Using Public Food Grain Stocks to Enhance Food Security
The recurrent global food price spikes in 2008 and 2010 rekindled interest in the use of national food grain stockpiles ('stocks') to enhance food security. They were a commonly used instrument in government responses to these food prices...
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| Format: | Commodities Study |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/16687047/using-public-food-grain-stocks-enhance-food-security http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11878 |
| Summary: | The recurrent global food price spikes
in 2008 and 2010 rekindled interest in the use of national
food grain stockpiles ('stocks') to enhance food
security. They were a commonly used instrument in government
responses to these food prices spikes. They were also widely
considered as a useful tool after the 1974 food crisis and
its associated food price volatility and supply disruptions.
Large stocks became a reality at the global level in the
1980s and 1990s as a side-product of farm income support
policies in the developed countries. However, large
'buffer' or 'intervention' stocks, as
the grain accumulations in developed countries came to be
called, eventually proved to be very costly forms of
producer income support and were drawn down for fiscal and
other reasons starting in the late 1990s. This report,
prepared for government and development partner
practitioners, revisits the issues and evidence concerning
grain stocks. It starts with an open mind concerning stocks
as policy tools and specifically seeks to avoid the
polarization of views that grew up around the topic in the
1980s and 1990s. It takes the form of an evidence-based
review of developing country experience. Historically, grain
stocks have been used for two main purposes. First, to
stabilize domestic prices and second, to provide readily
available emergency food and safety net reserves targeted at
the most vulnerable. The assessment of actual experience of
using grain stocks for these two purposes is summarized as
follows. Using grain stocks to stabilize domestic prices has
generally not been an effective instrument to improve food
security outcomes. Developed countries no longer use stocks
to stabilize domestic prices due to the unpredictability and
often unsustainably high budget costs. In Africa and Asia,
where price stabilization programs are still frequently
pursued, high fiscal costs are crowding out needed public
investment in agricultural productivity and rural
infrastructure. The often unpredictable grain purchases and
releases of stabilization programs are discouraging private
investment in both grain production and storage, which are
the key to lowering both the level and volatility of food prices. |
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