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Latest Food Crisis Brewing for Months

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 10, 2011 (IPS) - The United Nations, which is trying to reach out to nearly a billion undernourished people, some living in perpetual hunger, is anticipating another food crisis later this year.

And the signs of impending trouble have been there for some time.

The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) warned last week that world market prices for rice, wheat, sugar, barley and meat will remain high or register significant rises in 2011 - perhaps replicating the crisis of 2007-2008.

Rob Vos, director of development policy and analysis at the U.N.'s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), told IPS that higher food prices are already affecting many developing countries.

He said countries like India and a number of other East and South Asian countries are facing double-digit inflation, mainly caused by higher food prices - alongside higher energy prices.

In Bolivia, the higher prices for food in world markets recently forced the government to reduce consumer subsidies as these were running up the fiscal deficit too high.MORE

FYI: China's workers are hungry Nov. 2010 article

From The China Labour Bulletin, [via PR]. Add another country to the roster of those experiencing food rebellions.
The Chinese government last week announced a series of measures to stabilize rapidly increasing food prices.
The new measures, which include boosting supplies of staples from government stockpiles, providing additional subsidies to needy families, and cracking down on speculators, clearly indicate the government’s concern over rising inflation and the effect it might have on social stability. In some regions of China, the prices of rice, cooking oil and some vegetables have doubled this year, creating a serious burden for China’s lowest paid workers and impoverished rural families.
Local governments across China raised the minimum wage by an average of 24 percent this year, but already those gains are being eroded by increases in the cost of food and accommodation. One of the main complaints of striking workers at Sanyo in Shenzhen this month, for example, was that the price of food at the company canteen had quadrupled immediately after their basic wage went up inline with the minimum wage.
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Bahrain's farms disappearing under concrete towers Environmental crisis? Where the hell are they gonna get food from? Talk about a shortsighted policy!

MANAMA, Jan 6, 2011 (IPS) - Environmentalists are engaged in a nation-wide campaign to protect what is left of the agricultural belt in Bahrain. Seventy percent of farms have been eliminated due to urbanisation, according to environmentalists who are warning of a serious environmental crisis.

The 692 square kilometre island - with a population of 1,234,596 according to preliminary results of the census released in Nov. 2010 - has been involved in massive sea reclamation activities, but has also been turning farms in the Capital City area and the villages of the northern part of the country into residential areas.MORE

Food prices slashed amid riots of Algeria

Widespread unrest continued to rock Algeria on Sunday (January 9th) as protests continued against rising food prices despite government action to stem the riots.

The Algerian cabinet agreed on Saturday to lower the custom duties and taxes on sugar and other food stuffs by 41% as a temporary act to cut prices. But the measure, which will last through the end of August, did not end days of conflict in the streets between angry youth and security services.

"I can confirm the deaths of three young people in M'sila, Tipasa and Boumerdes," Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said on Saturday, adding that more than 1,000 young people were arrested. The minister also said 736 security officers and 53 demonstrators were wounded in the violent clashes. MORE

Mauritania curbs food prices

Mauritania will cut the cost of sugar, powdered milk, cooking oil and other essential commodities, Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf said Friday (January 14th) in Nouakchott. Speaking at the launch of an electrification project, the minister said that along with lowering prices for basic foodstuffs, the government would expand youth employment and accelerate the programme to eradicate shantytowns, AMI reported. MORE

Worldwatch report highlights how lopsided discussion is about Africa, food, and biotechnology

Last year, I had the opportunity to travel to Zambia for a project for Worldwatch. The massive report "State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet," released Wednesday, focuses on many projects that were highly effective in both feeding people and raising incomes in Africa. Much of this work was chronicled on Nourishing the Planet blog, as researcher Danielle Nierenberg logged thousands of miles criss-crossing the continent meeting with farmers, researchers, NGOs, and government officials.
It was a refreshing perspective because so much of the discussion about agriculture in Africa focuses on production. Plant more. Increase yield. Improve seed technology. But there is really no silver bullet when it comes to food production and access, and the relentless focus on technology ends up being lopsided and incomplete -- as I saw in Zambia.
The nation produces more than enough food, much of it by small-scale farmers without tractors, irrigation, or any form of transportation. But this excess food ends up rotting in warehouses and causes price crashes when it hits the market -- good for buyers but dismal for small-scale farmers who depend on these sales for their meagre income.
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