As development and finance ministers from around the world gather in Washington, D.C. this weekend for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund meetings, the initial focus will be on the free fall plaguing global financial markets. Combined with recent sharp rises in energy and food costs, poor countries are facing a triple hit right now.
In preparation for the World Bank/IMF meetings, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Heinrich Boll Foundation hosted a discussion yesterday titled: The Global Food Crisis: Time for a Fresh Look at Sustainable Agriculture Alternatives. You can view the full discussion on C-Span's Web site (requires Realplayer).
Presentations came from Sandra Poloski of the Carnegie Endowment, IATP's Steve Suppan, Daniel De La Torre Ugarte from the Agricultural Policy Anaylsis Center, Davo Vodouhe of Pesticide Action Network in Benin, Arze Glipo-Carasco of the Integrated Rural Development Foundation of the Philippines and Steven Schonberger of the World Bank.
IATP's Steve Suppan discussed his involvement with the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, which recently issued recommendations to expand small-scale, low-input farming in developing countries and has been endorsed by 57 countries. Dr. Ugarte reported findings from an upcoming paper co-authored by IATP's Sophia Murphy on how developing countries can best improve food production and rural livelihoods.
World Bank President and former Goldman Sachs director Robert Zoellick would do well to consider the panel's ideas as a guide for addressing the food crisis.
