A Crisis in World Food Prices
April 11th, 2008 at 1:48 pm | posted by Virginia Simmons
Everyone here at ONE is watching and deeply concerned about impact of rising food prices on the poorest people around the globe - people who already spend more than half of their income on food. We just put up a new page, at ONE.org/worldfoodcrisis to highlight what is happening, make some statements and to keep track of the latest news.
For those who haven’t been following - Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization announced on Wednesday that the cost of the most basic food staples - rice, wheat and corn - have risen 45% in just the last 9 months. The cost of these staples have now increased 80% since 2005.
From the page:
“To address the current crisis and prevent long-term damage to development progress, the international community needs to address the problem of rising food prices and renew global efforts to combat hunger, malnutrition and agricultural development. In the short-term, quick action should be taken to increase emergency aid to food-importing developing nations and provide the $500 million needed by the World Food Program to meet immediate food needs…In the longer term, the donor community must work with developing nations to develop a comprehensive response to combating hunger and promoting broad-based agricultural development.”
Read more on the one.org/worldfoodcrisis page. Also note links to further analysis, more resource and the latest news stories and editorials on the crisis.
-Virginia Simmons
April 14th, 2008 at 1:01 am
If you were so worried about food prices, why don’t you engage in DEBUNKING the LIE of Global Warming? The increased production of ethanol as an alternative fuel has been significantly raising the worldwide cost of corn used in the process. People are starving because of a global chicken little named AL GORE, who is getting RICH at the expense of poor starving people all over the world, as he PROFITS from the sale of “carbon credits”. Big time, CAPITALIST PIG, that Al Gore is.
YOU HYPOCRITES.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Um, Lizzy, you sound angry. While there might be a grain or two of truth in what you say, you might want to learn to present arguments that are both logical and non-hysterical. (Some college might be a good start if you have already graduated high school.) While increased production of ethanol has resulted in higher corn prices, ethanol production has been increased, by and large, to address the diminishing supply of (and our dependence upon) petroleum, not global warming. Al Gore, for all of his faults, is not the cause of global poverty or starvation. ONE isn’t being hypocritical for failing to debunk global warming–you can bear that cross–and ONE will bear the cross of human suffering caused by starvation and disease. God bless.
April 14th, 2008 at 6:58 am
I have a friend who still has family in Haiti. And yesterday she was saying to me that over there now because the price of food is so high, that you have people making mud cakes so that they can eat something. And that things are so bad over there that people are actually selling them to have something in their stomach. Is there something that we can do to get some food or something over there? It’s a very sad situation and I do wish there were something I could do to help.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:43 am
This is only the start of it. The world is heading for a global crisis as the capitalist system breaks down. The fact we will not face is that this way of living is not sustainable and bio fuels are a poor bluff to try and maintain this lifestyle. There is a much bigger crisis ahead when the oil either slows down to a point where it is impossible to sustain industry or runs out completely. Then we will have hunger across all countries where they do not produce their own food and depend on food imports.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:52 am
People… The more I watch the headlines, the more the Bible comes to life….
Revelation 6:1-8 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. 3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. 5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.?
This is only the begining…
April 17th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
HELLO,
I THINK THAT IT’S IMPORTANT TO HELP THAT PEOPLE TO OBTAIN ITS FOOD BY HARVESTING, OR TRYING IT, BECAUSE IF THE G8 PROVIDE THAT COUNTRIES ALL THE TIME IT MAKES DEPENDENCY, I DON’T THINK THAT THEY ONLY HAVE TO GIVE MONEY OR FOOD, WE HAVE TO FIGHT TO MAKE INDEPENDENT COUNTRY OF CAPITALISM AND WE COULD START HELPING THEM TO HARVEST, I KNOW THAT’S NOT THE SOLUTION OR THE ANSWER BUT I KNOW THAT AID
April 19th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
opitions have a great deal to do with the shortages at present. traders drive up the prices by bidding on the futures. biofuel is another ofcourse. biofuel does not ease oil consummation in any way, biofuels require immense amounts of petrol fertilizer as well as harvesting and transporting costs. biofuel initially was conceived to be made up of only waste products, including those product that cannot be used in nourishing the ground after harvesting. enter the oil companies and all those that benefit from the derivatives. in the not to distant future water ofcourse is going to be a real threat. deforestation is a ticking time bomb in all scenarios, no trees, no rain, no carbon filters, more heat, no rain, no trees and around we go. right now we need a handle and reform on the market. it reads as ridiculous, but as it stands now the stock market is a powerful driver of our reality.
April 22nd, 2008 at 2:45 pm
I don’t see how you can ‘debunk global warming’ when the facts supporting this reality are irrefutable. Even the arguments attempting to suggest human activity is not driving, or at the very least accelerating, the process are ridiculous. The ‘hypocrites’ are the governments who knew all along that ethanol was a boondoggle created to make the public believe the government was ‘doing something’ positive about global warming and the energy crisis. In reality the hoax of a ‘war on terror’ was created to provide ‘cover’ for an energy wars being launched to benefit the financial elites who are running this show.
This brings me to the point of my comment; the neoconservatives have fully documented their absolute and determined effort to ‘depopulate’ the planet by billions of people and their favored methods, as expressed repeatedly by Henry Kissinger and others, are famine, war and birth control. Since the minions of the elites; the neoconservatives, desire the deaths of billions of human beings and are working diligently to engineer that result, anyone who petitions this government is actually asking the people who are intent upon eugenics through depopulation to stop what they have so earnestly put into motion………Good luck with that.
See http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&q=eugenics+depopulation+neocons&btnG=Google+Search
October 6th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Ïðèâåò, áûëî î÷åíüïîçíàâàòåëüíî àâñ ïî÷èòàòü. òîëüêî âîò îäíîíå î÷åíü õîðîøî Ñïàìåðû äîñòàëè, ó ìåíÿ ó ñàìîãî åñòü áëîã òàê è íà ïðåìîäåðàöèþ ñòàâèòü âñå ïîñòûíå äåëî, à âîò êàïò÷ó íèêàê íå ìîãó óñòàíîâèòü, íå ïîëó÷àåòñÿ…
October 25th, 2008 at 8:32 am
Заметил такую тенденцию, что в блогах появилось много не адекватных комментариев, не могу понять, это что кто то спамит так? А зачем, чтоб падлу комуто сделать))) Имхо глупо…