Access to food and the price paid for it is shaping up to be one of the great

flash points of the coming decade. (Note the role it played in the recent
Middle East uprisings). Increasingly countries are wary of open markets
and market forces being able to provide for future needs. But there are two
sides to the supply, demand and price for food. Apart from climatic factors,
one of the main problems has emerged from some food exporters
embargoing export of important food commodities for domestic reasons.
Through undertaking appropriate research, identify four examples of this
practice. Describe what has led to embargo on food exports. Evaluate the
effects the embargos have had upon food prices and availability around
the world.

According to recent news item in “Australian” food prices are the fuel for driving politics
as social fabric is tested when more than half of the worker’s income is spent on food and
energy bills. Recent financial crises may have compounded things further as lending
wasn’t available so farmers didn’t have financing for new plantation- which will
eventually lead to food shortage in the coming years. Another factor is consumption of
high protein foods and then there is increased demand for biofuels which means that food
crop is replaced by crops that can produce ethanol. Further decreased productivity of
recent years has fed back with higher costs of food supplies. IMF has warned that world
now faces newer pressures as scarcity of available arable land, water and energy bump up
costs of food production. World’s resource demands have increased with China’s
economy having grown 20 times since 1978 and Indian economy 4 times since 1991.
Food supply hence is a global issue (Kelly, 2011).

As Paarlberg (2010) suggests biodiversity would be lost in pursuit of increasing food

production to keep pace with increasing population. Food production may increase in the
short run but combination of falling water tables and desertification caused by plowing of
dry lands will be detrimental in the longer run. Thus efforts to expand arable land and
increase food production have had serious detrimental effect on environment, habitat and
forests. Increased stress on soil has led to rapid depletion of soil nutrients leading to
reduced crop land productivity. Average yield has declined in some African countries and
for sub Saharan region total food production has decreased. Average number of
malnourished persons has increased as food productivity has gone down along with
increased population. Expansion in biofuel production has been found to be correlated
with energy prices so much so that doubling of petroleum prices leads to one fifth
increase in the prices of grain.

International prices of basic commodities have increased sharply with FAO food price
index going up as well as sharp increased in rice prices. World cereal production has
fallen which combined with low stock levels magnified impact of production. Further as
noted there is high degree of correlation between petroleum and food prices which is
compounded by increased uptake of biofuels. Economic growth in some countries has
aggravated the situation with increased demand for food crops and finally export
embargoes by some countries also fed increase in food prices. As prices increased
developing countries who were net food buyers faced cash crunch as they had to spend
correspondingly higher amount of their budgets on food imports. Developing country
households, whose major chunk of budget is spent on food face problems as inflation eats
up their budgets. Governments have tried to keep domestic food prices in check by
providing subsidies – which might provide short term relief hampering long term
response of increasing production, lowering supply on international markets pushing
prices higher and finally subsidies strain national budgets reducing fiscal resources for
investment into developmental expenditure (“High food prices”, 2008). As Cudjoe et al
(2010) also mention global food prices have increased since 2007 highlighting increasing
complexity “the increasing complexity of the causes and effects of food price shocks in a
globalized world” (Cudjoe et al., 2010) and this sharp hike in the price of basic foods is
of special significance to world’s poor.

The increased food aid had limited impact on small fraction of the affected population.
Increasing debt led to mounting debt obligations as state turned to IMF and World Bank
to secure loans. These institutions demanded radical changes in infrastructure
management to grant loans As a result, there was a massive inflow of subsidized
agricultural commodities from the US and the European Union, which destroyed small
and medium size family farm producers of basic foodstuffs (“The Structural Roots of
Hunger Food Crises and Riots”, 2008 )
Recent embargo by Russia on grain exports as Russia’s domestic production became
hampered by drought left a significant vacuum in global wheat market as other major
producers also had below normal harvests. Although both India and China have high
wheat stocks their policies of protecting domestic consumers would prevent any
significant export to relieve vacuum- thus wheat prices are expected to soar significantly
(“Russian Wheat Embargo Likely to Raise Global Food Costs”, 2010).

