Unfair agricultural prices cause hunger and resources dilapidation

• Autor(a) principal: Pinheiro, António C.
• Data de Publicação: 2009
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10174/8467
• topic: fair prices; trade policies; resources dilapidation; regional common markets; family farms; agricultural subsidies

The main objective of this paper is to present facts and arguments trying to prove that unfair prices are the most important cause for the dilapidation of human and natural resources. In many poor countries farmers sell their products at prices below their real cost. In these countries, most often, family labour and equipment depreciation are not accounted as real costs. Although the huge technical progress occurred in the last fifty years, or because of it, many thousands of farmers in undeveloped countries went bankruptcy and many millions of people are starving. The expected increase in world population will demand for levels of production much higher than those that are been produced. So, if we want to feed the world in a sustainable way, maintaining the production potential of human and natural resources, a new set of trade and rural development policies have to be implemented across the world, based on regional common markets. To promote these policies, regional organizations (that include several countries) and a new international trade organization must be created.