G-20 Summit: S. Africa calls for more transparency in farm produce trading

Mexico City - The Group of Twenty (G20) leading economies should work together to improve agricultural productivity and make the global farm produce market more  transparent, South Africa's ambassador to Mexico said Monday.

Though the upcoming G20 summit will probably focus on the evolving EU debt crisis, South Africa will try to draw attention to the "food crisis" that has affected low-income people across the  world, Ambassador Mphakama Mbete said.

The G20 is seeking ways to improve agricultural productivity while also working on a number of initiatives such as improving humanitarian responses to food crises across the globe, he said.

To better address volatility in food prices, the G20 launched the Agriculture Market Information System (AMIS), an intergovernmental information-sharing database run by the Food and  Agriculture Organization (FAO) and backed by many other international bodies in 2008.

Mbete said greater efforts are needed to make the agricultural commodities market more transparent so as to avoid sudden price hikes like those seen in 2008, which were driven by traders'  concerns rather than production conditions.

"We need to improve the functioning of markets through initiatives like the Joint Organizations Data Initiative," Mbete said, adding that transparency will make the market more predictable  and thus reduce volatility.