According to “Food Security Options Paper” (2003) food insecurity affects the persons
on the periphery of socio economic tier – similarly people with low disposable incomes
are also likely to be affected. Low disposable incomes persons include unemployed,
indigenous communities and single mothers etc. Similarly food security refers to
individuals, households etc. who are able to access appropriate and nutritious food,
reliably in a socially acceptable manner. Food and nutrition are important aspects of
health and wellbeing. Poor nutrition due to insufficient, low quality or unreliable food
intake leads to ill health. Food security issues have arisen out of concerns for
globalization and sustainability. World food program in order to bridge the gap between
the worlds’ poorest suffering from hunger and the developing world.

The program aimed to establish longer term and sustainable developments so that food
insecure regions would attain some degree of self sufficiency further better trade channels
were established so that poorest countries could get better access to food surpluses in the
rich world. In order to sustain growth high yield varieties of basic grains were introduced
together with inputs of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and intensive irrigation schemes
supported by mechanized farming on large farms leading to dramatic increases in food
outputs. This in turn led to food security index as apparent boom in production led to
rising costs of production as oil prices rose directly and proportionately increasing costs
of linked oil based fertilizers and pesticides. Prices of food may not be significantly low
again, looking back at the high of USD 140 a barrel in 2009. Edible food grains and
related arable land was changed to production of ethanol or “biofuel” to supplement
skyrocketing fuel prices. Government ironically subsidized ethanol production giving
messages that production of fuel base was more important than feeding the hungry. This
catch 22 is bound to cause stress at the juncture where poorer nations imported cheaper
grains. Increase in the number of livestock as demand soared consumed more of the
outputs and arable land was selectively utilized for urbanization – real estate
development. In tandem increased wastage from storage and distribution systems;
households and environment degradation of food growing lands due to changing global
climates; speculative hoarding denied cheaper access to food grains by poorer nations.
Agencies alike IMF and WTO have fed this cycle by encouraging poorer nations to
export their exports to earn foreign exchange and import cheaper foods available from
western nations. Increased costs of former “cheaper foods” as prices of the sourced grains
from western nations increased have lead into a vicious circle increasing costs of access
to food by poorer nations. This might lead to poorer nation’s return back to their on
resources and decrease dependency on outside options. Also increasing costs would lead
to increased hunger and destabilizing of political fabric as the concerned country might
become unable to feed its people. This stalemate would either lead to more debt through
IMF or Worldbank or possible make country unable to pay its debts like in case of
Greece recently (Jarosz, 2007).

Oil prices increases therefore led to refocus on localizing food production. Ancillary
focus was on reduction of carbon foot print – reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to
reduce effect on climate. Emphasis changed to reducing local food insecurity for people
and ensuring greater benefits to farmers, especially smaller ones to focus on localized
food production systems where returns are apparently higher than those currently obtained
in conventional supply chains.

Increasing oil prices have challenged industrial and commodity chains that ensured
access of fresh fruits and vegetables from across the world transported in energy
intensive air-conditioned vehicles. Poorer countries sourced cheaper grain from
developed countries and used arable lands to grow export crops to pay for imports of
industrial goods and technological items. ‘Food-miles’ describes the total distance food
travels from production farm, to plate. Increased “food miles” have been fueled by
increases in volumes of goods traded. IMF and World Bank have been behind impetus by
poorer nations to switch produce to export surpluses replacing localized food systems to
import of cheap or subsided grains imported from Western nations. Food imported from
rich countries has typically been cheaper than local food because of advantages of large-
scale industrial agriculture, fueled by oil-based energy and fertilizers, and also because
production in those western countries still remains subsidized by governments. Exports
have been facilitated by low-cost bulk sir-conditioned transport, of perishable food and
even flowers to the global North. Even for a country like Australia, food imports have
grown faster than exports over the past 20 years. Recent concerns of food miles has been
fueled by associations of increased carbon foot print through high food miles food and
also because of possible prevalence of bacteria in foods that have been improperly treated
for either extension of shelf life or long travel.

