Extreme weather events that disrupt harvests lead to rising food prices, hitting hard the world’s poor who spend the majority of their incomes on food. The poor often work in agriculture, but rising costs of inputs and consumer resistance against rising prices “can reduce farmers’ profit margins, distort long-term planning and dampen investment in improved productivity,” explains Shenggen Fan for the Jakarta Post. Fan recommends governments to tackle known challenges with a comprehensive approach: curtailing subsides and reforming policies on biofuels; adding social protections to prevent hunger, eliminating export restrictions and enhancing trade transparency; discontinuing import tariffs and non-tariff barriers; promoting agriculture among small stakeholders; establishing international humanitarian emergency grain reserves and investing in climate-change adaptation and mitigation. Fan urges international food, agriculture and trade groups to join governments in scrutinizing energy needs and other aspects of production, consumption and trade and preparing before the next crisis hits. – YaleGlobal
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