On air: How worried should we be about the Russia wheat crisis?
| 11:10 UK time, Monday, 9 August 2010
Update: We'll have experts on the show to answer your questions.
It's been a for Russia. Sweltering heat and very little rain have killed half the crop in some places, and now they've slapped a ban on grain exports from Russia. and it's got people talking about how the rates might spiral out of control and raise the cost of food around the world. Two years ago a vicious price spike caused food riots from . So are we on the edge of another food crisis?
This blogger warns of ahead:
Things do not (yet?) look as dire as 2007/8... But, the global poor could again suffer... Even small increases in food prices translate into human suffering. The International Fund for Agricultural Development estimates that a one percent increase in the price of staples results in 16 million more food insecure people in the world.
Eric deCarbonnel goes further than this, he says we're in
Shortages have driven up prices and we are now entering the next stage of the food crisis. Stage A of the food crisis (shortage-driven price spike) has occurred. Now we are entering stage B (confusion, growing doubts in government estimates, accelerating price rises).
For this blogger part of the problem is ,
food is a domain covered by a multiplicity of regional and international organizations that do not necessarily operate in a coordinated fashion. In plain English, there's a whole bunch of people who don't seem to bother checking how their efforts fit together with those of others.
Food blogger Heather Brubaker reminds us that, contrary to what the poets might say, the sea isn't boundless. She fears could destroy entire ocean ecosystems...
unless we decide to make hard choices as a society to enact and enforce regulations that will allow fish populations to flourish once again.
So are we really in the midst of a food crisis? If we are, whose fault is it? How can we get out of this mess?
