World food crisis

Alarm bells ring as food shortages spread

Article published on the 2008-04-24 Latest update 2008-04-24 14:26 TU

(Photo : AFP)

The World Food Programme (WFP) calls it a “silent tsunami”, but alarm bells are starting to go off around the world warning of the impending disaster if food prices continue to skyrocket. While the crisis is already acute in some developing countries, the menace of future troubles loom over India and developed nations pledge aid in hopes that their own foodstocks won’t become depleted.

Walden Bello, head of Bangkok-based Focus on the Global South, told RFI that rising food prices are due to trade liberalisation, which led to agricultural products from northern countries flooding southern markets, and the conversion of arable land from food to biofuel producing crops.

 

“A third factor has been that almost universally throughout the south, we have had industry-first policies that have been followed by governments that have artificially kept down food prices in order to focus on industry rather than agriculture,” Bello said.

 

Here are the latest developments in the food crisis from around the world.

 

* Sierra Leone: the price of a 50 kilogramme sack of rice has more than doubled in the last two months to 35 euros. Government officials have established an emergency task force to study lowering import tariffs as well as measures to boost domestic production.

 

* India: Wednesday's good news of a record rice crop was overshadowed by warnings that future grain supply will not be able to keep pace with demand.

 

* Europe: German Chancellor Angela Merkel issued a call Wednesday on G8 leaders to do all they can to lower food prices. Germany led by pledging an additional ten million euros in emergency food aid to the WFP, bringing its 2008 total contribution to 46 million euros.

 

* South America: Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia signed a mutual food security deal, creating a 100 million dollar (64 million euro) fund to help boost grain, vegetable and milk production, as well as water-works such as irrigation.

 

* United States: discount retailers Wal-Mart and Costco have limited the amount of rice customers can purchase, as reports surface that Filipino-Americans are buying up rice and shipping it to relatives in the Philippines.