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The World Food Crisis

Fred Magdoff

fmagdoff@uvm.edu

1.) There is a catastrophic food crisis.2.) In addition to “routine” hunger.3.) It is interacting with a longer term underlying food crisis and making it worse.

1.) There is a catastrophic food crisis.2.) In addition to “routine” hunger.3.) It is interacting with a longer term underlying food crisis and making it worse.

In cities = 3 billion people

A Broad Overview

Total world population = 6 billion people

In rural areas = 3 billion people

• 3 billion live on less than $2 3 billion live on less than $2 per dayper day• 1 billion live on less than $1 1 billion live on less than $1 per day per day • 1 billion live in slums1 billion live in slums• 25 million per year migrate to 25 million per year migrate to citiescities• 1 billion have no access to 1 billion have no access to clean waterclean water• 2 billion have no electricity2 billion have no electricity• 2.5 billion have no sanitation 2.5 billion have no sanitation systemssystems

The Wretched of the Earth The Wretched of the Earth

Hunger Hunger

•The UN estimates that 840 million people suffer from undernourishment, although the number may be considerably higher.

•The number suffering from mineral shortages, food insecurity and temporary food shortage may approach 3 billion.

Hunger amid plenty in the

U.S.

Hunger amid plenty in the

U.S.

• In 4 million U.S. families (with 9 million people) someone skipped meals because of lack of food. • 12 million U.S. families (with about 34 million people) are “food insecure.” • Huge increases in the last decade in those using food pantries, food

shelves, soup kitchens, etc.

Hunger frequently occurs amid plenty in poor

countries too

Hunger frequently occurs amid plenty in poor

countries too

Poor in India Starve as Surplus Wheat Rots (New York Times, 12/12/02)

Want Amid Plenty, An Indian Paradox: Bumper Harvests and Rising Hunger (Wall St. Journal, 6/25/04)

There is enough food produced world wide—and usually within

most countries—to feed everyone.

There is enough food produced world wide—and usually within

most countries—to feed everyone.

Because they are poor (working or not) and living in an economic system that

a) needs, creates, and maintains an underclass, and that

b) does not admit a “right” to basic necessities such as food.

Why are people hungry? Why are people hungry?

The availability of food to people reflects very unequal economic and political power relationships within and between countries.

The availability of food to people reflects very unequal economic and political power relationships within and between countries.

Quintile

Highest

Fourth

Third

Second

Lowest

Percent of total

national income (2001)

49.2

23.2

15.0

9.0

3.6

Household distribution of net worth in the United States (2001)

Percent of families

Top 1%

Top 5%

Top 10%

Top 20%

Bottom 80%

Bottom 40%

Percent of net worth

33.4

59.2

71.5

84.4

15.5

0.3

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Bangladeshi demonstrators protest over high food prices and low wages

Bangladeshi demonstrators protest over high food prices and low wages

The Current Crisis

Haiti’s President Tries to Halt Crisis Over Food

April 10, 2008

The police in Haiti struggled Wednesday to control looting and rioting over high food prices…

Food Inflation, Riots Spark Worries for World Leaders

— Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2008

Food Inflation, Riots Spark Worries for World Leaders

— Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2008

Rioting in response to soaring food prices recently has broken out in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ethiopia. In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to deter food theft from fields and warehouses. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned in a recent speech that 33 countries are at risk of social upheaval because of rising food prices. Those could include Indonesia, Yemen, Ghana, Uzbekistan and the Philippines. In countries where buying food requires half to three-quarters of a poor person's income, "there is no margin for survival," he said.

Rioting in response to soaring food prices recently has broken out in Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Ethiopia. In Pakistan and Thailand, army troops have been deployed to deter food theft from fields and warehouses. World Bank President Robert Zoellick warned in a recent speech that 33 countries are at risk of social upheaval because of rising food prices. Those could include Indonesia, Yemen, Ghana, Uzbekistan and the Philippines. In countries where buying food requires half to three-quarters of a poor person's income, "there is no margin for survival," he said.

The price of rice, the core of the Bangladeshi diet, has jumped by more than 30 percent since then — a major problem in a country where nearly half the population survives on less than $1 a day.

The price of rice, the core of the Bangladeshi diet, has jumped by more than 30 percent since then — a major problem in a country where nearly half the population survives on less than $1 a day.

An adviser to the country's Ministry of Food, A.M.M. Shawkat Ali, warned of a 'hidden hunger' in Bangladesh and economists estimate 30 million of the country's 150 million people could go hungry — a crisis that could become a serious political problem for the military-backed government.

An adviser to the country's Ministry of Food, A.M.M. Shawkat Ali, warned of a 'hidden hunger' in Bangladesh and economists estimate 30 million of the country's 150 million people could go hungry — a crisis that could become a serious political problem for the military-backed government.

"Inflation of staples is really out of control. We've never seen this before…If we don't react now, this summer will be full of danger.”

—WFP representative Gian Carlo Cirri

"Inflation of staples is really out of control. We've never seen this before…If we don't react now, this summer will be full of danger.”

—WFP representative Gian Carlo Cirri

The world's poor ``are living very close to the edge as it is…If they are pushed further, they are typically the first who will spark unrest.'’

— Robert Zeigler, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

The world's poor ``are living very close to the edge as it is…If they are pushed further, they are typically the first who will spark unrest.'’

— Robert Zeigler, director-general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

Rising prices threaten millions with starvation, despite bumper crops

The Independent (UK)Sunday, 2 March 2008

There has never been anything remotely like the food crisis that is now increasingly gripping the world, threatening millions with starvation. For it is happening at a time of bumper crops.

Rising prices threaten millions with starvation, despite bumper crops

The Independent (UK)Sunday, 2 March 2008

There has never been anything remotely like the food crisis that is now increasingly gripping the world, threatening millions with starvation. For it is happening at a time of bumper crops.

20%

39%

122%40%51%

Effects in U.S. are less than in poor countries

Effects in U.S. are less than in poor countries

a) Ingredients are small part of price of highly processed foods.

b) In U.S. people have higher incomes and spend less a % of their income on food.

a) Ingredients are small part of price of highly processed foods.

b) In U.S. people have higher incomes and spend less a % of their income on food.

Causes of Current Crisis

But it’s not just ethanol: also problems with biodiesel primarily from soybeans and oil palm

• Increase in fuel prices (“biofuels” plus food system is VERY energy intensive).

• Increase in meat consumption (Per capita consumption has more than doubled in last 50 years.)

• Formerly self-sufficient countries now importing food.

• Weather (Australia, Bangladesh)

• Speculation (local hoarding as well as speculation in the “commodities super cycle.”)

• Increase in fuel prices (“biofuels” plus food system is VERY energy intensive).

• Increase in meat consumption (Per capita consumption has more than doubled in last 50 years.)

• Formerly self-sufficient countries now importing food.

• Weather (Australia, Bangladesh)

• Speculation (local hoarding as well as speculation in the “commodities super cycle.”)

Governmental ResponsesGovernmental Responses

Emergency importsEliminating import dutiesFreezing exports of foodsMore food subsidiesetc.

Governmental ResponsesGovernmental Responses

Bush Orders $200 Million in Food AidBy Associated Press4:31 PM EDT, April 14, 2008

(A congressional analysis shows the Iraq war costing taxpayers almost $2 billion a week.)

The long-term crisisThe long-term crisis

The long-term crisisThe long-term crisis

Neoliberal Policies

Decreased support to small farmers

Lowered food production by small farmers

Increased migration to city slums

Increased larger farms

Neoliberal Policies

Decreased support to small farmers

Lowered food production by small farmers

Increased migration to city slums

Increased larger farms

• Fewer than 20 million highly productive and mechanized farmers can grow all the world’s food.

(Note: one person in Brazil — the governor of the state of Mato Grosso, the “soybean king” — controls about 250,000 acres.)

• Fewer than 20 million highly productive and mechanized farmers can grow all the world’s food.

(Note: one person in Brazil — the governor of the state of Mato Grosso, the “soybean king” — controls about 250,000 acres.)

The Future?

The Future?

If 20 million farms can produce all world food needs — regardless of where the farms are located — what will be the fate of billions of people that will not find other employment?

The Future?

One of the great moral, economic, and political issues

of the 21st century.

How can poor nations keep the large mass of people in rural areas productively employed in agriculture?

• A healthy food supply should be recognized as a human right.

• Policies should be implemented to ensure that people have access to sufficient food.

• Protection of, and active government support for, agriculture.

• Developing agriculture — primarily to provide food for their own people — needs to be a priority for poor countries.

• Promote farming carried out by small to medium producers working alone or in cooperatives.

• Promotion of appropriate — ecologically sound — practices.

• Institute land reform where needed (Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, the Philippines, etc.).

• Major urban agriculture programs to help poor in cities grow their own food and/or derive income.

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Monthly Review, May 2008

www.uvm.edu/~fmagdoff/WorldFoodCrisis.ppt

fmagdoff@uvm.edu

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