The fight against the coronavirus has resulted in collateral damage to world food supplies. Or rather it has revealed underlying weaknesses in the world economic system.
The world produces enough food that no-one need go hungry. An expert quoted by National Public Radio said average world food prices are lower than they were a century ago, despite the huge increase in world population.
The question is how to get the food to those who need it and who pays for it. There is nothing in the nature of things that makes this impossible, but only the structure of the world economy.
LINKS
‘Instead of Coronoavirus, the Hunger Will Kill Us’; A Global Food Crisis Looms by Abdi Latif Dahir for the New York Times.
COVID-19 pandemic leads to huge spike in world hunger by Kevin Martinez for thr World Socialist Web Site.
COVID-19 risks to global food security by David Laborde, Will Martin, Johan Swinnen and Rob Vos for Science magazine.
Tags: Coronavirus, COVID-19, Food Supply, Hunger, Supply Chain
September 2, 2020 at 7:24 pm |
If you take COVID-19 and mix in a pinch of trade war and add a cup of climate change and you get a Devil’s brew for the world’s poor.
The developed world may see prices rise but we have countries like the US, Australia, Argentina, Canada, etc that produce many times more food that is needed locally. Us affluent folks won’t starve.
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