If adequate actions not taken, the average cost of key food crops may double by 2030, warns Oxfam. The report blames climate change for half of that increase in the price of staple food. In its recent report, ‘Growing a Better Future’, Oxfam calls on world leaders to improve regulation of food markets and invest in a global climate fund.
In its report, Oxfam highlights four "food insecurity hotspots", areas which are already struggling to feed their citizens.
- In Guatemala, 865,000 people are at risk of food insecurity, due to a lack of state investment in smallholder farmers, who are highly dependent on imported food, the charity says.
- In India, people spend more than twice the proportion of their income on food than UK residents - paying the equivalent of £10 for a litre of milk and £6 for a kilo of rice.
- In Azerbaijan, wheat production fell 33% last year due to poor weather, forcing the country to import grains from Russia and Kazakhstan. Food prices were 20% higher in December 2010 than the same month in 2009.
- In East Africa, eight million people currently face chronic food shortages due to drought, with women and children among the hardest hit.
As per the reports, Oxfam has drawn an inference that to curb the price rise of food, there should be maintained a transparency in the commodities market and regulate futures markets. Apart from that food reserve should be scaled up to have enough for the times of scarcity. The report also supports action to end policies favouring bio fuel.
The report is a wake up call for the world leaders to gear up for any unpleasant situation as already one in seven people in the world go hungry everyday.
