Agri-food markets

20. The world agri-food markets trade in a certain number of commodities which are not always the ones consumed in most of the mis-developing countries(³³). Excessive price fluctuations are against the interests of both producers and consumers. These fluctuations are caused by spontaneous adjustment mechanisms and amplified by specific features of the relevant markets. Attempts to stabilise them have all proven fairly unsatisfactory, if not to say harmful, to producers. Furthermore, the raising of prices is made impossible by way the markets themselves operate. The small number of international trading corporations prevents price manipulation, and constitutes an impenetrable barrier to any new market entrants. This is always unhealthy. Developing production capacities has much more to do with disseminating advances in production techniques (progress in genetics and implementation). We note that Indonesia's average rice output has risen from 4 to 15 tons per hectare in the space of one generation, far outstripping its already record population growth rate. In most countries where agriculture is making progress, yields are improving to such an extent that output is increasing, sometimes very steeply, despite the sharp decline in the number of farmers.