The Department for International Development and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs should work together to coordinate agricultural research, say MPs on the House of Commons International Development Committee.
In its report, Global Food Security, published on 4 June, the committee recommends that DFID gives agricultural research a high priority, saying that such research is important for ensuring food security and will have benefits for the UK as well as developing countries.
The report cites suggestions made by the business and development network Business Action for Africa that public investment in agricultural research be increased. A charity, the Food Ethics Council, has also recommended increasing spending on research, but recommended that this research should involve participation from smallholders.
The committee also recommends that the government conducts further research into how food price volatility could be mitigated. In particular, it recommends examining whether it would sometimes be appropriate for a national government to strategically hold food stock for the sake of food security. It is suggested that the government consider what capacities would be needed to do this, and what the associated costs, risks and benefits of such strategies might be under different circumstances.
The report also calls for a more detailed understanding of the impact of food speculation on food prices, describing existing evidence as inconclusive. “While there has been a proliferation of recent research on this topic, there is still no consensus. We recommend that the government study the latest research in detail, and that it use this research to inform future policy on this issue,” the committee says.