There is no threat of food shortages in the face of Russia’s devastating drought, President Dmitry Medvedev told a Thursday State Council session, adding that food prices are being currently dealt with by the government.
Medvedev pledged more steps to map out a price-regulating mechanism, something that he said will be fulfilled on a state level in the next few weeks.
There are no preconditions for meat, milk and sugar shortages in Russia, Medvedev says. In this regard, both the government and the regional authorities should meticulously monitor food prices, he adds.
Medvedev also urged the Prosecutor General's Office and the Internal Affairs Ministry to clamp down on those looking to jack up prices. Our correspondent points to the fact that the State Council session on Russia’s food security was held in the Saratov region, one of the country’s largest corn-growing area.
During his working visit to the Orenburg and Saratov regions, President Medvedev personally checked out the implementation of his previous instructions related to food prices, Olga Denisova reports. When in Saratov, Medvedev visited a retail store, where customers confirmed a status quo concerning bread, milk and egg prices.
Maintaining food security came to the fore in the wake of what many believe was the negative impact of climate change. American experts , in turn , warn that 2025 will see the world’s population stand at 8 billion people, with meat and grain demands due to grow by at least 50 percent. This means that agricultural production should be automatically doubled, which US analysts say is nothing but wishful thinking. In Moscow, expert Vladimir Fisenin remains cautiously optimistic about the development of Russia’s agricultural sector over the next twenty years, which is echoed by Ivan Obolentsev, head of the Russian Agro-Industrial Union. He argues that an array of natural disasters in Russia and beyond did not ride roughshod over the world food market.
Food prices are unlikely to skyrocket in the next couple of years, Obolentsev says, citing at least one billion starving people in modern-day world. To tackle the problem, a spate of humanitarian programs should be implemented, Obolentsev goes on to say, pointing to hefty sums he says ought to be allocated for the purpose. It is safe to assume, therefore, that any about-face in the world food prices in the near future is unlikely, the Russian expert concludes.
Boosting the agrarian sector’s efficiency in countries with emerging economies is another option, German experts, for their part, say , citing Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
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