Source:
CommodityOnline – 2008-05-10: (
Food crisis :The need to go beyond blame game)
NEW DELHI: Food crisis is a global phenomenon. Most of the global governments are worried about food scarcity coupled with increase in prices of essential food items. There are several the reasons behind the price rise. But instead of finding the real cause of the crisis, developed countries blaming developing countries. Most of governments are under threat due to their failure in containing the food bubbles. Way back in 1918, the Japanese government had been uprooted because of rising rice prices that fueled rice riots. Today’s price hikes now threaten political stability in many nations.
A few weeks ago the turmoil of food scarcity led to several deaths in Haiti, a small Latin American country, leading to the dismissal of the prime minister. Average food prices have risen 45 percent in the past nine months. Economists warn that if this condition continues, it would create a big anarchy in the countries where most of the people who spend their 50-60 percent income for the food. Most sub-Saharan African countries fall into that category. The food prices hikes have shaken the governments and led to riots in Egypt, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Cameroon, Burkino Faso, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Senegal. Reports indicate that many countries are signing secret bilateral pact with food secured countries to ensure food availability.
All these show how dangerous the food situation is in developed and developing countries. The present food crisis is mainly because of the policies of developed countries. Droughts, the Western push to use biofuels made from corn to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, increased demand for meat and dairy products pushed the global economy into the food crisis. Thus the policies of developed countries have led to the stagnation of agricultural sectors.
Robert Paarlberg, professor of political science at Wellesley College said, hungry people in the world do not use international food and those who use the international foods are not hungry. Fact is, international food markets, like international markets for everything else, are used primarily by rich, not the poor. In the poor countries of Asia, rice is the most important staple, yet most Asian countries import very little rice. Hunger is caused in these countries not by high international food prices, but by local conditions, especially rural poverty linked to low productivity in farming.