RE: Blame
written by Juma Ousman , May 04, 2008

Although the burden of the blame of the current crisis rests on the west, the afflicted countries & more importantly Africa share the blame. The lack of governments such as Kenya to subsidize their own farming industry has led to over dependence on foreign aid.

interesting
written by Amina , May 05, 2008

Ironic, isn't it? While in one part of the world people are fighting obesity, in another many are dealing with a food shortage.

Even in the US, many farmers are paid to grow corn for biofuel. (E-85)... ahhh, how environmentally friendly!

re: RE: Blame
written by Kimemia , May 06, 2008

Although the burden of the blame of the current crisis rests on the west, the afflicted countries & more importantly Africa share the blame. The lack of governments such as Kenya to subsidize their own farming industry has led to over dependence on foreign aid.

You forget that because of agreements like SAPs and the like Governments of the third world are not allowed to carry out such market restrictive policies as subsidizing their own farmers. One of the great ironies of the modern world is how food has been turned into a weapon to impose starvation through the crippling of the farmers whom we should be turning to for produce.

Consider for examples the presence of thousands of nestle milk products like Nido/Nildo/Milkso (Whatever the f**k they are calling their milk powder nowadays) on the shelves of dukas in places where the local dairy farmers have tremendous amounts of milk going bad on their farms because the market is saturated with above named products.

re: China eats the world
written by Wuod Aketch , May 06, 2008

What some US (what kind of name is that for a country, anyway)folk in the industry think:

"It's not food, its not fuel, it China." Bofya hapa:
http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog...rn-market/

"China eats the world"
Bofya hapa:
http://biofuelsdigest.com/blog...ed-prices/

The biofuel guys and the rest of the world have found a new alibi - China. The third world should stop whining and instead pickup their hoes and go to the shamba.
The people in the village preferring Nestl milk to the fresh one produced by a neighbor is just misguided. This is where the government should come in - educate the masses to see the difference between what can bring progress and better the living conditions in the villages from the tricks multinationals use to exploit the poor Africans.

Waste in the west contributes
written by Cogni , May 07, 2008

I was at one of those restaurant in the states that serve huge plates of food. I noticed that most people could only eat about half the food on the plate. The rest was thrown away. Each persons portion was large enough food to feed a family in many third world countries.

People in the west can afford to buy much more food than they can eat. In the competition for available food they literally take food out of the mouths of poor people who cannot afford to pay as much for the food. A lot of that food ends up in the dustbin denying poor families all over the world access to that food even as they go hungry.

I think wasteful western food practices and policies contribute a great deal to world hunger. Huge food portions that largely go to waste are one aspect. There are other wasteful practices that are just as egregious.

In many western supermarkets only the best blemish free produce is sold the rest is thrown away. For many foods like cabbage artichokes etc only a portion of the edible plant is consumed vast amounts of edible leaves and stalks are thrown out.

The sell by date policy also results in a lot of waste as mostly good food is tossed out as "expired".

In many restaurants food once cooked can only be kept for 2 to 4 hours and is then thrown out resulting in the trashing of vast amounts of food daily.

If we can get the west to reduce its waste that would reduce demand for food leading to lower prices and greater food availability for the worlds poor.

Western demand for beef and other meat products means vast amounts of corn are given to cattle and other animals.

I think utilization of available food is an issue the third world ought to bring up with the west.

Each mouthful of food wasted in the west is taken out of the mouths of the worlds poor via higher prices and reduced food availability.

China eats the world
written by mkosakabila , May 07, 2008

What some US (what kind of name is that for a country, anyway)folk in the industry think:

"It's not food, its not fuel, it China."
Bofya hapa:

"China eats the world"
Bofya hapa: