Recent spikes in staple food prices resulting from the invasion of Ukraine have once again highlighted the difficulty faced by low-income countries that rely on imports for a substantial portion of their
India is considering a blanket ban on trading in food futures, highlighting growing concerns in Asia over the role of hedge funds and financial market traders in the recent surge in commodities prices. An emergency move by India to shut down its food futures market, proposed on Monday by P Chidambaram, the finance minister, would reverse measures introduced only five years ago to aid the development of India as a financial centre.
Extensive cover, increased allotments and a relatively efficient distribution system have helped Tamil Nadu cope with the rise in food prices Tamil Nadu is reputed to have one of the best Public Distribution Systems in the country, with a majority aware of their entitlements and demanding their quotas from ration shops under the scheme The Public Distribution System is the only safety net for the poor and the low-income groups against inflation. Rice at Rs. 2 a kg, sugar at Rs. 13.50 a kg and wheat at Rs. 7.50 a kg shield them from the soaring prices in the open market.
Global cooperation is the need of the hour.
Allowing four states to import wheat directly from abroad is a move to dismantle the food distribution system. First the Central government allowed global food giants and private companies to buy wheat directly from farmers, thereby deliberately initiating a shortfall in procurement for the Public Distribution System (PDS). It has now directed four states
The member of the Planning Commission Abhijit Sen said that it was necessary at this stage for the government to strengthen the public distribution system (PDS) in the country and bring under its net a number of essential commodities.
From the rice paddies of Asia to the wheat fields of Australia, the soaring price of food is breaking the budgets of the poor and raising the spectres of hunger and unrest, experts warn. A billion people in Asia are seriously affected by the surging costs of daily staples such as rice and bread, the director general of the Asian Development Bank, Rajat Nag, has said. "This includes roughly about 600 million people who live on just under a dollar a day, which is the definition of poverty, and another 400 million who are just above that borderline,' he said.
Let's be logical and not emotional about food. From ill-informed outsiders' point of view, it seems reasonable to blame rising prices on fast-growing demand in India and China. After all, these two facts are known: prices are rising globally, and the two Asian giants are the world's fastest growing economies. Plus, every school kid knows that prices go up if demand outpaces supply. Food, everyone knows, grows slowly. Presto!
A moratorium on grain and oilseed-based biofuels could slash food prices by up to 20% within the next two years, according to leading agricultural researchers. Agricultural experts called for a moratorium on the production of biofuels from corn Figures from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) suggest that suspension of production this year would reduce corn prices by about 20% and wheat by about 10% in 2009-10.
"The global fight against poverty will be won or lost in our region,' Kuroda said in a keynote speech to delegates at the Asian Development Bank's annual meeting. "Soaring food prices are hitting the poor very hard. This price surge has a stark human dimension and has greatly affected over a billion people in Asia and the Pacific alone,' he said. Asia is home to two thirds of the world's poor and risks rising social tension as a doubling of wheat and rice prices in the last year has slammed people who spend more than half their income on food .
Imported perishable foods worth over a staggering Tk 80 crore were spoiled or exceeded expiration date for consumption in the last fourteen months due to inefficient auctioning mechanism of unclaimed containers at Chittagong Port. The huge quantity of food items had to be disposed of at a time when a huge segment of the populace is trying to cope with galloping food prices.
