ROME — Earlier this month the United Nations (U.N.) warned of a possible new food crisis and said action is needed if it is to be avoided.

The joint statement from its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD) said two interconnected problems must be dealt with: the immediate issue of high food prices, which affect food import-dependent countries and the poorest people; and the long-term issue of how to produce, trade and eat food in an age of increasing population, increased demand and climate change.

Since the last large food price spikes of 2007-08, the international community has become better at dealing with these challenges, said the statement, issued on Sept. 4.

For example, the U.N. has developed a High-Level Task Force on Global Food Security and AMIS, the G20’s Agricultural Markets Information System, which is supposed to improve transparency in global commodity markets.

There is also the AMIS-related Response Forum, which was set up to facilitate planned policy responses by major world producers and traders of key cereals and soybeans, in the event of market upheavals.

“A long-term solution to rising prices is to find ways to shockproof and climate-proof our food system,” said Teresa Buerkle, a spokeswoman for the FAO. “Since 2007 there have been price spikes virtually every other year, all caused by droughts in various parts of the world. The obvious solution is to spread the drought risk by broadening the geographical production base and our consumption patterns.

“In this respect, support to smallholder farmers to increase production and productivity is essential. While high food prices are undoubtedly a threat to poor urban consumers, they can also be an opportunity for farmers, both large and small.”

Improvements in smallholder production, combined with a better safety net for vulnerable populations, are “what we call the twin-track approach,” Buerkle said.

Newly developed tools such as AMIS can “help keep markets calm.”

A couple of days after the statement was issued, the latest FAO food price index was released.

These most recent data showed international food prices holding steady in August, which Buerkle described as “reassuring.”

The statement also said panic buying ought to be avoided and that countries need to avoid imposing export restrictions. Such restrictions might help consumers at home for a little while, but they are “inefficient and make life difficult for everyone else.”

The statement also reiterated the position that the federal mandate on ethanol production should be suspended, at least at times when food prices are spiking. “We also need to review and adjust where applicable policies currently in place that encourage alternative uses of grains,” the statement read.

“For example, adjusting biofuel mandates when global markets come under pressure and food supplies are endangered has been recommended by a group of international organizations, including FAO, IFAD, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, WFP, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization. That recommendation, made to the 2011 G20 summit in Paris, still stands today.”