FAO Official Urges Countries Not to Impose Food Export Restrictions

Yuan Yanan

The rise in international foodprices is exacerbating globalpoverty.According to The State of FoodSecurity and Nutrition in the World 2022 released by the Food and AgricultureOrganization （FAO） of the UnitedNations （UN）， the number of peoplefacing hunger continued to growworldwide and reached 828 million in 2021， representing an increase of 150million people since 2019， before theCOVID-19 pandemic.

On July 18， a UN High-level Special Event entitled“Time to Act Together： Coordinating Policy Responses to the Global Food Security Crisis”was held at UN headquarters in New York City. President of the 76th Session of theUN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid said the World Bank has warned that the conflict in Ukraine will plungean additional 95 million people intoextreme poverty and 50 million intosevere hunger this year.

“We face a real risk of multiplefamines this year，”said UN Secretary- General Antonio Guterres during themeeting.“And next year could be even worse.”

Food prices in Southeast Asiancountries have also been affected bythe volatile international market，and governments of Indonesia， thePhilippines， Malaysia， and Thailandhave been actively responding to theproblem. In an interview with ChinaReport ASEAN， Sridhar Dharmapuri，senior food safety and nutrition officer at the FAO Regional Office for the Asia- Pacific in Bangkok， shared his views on the ongoing food security crisis.

China Report ASEAN： The FAOfood price indexfell 2.3 percent in Junecompared to a month ago but is still23.1 percent higher than a year ago.How do you evaluate high international food prices' influence on the SoutheastAsianfood market？ Will it cause morepoverty andfamine？

Dharmapuri： Poverty is increasingas a result of the back to back shocks of the pandemic and the food price rise. The current fall in the FAO Food PriceIndex is a temporary breather. Foodprices have been steadily rising forthe last two years and the FPI reachedits highest level in March this year.High food prices result in householdsspending a major part of their incomeon food. In some countries， this figure has crossed 40 percent for poorerhouseholds. This leads to lowerspending on education and healthcare， which lowers the quality of life andincreases poverty especially among the most vulnerable.

China Report ASEAN： Whatmeasures can be taken to stopfoodinflationfrom affecting the mostvulnerable people？

Dharmapuri： Governmentsshould expand social safety nets toprotect vulnerable people. This could be through cash or direct benefitstransfer or specific measures such assupporting school feeding programmes that enhance access to affordable andnutritious food. Social protectionmeasures were a major success duringthe COVID-19 pandemic and should becontinued. Also， improving food safetyand reducing food loss and waste hasthe potential to increase the food supply and contribute to stabilizing prices.

China Report ASEAN： Somecountries have chosen to banfoodexports because of inflation. Whatconsequences could this policy bring？

Dharmapuri： Governments aretempted to impose export restrictionswith the intent to protect theirconsumers. But this drives up priceson global markets and worsens thesituation for food deficit countries and vulnerable populations. Moreover，when countries restrict exports， theirown producers and processors missout on gaining higher incomes. Thatin turn negatively affects the countrys foreign exchange earnings. FAO，therefore， strongly urges countries toavoid ad hoc policy reactions and notimpose trade restrictions. The gains of imposing such measures are very short lived.

China Report ASEAN： In the context of climate change， Southeast Asia isquite vulnerable. Rising temperaturesand extreme weather have alreadythreatenedfood production in theregion. How damaging could it be？

Dharmapuri： Indeed， these areseriously affecting production andproductivity. Our flagship report， theState of Food Security and Nutrition2022， released two weeks ago showedthat in SE Asia nearly 43 million people are undernourished. The cost of ahealthy diet in SE Asia is more thanUS$4 per person per day and 53 percent of the population or nearly 350 million people cannot afford it. If the mostbasic of human needs are not addressed adequately， economic productivity and growth in the medium and long termwill be seriously affected. That is whyit has become imperative to reshapeour food systems as was agreed by theworlds leaders at the UN Food Systems Summit in September 2021. Agrifoodsystems need to become efficient，inclusive， resilient and sustainable and leave no one behind.