Why Are So Many Fighting For Food?

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 03:19 PM

ABC News: Why Are So Many Fighting For Food?

Why Are So Many Fighting For Food?
ABC News Asks Reporters Around the World to Analyze the Global Food Crisis
April 10, 2008

Food prices are rising around the world. In an interview with ABC News, Gregory Barrow, senior public affairs officer at the World Food Program (WFP), said that "the WFP has identified a number of countries that have been badly affected, and we have identified a type of country that's most likely to suffer from rising food prices."
Food crisis
Indian female farm labourers plant rice in a field at Bhongir Mandal, some 50 km from Hyderabad, 10 July 2007.

""The kind of country to be worst-affected is a country which depends on importing its food to meet its people's needs, it is likely to have witnessed dramatic inflation recently, and where individuals typically spend a significant portion of their income, i.e. 50 percent or more, on food."

According to Barrow, this definition "would cover a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as countries in Asia, like Bangladesh and Pakistan."

HOW YOU CAN HELP THE WORLD HUNGER PROBLEM

Another thread on this
Time to invade again: Food riots turn deadly in Haiti

HAITI

The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has seen some of the worst food-related riots in recent months, with protestors taking to the streets, burning tires and looting shops. As the vast majority of Haiti's population struggles to get by on less than $2 a day, the rising prices of staple food items like rice and beans have left many Haitians angry with the government for not reducing taxes on foodstuffs.

President Rene Preval recently acknowledged that the country's problems were related to its dependence on imported rice and promised to boost food production. But opposition leaders immediately attacked him for doing little to address immediately the issue of food shortages.

Rising fuel costs have also made transportation of foodstuffs increasingly expensive, making the current global crisis especially painful for this nation, which already suffers from extreme poverty. On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked donors to provide emergency aid to Haiti.

The current unrest has provoked the U.S. Coast Guard to keep a careful eye on Haiti, in case of a migrant exodus to American shores.

INDIA:

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 03:23 PM

KENYA:

INDONESIA:

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 03:24 PM

EGYPT:

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 03:28 PM

CHINA:

RUSSIA

Brazil is increasingly seen as a "feeding bowl" for China and India. The growing demand for food in these two rising giants has forced them to turn to Brazil, where agriculture and livestock play a crucial economic role.

Brazil is leading the way in soyabean production; it is currently the world's No. 2 exporter of soy beans and in the past two years it exported just over 25 million tons -- China alone imported 10 million tons of that share. Soy is often used to feed livestock and with China 's appetite for beef rising, so too does its appetite for cattle feed.

Brazil is also a world leader in the bio-fuel industry – many of the country's cars run on ethanol, a product made from cheap sugarcane. As more land is cleared to plant sugarcane rather than crops for food, critics of these programs complain this demand for bio-fuels is also responsible for causing international food shortages, thus pushing up food prices.

Meanwhile, Brazil has itself been feeling the heat of rising food prices, primarily in wheat.

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 03:36 PM

"Tragically, more than 20 percent of Egypt's population of 76 million live below the poverty level. Recently,in Egypt where bread is not only a staple but also a life saver, two people waiting in line to buy their share of bread at a penny a loaf, were stabbed to death. Five more succumbed to exhaustion, heat related deaths or heart problems. Others in line especially the poorer ones, waited all day nearly faint with hunger, yet still received no bread. When it came their turn, no bread was left and those who received bread said it wasn't fit to eat anyway. Reminds me of a story I heard of how centuries ago, when there was a bread shortage, bakers were mixing weights and sawdust into the bread dough to receive more money for less bread.

Egypt grows about 7 million tons of wheat and consumes 14 million tons. The country receives 2 billion yearly in military aid from the USA and was spending about 54 million of that to purchase the wheat. But because of rising prices, Egypt is looking to cheaper countries to buy their wheat instead of buying from the USA, Australia, and the former soviet republic. This is where the black market comes in to play. The rising cost of wheat has more than tripled in just the last ten months.

This is of global concern to all as the poorer countries will have massive starvation and government controlled poverty. The military in Egypt have their own bakeries which feed their employees, but have opened some 10 bakeries to sell subsidized bread. It's not nearly enough, and they plan on other bakeries opening soon to help with the flow of people and to shorten the lines.

Why are we having these rising prices? Decreased crop production due to horrible weather patterns, higher demand to grow grain for those who consume meat and dairy products. For years, vegetarians have warned of this happening and now it has. India, Brazil and China grow massive quantities of grain for meat and dairy consumers. Converting land to biofuel crops instead of using the land for food has caused shortages, and there's the rising cost of oil of course which plays a large factor.

The best part of rising costs is, the world will now be forced to take the opportunity to
eliminate those subsidies to rich farmers and assist those farmers who are poorer. Amazingly global rises in food forces us to reduce global inequality. Still it is the poor who will suffer the most as it can often take years to debate trade agreements to resolve this inequality.

