The urgent measures to support the farming systems hit by the pandemic and by the war in Ukraine must go hand in hand with the fight against climate changeestimated this Thursday the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Short-term agricultural policies in response to global crises must simultaneously address current challenges and reforms that seek to combat climate change and distortions in international markets.
22% of global emissions of greenhouse gases they depend on the agricultural sector, which must reduce its impact and adapt to climate change, says the report, which regrets that the relaxation of environmental standards to increase production is often done “to the detriment of sustainability”.
The Paris-based organization, to which 38 countries including Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica belong, warns against granting public aid that distorts the market and contributes to increasing emissions without benefiting farmers.
In its report on agricultural policies from 2019 to 2021, the organization examines how 54 countries, including also 11 “emerging” economies not members of the club such as China, India and Brazil, invest their money in this sector.
In that period, some 817,000 million dollars per year were allocated to the agricultural sector, a record aid that increased by 13% compared to the 2018-2020 period. This increase is due in part to temporary policies to support “consumers and producers during the Covid-19 pandemic.”
The agricultural sector benefited from half a billion dollars of public aid. The rest was injected through price support policies (tariffs, export subsidies).
China made almost a third of the total investment (285,000 million dollars).
Four months after the Russian offensive in Ukraine, the organization estimates that while “the general availability [de alimentos o fertilizantes] still not enough right now, rising prices for these products create new challenges,” especially in the poorest countries.