Food security

Panellists in this session focused on the G20’s agriculture ministers’ “Action plan on food price volatility and agriculture”, highlighting new and evolving approaches for improving global governance of food security. Discussions began with an overview of the four main areas of work which were agreed by the G20 agriculture ministers: agricultural production in the long run, transparency and information in international markets, international coordination and risk management and financial markets. The G20 discussions had led to the establishment of the new Agriculture Marketing Information System (AMIS), a joint OECD/FAO initiative that seeks to provide up-to-date data on agriculture markets to as wide an audience as possible. The agencies represented on the panel highlighted the various fora that are available for countries to discuss approaches for achieving food security and the types of changes these organizations are making to contribute to global food security. Several panellists commented on the negative effect of export restrictions on global food security. In particular, the World Food Programme (WFP) stressed the importance of finding agreement on a resolution to prohibit export barriers for humanitarian purchases by the WFP at the WTO Ministerial in December 2011.