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[14 April 2008] - Reports of a ‘global food crisis’ have multiplied in recent weeks, with UN agencies, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) joining NGOs and governments in voicing their concern at spiralling food costs.

World Bank head, Robert Zoellick, said the rapid rise in food prices could push 100 million people in poor countries deeper into poverty.

Meanwhile, the IMF said hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of starvation.

Why are prices rocketing?

Price rises are caused by a mix of supply and demand factors.

In terms of supply, the production of food is mainly related to climatic factors in major production regions, such as US, Brazil and Australia. There have been some poor harvests in the last two years, but global levels of food production overall are not significantly lower than before.

Climate change, and more changeable weather, is a new factor that affects supply, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In Latin America and most developed countries, the nature of climate change will actually help food production.

Demand is a bigger factor. There are three big drivers of increased demand:

1. Bigger incomes throughout much of the world, particularly in China and India. While the amount of food consumed varies only a little (you can only eat a certain amount of food), higher income often means a more diverse and better quality diet, including increased meat and milk consumption. Meat- and milk- producing animals are often fed on grain, so more demand for meat means more for grain too.

2. A huge increase in the use of food commodities (corn, sugar, palm oil) for bio-fuels. This is because as oil prices have reached record levels, bio-fuel production has become more commercially viable, and many governments have encouraged bio-fuel production out of energy security considerations.

3. There has been a large increase in speculative trading on food commodities in recent years, which has also contributed to price increases.

In short, food no longer just goes into people’s mouths. It goes into more animal’s mouths, into power plants and into cars. There is far more competition for what food is available.

What does it mean?

Food prices are soaring, and there is less food aid to go round.

Some regions will do better than others, with sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia badly affected.

Higher food prices mean different things to different people, but it is the poorest (urban and rural poor in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia) who will suffer the most, and inequality is likely to rise. The impact on individual households has received far less coverage than concerns about riots (link)

If your income is fixed, higher food prices mean you cannot afford everything, so something has to go. That may be education or health.

Impact on children’s rights

There will be impacts across a range of children’s rights:

• Hunger: cheaper diets are less diverse and have fewer micronutrients, hence increased risk of stunting; if families cannot afford even enough calories (let alone diverse foods) then acute malnutrition and starvation become possibilities, but this is extreme – what follows below is more likely to occur first
• Health: fewer people can afford treatment where healthcare isn’t free and indirect costs (transport, etc.) are significant
• Education: enrolment and attendance at expensive secondary level reduces, and for poorer families enrolment at primary level may also reduce
• Protection: an alternative to cutting spending is to try to increase income, and for the poorest this may mean resorting to more dangerous and exploitative means of earning income: e.g. taking children out of school and sending them to work instead, or engaging in transactional sex.
  

Overall effect:

• Increased poverty, particularly for those already poor in the poorest regions
• Increased inequality and tensions
• Reduced access to/ uptake of basic services due to poverty
• Possibility of food crises affecting only part of the population, in areas where food is available but unaffordable, and in “non-traditional” areas like cities
  
  

Facts and figures – the soaring costs

The following is a snapshot of the increases in food costs between January and March this year:

Wheat: 130 per cent
Soya: 87 per cent
Rice: 74 per cent
Corn: 31 per cent

[Source: Bloomberg]

For comprehensive facts and figures, visit a special page on the BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7284196.stm  

Organisation Contact Details:

Child Rights Information Network
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2 Pontypool Place
London
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Tel: +44 (0)207 401 2257
Email: info@crin.org
Website: www.crin.org

Last updated 23/06/2008 10:00:37