According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the food price index climbed 37 percent last year, on top of a 14 percent hike in 2006. The trend has continued to rise steeply this winter, in large part due to demand for oil as alternate fuels.
This trend has already had repercussions in the developing world, where food riots have erupted in Mexico, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. The dramatic price increases have hit the urban poor the hardest, but it’s only a matter of time before this pain is felt in western supermarkets.
The New York Times presents an in-depth look at this phenomenon in multimedia presentation titled “The Other Oil Shock”. It’s part one of a series of features that deal with the global rise of food prices.
This feature provides some compelling insights into global impacts of food preferences, and how the interest in biofuels have broad repercussions on our food chain. For instance, New York City’s ban on trans fats have helped raise the price of palm oil by 70% this year, causing a dramatic shortage and hoarding of this commodity in India and elsewhere. The growth of biodiesel has caused competition with food oils and has had environmental repercussions as forests are leveled for palm oil plantations.
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Ya, unintented consequences does rear it’s ugly head time to time.
Or was it unintented?
KoS