It’s a shocking reality that nearly fifty years after the Green Revolution of the 1960’s, we cannot feed the world’s people. Maybe that’s wrong; we have the technology to feed the world’s people, it’s just that we don’t have the will. The head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the current riots in developing countries will spread unless world leaders take positive steps to reduce food prices for the poor.
It is important to note that FAO Director General Jacques Diouf said that food prices have to be reduced for the poor, because it is becoming evident that the problem with getting enough to eat is, in fact, a problem for the poor. Even though forecasters predict that the output of global cereal production will rise by 2.6 this year, prices will remain high, forcing the food import bills of developing countries to jump by 56 percent. In a news conference covered by “Reuters” in Rome, Diouf stated that, “The reality is that people are dying already in the riots. They are dying because of their reaction to the situation and if we don’t take the necessary action there is certainly the possibility that they might die of starvation. Naturally people won’t be sitting dying of starvation, they will react.”
The riots have started already. Several countries in Africa, as well as the nations of Indonesia, the Philippines, Egypt, and Haiti have seen large groups of people fighting over what food is available. The FAO blames increased food demand from developing countries such as China and India, which has pushed up the price of such basic food staples as wheat, maize, and rice to unheard of heights. In addition, there is an increased use of crops for biofuels, as well as a 25-year low in global stocks, which are adding to the price rise. Market speculation has also played a role in forcing prices up 40 percent since mid-2007.
Food prices have risen fastest in Bangladesh and Haiti. In an article dated April 12, 2008, CTV.ca News Staff reported that, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, textile workers had demanded higher wages to compensate for higher food prices. Dozens of people, including twenty police officers, were injured. In Haiti, the problem is even worse. Haiti’s upper house voted to censure Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis after food and fuel riots killed four people, including a U.N. soldier from Nigeria who was attempting to buy food in Port-Au-Prince.
Haiti is one of the most poverty-stricken in the western hemisphere, with little arable land, forcing the government to import eighty percent of the nation’s rice. Most people attempt to live on incomes of less than $2.00 per day. The Haitian President, Rene Preval, has announced a plan to cut the price of rice by fifteen percent, which means that a fifty kilogram bag of rice will drop from $70.00 to $62.00. It is debatable exactly how many people will actually be able to afford rice, even with the price drop.
FAO Director General Jacques Diouf openly stated in the news conference reported by Reuters that he was “surprised that I have not been summoned to the UN Security Council as many of the problems being discussed there would not have the same consequences on peace, security and human rights” (without the food crisis.) He has asked heads of state and government to attend a food crisis summit at FAL headquarters in Rome on June 3rd to 5th. Diouf wants to arrange a “massive seed transfer” to developing countries to ensure that farmers in poor countries can buy seeds, fertilizer, and feed at prices they can afford. Secondly, he wants to create financial mechanisms by which poor, food importing nations can continue to buy the food they need, while giving a larger proportion of aid budgets to agriculture.
Food shortages are not new for developing and poor countries, but the problem is increasing. University of Toronto sociology professor Harriet Friedman states that food shortages have been slowly getting worse over the last four years. The causes have been the distance of markets from food sources, combined with increased demand for grains to feed livestock and to use as raw materials for biofuels such as ethanol. Increasing fuel prices only drive the cycle.
The problems are not going to decrease in the near future; in fact, developed countries could easily face food shortages. Climate change, global warming and an attitude that tolerates waste, all point toward poor growing conditions and food shortages. So, are we ready for food shortages to come to our street?