At this time there are groups who help the poor with other sources of food such as in Brazil
where the Landless Workers' Movement advocate food sovereignty as a solution. They work locally to provide alternative sources of food for the poor.

Rising prices for grain have been of short duration in the past so we hope it will be the same this time. In the meantime, I believe the USA with its stockpiles of grain has the ability to help those poorer countries until this crisis is over."

W.M.DEEEZ · 04-10-2008, 03:39 PM

I remember seeing a piece on Haiti decades ago.

The govt. over there is more corrupt than in the USA.

We evidently went there, and attempted to start programs that taught them to farm for themselves.

We had to bribe people with food, just to have them participate. In the end, there was no interest by anyone to "do for themselves"

A large part of this could be from the fact that the govt., at any time, can bust into your mud hut, and help themselves to anything they want.

I believe it ruins any chance of someone wanting to get ahead...

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 04:14 PM

In many militarily controlled govt's such as in Egypt, I can see why these poorer people are starving. Something as simply made as balady bread (their life saving staple) shouldn't be so scarce to get and nobody should have to die from lack of this easy to make bread. I've read that due to farmland being turned into grain for animals and corn for bio fuel, people will starve.

Look at this recipe for balady bread:
1) 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour.
2) 7 oz. water.
3) 1/2 tsp. salt.
4) 1/4 oz. Dry Yeast.

1) Put flour and salt in an oversized bowl.
2) Mix Dry Yeast with the water.
3) Slowly add water.
4) Take turns kneading the dough.
5) Spread flour on a clean, flat surface.
6) Roll dough into small balls.
7) Form balls into flat round shapes or triangles.
8) Cover with a cloth for one to two hours only.

In one to two hours:
Bake bread on a greased sheet for 30 minutes at 350 Degree heat.

OldManOnFire · 04-10-2008, 04:21 PM

Today it is estimated there are 6.6 billion people in the world.

It is projected to be 9 billion by 2050...about 75 million more people every year.

Geographically, people are not evenly spread around. Due to myriad reasons, we have concentrated areas of dense populations and vast areas with little population.

As long as there is an availability of land and sustainable resources in a particular area, or the world, it cannot be considered 'over-populated'. I know it feels this way when driving on some freeways, but as long as all those people find homes to live and food to eat, we are not officially over-populated.

But in those areas in which for whatever reason there are not sustainable resources for the existing population, or not enough money in their pockets to import the necessities, the circumstances can be dire.

We in the US seem to think it's as simple as planting some crops and having plenty of food and how can these people in Haiti or wherever be so lazy and stupid? Yet we have the same issues right here in the US of so many people who are hungry. I've always wondered why it's so difficult for the richest and most powerful nation in the world to not be able to provide quality food to all it's citizens?? The only answer I can come up with is MONEY rules!! So if it's this way in the US, then I suppose it's this way all over the world.

For me, the availability of food is analogous to the availability of health care in the sense that both are required for a reasonable shot at living to be 75 years old. We know the US health care system is broken, and when vegetables and fruit are ridiculously expensive and people are going hungry, we can assume the food system is also broken.

In a sense, for those who agree to universal health care (UHC) free to all people at all times, or politically it might be called socialized medicine, it seems that perhaps we are going to need a UFS, or universal food system. No matter how the economic system is supposed to work, reality says things like health care and quality nutrition are simply too expensive for the average person. Since both are necessary, and for the health of the nation, it's as if we are approaching Gene Roddenberry's vision of space and the future, where people don't need to worry about housing, medical care, death arrangements, or food--it's just there...

Refuge51 · 04-10-2008, 04:29 PM

Believe it or not, I agree with you. I don't think they're lazy as much as tired, poor and without hope. They've seen crops die, so they give up. They need a hand out and a hand up, they need storehouses of grain like we have, but the problem is the govt. gets it all. It's a damn shame and it's cruel.

PursuitOfHappinessParty · 04-10-2008, 07:04 PM

What they need to do is rise up, en masse, and help themselves. These 'third world' countries continually allow dictatorships and corrupt governments to lead them. If we try to help as we did before, we are just an enabler. They can use help, yes. But help is something that comes as you attempt something, not as the spark for change.

