Hunger: We have a problem with the cost of food in developing countries
As industrialized or post-industrialized countries prepare for a harsh war against the energy bills they have themselves raised, developing countries are starting a battle, perhaps already lost, against the price increases in the food sector they risk. to starve millions of people.
Food prices, according to the FAO indicator, have returned to the level of 2007 – 2010
If these dates in themselves may not bring to mind anything special, we recall two events: the "Tortilla Revolt" that broke out in Mexico following the increase in the prices of corn, a product that at that time fueled the bioethanol boom. In 2010 the roots of what were later known as the "Arab Springs" are laid. In short, hunger is always a great agitator of peoples.
Governments can intervene in controlling food prices, but up to a certain point. So inflation prevails and leads to dramatic consequences if not counterbalanced by an improvement in incomes. In this Bloomberg map we see the countries with the highest inflation rate
Instead, in this other map we see the vulnerability of food markets in different countries, mainly concentrated on developing countries.
Some countries, such as Romania, are investing heavily in their domestic food industry so that they are less vulnerable to fluctuations in international prices. Others, like Russia, impose taxes on grain exports, trying to calm domestic prices. Turkey is implementing tight price control, which is only partially successful. Tunisia, on the other hand, has carried out a work of subsidization and social pressure on wholesalers and importers of food products, managing to contain prices with some success.
A persistence of high food costs can lead to hunger and severe social strife. The best answer is a worldwide effort to increase the production and availability of food, thus leading to a drop in its prices.
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The article Hunger: we have a problem with the cost of food in developing countries comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/fame-abbiamo-un-problem-del-costo-del-cibo-nei-paesi-in-via-di-sviluppo/ on Thu, 16 Sep 2021 15:59:38 +0000.