Weather hits global food supply
How severe weather impacts global food supply
December 5, 2012 -- Updated 1453 GMT (2253 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- This year's severe weather events have led to low yields in grain exporting nations
- Kansas prairie farmer Donn Teske says extreme weather events are becoming much more extreme
- Aid group Oxfam believes there may be another spike in food prices in early 2013 and longer term volatility
- Some countries like Nigeria are looking for alternative staple crops such as cassava
Editor's note: Extreme
weather across the world in 2012 has led to low food yields and a hike
in prices. Climate is not the only driver of high food costs, but recent
price spikes have caused hardship across the world. You can find out how it affects people in vulnerable countries by reading more of their stories gathered by CNN and international aid group Oxfam.
London (CNN) -- Sometimes Jaria Faraj Ali is so hungry that she ties a scarf tight around her waist to make her feel more comfortable.
The Yemeni mother of six
told the international aid group Oxfam that she has now resorted to
begging because food prices are so high and she doesn't have an income.
And in Pakistan,
28-year-old Asif Masih says he has to work at two jobs to buy enough
food. "I drive a taxi part time as well as work in an office because
otherwise me and my family won't be able to eat," he told CNN.
Their stories of hardship
are echoed across the globe from Tajikistan to Peru where a recent
spike in world food prices has hit the most vulnerable, and particularly
in countries that rely on imported food.
Rising food prices have
been blamed on a number of factors -- for example, rising energy costs,
changing land use for biofuel production, local conflicts, and an
increasing demand for meat and dairy products.
The UN data shows the spikes in food prices
But 2012's severe weather
events around the world have led to low yields in nations such as the
U.S. that export grain. Oxfam fears climate change is responsible and
that impoverished people could be facing a future of high food prices
driven by extreme weather trends.
Oxfam spokesperson Colin
Roach said: "High and volatile food prices spell misery for millions of
people like Jaria who face a daily struggle to put food on the table.
This is man-made misery in a world which produces enough for everyone to
eat."
A recent study
commissioned by Oxfam into global warming and food prices, said:
"Against a backdrop of rising populations and changing diets which will
see global food production struggle to keep pace with increasing demand,
the food security outlook in a future of unchecked climate change is
bleak."
It has certainly been a
tough year for farmers. While much of North America baked in the hottest
July on record and the Mid-West suffered its worst drought in 56 years,
the UK endured its wettest summer in a century.
Back in September, CNN
reported: "From Ukraine to Yellowstone, in Pakistan and Kazakhstan, the
skies have stayed clear, and the earth has been parched. And on the
world's commodity exchanges, the prices of corn, soybeans, wheat and tea
are surging."
UK cereal farmer Jeff
Powell says it was the poorest harvest he had seen in 30 years of
farming with low yields and poor quality grain -- and he warns that the
full effects are yet to filter into the system.
This is man-made misery in a world which produces enough for everyone to eat
Colin Roach, Oxfam
Colin Roach, Oxfam
"Your loaf is going to
cost more money this winter without a doubt -- when we get to Christmas
bread prices will be up a lot," he said.
"It's an absolute
nightmare for anyone in the livestock industry -- especially pigs and
dairy -- with feed prices going up they can only stand that for so
long."
In the U.S. state of
Kansas, Donn Teske, who runs a prairie farm, said it was not unusual to
have dry years but added: "What we are finding though is that the
extreme weather events are becoming much more extreme. Historically we
haven't had these kind of conditions since the 1950s and before that the
1930s."
The implications could be serious.
Michael Roberts, an
associate professor of economics at the University of Hawaii, wrote in
August that lower U.S. crop yields would impact the world's poorest and
could lead to social unrest.
"For these people, a
huge rise in grain prices is more than noticeable -- it can break their
budget. In 2008 and 2011, when corn prices went up to levels nearly as
high as today's, the world saw a sharp rise in food riots. Many pointed
to wheat prices as a catalyst for revolutions in the Middle East,
including Egypt, Tunisia and Libya."
Oxfam says commodities
futures markets are indicating there may be another spike in prices in
early 2013, but expects high and volatile food prices in the medium to
long term. It says governments should do more to prevent famine.
"Putting a stop to food
price crisis requires a radical new approach to the way we grow, share
and manage food," said Oxfam's Colin Roach. "Governments must kick start
the process by investing in small scale producers who feed billions
across the developing world, regulating commodity markets; putting an
end to biofuels policies which divert food crops into fuel; tackling
greenhouse gas emissions which drive extreme and erratic weather and
helping poor producers adapt to a changing climate."
There was better news
for consumers this week when the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) reported that global rice production for 2012 was
expected to outpace consumption, saying improved weather patterns in
Africa and Asia had contributed to the rebound in rice inventories.
And farmers are trying
to adapt. Donn Teske says he will be stocking fewer cattle next year and
trying to plant crops with less tillage to preserve the moisture.
Some countries are also
taking a longer term approach to reducing their reliance on food imports
by looking for alternative staple crops.
Nigeria has a population
of 170 million and according to Debisi Araba, the special adviser to
Nigeria's agriculture minister, the country spends 635 billion naira ($4
billion) annually on wheat and an astonishing one billion naira ($6.3
million) each day on rice imports.
But Nigeria has a plan
to combat this huge cost. Araba said Nigeria produces 34 million tons of
the starchy root crop cassava every year and this can be mixed with
wheat flour.
He said Nigeria was
planning to replace 40% of wheat flour with cassava and was ramping up
production of rice. Araba believes the country will be able to produce
2.1 million tons of rice by 2015, first becoming self sufficient, and
then able to export.
For other farmers, it may be more of a challenge to deal with any erratic weather patterns in the future.
Jeff Powell said: "Now
with a wet autumn a lot of people are struggling to get their winter
crops planted. If we have more years like this [2012] then we may aim to
plant more crops in the spring... but the spring last year was bone
dry. It's a bit of a catch-22."
Are you affected by high food prices? Tell us your experiences.
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