04-10-2008, 03:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	Why Are So Many Fighting For Food? ABC News: Why Are So Many Fighting For Food? Why Are So Many Fighting For Food? ABC News Asks Reporters Around the World to Analyze the Global Food Crisis April 10, 2008 Food prices are rising around the world. In an interview with ABC News, Gregory Barrow, senior public affairs officer at the World Food Program (WFP), said that "the WFP has identified a number of countries that have been badly affected, and we have identified a type of country that's most likely to suffer from rising food prices." Food crisis Indian female farm labourers plant rice in a field at Bhongir Mandal, some 50 km from Hyderabad, 10 July 2007. ""The kind of country to be worst-affected is a country which depends on importing its food to meet its people's needs, it is likely to have witnessed dramatic inflation recently, and where individuals typically spend a significant portion of their income, i.e. 50 percent or more, on food." According to Barrow, this definition "would cover a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as countries in Asia, like Bangladesh and Pakistan." HOW YOU CAN HELP THE WORLD HUNGER PROBLEM Another thread on this Time to invade again: Food riots turn deadly in Haiti HAITI The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has seen some of the worst food-related riots in recent months, with protestors taking to the streets, burning tires and looting shops. As the vast majority of Haiti's population struggles to get by on less than $2 a day, the rising prices of staple food items like rice and beans have left many Haitians angry with the government for not reducing taxes on foodstuffs. President Rene Preval recently acknowledged that the country's problems were related to its dependence on imported rice and promised to boost food production. But opposition leaders immediately attacked him for doing little to address immediately the issue of food shortages. Rising fuel costs have also made transportation of foodstuffs increasingly expensive, making the current global crisis especially painful for this nation, which already suffers from extreme poverty. On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked donors to provide emergency aid to Haiti. The current unrest has provoked the U.S. Coast Guard to keep a careful eye on Haiti, in case of a migrant exodus to American shores. INDIA: Last edited by Refuge51; 04-10-2008 at 03:22 PM.
	Top

04-10-2008, 03:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	KENYA: INDONESIA: Last edited by Refuge51; 04-10-2008 at 03:31 PM.
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04-10-2008, 03:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	EGYPT:
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04-10-2008, 03:28 PM	#4 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	CHINA: RUSSIA Brazil is increasingly seen as a "feeding bowl" for China and India. The growing demand for food in these two rising giants has forced them to turn to Brazil, where agriculture and livestock play a crucial economic role. Brazil is leading the way in soyabean production; it is currently the world's No. 2 exporter of soy beans and in the past two years it exported just over 25 million tons -- China alone imported 10 million tons of that share. Soy is often used to feed livestock and with China 's appetite for beef rising, so too does its appetite for cattle feed. Brazil is also a world leader in the bio-fuel industry – many of the country's cars run on ethanol, a product made from cheap sugarcane. As more land is cleared to plant sugarcane rather than crops for food, critics of these programs complain this demand for bio-fuels is also responsible for causing international food shortages, thus pushing up food prices. Meanwhile, Brazil has itself been feeling the heat of rising food prices, primarily in wheat.
	Top

04-10-2008, 03:36 PM	#5 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	"Tragically, more than 20 percent of Egypt's population of 76 million live below the poverty level. Recently,in Egypt where bread is not only a staple but also a life saver, two people waiting in line to buy their share of bread at a penny a loaf, were stabbed to death. Five more succumbed to exhaustion, heat related deaths or heart problems. Others in line especially the poorer ones, waited all day nearly faint with hunger, yet still received no bread. When it came their turn, no bread was left and those who received bread said it wasn't fit to eat anyway. Reminds me of a story I heard of how centuries ago, when there was a bread shortage, bakers were mixing weights and sawdust into the bread dough to receive more money for less bread. Egypt grows about 7 million tons of wheat and consumes 14 million tons. The country receives 2 billion yearly in military aid from the USA and was spending about 54 million of that to purchase the wheat. But because of rising prices, Egypt is looking to cheaper countries to buy their wheat instead of buying from the USA, Australia, and the former soviet republic. This is where the black market comes in to play. The rising cost of wheat has more than tripled in just the last ten months. This is of global concern to all as the poorer countries will have massive starvation and government controlled poverty. The military in Egypt have their own bakeries which feed their employees, but have opened some 10 bakeries to sell subsidized bread. It's not nearly enough, and they plan on other bakeries opening soon to help with the flow of people and to shorten the lines. Why are we having these rising prices? Decreased crop production due to horrible weather patterns, higher demand to grow grain for those who consume meat and dairy products. For years, vegetarians have warned of this happening and now it has. India, Brazil and China grow massive quantities of grain for meat and dairy consumers. Converting land to biofuel crops instead of using the land for food has caused shortages, and there's the rising cost of oil of course which plays a large factor. The best part of rising costs is, the world will now be forced to take the opportunity to eliminate those subsidies to rich farmers and assist those farmers who are poorer. Amazingly global rises in food forces us to reduce global inequality. Still it is the poor who will suffer the most as it can often take years to debate trade agreements to resolve this inequality. At this time there are groups who help the poor with other sources of food such as in Brazil where the Landless Workers' Movement advocate food sovereignty as a solution. They work locally to provide alternative sources of food for the poor. Rising prices for grain have been of short duration in the past so we hope it will be the same this time. In the meantime, I believe the USA with its stockpiles of grain has the ability to help those poorer countries until this crisis is over."
	Top

