Defra Secretary of State Caroline Spelman and her Brazilian counterpart have called for G20 action on food price volatility.
Speaking during her visit to the South American nation, Mrs Spelman said that she and Brazilian agriculture minister, Wagner Rossi, had agreed that their countries should work together on practical measures in the face of food price inflation and long-term food security challenges.
Export bans, she said, simply moved price volatility problems elsewhere in the world without increasing sustainable production.
In a joint declaration, the ministers said: “We jointly agree that global commodities markets should be open, transparent and efficient."
“The most important impacts of price volatility are on poorer consumers, particularly those in developing countries, and in economies which are significant net importers of food. Price volatility also increases uncertainty to producers.
"We believe that improved information exchange and collaboration will significantly improve the international community’s capacity to deal with, and help in some cases to avert, future price spikes.
“It is important to improve the efficiency and transparency of global commodity markets to regulators, market participants and the public and to ensure that financial instruments are fully available to producers and consumers to enable them to manage the risks of price volatility.
“Brazil and the United Kingdom recognise that increasing production in a sustainable way is the only consistent long-term solution to reducing agricultural prices. Thus, both countries emphasise the importance of broadening international technical cooperation in order to help poor countries accelerate their agricultural development.”
G20 agriculture ministers, including Mrs Spelman and Mr Rossi will meet in June, where agriculture and food security are on the agenda for the first time.
Brazil has 19% of the world’s arable land and is the largest producer of coffee, oranges, sugar and poultry. It ranks in the top three producers of tobacco, cocoa, corn and beef.
The country is also home to 33% of the world’s rainforest, a fifth of its fresh water and around a third of its biodiversity. The full text of the Joint Declaration of Brazil and UK Agriculture Ministers is available here.
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