|
|
|
|
|
he world will need more than divine intervention to end the food crisis that has ripped across the planet during the past few months. Prices for almost every staple food — rice, wheat, maize, sugar, milk — are soaring at rates of inflation not seen on such a global scale in a generation, resulting in hoarding, widespread food shortages and fears of outright famine in the world's poorest countries. Rice prices have nearly tripled since January, reaching $1,000 per metric ton last month in India. Wheat has doubled in price in a year and jumped 25% in just one day in February. Reeling from sticker shock, tens of thousands of people have stormed the streets in protest across the Caribbean, Africa and South Asia, demanding that their governments offer relief. They have found bloodshed instead. More than 24 people were killed in Cameroon during food riots in February; five more died in Haiti in March, and two more were killed in protests in Somalia last month |
|
|
|
|