The World Hunger Is Growing (Updated)

Yeah BBC news and lots of media has taken up the issue. My last post, about the subject. In this article there is a bit more stats and different points of view.

"Never mind the economic crisis. Focus for a moment on a more urgent threat: the great food recession that is sweeping the world faster than the credit crunch. You have probably seen the figures by now: the price of rice has risen by three-quarters over the past year, that of wheat by 130%. There are food crises in 37 countries. One hundred million people, according to the World Bank, could be pushed into deeper poverty by the high prices.

But I bet that you have missed the most telling statistic. At 2,1-billion tonnes, the global grain harvest broke all records last year -- it beat the previous year's by almost 5%. The crisis, in other words, has begun before world food supplies are hit by climate change. If hunger can strike now, what will happen if harvests decline?"

Media so far has been telling a lie about the harvest init? They said the global harvest failed?

"The World Bank points out that "the grain required to fill the tank of a sports utility vehicle with ethanol ... could feed one person for a year". "

Oh dear, what fun?

"This year global stockpiles of cereals will decline by about 53-million tonnes; this gives you a rough idea of the size of the hunger gap. The production of biofuels will consume almost 100-million tonnes, which suggests that they are directly responsible for the current crisis."

Good on you Ruth Kelly, you are getting us into a muddle annd you knows it!

"While 100-million tonnes of food will be diverted this year to feed cars, 760-million tonnes will be snatched from the mouths of humans to feed animals -- which could cover the global food deficit 14 times. If you care about hunger, eat less meat.

While meat consumption is booming in Asia and Latin America, in the United Kingdom it has scarcely changed since the government started gathering data in 1974. At just over 1kg per person per week, it's still about 40% above the global average, though less than half the amount consumed in the United States.

We eat less beef and more chicken than we did 30 years ago, which means a smaller total impact. Beef cattle eat about 8kg of grain or meal for every kilogram of flesh they produce; a kilogram of chicken needs just 2kg of feed. Even so, our consumption rate is plainly unsustainable."

STOP: There is good news as well on the food front. For the people who like their spuds it is good news of course.

"The potato has potential as an antidote to hunger caused by higher food prices, a population that is growing by one billion people each decade, climbing costs for fertilizer and diesel, and more cropland being sown for biofuel production.

To focus attention on this, the United Nations named 2008 the International Year of the Potato, calling the vegetable a "hidden treasure"."

Read it here.


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