Food prices Continue to Rise
27 July 2011 Global food costs tracked by the United Nations increased in June for the 10th time in the past 12 months, staying near a record on higher rice, sugar and dairy prices, while meat reached an all-time high. Rice, the staple food for about half of the global population, has surged 65 percent in the past year on the Chicago Board of Trade. Corn, used in food and livestock-feed, has jumped 78 percent.
“We are just depleting our stocks and now we have this high population growth,” Kanayo F Nwanze, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, said in an interview. “Prices won’t come down overnight. They are going to stay high for some time to come.”
Nwanze has urged the global community for more investments in rural development to help meet growing food demand led by emerging economies including China, India and Brazil. ‘The middle class is growing, their demand for better food is growing and they want more meat, which takes more grains,” Nwanze said.
The United Nations has said that by 2050, food production must increase by 70 percent to feed an estimated world population of 9 billion people, up from almost 7 billion this year.
“The world is yet to understand implications of the impact of climate change,” Nwanze said. “We are not investing enough money.”
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