US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), one of leading food research institutes in the world, has expressed concern over the ban on food grain exports by leading food producing countries like India and China causing a crisis in countries depending on imports. Joachim von Braun, director general, IFPRI said that China and India were among those nations, which had banned exports at critical point of time. The ban has affected other nations such as Bangladesh and the Philippines.
Braun said, "The banning of exports from countries at times of high food prices have been extremely harmful for third-world countries which depend on these exports or imports." Focusing on bio-fuel and international food prices Braun said that the large diversion of farmland for bio-fuel purposes has raised the prices of food items by a whopping 33%. "According to our estimate, the bio-fuel utilisation of food crops contributed about one-third to the price rise in the last year's food price crisis. Indeed it had a significant contribution," Braun added.
Further he suggested that a global open trade system for food grains be adopted to deal with the food scarcity and slapping ban on exports to boost domestic availability is not a solution to the crisis. "No country alone, not even India, can deal with this problem on its own. We require a new global institutional arrangement to maintain open trade of grains in times of shortages. So we need an agreement over sharing reserves and innovative commitment of grain reserve sharing. My institute has proposed such a new regime and India should be an important partner in that."
Source : www.fnbnews.com