By Benson AFFUL
Global agricultural production is expected to grow by1.5% a year on average over the coming decade, compared with annual growth of 2.1% between 2003 and 2012, according to a new report published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
Limited expansion of agricultural land, rising production costs, growing resource constraints and increasing environmental pressures are the main factors behind the trend. But the report argues that farm commodity supply should keep pace with global demand.
The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2013-2022 expects prices to remain above historical averages over the medium term for both crop and livestock products due to a combination of slower production growth and stronger demand, including for biofuels,
The report says agriculture has been turned into an increasingly market-driven sector, as opposed to policy-driven as it was in the past, thus offering developing countries important investment opportunities and economic benefits, given their growing food demand, potential for production expansion and comparative advantages in many global markets.
However, production shortfalls, price volatility and trade disruption remain a threat to global food security. The OECD/FAO Outlook warns: ?As long as food stocks in major producing and consuming countries remain low, the risk of price volatility is amplified. A wide-spread drought such as the one experienced in 2012, on top of low food stocks, could raise world prices by 15-40 percent.?
The report quoted FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva as saying: ?High food prices are an incentive to increase production and we need to do our best to ensure that poor farmers benefit from them. Let?s not forget that 70 percent of the world?s food insecure population lives in rural areas of developing countries and that many of them are small-scale and subsistence farmers themselves.?
He added: ?China?s agricultural production has been tremendously successful. Since 1978, the volume of agricultural production has grown almost five fold and the country has made significant progress towards food security. China is on track to achieving the first millennium development goal of hunger reduction.
While China?s production has expanded and food security has improved, resource and environmental issues need more attention. Growth in livestock production could also face a number of challenges. We are happy to work with China to find viable and lasting solutions.?
Developing countries to gain
?Driven by growing populations, higher incomes, urbanization and changing diets, consumption of the main agricultural commodities will increase most rapidly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, followed by Latin America and other Asian economies.
?The share of global production from developing countries will continue to increase as investment in their agricultural sectors narrows the productivity gap with advanced economies,? the report said.
It said developing countries, for example, are expected to account for 80 percent of the growth in global meat production and capture much of the trade growth over the next 10 years. They will account for the majority of world exports of coarse grains, rice, oilseeds, vegetable oil, sugar, beef, poultry and fish by 2022.
To capture a share of these economic benefits, governments will need to invest in their agricultural sectors to encourage innovation, increase productivity and improve integration in global value chains, FAO and OECD stressed.
It added that agricultural policies need to address the inherent volatility of commodity markets with improved tools for risk management while ensuring the sustainable use of land and water resources and reducing food loss and waste.
The FAO/ OECD report sync with a recent report conducted by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the Ghana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) which revealed that a number of farmers lost 30-50 percent of their harvests over the last five years due to the climate change; as a result their incomes were affected.
This made the Country Director of FES advised government to adopt good policies to ensure food security; otherwise the impact of climate change on the country could be disastrous.
