Globalising Hunger: Food security and the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

Viac o knihe

After several rounds of reforms, the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is poised for another comprehensive overhaul as its current iteration ends in 2013. The debate surrounding the €57 billion allocated to the CAP—over 40 percent of the EU’s budget—occurs amid a worsening global food crisis marked by rising and volatile food prices. In 2010, an estimated 925 million people faced hunger, a significant increase from 833 million in 2000-2002. Despite its substantial influence on global poverty and food insecurity, the external dimension of the CAP is often overlooked in discussions about its future. This publication aims to address this gap by detailing the CAP's history, reforms, beneficiaries, and its impacts on agriculture, poverty, and food security in the Global South, as well as its connections to European trade policy. It examines the implications of the quest for cheap raw materials, exports of cereals, dairy, and poultry, and the rising demand for animal feed, the EU's most significant agricultural import. The final recommendations propose essential changes for the EU to ensure that the CAP effectively contributes to eradicating poverty and hunger, while promoting global food sovereignty.