Self-serving? Economics, politics dominate talks

ROME

It was supposed to be an emergency conference on food shortages, climate change and energy. At the opening ceremony on Tuesday, the U.N. secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, noted that there were nearly 1 billion people short of food, and he called upon countries gathered here to act with "a sense of purpose and mission."

But when the microphone was opened to the powerful politicians who had flown in from all over the world, they spoke mostly about economic issues in their own countries and political priorities.

The United States' agriculture secretary, Ed Schafer, talked about the benefits of biofuels and genetically modified crops. Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, spoke for half an hour about how Brazilian biofuels were superior to American ones. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, talked about the need to inject religion into food politics.

Everyone complained about other people's protectionism -- and defended their own.

Food experts on Wednesday, as well as many representatives from poor countries, wondered whether these divided forces could add up to any kind of solution to a global conundrum: how to feed 1 billion hungry people. "What is the common denominator here? It is a food crisis," said Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of the Congo Republic. "That is the immediate problem for us."

A "green revolution" about 30 years ago brought vastly increased output to agriculture in much of the world, with improved agricultural techniques and fertilizers. But it did little to improve agriculture in some of the poorest parts of the world, particularly Africa, where harvests have remained stagnant under the pressures of neglect, political unrest and, now, climate change.

But in the industrialized world, farming became more of a regulated business. Farm entitlements became so entrenched that repeated efforts at reform, even if the face of soaring crop prices, have fallen flat, as evidenced by the inability to reach agreement on farming disputes at the World Trade Organization.

Against this backdrop, the food emergency has done little to prompt a consensus on a new approach that might make the world agricultural system more responsive to global food demand. There have been plenty of arguments this week over whether shortages and high prices were caused by the rush to biofuels, protective tariffs, the soaring price of oil, distorting subsidies or a market failure. But the issues appear too complex, and too heavily freighted with politics, to be resolved soon.

World leaders at the U.N. food summit eventually embraced a declaration to combat the food crisis. Delegates from 181 countries pledged Thursday to reduce trade barriers and boost agricultural production to combat rising food prices, but some nations and groups maintained that more concrete steps will be needed.

After three days of wrangling, delegates at the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization approved a declaration resolving to ease the suffering caused by soaring food prices and step up investment in agriculture.

The summit struck a balance on the contentious issue of biofuels, recognizing "challenges and opportunities" in using food for fuel.

Robert B. Zoellick, the president of the World Bank, said that money was crucial to solving the short-term need for food aid to feed the hungry. But he said that preventing food crises would require more difficult policy changes.

In the meantime, many representatives from poorer countries expressed frustration at the tenor of the meeting.

"We believe the problem is much more political than everything else," said Walter Poveda Ricaurte, the agriculture minister of Ecuador. "We have to differentiate between the countries who are really affected by the food crisis and those who are seeing it as an economic opportunity."

The conference has raised money for relief. The Islamic Development Bank pledged $1.5 million on Wednesday. Ban estimated that $15 billion to $20 billion is needed to help resolve the crisis.

Officials at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which sponsored the meeting, were sanguine about the results. "Sometimes I think the discussion is not focused on the need of countries and poor people," said Jose Maria Sumpsi, the assistant director general of the organization.

The strategy laid down in Rome will have to translate quickly into farm and trade policies in each country, as even before the crisis there were 850 million undernourished people in the world, with the number rising rapidly, U.N. officials.

Soaring fuel prices drive up the cost of fertilizers, farm-vehicle use and transport of food to market.

Speculation and increased consumption of meat and dairy goods by populations of China, India and other booming developing nations are also considered main factors in the food-price increases along with the issue of biofuels.

The biofuel issue was a volatile one at the summit. The summit struck a balance on the fuels, which are made from crops such as sugar cane and corn, saying that "in-depth studies" are necessary to ensure that biofuels do not take food off the table.