The food shortage in the world

 

A farmer in a rice field in southern India in September 2022. Rafiq Maqbool / AP

The food shortage in the world
The ban on the export of rice could become a dark chapter for the poor

India's rice export ban announced this week could be a "painful chapter for the world's poorest", writes The Telegraph in a long report. The decision has been taken in an attempt to curb the rampant food prices in India.

If the country sticks to holding back 10 million tons of rice, prices could skyrocket and millions of people could be thrown into famine, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization.

- Asia really is the global rice bowl, states expert Nese Sreenivasulu at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

An unusual number of people are already going hungry as a result of war, covid and climate change. Now there is also the risk that the weather phenomenon El Niño will hit the rice harvests hard, which would be another killing blow. In addition, a lot of wheat gets stuck in Ukrainian ports, making the world's hungry ever hungrier.

- What we are seeing is basically a perfect storm, says economics professor David Ubilava at the University of Sydney.

A farmer with rice in India. Anupam Nath / AP

People all over the world are stockpiling rice after the ban

People are panic buying rice in western countries like USA, Canada and Australia. That's what The Telegraph writes after India announced an export ban on all white rice except basmati.

In some places in the US, prices have tripled. And in Toronto, Canada, Sriram Ramamurthy, store manager of the grocery store Iqbal Halal Foods, testifies that people are starting to stockpile rice. That in an interview with the Canadian CBC.

The rush prompted Ramamurthy to impose a cap on one packet of rice per customer. But it led to customers bringing their family members to the store, or to customers asking other people in the store to "buy out" a package.

The paper describes it as India's decision having "sent shockwaves across almost every continent".