Here are some of them:

1. The increasing world population, further aggravated by urbanisation. In Burkina Faso rice is indeed much a city food.
2. Diminishing rice stocks and the reaction of large exporting countries, such as Egypt, Viet-Nam and  India, which have banned rice exports in order to feed their population.
3. The wave of bio-fuel cultivation, which diverted 100 million tonnes of grain from food consumption in 2007.
4. And, not to be forgotten, the rising oil prices: on Wednesday April 15^th the oil barrel reached a peak of  US $ 115.  And as a result higher freight costs.
5. Western media ascribe a large part of the responsibility to China and India, because of  high food consumption,  following their strong economic growth. But in actual fact the main responsibility lies with the United States and Europe. (See also the analysis by Jacques Berthelot )

Now what about bad policy?

With regard to West Africa I am tempted to say the absence of a policy or, at least, of an agricultural policy worthy of its name. During more than twenty years! In the 70’ies I was interviewing a candidate standing for a seat in Parliament. I asked him what his party program had in store for the farmers. He replied: “Oh, the farmers, we are not afraid of them!” Today, however, we see how afraid the governments are of street demonstrations in the cities running out of control.  This is partly the reason why the policy of a number of African nations is reduced to a mere “Feed the urban population as cheaply as possible!” But how can anyone pretend to develop a country where 80% of the population is in agriculture and where frontiers are open to all the garbage of this world, in the form of sub-standard rice dumped at sub-market prices, discouraging the country’s own producers? Or where American rice is poured out at undercut rates (offered by Japan or by American Catholic Relief)? That is the story of rice.

The result? Here it i:

Come and see for yourselves at the rice plains of Sourou, where the government of Burkina Faso has spent billions on the irrigation of hundreds of hectares of land, ear-marked for rice production. You will see that vast pieces of land lie idle. Most farmers prefer growing onions ... but they are unable to sell their products at a profit. Meanwhile, there is no rice to be had in the capital, Ouagadougou! What a waste!

For a country like Burkina Faso and for all of West Africa, where the bulk of the population is made up of farmers and livestock keepers, a policy which has as its aim (not explicit but very real) “Feed the cities as cheaply as possible” is bound to end up in one of the following ways:

• Either as in 2003, when the world market price of rice was very low: growers’ associations were unable to sell at a profit, their stocks were plentiful, but they found no buyers.
• Or the present state of affairs: Rice growers have left their rice paddies, discouraged by the previous experience, and turned to other crops. The customers are there: They are prepared to offer a good price, but the stocks are now depleted.

We must learn a lesson from the present food crisis. This will be the subject of the coming weeks and we will start by listening to the farmers. Already now there are echoes in the press. They come from large institutions (the FAO, THE IMF, the World Bank …), politicians or experts … Below, we have listed some contributions, selected to feed the debate.

1.    La revanche de l’agriculture .  (The revenge of agriculture)

2.    Des experts appellent à repenser l’agriculture de demain . (Experts call for a rethinking of tomorrow’s agriculture.)

3.    Baisse des prix agricoles et exode rural . (Falling farm prices and rural exodus)

4.    Analyse critique des causes de la flambée des prix agricoles mondiaux. (A critical analysis of the exploding world farm prices).

Maurice Oudet

Director, SEDELAN

April  28th 2008