also attending, as well as officials from bodies including the African Union, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Bank. Cison Di Valmarino,Monday, AFP