High food prices and the food crisis – experiences and lessons learned

The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2009 is the third issue of a new biennial publication that is intended to expand FAO's existing series of “The State of …” reports. While the findings and conclusions presented rely on technical analysis by FAO commodity and trade specialists, this is not a technical report. Rather, it aims to present commodity market issues in an objective, transparent and accessible way to the attention of a wider public, including policy-makers, commodity market observers and all those interested in commodity market developments and their impact on developing countries.

• What happened to world food prices and why?
• Why were high food prices not an opportunity 
  for poor farmers?
• What should the policy response be?

• Developing countries, agricultural trade and the doha round
• Review of agricultural commodity markets

• Recent developments and long-term trends
• Food import bills
• Agricultural export earnings
• Changing patterns of agricultural trade
• Conclusions, challenges and policy responses