Hobbes, Morgenthau and food security
The Human Development Report of 1994 state that food security means that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to food. Not just enough food to go around but also have ready access to food.
The problem identified in the report is the distribution of food and the lack of purchasing power. When countries do not equally distribute food because of their inability to purchase in a large quantity what they need means that in many countries around the world people do not have physical and economic access to food at all times.
In order to understand the issue of food security we have to discuss the Hobbesian features. There are four features which helps us to understand society. Two of which are part of our human nature and the other two are considered as universal conditions.
Firstly, Hobbes says that all people are equal in strength and intelligence. No single person is so smart or powerful that they can not be defeated or outwitted by someone else. This equality of power is an innate part of our human nature.
The second feature is equality of need. Human beings everywhere have the same basic need for food, water, clothing and shelter.
The third feature is economic in nature, economist call it the basic problem. Resources of the world are scarce there is not enough to go around.
Morgenthau (2006) highlights the importance of food by claiming that it is the most elemental of all natural resources. He argues that permanent scarcity of food is a source of permanent weakness in international politics.
The fact that PNG does not have a large livestock industry means that supply of, in particular, red meat products are scarce. The same for dairy products like milk, cheese and yoghurt which have high nutritional value.
Morgenthau (2006) again argues that a country that is self-sufficient or nearly self-sufficient, has a great advantage over a nation that is not. A nation that is not self-sufficient must be able to import the foodstuffs it does not grow, or else starve.
PNG is not self sufficient when you look at the case of rice. Rice is a staple in our diet but we do not grow rice but import K700 million worth of rice from Australia, Vietnam and Thailand annually.
The rice policy introduced in 2016 was controversial because the aim was to build up the local rice industry via the establishment of a quota system. Also, Sofe and Odhuno (2016) said instead of granting a PNG owned company a nation wide monopoly for the production of rice, the government had opted for Naime Argo Industries.
In addition, Minister Maru said foreign companies are engaging in transfer pricing in order to make more money from the consumers. Such opportunistic practice is not right but since these companies have monopoly over the supply and distribution of rice this gives them leverage.
Pursuing policies to help make a country self-sufficient is challenging. In order to protect the growth of local industries and products, the government needs to enforce some form of protectionist policy.
However, we can not do that with countries whom we have signed a free trade agreement with or those who are members of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the case of Australia, we have the Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) which includes New Zealand as well. Also, Australia since 1948, is a member of WTO. PNG joined WTO in 1994.
The Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo in the interest of SunRice (who owns two thirds of Trukai Industries) warned PNG about the quota system we were planning to establish. The quota system as a non-tariff barrier is against Article XI (paragraph 1) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
Minister Ciobo threatened PNG of retaliatory actions against our exports to Australia authorized under WTO rules if PNG pursues its quota policy. Also, he reminded PNG of the investment and promotion agreement between both countries.
If that is the case with rice, what will happen if we try to develop our own diary industry by introducing a quota policy on the importation of milk? What will the companies who own Pauls Milk, Devondale Milk and Meadow Fresh Milk with the Australian and New Zealand government do?
The final feature according to Hobbes is the fact that people by nature generally tend to only look out for their own self interest. Some may have altruistic tendencies that is tendencies to help others.
The Hobbesian state of nature states that since there is basic equality of power. Everyone thinks to him or herself that he or she is capable of getting whatever he or she needs. Since everyone has the same needs for the same resources, but those resources are scarce, combined with the fact that people primarily act only out of self-interest, this would all lead to the competition of every human against every other for the resources that we want to acquire.
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A critical piece here. After this reading, so many questions??? arise.Are our diplomats doing a good job in representing PNG's interest? What are the implications of making our own sovereign decisions since it seems at an observable level that WTO regulations does not serve our interests, except advance economies who have comparative advantage in negotiating deals.
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