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Rising food prices posing dilemmas to governments worldwide
The dilemma over how to tackle rising food prices has been highlighted by China’s dumped plans to import several million tonnes of expensive corn and South Korea’s cuts in import tariffs on some products.
In India, where vegetable prices have risen more than 70 percent in the past year, the government said it would review the import and export of essential commodities, adding state run firms would intensify purchases of some basics.
A rally in grains prices after a U.S. report on Wednesday warned of dwindling global supplies suggested further price pressures may be in the pipeline, just as Sudan saw rare public protests against cuts in sugar and petroleum product subsidies.
Governments around the world have been taking measures to tackle soaring grain prices and head off social unrest, with North African countries Libya, Algeria and Morocco either cutting taxes on foods or regulating prices and stepping up supplies.
The Philippines on Thursday said it would suspend import duties on wheat and cement imports.
The UN’s food agency report issued last week said world food prices hit a record high in December after adverse weather affected crops, raising concerns about inflation, protectionism and social unrest; factors that contributed to the 2008 food crisis.
While most analysts doubt the world is heading for a crisis similar to 2008, when food prices spiked to fire up inflation and sparked violent protests in countries including Egypt, Cameroon and Haiti, a rise in oil prices also looks menacing.
Egypt, which imports around half of the food eaten by its 79 million population and is struggling with double-digit food inflation, will not face similar scenarios of riots in Algeria and Tunisia, Egyptian trade minister told local media.
"The government is committed to subisidising food commodities, and we are looking for additional resources to face rising prices," a newspaper quoted Rachid as saying.
Wheat prices rose 47 percent last year, corn more than 50 percent and U.S. soybeans by 34 percent. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) said in its report key grains prices could rise further.
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This is all the fault of governments for abandoning agriculture to seek expansion in other areas. The result is higher prices and more pollution due to transport from one country to another and having to rely on other countries for food when most countries are able to provide enough food for themselves and even for others.
Another is that GMO producers like Monsanto has led to the decline of traditional agricultural products which are replaced by their GMOs. This also led to wide pollution due to the use of stronger chemicals used for pest control, further endangering the environment and poisoning our food while making the farmers dependent on buying their seeds every season from Monsanto. The way forward is for every country to maximize the agriculture potential using traditional plants and not GMOs which only make the GMO companies richer while destroying the traditional plants poisoning us in the process and holding us and the farmers at ransom to pay ever-increasing prices for their seeds.
