Food prices have reached record highs over the last year, with prices of basic crops such as corn and rice hitting record highs. There have been food riots in countries across the world where food prices have hit the poor and vulnerable most hard and The World Bank is now warning us that the rising cost of food could lead to political destabilisation in over thirty countries worldwide.

 

The sudden price hikes, which follow many years of falling prices for agricultural produce, are a result of rising demand combined with supply shortages. US and European demand for crops for biofuels is competing with the demand for animal feed crops to produce meat for western consumption and increasing demand in emerging economies. Poor harvests in countries hit by drought have also affected supplies, while rising oil prices have pushed up fertiliser and transport costs.

 

Locally we are already feeling the pinch, as prices of certain food stuffs have skyrocketed and are no longer affordable to the poorer strata of our society. In poorer countries this is resulting in people not being able to feed themselves, hence starvation.

 

It is also worrying to note that in Malta we import approximately 80% of our food requirements. No wonder that recent local statistics show that the price of fresh agricultural produce has shot up by 27.2% in the past year.

 

The construction boom that we have witnessed over the past decades has drastically reduced our agricultural land and hence our food producing capacity. The ever decreasing price of agricultural produce ate away the farmer’s profit margins to an extent that many found it more profiting to sell their land for development and find work in the services sector. This does not imply that Malta is capable of ever becoming self sufficient in producing its own food requirements, but a lot more can be done to protect our remaining agricultural land and use it in a more sustainable way.

 

Friends of the Earth believes that the global nature of our food economy is at the heart of the problem. Countries around the world have been encouraged to rely on export-led production largely to feed high levels of consumption in the industrialised countries at the expense of local food sufficiency, leaving them vulnerable to sudden changes in price. As long as the prices were low, this trend was very convenient for Maltese consumers as we were importing agricultural produce for cheap.

 

Now that the global scenario is changing we need to produce enough affordable and nutritious food by ensuring a fair deal for farmers meeting local and regional needs, whilst also investing in research into farming methods which can protect ecosystems and help tackle climate change.

 

Some suggest that the solution to the current food crisis is to extend global markets, introduce more intensive agricultural methods and more genetically-modified crops. Friends of the Earth believes that these are false solutions that will deepen the model of dependence for developing countries and small farmers, and continue our dependence on high energy use, high water use and agrochemicals.

 

Food and Climate Change

Agriculture is in the front-line when it comes to feeling the effects of climate change. National and international governments must urgently implement measures to tackle climate change. In Malta Friends of the Earth is lobbying for the enactment of a National Climate Change Legislation that enforces a net decrease of 10% below 1990 levels.

 

Farmers in the developing world are already among those feeling the harshest impacts of climate change. Droughts in parts of East Africa have had devastating effects on local food suppliers. Farmers in the world’s driest regions face problems from increased desertification and soil erosion. This has an impact on our local immigration challenge as environmental migrants are increasingly looking towards Europe as the only way of escaping certain death.

 

Special farming techniques such as Organic and other modern sustainable farming methods have proven benefits in withstanding drought and flooding, but financial support and technical assistance from the developed world is desperately needed.

 

FoE Malta believes the impact of meat, dairy and other livestock products on land use must be urgently addressed. Intensive meat production is highly inefficient. For each kilo of beef, 5kg of high protein feedstuff is needed. Up to ninety percent of all agricultural crops are being used for animal feed. Europe imports every year 55 million tons of feedstuffs from the US, Brazil and other Southern countries, taking up land which could be used more efficiently to produce much needed food for human consumption.

 

At the same time, if we are to assess the true environmental and social damage of farming practices, these costs must be reflected in prices. The Government must begin the process of assessing the true cost of products. It must also be active at a European level where efforts to tackle this are slow and weighed down by vested interests.

 

We produce more than enough food to feed the world - the problem is ensuring a fair distribution of food supplies to allow enough nutritional food for everyone, without destroying the planet’s natural resources.

This article was published in the August 2008 edition of the Malta Economic Update.