SELA PREPARES STUDY ON FOOD SECURITY AND FOOD PRICES IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

Caracas, 24 September 2010 – Within the framework of the XXXVI Regular Meeting of the Latin American Council, to be held from 27 to 29 October, participants will analyze the document “Food Security and Food Prices in Latin America and the Caribbean: Current Situation and Prospects”. The document, prepared by the Permanent Secretariat, reviews the impact of this problem on the various countries and subregions.

This study by SELA examines the evolution of commodity prices in 2010, compared with the prices recorded in previous years, as well as the results of recent summits, conferences and regional and international initiatives related to the subject. The study also submits possible actions to face the food crisis for consideration of the governments. Even though the food price index is now 50 percent above the values registered prior to the price increases recorded as of 2004, they are still far from the record values seen during the first half of 2008.

Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole is the only net food exporter region of the world. However, since the beginning of the crisis the number of people suffering from hunger has increased to 53 million people, or 10% of its population. The region produces over 60 percent of its food needs and has a broad surplus in its food trade balance. Hunger and malnutrition in the region are not related to food shortage, but to problems in accessing foodstuff.

The document states that there have been significant achievements in the food situation in Latin America and the Caribbean as regards the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The proportion of hungry people in the region has dropped from 12 percent in 1990 to 9 percent at present, and the situation has been particularly successful in the cases of Brazil, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Peru.

Brazil, for instance, through the policies of its Zero Hunger programme and thanks to its strong economic growth, has reduced the proportion of hungry people from 9 to 6 percent and eradicated 73 percent of child malnutrition in a period of four years.

Despite food security difficulties in the region, the great potential for food production in Latin America and the Caribbean and the emphasis on solving the problem since 2002 make it feasible to comply with the MDG target of reducing the proportion of hungry people in LAC by the year 2015.

In its document, SELA proposes to promote an initiative called Mechanism for Priority Food Supply (MAPA) among the Latin American and Caribbean countries. Such a mechanism would have as operating pillars the protection of family farming, the implementation through regional technical cooperation and coordinating institutions, the participation of civil society, technical cooperation for better management of natural resources, and the inclusion of important fishery resources in the region into the agreements on food security.

As a coordinating and consulting organization, which brings together 27 countries, SELA could play the role of coordinating the MAPA, with a view to searching for solutions to the problem of hunger in a collective way and from a regional perspective.

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