3 October 2016: Participants to the Ministerial Meeting on Long-term Commodity Price Trends and Sustainable Agricultural Development held at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy shared views, concerns and experiences regarding the relationship between commodity prices and development, food security, poverty, trade and agricultural productivity and sustainability.

Held under the FAO Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP), the Ministerial Meeting provided a forum for ministers to discuss the challenge of ensuring affordable food supplies for poor populations, while maintaining sufficient incomes for smallholders and family farmers.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2016-2015 predicts that after a period of high food prices in 2008-2012, followed by a period of price volatility, food commodity prices will return to a trajectory of long-term decline. Lower prices can lead to lower incomes for farmers and reduce incentives for investments in sustainable increases in agricultural productivity. These developments may create challenges to achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as SDG 1 (end poverty in all forms everywhere) and SDG 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture).

The ministers attending the meeting discussed implications of these developments during four roundtables on: commodity dependence, diversification and value chain development; long-term implications of economic growth and climate change for commodity prices and trade; policy environment for agricultural trade; and trade, food security and nutrition.

Speaking at the opening of the meeting, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva underlined the importance of decent incomes and livelihoods for small-scale farmers in order to eradicate hunger and extreme poverty. He also highlighted the importance of targeted social protection programmes to safeguard farmers and poor populations against swings in food prices and build a “virtuous cycle of local production and local consumption.”

The CCP is the FAO Governing Body that considers the effects of developments in agricultural commodity markets on food security. The CCP meets biannually, but additional sessions may be held at the request of FAO Members. The Ministerial Meeting on Long-term Commodity Price Trends and Sustainable Agricultural Development was held 3 October 2016. [FAO Press Release] [UN Press Release] [FAO Ministerial Meeting Website] [Meeting Concept Note] [IISD-RS Story on OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2016-2025]