Dive Summary:
- In a report titled "Agricultural Outlook 2013-2022," the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warn that increasing global demand for food will push prices up as much as 40% over the next decade.
- The two international agencies said that governments need to boost investments to increase farm production, as food production has slowed despite the boost in consumption caused by rising incomes in developing countries.
- The higher prices would hit developing countries the hardest, as families in those countries spend as much as 60% of their incomes on food, and the agencies forecast annual production growth to slow to 1.5% from the past decade's 2.1%.
From the article:
... Prices are expected to rise 10 to 40 percent over the coming decade, with the cost of meat rising faster and that of grains more slowly, according to Ken Ash, director general of the OECD's trade and agriculture division.
"We would urge governments around the world to begin to shift and to shift quickly from old-style policies to a greater focus on productivity and innovation," said Ash. "If we carry on blissfully as if nothing has changed in the world, there could be a problem." ...
