Inflated Food Prices Test the Mettle of World Governments
By Carolina Iribarren ’11
News Reporter
Many of us have been told since childhood how wasting food is bad and how there are many people in the world who do not have the privilege of eating three meals per day. In the past, this statement felt distant—maybe a little exaggerated. But right now, that statement would actually be an optimistic view of the situation. The world is currently facing a wave of food-price inflation, which has ended the period of thirty years in which food was cheap. The international food markets have been wildly distorted, and the demand for food will not decrease. Since January, rice prices have ascended 141%; the price of one variety of wheat shot up 25% in one day.
As a result of the ever-increasing prices of food, people in developing countries are cutting back severely to be able to eat at least one bowl of food per day. Middle-class people have given up health care and are cutting out meat in order to eat three meals a day. The middling poor are pulling children from school and cutting back on vegetables in order to afford rice. The less fortunate, those on $1 a day, are cutting back on meat, vegetables, and one or two meals so they can pay for one bowl. Those who earn fifty cents or less have lost hope.
The solution to this incredible demand could be as simple as planting more crops, since the prices mainly reflect changes in demand—not problems of supply, such as harvest failures. Farmers will eventually respond to the higher prices by growing more. A new equilibrium will be established. If everything turns out well, food will soon again be affordable, and people can get enough food without the aid of rich countries. But at the moment, the future of agriculture is looking quite bleak.
In order to plant more crops, there must be available land. The shortage of land that could be used for crop cultivation is a consequence of expanding cities and pollution. Rice in East Asia is one of the most threatened crops right now. In 2006, the government of China said that the minimum amount of arable land needed to protect “grain security” was 120 million hectares. By now, China has definitely crossed the line. In addition, more and more viable land is being destroyed by the lumber industry and other expanding industries that do not follow environment-friendly standards.
The increase in population all around the world is also radically affecting the possibility of establishing equilibrium in the food market. According to The Economist, thanks to population growth and the loss of farmland, the average farm size in China and Bangladesh has fallen from about 1.5 hectares in the 1970s to barely 0.5 hectares now. Officials acknowledge that maintaining near self-sufficiency in grain will become harder as the population grows and arable land disappears.
It is a fact that the era of cheap food is over, and the cost to establish a new price and supply equilibrium is proving more expensive, more prolonged and much harder than anyone had expected. The growing civil strife is not of much help either. But right now, not acting is not an option anymore. Governments around the world have to assume their responsibilities and start finding a solution that will make food affordable once again, without jeopardizing the environment. Governments should not continue intervening in international markets. This is a turning point in modern history, and how we alleviate it may determine the future of humanity.
