Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

livingontheland - [Livingontheland] Food Riots Return as Global Food Prices Reach Record High

livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Food Riots Return as Global Food Prices Reach Record High
  • Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:58:13 -0700


Food Riots Return as Global Food Prices Reach Record High
2011-01-07
http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/food-riots-return-as-global-food-prices-reach-record-high/
This week the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that
global food prices had reached record highs last month, surpassing those of
2007 and 2008. Yesterday, The Financial Times reported that in Algeria
increasing demonstrations about the lack of jobs, housing shortages, and the
cost of food over the past few weeks have exploded into riots. Local news
outlets have reported hundreds of rioters in the capital and beyond. In the
north-western city of Oran, rioters broke into a food warehouse and stole
sacks of flour.
These riots follow the similar riots in Tunisia last month. One young man
set himself on fire after he was prevented by police from selling fruits and
vegetables. The Middle East and North Africa are the two largest importers
of cereal and countries in the area have been hit especially hard by the
harvest shortages in Russia and the Ukraine this year.
In India, The Financial Times also reported yesterday, food prices have
hit their highest point in more than a year. Food prices are by at least 18
percent from last year in a country where millions are spending more than 50
percent of their total income on food.
Surging global food prices are just one of the many challenges that people
face throughout the Middle East, Africa, and around the world. Climate
change, growing population, and water sources are also affecting the overall
food production and availability. And as many countries grow increasingly
dependent on food imports, they grow more vulnerable to natural disasters and
market fluctuations taking place half-way around the world from them.
Innovations in sustainable agriculture—such as the cultivation of
indigenous crops, affordable irrigation techniques that conserve water
resources, and improved storage to reduce food waste—can go a long way to
improve local food security worldwide. The forthcoming State of the World
2011 features innovations like these that are already working on the ground
throughout sub-Saharan Africa, in order to help the global food community
direct resources to solutions that reflect the complexity and
interconnectedness of the current agricultural system.





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page