World Food Crisis Deepens

Causes and effects of the food crisis

Italy: pasta-buying strike against 20% increase in price (Sept 2007)

Thailand: army deployed to protect food warehouses (March)

India: monsoon causes 50% of 2007 harvest to fail

Australia: 2008 rice crop smallest in 80 years

Haiti: 4 people killed as rice prices rise 50%; Government overthrown

Cameroon: 24 people killed over maize price rises

US: five-fold increase in maize used for biofuels since 2000

China: increasing affluence fuels increased meat consumption

The EU has pledged more food assistance in response to the growing crisis which it described as a “worldwide humanitarian disaster in the making”.

Gordon Brown held a “food price summit” at 10 Downing Street.

Pascal Lamy, the head of the World Trade Organization, has called for policies to support developing countries to be refocused to improve agriculture and argued that improvements in agriculture needed to be put back at the heart of development spending, where they once were.

Wal-Mart has introduced rationing of rice at its American wholesale business to reduce hoarding prompted by dwindling global rice supplies.