‘Global volatility of food prices will stay’
If you think that rocketing food prices will come down someday, here is a word of caution. According to experts in the International Federation of the Red Cross, the era of cheap food is over.
“It seems the global volatility of food prices is here to stay,” IFRC secretary-general Bekele Geleta said after releasing IFRC annual World Disaster report, urging governments and donors to ensure that the most vulnerable people are better prepared to cope with unstable agricultural markets and volatile food prices.
The report highlighted growing fears that rise in food prices could reach a violent tipping point and become a dangerous source of instability in many countries. “The recent uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa were fuelled, amongst other factors, by an increase in the price of food and general cost of living. In September 2010, 13 people were killed in food riots in Mozambique,” it said.
The report revealed that the prices of food items have gone up globally reaching a peak in the year 2011. The worlds poorest people who typically spend between 50-80 per cent of their incomes on food are therefore at serious risk from rocketing food prices and volatile global markets, warns the report.
According to the Geneva based humanitarian group on nutrition “Obese people now outnumber the hungry globally”. The IFRC stressed there were 1.5 billion people suffering obesity worldwide last year, while 925 million were undernourished.
“If the free interplay of market forces has produced an outcome where 15 per cent of humanity are hungry while 20 per cent are overweight, something has gone wrong somewhere,” Mr Geleta said.
Mr Jagan Chapagain, director, Asia Pacific IFRC, said, three million children die before the age of five, 15 per cent of the world population goes to bed hungry, 60 per cent of under nourished are women and the prices of food items have gone up globally reaching a peak in the year 2011. These are the biggest threats to humanity today.
He added that 1.5 million people are dying because of obesity and deseases related to overweight and 1 million due to malnutrition.
He mentioned that 5-10 million hectares of land is being lost annually to soil degradation and the era of cheap food is over.
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