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Jamaica Responds to the Rising Food Prices
JAMAICA - According to the Jamaica Gleaner, as the prices of commodities, including oil, skyrocket, the United Nations FAO has classified 36 countries in a state of crisis, most of them being African countries.According to World Bank statistics, global food prices have risen by 80 per cent since 2005. Staples like rice (hit a 19-year-high in March), soybeans, corn and wheat have been climbing sharply with the result that chicken, eggs, meat and dairy products have become very expensive.
Among the contributing factors - bad weather, biofuel alternatives, increased demand by growing populations in China and India and, of course, the price of oil.
Food riots have been taking place all over the world, including the Philippines, India and Mexico (tortilla protest), now it is happening next door in Haiti, where hungry persons have reportedly rushed the gates of the presidential palace seeking relief from the ongoing food crisis.
If we believe the warnings from the experts, a global food catastrophe looms. For us here in the Caribbean, even a bad global situation can be made worse if we experience an active hurricane season this year, as is being predicted by meteorologists. Banana and plantain farmers are still reeling from the effects of last year's storms with the result that supplies continue to fall short of demand.
Even people who are fairly well off are experiencing agony at the cash register these days. The spike in the price of food is hurting the urban dweller even more than those in rural Jamaica. What kind of urban solutions can we find to the current crisis?
The most immediate answer is that households should start a campaign to plant more of the things we eat. The Government ought to put food security alongside national security at the top of the national agenda. Persons who utilise the land around their homes to grow vegetables and fruits should get some form of tax rebate as an incentive.
Over at the rice institute in the Philippines they are looking to the development of hybrid rice with higher yields to solve the looming food crisis. Are the minds at Jamaica House, the Scientific Research Centre and our universities thinking about Jamaica's response to this impending crisis?
View the Jamaica Gleaner story by clicking here.
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