Hunger's New Face
U.N. and World Bank officials say "the perfect storm" of factors has led to skyrocketing food prices, leading to riots in places in Haiti.
Haitians took to the streets this week, with The Times Online reporting that protesters compared their hunger pangs to the burn of battery acid. U.N. Peacekeepers used rubber bullets in attempt to control the situation.
The riots in Haiti are not the first uprisings over food prices, which have risen 65 percent in the last six years. There have been riots in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique, and Senegal. A survey by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute says staple foods have risen by 80 percent since 2005. The price of rice is at its highest in the last 19 years and wheat is at a 28-year high.
“There is a risk that this unrest will spread in countries where 50 to 60 percent of income goes to food,” FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told The Times Online. “This is due to higher demand from countries like India and China, where GDP grows at 8-10 percent and the increase in income is going to food.”
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So much more than political protests
The high cost of food is forcing people all across the world to re-evaluate a number of different issues and has the potential of making real positive change if people take the time to look at the issues. One issue that was brought up in a New York Times article today is balancing food security with environment issues. The United States has been making a strong push for bio-fuels. Although this is helping decrease the country's dependence on non-renewable resources it is also keeping world food prices prices high. This raises the question, how do we control food prices but also try and ween ourselves from non-renewable resources?
Another debate that is raised is the local/global debate. How do we help developing countries develop their own personal food supplies and not be so dependent on the global market? This will allow developing countries to support themselves and not be hit so hard by global price increases. On top of that it will allow consumers to support producers in their region and not be dependent on high priced fuels and also cut down on the contamination caused by long transportation of food and other supplies. These are just two of many issues to take into consideration when you read about protests and food prices. This is a great opportunity to think about the main issues that are actually involved in global food prices and make some changes.
Haiti's Hunger Pains
Check out a short video from the New York Times about the food crisis in Haiti.
The small Caribbean island has been particularly hard hit by the global food crisis. As the video cites, the majority of food is imported in Haiti and more than half the population lives on less than $1 per day. These factors have caused the price of staples like beans and rice to quickly become out-of-reach, forcing many Haitians go hungry.
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