The great paradox of food security is that only governments can ensure it, but markets must do the heavy lifting. Learning to manage this relationship has proven a challenge for most countries.

Indonesia recognised this when it steered last year’s G20 Summit in Bali to a dramatic declaration that started with a primer on food security. It is uncertain if current G20 host India, which slapped a ban on non-basmati rice exports last month, can provide similar leadership on calming an increasingly turbulent world food economy.