A worldwide food price crisis is just starting to explode. The price of rice in Asia, the price of
bread in Egypt and the price of milk and pasta in Europe have increased. In Egypt, wholesale rice prices
have doubled since October.
In Haiti this week, riots erupted and six people protesting food prices died. The price of rice, beans and fruit in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,
has risen at least 50 percent in the last year.
There have been protests and "bread riots" in Egypt in recent days, and people are now stealing flour and bread. In Haiti,
there are reports of thousands of the poorest people, who survive by eating biscuits made of soil and cooking oil.
There have also been street protests
in Cameroon, the
Philippines, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Senegal. In West Africa, the price of food has risen
50 percent in Sierra Leone, and the cost of food has tripled recently.
Local AnglesNo doubt, in the coming days, international relief agencies and charities will amp up their feeding program appeals. This is a time to really get in touch with the pulse of your coverage area's international communities.
The United Nations World Food program Web site is asking for
monetary donations. The site includes details about many of the most troubled countries.
The Epoch Times in Ireland adds some perspective, saying:
The world's supply of grain has now fallen to 40-year lows. World
grain stocks are down to an estimated 53 days, meaning if grain
production stopped today, there wouldn't be enough to last even two
months.
"In North America the first thing that is being felt is
[higher] food prices," said Laura Carlsen, currently based in Mexico
City for the Americas Program Center for International Policy.
Carlsen has been researching the tortilla crisis that gripped
Mexico City after the cost of the staple food went up 50 per cent in
the month of January.
"That's a really important thing for Mexico City because it's the foundation of the diet for so many people," she said.
