Guide for policy and programmatic actions at country level to address high food prices

The FAO Food Price Index, a measure of basic food prices at international level, peaked in December 2010. In January 2011, the agency published an updated guide for policy-makers in developing countries. FAO has called upon countries to examine the implications of high food prices and not to take any policy actions that might appear useful in the short term but could have harmful, longer-term effects or even aggravate the situation. The report argues that experience of the 2007-2008 food crisis shows that hastily taken decisions by governments to mitigate the impact of the crisis, have actually contributed to or exacerbated the crisis and aggravated its impact on food insecurity. In the medium and longer term, the report argues that only investment in developing countries' agricultural sectors will result in sustainable increases in productivity, healthy markets, increased resilience to international price spikes and improved food security. The report favours community seed production to enhance access to both traditional and improved seed varieties at the community level. The report urges countries to apply Integrated Pest Management (IPM), based on a thorough understanding of agro-ecosystems that will allow farmers to reduce the use of pesticides, as well as measures to reduce post-harvest losses and to adopt low-cost mechanical conservation agriculture. The report also discusses instruments that can be used to target the food insecurity of the poor, such as safety net programmes based on food or cash transfers. The report mentions that it is extremely important to consider the interactions between safety nets and "development" interventions in order to build on potential synergies and to avoid having either type of intervention undermine the other.

FAO's Initiative on soaring food prices - January 2011