Developing nations must end West's grain monopoly
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In the past, the US took advantage of its dominating role in global food market to adopt food as its political weapon. This also caused instability in global food prices.
As the main global food supplier, and because it was untouched by direct conflict, the US made a great fortune during the two world wars, when food production plunged elsewhere. After the wars ended, various nations, greatly suffering from overcharged grain prices, invested an enormous sum of capital toboost their own grain production and stopped purchasing grain from the US at inflated prices. The global grain price therefore fell for nearly 20 years.
In the US, dominating grain companies did not easily submit to the huge losses. The major grain multinationals have a profound background within the European and American markets. The US also dominated the global grain market through Chicago's grain futures exchange. These organs were the greatest beneficiaries and the grain importers were the victim of the two food crises in the past four years.
Statistics from the World Bank showed that more than 44 million people were mired in poverty owing to the latest food crisis.
I believe we need to create a "global grain bank" to balance prices. We could undersell grain when the price is rocketing and purchase greater supplies if the price is below the cost. The BRIC nations have not played a manipulative role in the grain market in the past, and they are capable of serving as administrators of such a reserve.
Recently, the BRIC nations have made great contributions to global food security. Brazil has the largest amount of exploitable land in the world. Russia has largely reduced its volume of imports and now exports 10 percent of the world's total wheat, even though the Soviet Union mainly relied on imports during the Cold War. China has made constant efforts to stabilize global food prices, especially during the 2008 crisis.
The State grain reserve system plays a key role in China's stabilized grain price. China has also accumulated lots of experience fighting against ballooning prices, which could be drawn upon to set up a global grain reserve alliance.
Developed nations have the best land resources while bearing little responsibility in guaranteeing food security. Therefore, they should be expected to put some of their idle land to use, providing supplies for the putative grain bank.
In the meantime, the BRIC nations should cooperate to establish a global grain reserve system and preserve prices at a stable level.
The author is a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, the Renmin University of China. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
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