UN Food and Agriculture Organization released a report today that found the increasing number of food emergencies around the world are caused by bad politics rather than bad weather. The report also found that trade liberalization benefits rich countries because developed countries have maintained tariffs and subsidies to protect their domestic producers, even while they press poor countries to eliminate barriers to trade. The result of this subsidized food production in the developed world is that commodity prices fall, harming farmers in the poor countries. Report finds a need for global anti-hunger programs and political reforms in poor countries, but that shared mobilization of resources and official development aid can help.
See Canadian Press, The Globe and Mail, November 24, 2003