was affecting its capacity to provide food aid for some of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Mexico – food riots
In January 2007, thousands of people protested against a doubling in the price of tortillas caused by farmers in the USA and Mexico replacing edible maize crops with industrial maize for processing into biofuels.
Peru – bread price
The price of imported wheat increased by 50% during 2007, resulting in rising bread prices.
Bee colony collapse
The recent collapse of honey bee colonies in Europe and the Americas may impact on agricultural production. Bees pollinate over 90 food crops, and play a role in one in three mouthfuls in the average American diet.
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Russia – food price freeze
Kazakhstan – export ban
Kyrgyzstan – bread price
In October 2007, the Russian government persuaded food producers and retail chains to freeze the price of some staple foods for an agreed period to try and avoid unrest in the run-up to national elections.
Early in 2008, the government warned that it would be limiting grain exports.
The price of bread in the capital increased by 50% in 2007, while salaries and pensions increased by only 10%.
China – biofuel crop ban
In June 2007, China banned production of ethanol from food crops.
China – dairy demand
The increasing demand for milk and dairy products in China has led to it not only being the third-largest milk-producing country but the largest importer of milk products.
Mauritania – rising food prices
In November 2007, people protested at rising food prices. The price of locally grown foods had increased by 28%, and imported wheat by 75%.
Yemen – food riots
In August and September 2007, people protested in Yemen about rising food prices, caused by higher import prices.
China – big freeze
Early in 2008, the most severe winter weather in 50 years killed millions of livestock and damaged crops, leading to soaring food prices.
Bangladesh – cyclone
In 2007, a cyclone destroyed a rice crop worth $600 million and the price of rice rose by 70%.
Ghana and Benin – biofuel crops
Australia – drought
Plans are being made to plant millions of hectares with jatropha and sugar cane to produce biofuels.
The long-running drought affecting much of Australia led to a halving of the wheat harvest in 2007, and to no grain being exported from east-coast ports.
Tanzania – biofuel crops
Thousands of small-scale farmers have been evicted to make way for jatropha and sugar plantations.
Zambezi valley – floods
Substantial flooding early in 2008 will have a devastating effect on agriculture in the region.
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Feeding the World
MORE THAN ENOUGH FOOD is produced to feed everyone in the world, and yet more than 850 million people do not get enough food to lead active and healthy lives. They are consuming too little protein and energy to sustain a healthy weight, and suffer from deficiencies in the composition of their diet that leave them vulnerable to disease. In 2005, the UN FAO estimated that the world’s total production of cereals was about 2.2 billion tonnes. Divided equally between the 6.5 billion people in the world, that would give each person approximately 340 kilograms of cereal a year – sufficient to provide at least 2,000 calories of energy a day for everyone. Most undernourished people live in countries where food is in chronically short supply because of war, natural disasters, poor food distribution, low productivity, or a number of these factors combined. What they all have in common is that they are poor. In wealthy countries, by contrast, the amount of food available is sufficient for people to be able to consume significantly more than the 2,500 calories recommended by nutritionists, even though the food they eat may result in the other extreme of poor nutrition – obesity. Country averages hide wide disparities. In the fast-growing economies of Brazil, China, and India, the more prosperous citizens are switching to western-style diets, high in animal fats and sugars, while their poorest compatriots spend an ever-higher proportion of their household income on food, and still suffer from undernutrition. The World Food Programme and other agencies aim to supply the most vulnerable people with basic foodstuffs, responding both to long-term needs and to emergency situations as they arise.
Bolivia
Severe floods in 2007 and 2008 left thousands of families in need of WFP assistance.
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Tajikistan
Freezing temperatures in 2008 led the WFP to appeal to extend its food aid to include food for a further 200,000 impoverished people, hit by rising fuel and food prices.
Afghanistan
In 2008, the WFP provided emergency food for up to 2.5 million Afghans who could no longer afford wheat because of global price rises.
Zimbabwe
The WFP is providing food for people affected by shortages and escalating prices.
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3 Unequal Distribution; 6 Nutritional Deficiencies; 7 Over-Nutrition; 11 Animal Feed; 31 Changing Diets
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