Treating Rising Food Prices: Time, Financial Investments, and Care

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David Loyn of the BBC recently reported on a meeting in Rome between the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and delegates after “the price of grain hit a two-year high at a time of year when the harvest in the northern hemisphere should be pushing prices down.” Following the release of this article the BBC opened up a debate under their Have Your Say section asking readers to comment on rising food prices in their region. Comments varied from ‘yes’ to criticisms of society as a whole, yet the undermining cause of rising food prices can be treated by investing time, financial resources, and attention, to the agricultural sector.

 

Time, or more specifically, patience, is a key investment to ensure careful monitoring over food supplies like grain. Nature itself takes time to develop what has become agricultural commodities such as apples and oranges but patience is closely linked to financial investments in the field of agriculture to ensure farmers a sustainable existence and better development of the land. Ultimately, none of this matters if the political will is not present. Related to patience, care, or rather the will to foster, plays a vital role when it comes to developing and monitoring food commodities like grain. Like raising an infant, hoping for the best outcome without actually devoting time and resources towards that outcome, is not a secure way of ensuring the future. Just as children may stall in terms of growth, so too will food prices fluctuate. By monitoring agriculture around the world it becomes easier to recognize events like the rising cost of grain, and alter practices to ensure a better outcome, such as lower food prices. With that said treating rising food prices is not the same as ‘curing’ them altogether.     

 

India – To Sell Or Not To Sell, Is That The Question?

The Guardian released an article today based on some finding by the Hindustan Times. Essentially the Guardian article argues that public distribution systems in India are “undermined by bureaucracy and corruption,” resulting in full warehouses and empty stomachs of ordinary citizens.

 

I decided to pursue this issue further. Using the aforementioned newspaper I visited the Hindustan Times website and learned more about their section entitled “tracking hunger”.

State	% of underweight children	% of undernutritioned children	% of hunger deaths under the age of 5
Rajasthan	40.4%	14.0%	8.5%
Gujarat	44.7%	22.3%	6.1%
Madhya Pradesh	59.8%	23.4%	9.4%
Maharashtra	36.7%	27.0%	4.7%
Karnataka	37.6%	28.1%	5.5%
Kerala	22.7%	28.6%	1.6%
West Bengal	38.5%	18.5%	5.9%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/TrackingHunger-statistics/trackinghunger/fullcoverage-FCLid.aspx

Using the statistics above one can evidently conclude that managing the nutrition of India’s future, its children, has to be a priority. To play devil’s advocate one can also argue over the credibility of such statistics. Despite being entitled “Alarming child malnutrition levels in major states” no date was provided next to the table, and if it were not for the 2010 copyright date at the bottom of the website, the credibility of these statistics could be questioned.

 

How were these statistics compiled?

What were the qualifications of a “major” state?

 

Those are but a few questions the statistics above can raise, but according to the Hindustan Times on the front page of their tracking hunger section,

 

Emerging India either does not know or ignores the statistics: Half its children are malnourished, a record worse than the world’s symbol for deprivation, sub-Saharan Africa. India is ranked 66th out of 88 countries in the Global Hunger Index drawn up by the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Outsiders who have never been to India, and I fall within that category, can question statistics like the one above for a long period of time, yet while questions are being asked it is evident that organization and distribution needs to be improved. Corruption has to be addressed if not for the sole reason that if one guard prematurely closes a warehouse full of food many more could perish as a result of that decision. Reasons for why corruption exists vary, but what remains constant is the belief that while the individual benefits, the collective suffer as whole. There is no such thing as working time machine, well at least not that I know of, but if there were I would like to visit India in the eighties and even the nineties to witness how the generation of today was shaped by the generations before. Ultimately, just as a strong foundation is needed to build a sturdy home so too is a strong commitment needed to improve public distribution systems in India. It is only by working with the community that such a hope can flourish into a reality.   

 

Change Accessibility, Change Lifestyle.

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 Television personalities like Oprah are increasingly advocating the benefits of  living a healthier lifestyle. Academics, such as Michael Pollan, have helped argue that what you put into your body affects how it functions.  If fruits and vegetables become more affordable through subsidizations they will make a larger number of plates. Just as fast food has become the quick and cheap fix when looking for a meal, so too does subsidizations on healthier foods positively impact a country’s population. As always, changing what you eat may not be enough. Exercise and the support of loved ones are all key steps to living healthier. Ultimately as tempting rapid change might seem, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. Visiting a farmer’s market for hard to find fruits and vegetables is one solution. Growing a garden is another. There are a countless number of approaches to this growing issue but the common factors of healthy eating in conjunction with exercise, remains constant.    

 

Does the relation between the economy and the environment always have to result in the economy taking a metaphorical beating?

Image by Brooklyn Museum via Flickr

 

According to an article posted today on the Khaleej Times Online, Egypt’s economy is predicted to experience an increase in “stress” due to the affects of climate change on the agricultural sector. According to Reuters it was reported that 10 to 12 percent of land used for farming could be lost due to potential occurrences of flooding and the expected decrease in fertility. Yet the economy does not always have to shape to the environment. If necessity is the mother of invention, as Plato is famously known for remarking, then there is profit via the creation of environmental technology to alter the climate, clean up oil spills, or even capture and contain greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Just as a coin always has two sides, so too does the relationship between economies and the environment. Drought is devastating for farmers who may not have supplementary income but good business evolves to the task at hand, creating more jobs, and hopefully at the same time increases awareness as to the effect interactions between the environment and people ultimately has on food production.

 

It’s not where, but HOW food is produced that matters

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Local does not always mean better. Growing techniques can make all the difference when it comes to producing fruits, vegetables and grains that are healthy for consumption. Understanding how your food is produced is equally important as understanding where it comes from, as once you know what’s going into the soil, it becomes easier to judge what’s going into your body as well. This may sound pretty simplistic, and for a small blog posting it is. But ultimately even if you don’t believe you need to know how your food is produced, it does not hurt to do some research into where your supermarkets are importing the food from, and what those local standards are. Some farmers may use pesticides, some may not. Doing a bit of civilian research can uncover those answers and possibly increase your awareness on the secret lives of the food you consume, before you consumed them.

Some places to start your research:

Your supermarket website

The labels on imported food products