Global: The food price crisis and the World Bank’s blind spots

World Bank President Robert Zoellick, or at least his press team, responded promptly to last week’s concerns on a new food price spike with a comment piece in the Financial Times. It’s fascinating as much for what is missing as for what is in there, says this Oxfam blog. On the plus side, Zoellick gives due priority to food as ‘the essence of life’ and argues that the G20 needs to show leadership. But the whole piece seems to suffer from a straitjacket of free market ideology. Whatever the problem, the answer can’t go beyond liberalising trade and investment, voluntary codes of conduct, access to information, and improved aid and safety nets for those that fall through the cracks.