Thursday, April 10, 2008

Food Shortage captures global attention

Don't panic.

UN calls for an emergency food summit early in June.

The Head of United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization urged all world leaders to attend a an "emergency" summit to discuss and seek for long-term solutions with regards to the global food shortage.

Locally, we are being pressed by high oil prices and high prices on basic commodities like rice. If UN has an emergency food summit, well our Household also had our own emergency food summit. My mother, who's in charge of the hardcore accounting and shopping shared that before a sack of sinandomeng rice would just cost at around 1,400-1500 pesos, but as soon as the crisis hit the fan, she ended up paying for 2,000++ pesos for a sack. With just a couple of male species and one diabetic in our household, we're really not dependent on rice. But still, it calls for attention. We would experiment now on mixing food viands with mashed or baked potatoes, which I'm looking forward to, or develop our skills with cooking pasta. Yes, we'd still cook rice, but in smaller quantities now. It may result to healthy and positive effects, just as long as rice is still an option and not a form of deprivation. We're all willing to adjust.

And I hope the bigger players should adjust as well. Government should be able to set their priorities straight, take politicking aside, and work with other nations to improve trade ties and invest in other technologies. Officials should be able to look into the agricultural budget and invest in people who could manipulate technologies and apply new methods in producing food given the limited agricultural lands.

According to Kandeh Yumkella, Head of UN's Industrial Development Organization, more than half of the world's population will live in urban areas in 2030. This means more lands would be transformed into residential areas, which is an indirect call that we should manage our population well. As basic economics have taught us, growth of population is measured geographically while the increase of food supply is measured arithmetically. It's a cycle that we cannot get ourselves into. Right now, we need land to produce food. We cannot feed more people by using more lands to provide shelter for them, while we juggle environmental whiplash, high prices in basic commodities and political instability. Controlling massive increase in population helps, people. Health and Education officials should be able to double their efforts in reaching out to citizens who might have no idea on the terms 'effective family planning.' Addressing this would hit two birds with one stone, to educate and to help alleviate the food crisis.

Also, since people are open to long-term solutions, food officials and businessmen are already looking into how supermarkets deliver and present food to the market. There might be a technology out there that can be used and can be taken advantaged of. Restaurant owners should also find ways to adjust and offer choices to their consumers . A "half a cup of rice" selection in some leading fast food chains is, I think, already being done.

While officials, experts and simple agriculturalists are finding ways to ease the global food tension, as citizens we should also do our part. Let us not result to PANIC BUYING. It would just tip the scales against us. It would just result to a much higher price than we can afford. Let us just be conscientious and creative on finding ways to ease our dependence with cereals and rice. Noodles, pasta, potatoes, bread and...admittedly vegetables are available options.

This issue has already shifted into a global concern that requires global and collective response. It's not only happening in unfortunate areas anymore. It's already happening to majority. We may have an excuse to not totally bawl over high oil prices, since most of there are more options to ease transportation costs. But higher costs of FOOD is a different issue. We all need suitable food to survive. It's a non-negotiable commodity that should always be made accessible. It's funny how we are now going back to basics. I would have assumed since we've already entered urbanization, these things should be at least the leastof our problems, but now it's the focus of every nation, every organization and apparently every household in the world.

*Newsource: Manilatimes.net

1 comment:

SPLICE said...

I've also heard that the "half-rice" option has already been implemented by a few restaurants. I wonder how Tokyo-Tokyo would deal with the rice crisis, since it has been quite a bit known for its bottomless rice tact, but that would be quite a different story.

The thing is, I think the "half-rice" option will fluke, although it can share a bit of help in lessening 'untouched' rice which go to waste right after the plate. At the most, the administration and the people should refocus on 'reattaining' what used and ought to be the nation's self-sufficient status as a rice producer.