Friday, April 11, 2008

World food crisis looming UN warns


The West is not doing enough to avert a world food crisis according to the UN [AFP]. Already there has been a dramatic increase in the price of rice, a staple food of two thirds of the world population. Overall the cost of rice has increased by more than 70% in the last year [BBC]. Riots have also been seen in several countries after dramatic increases in the price of basic foodstuffs. Even Western countries have seen price rises in supplies of wheat and Italy has seen pasta prices rise significantly over the last six months [BBC].
Blame for the shortages and high prices has been placed on increases in the price of oil which not only has pushed up the price of transportation, but has also increased the cost of fertilizers many of which are petroleum based. Some price rises have been blamed on hoarders and in the Philippines police have set up anti-hoarding task forces [BBC]. In Haiti there were dramatic scenes as rioters took to the streets and attempted to smash the gates of the Presidential Palace shouting “we are hungry” [BBC].
There is also increasing concern that much of the problem with food shortages has resulted from an increase in using agricultural land to grow crops for bio-fuels. This week’s Time magazine ran with a front page lead which said “Politicians and Big Business are pushing biofuels like corn-based ethanol as alternatives to oil. All they’re really doing is driving up world food prices, helping to destroy the Amazon jungle, and making global warming worse”.

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