PARIS: The largest economies in the world agreed to a series of measures to stabilize world food prices after recent fluctuations caused global instability, especially in poorer countries. A recent UN study also predicted that prices will be 20 percent higher for cereals and up to 30 percent higher for meat in the coming decade compared to the past ten years. With the global population expected to increase from 6.9 billion to 9 billion by 2050, the problem of feeding the world put food security at the top of G20 summit's agenda. French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire said the G20 summit of agriculture ministers had agreed to calm the world market by establishing a transparent system to track global supplies, set up emergency food reserves, engage in more research into new wheat strains and create a rapid response mechanism to deal with drought in producer countries. One of the key aspects of the new accord is the Agricultural Market Information System that would stave off panic food speculation by making instantly available to all countries the state of world food stocks, production and consumption, Zoellick explained. "What we saw when prices started to surge in 2008 was that the lack of information on stocks and availability can lead to panic in markets and panic is what leads to price hikes," said Zoellick. "Uncertainty leads to volatility." The new "action plan on food price volatility and agriculture" also called for the institution of emergency food reserves to offset humanitarian crises.
