GCC states cautioned on farm investment abroad

GCC countries investing in agriculture in Asia and Africa must safeguard the interests of local communities or else there will be a backlash, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) president Lennart Bage said yesterday.

Speaking to Gulf Times on the sidelines of an event sponsored by IFAD, World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) at the Follow-up International Conference on Financing for Development, Bage also urged the GCC to join hands with IFAD in their search for greater food safety and security.

“We don’t have anything yet with GCC countries but I look forward to that. I know they are thinking about how to do it on long-term sustainability, economically, socially and environmentally,” Bage said.

After the global food crisis that hit the region towards the end of 2007, the Qatari Company for Meat and Livestock Trading (Mawashi) intensified its efforts to invest in countries like Sudan, Pakistan, Australia, and most recently in Kurdistan, to secure food supplies for Qatar’s growing population.

“The important thing is to have the right approach because in many countries, speaking generally, there is a need for investment in agriculture.

“So if the investments are done in a way that benefits the local population, then it’s a win-win situation,” Bage said.

Earlier during the meeting, which focused on the first of the eight Millennium Development Goals, eradicating hunger, malnourishment, and the ‘volatile’ global food market were discussed.

Over the past two years, poor people around the world have had to cope with massive increases in the cost of food. In 2007, an additional 75mn people became undernourished.

“That is about 90 times the population of Qatar,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

“And it is expected to get worse as global population increases, as climate change accelerates, as fuel prices fluctuate and the financial crisis continues to unfold,” he added.

The UN chief suggested that governments avoid export bans, especially on food destined for vulnerable people, ensure smallholder farmers get fertilisers and seeds, and solve the “underlying structural problems plaguing the world food systems”.

FAO director general Jacques Diouf, WFP deputy executive director John Powell, the prime ministers of Swaziland and Mozambique, and the development ministers of Ireland and Spain attended the session.

The president of the Centre for Global Development, Nancy Birdsall said the planet must be saved from the “triple whammy” of the food, fuel and the financial crises.