On the table: supply situation, rise in agri-food prices, the Ukrainian crisis and the world food crisis
Greater coordination of Southern European countries to address the risks for the agri-food sector deriving from the crisis in the Ukrainian quadrant, the effects that are affecting the agri-food systems, the national and European measures to be implemented to support agricultural income and counteract the phenomena speculative, and the world food crisis.
These are the themes at the center of the meeting of Ministers of Southern Europe, respectively Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece, promoted by the Minister of Agriculture Stefano Patuanelli and in which FAO also took part, which took place today via video conference.
After the speeches by FAO chief economist Maximo Torero with the examination of the consequences of the Ukrainian crisis on the agricultural sector, by the Deputy Director of the Emergency Department, Daniele Donati on the FAO action plan for Ukraine and by the President of the Committee for Food Safety Gabriel Ferrero, after the introduction to the work of Minister Stefano Patuanelli, the Ministers of Agriculture of Portugal Maria do Céu Antunes, of Spain Luis Planas and of Greece Georgios Georgantas and finally the Deputy Director General of FAO Maurizio Martina.
Minister Stefano Patuanelli focused on the need to compare the respective national experiences in terms of procurement of inputs and agricultural products, the trend of prices and best practices to combat speculation and stressed that at a European level it is of primary importance to achieve food self-sufficiency without chasing impossible national food self-sufficiency.
The Minister therefore invited the ministers to coordinate interventions including solidarity at an institutional level, to make them more effective, since if we think as a European Union and not as a single State, we are stronger and able to have a greater impact on all dynamics of access to food not only for Europe but also for vulnerable countries from a food point of view.
The Minister then underlined the need for greater joint intervention by the European Union in favor of farmers. Geopolitical uncertainties, the volatility of international energy markets, rising prices and the difficulties of global trade cannot be tackled effectively at the level of a single country but require a common response from Europe.
The effort that European countries must make, Patuanelli urged, is to evaluate the coherence of the policies that are put in place, by analyzing their impact in advance: the great challenge of the future is to be able to produce more food for a growing population by doing so. with the least possible impact on the environment and with production systems that are able to support heterogeneous crisis situations such as pandemics, wars and climate change.