India to Face Food Crisis?
07th April 2008
According to economists, India could soon be facing a major food crisis.
Rising inflation in the country - currently around 7% - is thought to be the result of a rise in food prices and it’s causing economists to worry.
In Delhi, the cost of milk rose by more than 11% last year, rice prices rose by 20% and the cost of certain lentils rocketed by 18%. The latter are particularly important, as rice and lentils form the staple diet of many Indians.
The rise in food prices will hit India’s poorer residents very hard. After all, around one out of four Indians is forced to live on less than $1 a day, and three out of every four Indians earn just $2 a day or less.
The Indian government have said that the rise in food prices is a global phenomenon, but economists aren’t so sure. They blame the crisis on a decline in India’s agricultural industry, which has grown by just 2.5% over the last five years. The slowing of this industry is blamed on a number of factors, including a low rise in farm productivity, poor monsoon seasons and inadequate food storage facilities that cause high levels of waste. The decline in the agricultural industry means that the annual output of cereals such as wheat and rice have fallen to the level they were at in 1970, despite a significant rise in population.
In order to tackle its ailing agricultural industry and attempt to stop the impending food crisis, the Indian government has announced a $15bn waiver of farmer loans. However, this move hasn’t come soon enough for some farmers; many of them have already taken their own lives. In fact, it is thought that around 10,000 farmers have committed suicide each year over the last decade, as they were unable to repay loans that were taken from local moneylenders with sky-high rates of interest.
Source:
BBC