AFN according to Hernández (2009) may be defined as the systems or channels for food
production, distribution and consumption connected to producer, produce and consumer
respectively. These networks allow for development of newer forms of relationship and
enhance re-distribution of value for primary producers. There is a wide variety of
practices that attempt to settle food procurement systems which are different from
conventional patterns- the alternativeness content of each AFN depends on specific mix
of product, process and place. Finally the networks have true geographic foundation as
there territory is dynamic and their nature is shaped by proximity within milieu of
producers and consumers. Also of interest is the AFN may not be alternative networks in
European context as some of the networks may already be existent because of lack of
pervasiveness of corporate system (Hernández, 2009). Contemporary agri-food systems
are defined by extension of food supply chains globally by resources of corporate agri-
business and by retail sector. Alternative and shorter food networks are emerging as a
response to increasing quantity of food production.

Jarosz (2007) believes that AFNs are dynamic processes and are result of interactions
between rural restructuring and urbanization. AFNs are reliant upon processes of agrarian
political and economical change. Urbanization on the other hand yields increase in farmer
markets as demand for local produce increases – higher income persons would be more
prone to paying more and getting local fresh produce.

Consumers who are into eating locally produced food may find that food alternative is a
way to increase control over the quality of food that they eat. Certified food networks
would give consumers a level of trust in food that they consume. Alternative food choice
may be defined in many ways as ‘specialty’, ‘quality’ and it consumers are driven by
either authentic homeland food or food grown from as particular locale or simply others
may want their food free from chemicals (pesticides and chemical fertilizers). It seems
that the main common ingredient behind impulses of all of the above could be seeking
something besides mainstream agrarian industry products. Alternative food networks thus
build a new trust between producer and consumer, and further redistribute value through
the network. Europe is way ahead of US for appreciating alternative food (Blay-Palmer,
2008).
References

Paarlberg, R. (2010). Food politics : what everyone needs to know. OUP: UK

(2008). High food prices: Impact and recommendations [online]

http://www.ifad.org/operations/food/ceb.htm [retrieved on 27th Mar, 2011]

Kelly, P. (2011). “High Food Prices Feed Unrest in Developing World” . The Australian.
page 12

Cudjoe, G., Breisinger, C., Diao, X. “Local impacts of a global crisis: Food price
transmission, consumer welfare and poverty in Ghana”. Food Policy 35 (2010) 294–302

(2008). “Rising Food Prices: Causes and Consequences” OECD [online]

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/42/40847088.pdf [retrieved on 27th Mar, 2011]

(2008). “The Structural Roots of Hunger, Food Crises and Riots”. Canadian Dimension.
[online]
http://www.activistmagazine.com/index.php?
option=com_content&task=view&id=914&Itemid=143 [retrieved on 27th Mar, 2011]

Blay-Palmer, A. Food fears : from industrial to sustainable food systems. Ashgate

Publishing Limited: UK

2003. Food Security Options Paper: A planning framework and menu of options for
policy and practice interventions[online]
http://sydney.edu.au/science/molecular_bioscience/cphn/pdfs/food_security.pdf
[retrieved on 27th Mar, 2011]
Jarosz, L.(2008).The city in the country: Growing alternative food networks in
Metropolitan areas Journal of Rural Studies, Volume 24, Issue 3, Pages 231-244

Hernández, J. L.S. (2009). “Alternative Food Networks: Concept, Typology And

Adaptation To The Spanish Context” Pages 375-380 [online]
http://age.ieg.csic.es/boletin.htm [retrieved on 27th Mar, 2011]