Food crisis - Time to change!

"Since 2005, the prices of staples have jumped 80 percent" World Bank President Zoellick said. The skyrocketing commodity price's impact on the developing countries is huge: 37 countries (21 are in Africa) are facing a serious food crisis as the foodstuffs have gone up 41 percent in price since October 2007.

The UNs World Food Program requires 500USD million to meet emergency calls from 70 million people in 80 countries; Zoellick reckons that the United States, the European Union and the Japan should act now to fill the global food gap otherwise lot of people will suffer and starve.
The World Bank will set up a "Green Revolution" to help poor countries to boost their productivity by lending more: for example in Africa, the organisation will double its lending (from 450 USD to 800 USD). The goal is to give more opportunities and confidence to developing countries to expand their production. But increasing current spending is only a short-term solution. Higher food prices appear to be here to stay...

So where are the problems?

First, the spike in oil prices (103 USD per barrel in recent days which means +72% in 2007) is one problem as it is followed by an increase of the cost of production and the cost of transport of the cereals which have a knock-on effect on the selling price.

Then there is climate change. Jacques Diouf, President of the FAO, claimed that the climat change is a main issue for the worlwide food security. Over the last years some majors cereals suppliers countries such as the United-States, Australia or Europe, had to face some serious natural disasters (dryness or flooding) and so they have not be able to produce sufficient cereals quantities. As a consequence, the worldwide stocks of cereals have been consumed.

However, the fact that the worldwide population is more and more important (more than 6billion of people today and 9billion expected in 2050) should be taken into account. Indeed, India or China which account for the most populated countris in the world, are going through some food habits changes: they tend to leave their traditional way of eating for a more occidental one, which means less vegetable proteins and more animal proteins. The problem is that these proteins need 10 times more space to grow up and meanwhile, the cultivable space becomes smaller due to the urbanization.

These three major reasons of the food crises are truly related; the oil has allowed the food globalisation, the increase of richness and wealth but has led to the environmental pollution! Unfortunately, no end is forecasted for this crises, which could have serious repercussions on the worldwide economic factors.

At the end, this skyrocketing of food prices is the direct result of the human willingness to always looking for a strong growth with two digits even if it is to the detriment of our planet.