Food security deals alarm ex-WTO head

Gulf Times | 30 September 2009

By Neil Cook

Managing Editor

Rich nations are practising a modern form of colonialism by acquiring farmland in poorer countries in a quest to guarantee their food security, the former director-general of the World Trade Organisation told Gulf Times yesterday.

“It is a new elephant in the room,” said Mike Moore, who was also prime minister of New Zealand in 1990. “I think it is the wrong policy because I don’t think food security will be guaranteed in the future because you own colonies overseas. The English found that out with sugar.”

Food price inflation threatened the economies of several countries in 2008 just as the global financial crisis was unraveling. Fears of food shortages prompted moves to strike land deals in Africa and parts of Asia. Among those announcing land investments overseas were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, China, India, South Korea and Egypt.

Several east African states and Pakistan seized an opportunity to generate much-needed income by offering farmland while others including Thailand passed legislation to tighten rules on foreign ownership.

“I am a free trader and what if someone comes in and says I want everything? At what point is there such a thing as sovereignty? There is also such a thing as culture to consider. You can argue that the land is one thing they can’t take. However, man is a political animal,” said Moore.

“It has not been tested but it is a hell of a thing to sell politically in free societies. I would say to friends in the [Gulf] region that this is not the way to get food security because the opposite will happen.

“There are a million Chinese living in Africa, probably more. What makes you think they can get their money out when governments change? If you work for 10 years building a farm someone’s going to want it back.

“But there is an impulse for people to own things.”

Meanwhile, Moore remains frustrated that the Doha Round of WTO negotiations, which he initiated in 2001, have not been concluded. “I am enormously disappointed to the point of being broken hearted. The opportunity to throw an extra trillion dollars or so at the world economy to help the poorest has been wasted.

“No trade round has yet failed but none has failed to disappoint in the shallowness of the result. There are certain pressures building that could be creative but could also be distractive,” he said.

“A couple of months ago India hosted an informal meeting of ministers, which was a very smart thing to do. India has had difficulties with the round and in Doha they were the ones holding out right to the end. However, there was a new Indian minister hosting the meeting.”

Moore concluded by sending a strong message to developed economies. “The poor have helped the rich by putting half a billion more consumers into the market in China and India. The next test for world history is how we put another billion into the market so the poor can rescue America and Europe – and New Zealand – and maintain our living standards. This is a virtuous cycle so that is why I have always been so passionate about it.”