04-10-2008, 03:39 PM	#6 (permalink)
W.M.DEEEZ I don't exist either Join Date: Oct 2007 Posts: 1,513 Thanks: 6 Thanked 51 Times in 38 Posts	I remember seeing a piece on Haiti decades ago. The govt. over there is more corrupt than in the USA. We evidently went there, and attempted to start programs that taught them to farm for themselves. We had to bribe people with food, just to have them participate. In the end, there was no interest by anyone to "do for themselves" A large part of this could be from the fact that the govt., at any time, can bust into your mud hut, and help themselves to anything they want. I believe it ruins any chance of someone wanting to get ahead... __________________ Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone
	Top

04-10-2008, 04:14 PM	#7 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	In many militarily controlled govt's such as in Egypt, I can see why these poorer people are starving. Something as simply made as balady bread (their life saving staple) shouldn't be so scarce to get and nobody should have to die from lack of this easy to make bread. I've read that due to farmland being turned into grain for animals and corn for bio fuel, people will starve. Look at this recipe for balady bread: 1) 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour. 2) 7 oz. water. 3) 1/2 tsp. salt. 4) 1/4 oz. Dry Yeast. 1) Put flour and salt in an oversized bowl. 2) Mix Dry Yeast with the water. 3) Slowly add water. 4) Take turns kneading the dough. 5) Spread flour on a clean, flat surface. 6) Roll dough into small balls. 7) Form balls into flat round shapes or triangles. 8) Cover with a cloth for one to two hours only. In one to two hours: Bake bread on a greased sheet for 30 minutes at 350 Degree heat.
	Top

04-10-2008, 04:21 PM	#8 (permalink)
OldManOnFire Extraterrestrial Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: California Posts: 1,611 My Mood: Thanks: 4 Thanked 40 Times in 33 Posts	Today it is estimated there are 6.6 billion people in the world. It is projected to be 9 billion by 2050...about 75 million more people every year. Geographically, people are not evenly spread around. Due to myriad reasons, we have concentrated areas of dense populations and vast areas with little population. As long as there is an availability of land and sustainable resources in a particular area, or the world, it cannot be considered 'over-populated'. I know it feels this way when driving on some freeways, but as long as all those people find homes to live and food to eat, we are not officially over-populated. But in those areas in which for whatever reason there are not sustainable resources for the existing population, or not enough money in their pockets to import the necessities, the circumstances can be dire. We in the US seem to think it's as simple as planting some crops and having plenty of food and how can these people in Haiti or wherever be so lazy and stupid? Yet we have the same issues right here in the US of so many people who are hungry. I've always wondered why it's so difficult for the richest and most powerful nation in the world to not be able to provide quality food to all it's citizens?? The only answer I can come up with is MONEY rules!! So if it's this way in the US, then I suppose it's this way all over the world. For me, the availability of food is analogous to the availability of health care in the sense that both are required for a reasonable shot at living to be 75 years old. We know the US health care system is broken, and when vegetables and fruit are ridiculously expensive and people are going hungry, we can assume the food system is also broken. In a sense, for those who agree to universal health care (UHC) free to all people at all times, or politically it might be called socialized medicine, it seems that perhaps we are going to need a UFS, or universal food system. No matter how the economic system is supposed to work, reality says things like health care and quality nutrition are simply too expensive for the average person. Since both are necessary, and for the health of the nation, it's as if we are approaching Gene Roddenberry's vision of space and the future, where people don't need to worry about housing, medical care, death arrangements, or food--it's just there... __________________ Did you know both our problems and the solutions can be found simply by looking in our mirrors...and...Never confuse the extraordinary stuff I think and write with that of a well-balanced person...
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04-10-2008, 04:29 PM	#9 (permalink)
Refuge51 animal lover Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Around Here Posts: 1,898 My Mood: Thanks: 118 Thanked 54 Times in 34 Posts	Believe it or not, I agree with you. I don't think they're lazy as much as tired, poor and without hope. They've seen crops die, so they give up. They need a hand out and a hand up, they need storehouses of grain like we have, but the problem is the govt. gets it all. It's a damn shame and it's cruel.
	Top

04-10-2008, 07:04 PM	#10 (permalink)
PursuitOfHappinessParty Keep It Simple Stupid Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth Posts: 3,026 My Mood: Thanks: 44 Thanked 45 Times in 33 Posts	What they need to do is rise up, en masse, and help themselves. These 'third world' countries continually allow dictatorships and corrupt governments to lead them. If we try to help as we did before, we are just an enabler. They can use help, yes. But help is something that comes as you attempt something, not as the spark for change. __________________ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.
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