Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Accra (Agenzia Fides) - “It is time for wealthier nations to rethink old-fashioned programmes of agricultural subsidies. Economists agree that they inhibit trade and disproportionately penalize poorer nations, contributing to the current emergency.” These were the words of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon referring to the agricultural subsidies of Western countries (“old-fashioned programmes”) as one of the main causes of the lack of agricultural development in poorer nations, thus contributing to the world food crisis.
Ban Ki-Moon gave the opening remarks at the 12th UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Accra (Ghana). “The UNCTAD conference could not have come at a more crucial time. We see a situation of disturbing threat for many developing nations,” the UN Secretary General said. According to Ban Ki-Moon, the rise in the price of grains could be counteractive, in light of the progress that has been made and the goals for the millennium that had planned to reduce world poverty. Faced with the lack of food supplies, various nations have forbidden export of food items and others have begun initiatives to facilitate the import of agricultural materials. “If not handled properly, this crisis could trigger a cascade of other multiple crises,” the UN Secretary General said, foreseeing the possibility of not only an economic crisis, but also a political one, with disastrous consequences on a worldwide level. From his remarks, one is left with fear for the tensions that could end in conflicts from a struggle for the control of food supply.
While Ban Ki-Moon heavily criticizes the subsidies made by the economically stronger nations towards their agricultural producers, Senegal’s President Abdoulaye Wade has launched a campaign against those whom he defined as “croque-morts” (French), who viciously starve others for their own advantages. “The food aid is a pretext that has turned into a business performed by some NGOs, and in some cases, a great fraud. The heads of state in Africa could tell their experience of how alleged donations arrive tainted by the stealing that they have passed along the way of their transport,” the Senegalese President affirmed. Wade called for an investigation of “the scandal of the century,” the “economy of hunger,” that only benefits alleged “humanitarian workers” and not the people in need. Senegal is one of the African nations most affected by the international agricultural crisis. In order to meet its demands, Senegal has established “an agricultural offense for nutrition and abundance,” in order to increase national agricultural production.
The increase in grain prices is a result of various factors. According to experts, one of the factors is the financial crisis in the housing market of the United Sates. International financial officers, as they cannot invest any more in this market, have placed their resources in the raw-material market, whose prices have been gradually rising since three years ago, due to the increase of demand from Asian countries. Among the raw materials are not only included minerals and petroleum, but grains. Since the housing market crisis in August 2007, speculative contracts for grains and soy beans has tripled, creating soaring prices. Can the lives of nations be traded in exchange for more money in the pocketbook? (LM) (Agenzia Fides 21/4/2008; righe 42, parole 530)
