A million refugees urgently need shelter, food and water
Today's rising food prices will trap millions tomorrow - case studies
Millions of the world’s poorest people will face devastation from today’s rocketing food prices because the global food system is fatally flawed and policy-makers can’t find the courage to fix it.
Policy-makers have taken cheap food for granted for nearly 30 years. Those days are gone. Developing countries are bracing themselves for the worst effects of rising corn, soy and wheat prices on their poorest people.
Fragile populations around the world, living on or near the poverty line, will be dragged under by price spikes and volatility. Nearly a billion people are already too poor to feed themselves, so any long-term food spike is guaranteed to trap millions more who are now just “getting by”. Worrying too is the continuing drop in global corn stocks that are now at their lowest levels for six years .
History is repeating itself and will keep doing so until we tackle the fundamental weaknesses that keep a billion people hungry.
- We must stop the obscene waste of food including burning it as biodiesel in our trucks and cars.
- We need to tackle climate change and land-grabs and damaging speculation.
- We must build up our food stocks and kick-start good investment again in small-holder farmers and in resilient, sustainable agriculture.
Here's Oxfam's analysis of 2012 food price hikes (pdf 237kb)
Learn more about Food Prices Spikes
Here are some case studies from around the world:
Credit: Pablo Tosco/OxfamIn the Sahel, cereal production is down 26% from last year. Reserves are dangerously low already. Food prices are up to 30-60% higher than the five year average (even 90% in northern Mali).
Most people (60%) buy food in the marketplace and spend up to 80% of their money on food. So in a region that is in a long-term food crisis, any global hike could be terrible.
Credit: Pablo Tosco/OxfamBolivia: High and volatile global food prices are likely to have a significant impact. Bolivians have been consuming more imported meat, sugar and oil. At the same time, a million hectares of the best arable land (i.e. a third of the country’s total) is now used for export-driven agro-industrial production, the most productive soil generally going to the highest bidder and not to ensure local food security.
Credit: Pablo Tosco/OxfamIn Brazil, data from National Secretariat on Civil Defense shows that 1,123 cities are facing a state of emergency – 8.3 million people from nine states on the Semi Arid region – due to the worst drought in the past 30 years. The NGO Articulação do Semiárido (ASA) estimates that the drought may last till 2013.
Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento (Conab, National Supply Company) estimates that the 2012 grain production will be smaller.
Credit: Diana Hernandez Cordero/OxfamIn 2007 Mexico suffered a tortilla crisis which saw the price of the flat corn bread, the main source of calories for many poor Mexicans, rise by up to 400 per cent sparking riots across the country.
Now Mexico is facing double disaster: The country is in the grip of a severe drought that has affected 40 per cent of the county – further increasing its dependency on food imports – and international prices are set to go through the roof.
Credit: Pablo Tosco/OxfamTwenty years ago Guatemala was self-sufficient in food. Today because of chronic under-investment in local farming and rapid trade liberalization, Guatemala is now highly dependent on US corn, rice and soy and 100% dependent on US wheat. Nearly 80% of the land is owned by an elite 8% of the population, mainly commercial producers.
Credit: Abbie Trayler-Smith/OxfamYemen: The poorest country in the Middle East, half the population live on less than $2 a day. Ten million people (44% of the country) do not have enough to eat. 267,000 children are at risk of death from malnutrition already. Even those people who are still able to buy food are struggling. They are selling assets, skipping meals and sleeping during the day to ward off hunger. Families are marrying off their young daughters in order to have one less mouth to feed.
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