Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Rising Food Prices Push Millions Into Poverty, Study Says
This article discusses the sharp rise in food prices last summer has caused millions of people living in developing countries to be in extreme poverty. These increases in prices has in return increased the vulnerability of the countries that import the majority of their food, and have limited amount of government spending. The world bank explained that it is important to slow the increase of poverty and start boosting safety net and nutritional programs to help these countries that are most vulnerable.
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5 comments:
I would be curious to find out why the price of bread increased. The U.S. exports the most agricultural goods in the world so I would think that we could have a hand in preventing these countries from starving.
Also, mentioned today in class to the speaker Mr. Purdy, when the price of bread in Egypt was raised 1/10 of a cent , the people rioted like crazy. This could be the catalyst to riots in many other countries.
It is interesting to see how some countries that lack natural resources are very dependent on exports from other countries and therefore very vulnerable when it comes to price changes. This is exactly the kind of thing that the United Nation tries to fix but this is a complex macro-economic issue that in my opinion will not be solved easily.
The countries that are hurt the most are those of highly dependent on importing food countries. Usually, those countries are either restricted by their economy or natural resource. However, in the United States, we spend small part of our income on food, and as a result, it is hard for us to experience the impacts on our life from the increasing price of food. Besides, the government food stamp program as well as TANF ensure that the poor within the country can reach the basic standard of living.
Most often than not these kind of food problems are a result of incapable and corrupt government and inefficient economic system. In the 21 century agriculture doesn't require large investments when compared to other sectors. If the governments of these countries provide support to the agricultural sector, we will see less of these kind of problems.
Have anyone given a thought maybe the growing population is a factor in increasing the food prices? Overpopulation is something we should address and focus on since all resources are scarce and there's bounded to be poverty everywhere on a global scale.
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