Oxfam calls for re-think on agriculture liberalisation

Oxfam has warned that food security will remain fragile across Africa until the right to food is put at the top of the agenda of international financial institutions and national governments. In a briefing paper on the food crisis in Southern Africa, Oxfam acknowledged that the causes of the current crisis threatening nearly 13 million people were a complex mix of poverty, HIV/AIDS, bad weather and poor governance. But, the development agency said, "donor-driven policies of liberalising African food production have been especially controversial, with evidence that they have made it more difficult for people to grow food or to afford to buy it". Oxfam said that Africa needed food security policies that were carefully thought-out and implemented, and not driven by dogma, political opportunism or hypocrisy. "At the same time as African farmers are told that they can no longer have free seeds or fertilisers, US farmers are receiving an average US $20,000 a year in subsidies - which is soon to increase by 70 percent - and EU [European Union] farmers US $16,000," noted the briefing paper. Oxfam said that under the liberalisation policies urged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and western donors, subsidised state marketing boards, which guaranteed countrywide and cross-seasonal prices for food crops, have been dismantled. "All subsidies for fertiliser and other agricultural inputs have been removed, and this together with exchange rate liberalisation has led to massive increases in the costs of these inputs ... Numerous studies have shown that these policies have overall had a negative effect on poverty and food production," the development agency said. It cited an IMF evaluation that found that in Zambia between 1991 and 1994, the liberalisation of state marketing had contributed to a 30 percent increase in rural poverty. "It is clear that without some form of state intervention as a safety net, poor people have become much more vulnerable to shocks such as erratic weather. Unfortunately, the IMF and other donors are not learning this lesson." Oxfam said the operation of the Grain Marketing Board in Zimbabwe, which has tried to enforce low prices through a monopoly on trading in grain - shutting out the private sector - was an example of the problems associated with a wholesale return to state intervention and marketing. "Nevertheless, this famine demonstrates clearly that the market alone cannot ensure food security. Poor people are finding it increasingly difficult to afford the current free market price of maize, which has spiralled out of control. There is an urgent need for donors and governments to discuss solutions to this supply/demand Catch-22, such as consumer subsidies," the report said. "There is also a clear need for state support to be allowed to the agriculture sector, particularly to maintain national emergency food reserves and to provide subsidised inputs and extension services to rural populations," said Oxfam. To access the full report: http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/southernafrica/crisisinsouthernafrica.html