Point of view - Food security: for reserve stocks
The high volatility of agricultural prices, in a context of growing concerns about food security, has brought the issue of public food storage back into the spotlight. The debate pits proponents of buffer stocks, aimed at maintaining prices within a specific range, against those in favor of emergency food reserves, intended to reduce the impact of price volatility on the most vulnerable. In this first issue of the Point of View series, published by FARM, Bernard Valluis, an economist and long-time practitioner of grain markets, proposes a third option: the creation of reserve stocks, aimed at balancing the supply and demand balances of agricultural products, but disconnected from any explicit objective of price regulation. These reserve stocks, for which he suggests an original method of financing, would lay the foundations of a "Global Pact for Food Security," of a higher order than the principles of existing national legislation and international agreements: all elements that further enrich the controversy.
