Without this kind of cooperation, we will carry on and see recurring worldwide food crises, which includes those coming from foreign trade bans.
Behaviour must also modify, at all levels. Psychological fear of food shortages, real or perceived, tends to trigger nations and households to shift from “just in time” in order to “just in case” mode, leading to self-fulfilling prophesies, as hoarding by countries plus households amplify anxiety and engender full-blown crises.
Using cooperation, countries plus households can resist hoarding or banning exports when there is the hiccup in food supply or prices. Self-confidence in international trade on food can ride out the particular storm. Such efforts at global cooperation might look like quiche in the sky, especially when multilateralism seems to be on the decrease.
However , this global effort may be worth a try, taking into consideration how India’s implementation of a national foods buffer stock and public food submission system seemed unattainable within its massive and noisy democracy – until this happened.
INDONESIA MUST WALK THE PARTICULAR TALK
To exercise credible leadership, Indonesia must walk the talk and be consistent. On the one hand, President Jokowi portrayed himself under the bright media spotlight as a humanitarian education and peace-keeping president, trying to save the entire world from the global meals crisis.
However, his administration’s recent quilt export ban, at the same time brief, on palm oil worsened the global food crisis. A prolonged ban could have had dire worldwide inflation and food security ramifications, given that Indonesia is the world’s largest producer plus exporter of oil from palm.
The recent reshuffle of his trade minister after the uncontrollable rising cooking oil price saga also does not convince analysts that will Indonesia will prioritise sound international business stances over populist policies.