Food security is first priority

       Statistics released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in a new report said that worldwide a record one billion people are now going hungry. According to the UN food agency,30 countries now require emergency aid, including 20 in Africa.
       Jacques Diouf, director-general of the FAO, said:"In the fight against hunger the focus should be on increasing food production. It's common sense ... that agriculture would be given the priority, but the opposite has happened." Mr Diouf was speaking of the situation in countries which have been hard hit by food shortages, where the trend since the mid-1980s has been reduced foreign aid and private investments earmarked for agriculture.But his words deserve attention even in countries where food security is taken for granted, like Thailand. We should not forget how important a thriving agricultural sector is to the well-being of the country, more so even than a thriving property sector, whose problems get much more newsprint.
       To maintain a thriving agricultural sector it is necessary to assure farmers they will be able to get a fair and sufficient price for their produce. Toward that end it is encouraging that Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu pledged last week to quickly finish work he has begun in the agricultural sector before he is transferred to a new post in the PM's Office. This work includes guidelines for crop insurance and other supplementary measures to help shore up crop prices in case market prices fall.
       Mr Korbsak said the supplementary measures might include traditional price intervention or a pledging scheme for particular areas or provinces.This is a good start, but unlike in the past, these schemes must be kept totally transparent.
       Another area that needs careful attention is how to protect farmers from the adverse effects of trade liberalisation, such as that which will take effect among Asean member countries on Jan 1,2010.
       Many farmers are barely getting by as it is and the nation cannot afford to leave them to the mercy of market mechanisms.