Central American countries agree on the need for regional responses to food price hikes
San Salvador, El Salvador, June 16, 2011 (ECLAC, FAO, IICA, RUTA). Responses integrated at the regional level are required to address the present scenario of food price hikes and volatility. That was the conclusion reached by the high-level representatives of the Central American countries who took part in a policy dialogue promoted by ECLAC, FAO, IICA and RUTA in the Salvadorian capital.
According to Alan Bojanic, FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, “The priority areas for joint action established by the ministers and deputy ministers of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras were transparency and competition in markets, the deepening of free trade within the region, risk financing and management, and support for family agriculture and social protection.”
One of the main recommendations to emerge from the dialogue was that the joint program aimed at strengthening agricultural production and food security should form part of the work of the Central American Integration System (SICA), with support from FAO, ECLAC and IICA.
The Director of ECLAC’s Subregional Headquarters in Mexico, Hugo E. Beteta, summed up the current situation: “The agricultural sectors of most of the Central American countries have seen their physical, human and environmental assets decline. The challenges posed by food price hikes and volatility, and by climate change, are exacerbating existing problems with which only modest progress has been made, such as the countries’ high rates of rural poverty and the fact that their human capital is weak in both educational and nutritional terms.”
The Director General of IICA, Víctor M. Villalobos, said that since little new land was available for producing food in Central America, the countries needed to innovate and create programs targeted at the most vulnerable sectors.
“Rising and volatile food prices are having a serious impact on Central America, which imports more than 50% of the grains and legumes it consumes. The poor are hardest hit because they use a larger slice of their income to purchase food. For this reason, in addition to promoting innovation and its transfer we have to increase production and reduce poverty and hunger,” Villalobos said.
Better prices for producers and consumers
One of the points on which all the participants in the dialogue were agreed was the need for more transparency and competition in markets and in food price information, in order to create a more level playing field for small-scale producers and consumers.
“Consumers pay US$80 a hundred-weight for the red beans that I produce and sell for US$30. That gives you an idea of the problem that small-scale producers and consumers face where middlemen are concerned,” said Álvaro Fiallos, President of the Central American Rural Dialogue, an umbrella organization of small farmers in the isthmus. Small-scale agriculture could not be considered an obstacle, he added.
Policies in support of small-scale agriculture were seen as a key priority in the efforts to achieve food and nutritional security in Central America. To harness the sector’s potential and expand production beyond personal consumption, the participants recommended strengthening investment in innovation and technology transfer at the regional level, with a view to promoting adaptation to climatic events, reducing post-harvest losses and ensuring the environmental and social sustainability of production.
The strengthening of development banks and risk management were other factors considered of key importance for agricultural production.
The Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Costa Rica, Gloria Abraham, said the governments needed to focus on issues “beyond the farm gate,” noting that market access was a challenge for small-scale producers. The participants in the dialogue therefore proposed that ways be sought of boosting trade within the region under the Central American free trade agreement.
Other ideas put forward included the adoption of a regional approach to improve food security in the isthmus. The participants also reaffirmed the importance of creating social protection networks to mitigate the effects of rising food prices, and emphasized the additional benefits that can be achieved when protection is combined with policies to promote productive and economic inclusion.
Dialogues around the world
The Intersectoral policy dialogue to address food price hikes and volatility: challenges and opportunities, which took place in the Salvadorian capital, was one of a series of 14 seminars on the issue that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is promoting around the world.
A similar meeting was held for South America from June 7-8, organized jointly by FAO, ECLAC (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean) and IICA (Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture), in Santiago, Chile. The FAO also held a seminar for the Caribbean from June 13-14, in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Regional Unit for Technical Assistance in Agriculture (RUTA) also took part in the activity in San Salvador.
The participants in the Central American dialogue included the ministers of agriculture and livestock of Costa Rica (Gloria Abraham Peralta), El Salvador (Guillermo López Suárez) and Guatemala (Juan Alfonso De León). The ministers of economic affairs of El Salvador (Héctor Dada Hirezi) and Guatemala (Luis Velásquez), the Secretary of Industry and Trade of Honduras, José Francisco Zelaya, and the President of the Central Bank of El Salvador, Carlos Acevedo also took part.
A number of Central American lawmakers participated, including the President of the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador, Othon Sigfrido Reyes, and the chairs of the agriculture committees of the legislatures of Costa Rica (Walter Céspedes Salazar), El Salvador (Mario Marroquín Mejía) and Honduras (Juan Carlos Molina).
For more information (Spanish only):
Intersectoral policy dialogue to tackle food price hikes and volatility: threats and opportunities
CEPAL-FAO-IICA Bulletin “Price volatility in agricultural markets (2000-2010): implications for Latin America and the Caribbean”
Guide for Policy and Programmatic Actions at Country Level to Address High Food Prices
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