新型コロナに続き「世界的食料危機」の恐れ、国連とＷＴＯが警告

【ＡＦＰ＝時事】現在進行中の新型コロナウイルス危機に当局が適切に対応できなければ、世界的な食料不足が発生する恐れがあると、国連専門機関の国連食糧農業機関（FAO）と世界保健機関（WHO）、関連機関の世界貿易機関（WTO）の3機関のトップが1日、警告した。（写真は資料写真）
　世界の多くの政府がウイルス拡散を遅らせるためロックダウン（都市封鎖）に踏み切ったが、これにより国際貿易と食料品のサプライチェーンに深刻な影響が出ている。
　多くの国で、ロックダウンの対象となった都市の住民がパニック買いに走り、スーパーマーケットの陳列棚が空になった。これは食料品のサプライチェーンの脆弱（ぜいじゃく）さを示している。
　ＦＡＯの屈冬玉事務局長、ＷＨＯのテドロス・アダノム・ゲブレイェスス事務局長、ＷＴＯのロベルト・アゼベド事務局長は連名で共同声明を出し、「食料品の入手可能性への懸念から輸出制限のうねりが起きて国際市場で食料品不足が起きかねない」と述べた。
　これは根拠のない脅しではない。２００７年の世界金融危機後には、コメの生産国であるインドとベトナムがコメの国内価格の上昇を避けようと輸出を規制した結果、コメの国際価格が急騰して一部の発展途上国で暴動が起きた。
　ロシアは、小麦の国内価格の上昇を防ぐためすでに備蓄の放出に踏み切り、輸出規制も検討している。３機関の警告はロシアを念頭に置いている可能性がある。

■労働者を集められない！ 農業混乱の恐れ
　より長期的には、封鎖命令と人の移動制限によって農業労働者の確保や食料品の市場への出荷が不可能になり、農業生産が混乱するリスクがある。
　速やかに打開策を見いださない限り、米国ではメキシコからの季節的農業労働者の不足で多くの作物の生産がリスクにさらされる。西欧でも北アフリカと東欧からの労働者の不在により、同様の結果を招きかねない。
　ＦＡＯのシニアエコノミスト、アブドルレザ・アッバシアン氏は、ＡＦＰの電話インタビューで、「この危機は始まったばかりだ」と話し、生産よりもむしろ輸送やロジスティクスの問題だと述べ、人口と輸出国としての役割の大きさから、先月２５日から全土で３週間のロックダウンに入ったインドの状況が鍵を握るとの見方を示した。
　ＦＡＯ、ＷＨＯ、ＷＴＯの事務局長らは、食料品のサプライチェーンに直接関わる人とそれ以外の人両方の健康を守り、食料品のサプライチェーンを維持する上で、食料の生産・加工・流通に携わる労働者を保護する必要があると強調した。
　イタリアとフランスでは、スーパーマーケットのレジ係が新型コロナウイルスに感染した例もあり、一部の労働者は感染予防措置や防護具が不十分だとして職場を放棄。米国でも、高級スーパーのホールフーズ・マーケットで職場放棄が起きた。
　ＦＡＯ、ＷＨＯ、ＷＴＯは、新型コロナウイルス対応策が引き起こす食料品不足を避けるには協力することが必要だと訴えた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/04/03-13:32）

The heads of three global agencies warned Wednesday of a potential worldwide food shortage if authorities fail to manage the ongoing coronavirus crisis properly.
Many governments around the world have put their populations on lockdown to slow the spread of the virus but that has resulted in severe slow-downs in international trade and food supply chains.
Meanwhile panic buying by people going into isolation has already demonstrated the fragility of supply chains as supermarket shelves emptied in many countries.
Uncertainty about food availability can spark a wave of export restrictions, creating a shortage on the global market, said the joint text signed by Qu Dongyu, head of the UN?s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Roberto Azevedo, director of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
That is not an idle threat. After the 2007 global financial crisis, rice producing countries India and Vietnam restricted exports to ward off expected price increases. The result: food riots in several developing countries as the price of rice soared.
The warning could be directed at Russia as officials there have mulled restricting wheat exports and have already tapped the nation's reserves to ensure prices don't jump.
In the midst of the COVID-19 lockdowns, every effort must be made to ensure that trade flows as freely as possible, specially to avoid food shortage(s) from developing, the joint statement said.
When acting to protect the health and well-being of their citizens, countries should ensure that any trade-related measures do not disrupt the food supply chain, it added.
Over the longer term, confinement orders and travel restrictions risk causing disruptions in agricultural production due to the unavailability of agricultural labour and the inability to get food to markets.
Such disruptions including hampering the movement of agricultural and food industry workers and extending border delays for food containers, result in the spoilage of perishables and increasing food waste, the three leaders noted.
Closing borders has exposed just how much certain countries are dependant upon foreign workers to bring in crops.
- Just start of crisis -
Unless solutions are found quickly the lack of seasonal farm labourers from Mexico puts the production of many crops in the United States at risk. In Western Europe the absence of workers from North Africa and Eastern Europe could produce a similar result.
We are just at the start of this crisis, said FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian, who judged it to be one more of transport and logistics rather than production.
He believes what happens in India, which is under a nationwide lockdown for another two weeks, will be key given the size of its population and role as an exporter.
Harvests are beginning in several weeks, the fluid movement of goods must be assured, he told AFP in a telephone interview.
The FAO, WHO and WTO leaders also stressed the need to protect employees engaged in food production, processing and distribution, both for their own health and that of others, as well as to maintain food supply chains.
Supermarket cashiers are among those who have succumbed to the virus in Italy and France, where some workers have staged walkouts over the lack of measures and equipment to protect them.
Upscale Whole Foods Markets in the United States is also facing work stoppages.
The last few years have seen international cooperation wilt, with US President Donald Trump snubbing international agreements and institutions and launching trade wars.
But the FAO, WHO and WTO said working together is needed to avoid food shortages brought on by measures to combat the novel coronavirus.
It is at times like these that more, not less, international cooperation is essential, they said.
We must ensure that our response to COVID-19 does not unintentionally create unwarranted shortages of essential items and exacerbate hunger and malnutrition.