World Trade Organisation (WTO) DG Supachai Panitchpakdi has called for the abolishment of trade barriers on agricultural products, citing their importance to developing countries.

He said that food security could only come about if countries worked together, but that this meant that peace between countries would be vital to ensure the passage of food.

In addition, lower trade barriers and the abolishment of subsidies in Western countries was vital to assist developing countries grow their economies.

He was speaking at the high-level round table on Agricultural Trade Reform and Food Security this week at the FAO.

Food security is one of the targets that have been set by the United Nations in its Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Governments acting individually will be unable to ensure the sustainability of food within their borders.

“To my mind, food security is not best achieved by the production in a particular country of a particular foodstuff.

“Fuels, fertilisers, machinery, capital and other inputs from other countries are needed to improve domestic agricultural production as well as to supplement a country's food stocks.

“Efficient production, peaceful relations between nations, and efficient storage and distribution, are all vital factors in the world food security equation.”

An important element to ensure sustainability of food in this manner is peace.

“Let us not forget that international trade conflicts have historically been a frequent cause of war, which jeopardises directly people's access to food,” says Panitchpakdi.

And interreliance among nations for food could have the affect of causing political cooperation – and peace.

“It is no coincidence that the multilateral trading system is an essential pillar of the global political system.”

Stable trade could be key to global security, he says, and in reducing poverty as it stimulates conomic growth.

“Trade liberalisation can be a forceful weapon in the fight against poverty, if accompanied by sound macroeconomic and development policies.

“And reducing poverty is key to combating hunger and malnourishment.”

Panitchpakdi adds that a reduction in trade barriers will allow an agriculturally-dependent country to export food, and develop its own economy.

“But it is widely accepted and understood that a further reduction of trade barriers and trade-distorting subsidies will help boost the economic performance of developing-country agricultural producers.”

He conceded that eliminating subsidies could have adverse short-term effects.

“The elimination of subsidies may, in the short-term, have terms-of-trade consequences for net food importing developing countries, as world prices have been kept artificially low for so many years.

“This is an important consideration and the special problems of net food importing developing countries deserve attention.”

Panitchpakdi called on international development and financial agencies to address this aspect constructively.

International organisations, including the International Monetary Fund, the Group of Eight countries and the World Bank are looking at measures to assist these countries – above what the WTO already has in place.

He argues that world food markets should set their own prices, which would induce global production to expand.

Panitchpakdi concluded that the current Doha Round of talks have the potential to have significant results in the area of food security.

“The successful completion of the Doha Round from a food security perspective can only be viewed as positive.

“The path to food security is through integration and interdependence, not protection and autarchy.”