The political obstacles to feeding the world

Nice report by Douglas Southgate, Ohio State University, on Feeding the World:

Regardless of whether increases in prices were catalyzed by the declining dollar, biofuel development, or something else, they have been aggravated by the economic suppression of agriculture in Argentina, the Ukraine, and many other nations. Since 2007, this suppression took the form of export restrictions, adopted by a large number of countries.

In his June 2008 address, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rightly criticized these restrictions. He also emphasized that a renewed commitment to agricultural research and development is needed, in Sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world. Without this research and development, which includes the application of agricultural biotechnology and which requires institutional reform as well as the financial investment that Secretary General Ban advocates, the world’s supply of food will not keep up with rising food demand.