The food crisis faced by many of the Asian, African and South American countries did not happen overnight.
Shift in Types of Economies
If one looks at the world's history, you would notice as a country develops, it would slowly shift from an agricultural based economy to industrialization. As more acreage of food producing lands is diverted to production of bio-fuel crops and other industrial productions, food stocks declined.
Moreover, changes in governmental policies in regard to land-use patterns in developing economies have also led to loss in agricultural land.
In addition, underinvestment in agriculture has also led to stagnation of food-grain yields and slow development of high-yielding and pest-resistant varieties.
Rising incomes in developing economies also create a demand for more meat, which divert crops to animal feed.
Weather
In addition, unfavorable weather in some countries result in bad harvests, which caused supply disruptions, contributing to the increase in food prices.
Rise in Fuel Prices
The high oil prices also contribute to the increasing food prices. The increase in oil price drives up transportation and fertilizer costs. This result in a demand for more corn-based bio-fuels, which means more grains are being diverted from human consumption.
The resulting food shortage and therefore the increase in prices has forced an estimated 100 million people worldwide deeper into poverty. More people, especially in the lower income group, are already skipping or make drastic diet changes to fight the increasing food prices.
Government Calls for Solutions
Some governments are calling for more efforts to liberalize global trade so that people can trade available surpluses more freely.
The UN and the World Bank believe that programmes to jump start small-scale farming in poor countries are needed. However, these programmes would cost billions. They also suggest that bio-fuel projects be scaled back.
In the long run, governments should consider addressing the inadequacies in infrastructure and ineffectiveness of institutions, and by promoting research and development of new technologies.
Not Just the Poor and Developing Countries
The food crisis is not just affecting the poor and developing countries. Already there have been reports of food riots in some African countries as well as in Asia. The rising cost of food threatened the countries' growth, security and peace, which in turn will affect the world.
Little Things that You Can Do
Have you considered that it is also the change in our lifestyle that is partly contributing to the food crisis?
We should start looking at our lifestyle and if necessary, make changes.
The following are some of the things that we can do:
- Eat less meat or grass-fed meat. With commercial breeding, large amount of grains were used for animal feeds. Remember when cows feed on grass and chicken forayed in the fields?
- Cut down on your energy consumption. Look around the house. Do we need the air-conditioner to be set at 18 degrees Celsius? Can we use the fan in place of the air-conditioner?
- Make use of public transport. Better still - walk! It saves energy and you get the exercise.
- Recycle.
