Latin America Food Crisis Summit - 3 short articles

[magbana]

1)
Venezuela offers allies US$100 million to stem food crisis
The Associated Press
May 8, 2008
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/08/america/LA-GEN-Nicaragua-Food-Summit.php

MANAGUA, Nicaragua: Venezuela has offered allies US$100 million (€65 million) to fight rising food costs for Latin America's poor.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro says the money will help finance a grain bank and other programs drafted at a meeting of Latin American leaders this week in Managua.

Nicaraguan President could find ways to cooperate in fighting a looming world food crisis.

Malnutrition is already common in poverty-ridden Central America, which depends on imported oil and fertilizer to operate its farms.

In Mexico, World Bank President Robert Zoellick on Wednesday said high food prices will continue until at least 2015.

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2)
Venezuela seeks Latin American oil-for-food fund
Reuters
May 7, 2008
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Agflation/idUSN0730153320080508

MANAGUA - Venezuela called on fellow Latin American energy producing countries on Wednesday to set up a fund for food aid using windfall oil profits in an effort to give poor nations some relief from soaring prices.

President Hugo Chavez will invite regional oil and gas producers Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Bolivia as well as Cuba to a summit in Caracas to set up the oil-for-food fund, Venezuela's foreign minister said.

"We will devise a formula based on the price of oil and the level of production that would allow for the creation of a special oil-for-food fund, taking into consideration the means of each country," said Nicolas Maduro, addressing a meeting of Latin American leaders on the food crisis in Managua.

He did not give further details about the plan. Venezuela has already pledged $100 million with other regional leaders to buy staples such as rice, beans and corn. The countries hope to stave off protests and political unrest now plaguing nations from Cameroon to Bangladesh.

Oil prices have hit record highs at $120 a barrel in recent days, a bonanza for oil-rich countries like Venezuela but devastating for poor Latin Americans suffering from inflation.

The regional leaders gathered in Nicaragua agreed to work to get private banks in the region to direct at least 10 percent of their total lending to farmers.

Presidents and ministers from 11 countries -- including Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Panama -- signed the nonbinding agreement.

Small farmers in the region have been hurt by skyrocketing prices for oil-based fertilizers and higher transportation costs.

Prices for basic grains have risen across the globe on a combination of factors like increased food demand in Asia and the use of crops for biofuels.

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3)
Latin Americans issue regional food emergency
AFP
May 8, 2008
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h9lE9nV2mulu0O_XHuMTbAbEd4CQ

MANAGUA - Seventeen Latin American governments issued a regional food "emergency" Wednesday at the close of a one-day summit on the food crisis that underscored an ideological split among its participants.

The final statement included a 100-million-dollar Venezuelan initiative to boost cereal production that Mexico said should have been omitted because it was merely a proposal.

The document was signed by all but El Salvador and Costa Rica, who complained that Venezuela and its leftist allies were against free trade.

The summit, convened by the Alba trade group -- Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba; all leftist regimes -- called for speeding up food production in Latin America and urged the 63rd UN General Assembly to take up the world food crisis when it meets in September.

The final statement, a copy of which was provided to AFP, also urged regional governments to increase investment in agriculture and the international community to "significantly" boost cooperation to ease the crisis.

More specifically, the summit suggested that private banks in the region invest up to 10 percent of their assets in agricultural development, and criticized developed nations for their farm subsidies and technological monopolies that harm poorer nations.

The final statement also called for drafting a plan of action within 30 days to boost local food production in the region and establish a system of "fair trade within and between the countries that results in fair prices for producers and consumers."

Speaking on behalf of both Costa Rica and El Salvador, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said of the statement: "There are value judgments, concepts here I don't agree with, so I don't want the name of Costa Rica to appear on it."

Later, he told reporters that the Alba group created by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, "doesn't believe in free trade."

Summit host Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega stressed at a press briefing that a "large majority" of summit participants had agreed with the statement.

Besides Ortega and Arias, the summit included presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Antonio Saca of El Salvador, Manuel Zelaya of Honduras and Martin Torrijos of Panama.

Chavez did not attend for health reasons and Guatemala President Alvaro Colom could not attend by law because the country's vice president was abroad visiting Chile.

Rising shortages of basic grains, milk and foodstuffs that have led to deadly violence in developing countries was described by World Food Program chief Josette Sheeran in Washington Tuesday as perhaps "the first global humanitarian emergency."

WFP is seeking contributions for a 755-million-dollar emergency fund while the UN Food and Agriculture Organization is trying to raise 1.7 billion dollars to provide seeds to the poor and boost output.

Global food prices have nearly doubled in three years, according to the World Bank, sparking riots and protests in several poor countries.

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