Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Food Prices Increase: Fill up tanks or Fill up hungry stomachs?

The continuous rise in food prices, worldwide, are causing some hunger and malnutrition problems in poor countries and has also set back the on going fight against poverty by at least 7 years according to the World Bank. A call for rich countries to immediately commit an excess of $500 million was sent out by World Bank President, Robert Zoellick for what he referred to as a “New Deal for Global Food Policy”. Zoellick also said that the price of wheat had risen to about 120% in the past year which more than doubled the cost of bread. Prices for rice grains were also up by 75% within a span of 2 months culminating to a total of 83% increase in food prices in the past three years alone.

In Bangladesh, a 2 kg bag of rice already eats up almost half of what a poor family’s daily income is. To survive the continuous rise in prices, people eat fewer meals. In Yemen, people are now spending more than a quarter for what they earn on bread alone. What it is about is not the meals that were forfeited for that day but instead the long term effects on a person’s health such as stunted growth both physically and intellectually. Furthermore, the gas price increase has also set back food crisis and poverty reduction worldwide by at least seven years, considerably very long for the people trying to fight against it.

Zoellick said that this is about the recognition of a growing world emergency as well as acting on it and seizing opportunities to help. The world can do this, he says. He urges people to not be satisfied with papers, studies and talking about it. He also said that besides the $500 million contribution to the World Food Programme there should also be an expansion for the safety-net programmes in poor communities. He also called for a boost to long term financial supports that aid productions, saying that Agriculture should be a priority. The bank also plans to double the loans it gives to agriculture projects in many developing countries to $800 million.

People are feeling the weight. Riots have erupted in several countries, including India and Mexico a response to the rapidly rising cost of basic food commodities in just a span of 12 months which is an effect of the high oil prices. Many government officials from several countries have imposed bans on export for these commodities in an effort to bring their prices under control but Zoellick warned against such responses. He was also very critical of the sudden rush to grow crops to be used for biofuels, another response to the increase in oil prices. The USA and Europe have also encouraged the use of such fuels to tackle climate change as well as to provide alternative oil resources but this policy often times diverted agricultural land farther from food and exacerbated price increases. These increases in crop production for biofuels may have significant environmental benefits but by doing so they drive up prices thus further crippling the lives of the countless poor.

David Jackson is an Internet Marketer and a driver concerned with the current rising gas prices around the World. So with all the essential information and powerful tools needed to help you lower your gas bill in running your car at the maximum fuel economy , can be found at Hydrogen Fuel Cells
http://hydrogencarfuel.blogspot.com/

Copyrights@ Carpediem. This article may be printed in any form , on the guarantee that the article stay the same without any omittances , deletions , alterations or changes throughout this article. This copyright is to stay with this article.

No comments: