The World Food Shortage Crisis

This post continues on the topic of Hannaher’s post “A Necessary Wake up Call”, world food shortages. The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, recently announced that he will be setting up a force to address this issue. Members of this team will include Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, other heads of UN committees and the World Bank. The World Food Program estimates 100 million people are being affected by the food shortage. The primary goal of the task force will be to raise $755mil to fill in the WFP gap to feed the hungry. So far, the WFP has reported that various donors have promised that 62% of the intended and much needed goal of $755mil; however, only 18% of this amount has been received. The “widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale” is a result of increasing food prices.  Statistics show that the price of common foods including grain and rice has risen by 50%. $200 mil will be allotted to those farmers of the worse affected nations. These farmers cannot afford the increasing prices of essentials such as energy and fertilizer. The objective for this measure is to boost food production in these countries. Also, the plan calls for the creation of a $1.7bn program to help these countries buy seeds to increase production. The World Bank has agreed to double its lending amount to Africa for agricultural purposes as well as make the financing process more efficient.

The Secretary General is encouraging international cooperation in order to solve this global problem. The world food shortage clearly shows how the international system has become more interconnected and interdependent. For example, recently India banned the export of non-basmati rice and is now enforcing taxes on the export of basmati rice. The restriction on exports is one factor contributing the increase of food prices. Countries have resorted to this strategy in order to preserve their own food stocks. Ban Ki-Moon calls for nations not to ban export of food as it makes it only exacerbates the problem. Another example of the interdependency is that China is considering leasing land in Latin America, Australia and the Russia to account for farmland destroyed due to urbanization and industrialization. Meanwhile, US president George Bush states that the use of corn as a fuel has only contributed 15% to the increase of prices; and that he hopes to switch to fuel methods that do not hurt food production in the long run. The world food shortage is a growing problem that can only be addressed by international cooperation.