If they have no bread/rice/corn...

Today’s lead story in the New York Times focuses on the global pandemic of rising food prices. The article, “Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger,” discusses the political implications of the spike in global food prices.

Haiti’s hunger, that burn in the belly that so many here feel, has become fiercer than ever in recent days as global food prices spiral out of reach, spiking as much as 45 percent since the end of 2006 and turning Haitian staples like beans, corn and rice into closely guarded treasures.
…

“It’s the worst crisis of its kind in more than 30 years,” said Jeffrey D. Sachs,
the economist and special adviser to the United Nations secretary general, Ban
Ki-moon. “It’s a big deal and it’s obviously threatening a lot of governments.
There are a number of governments on the ropes, and I think there’s more
political fallout to come.”

Indeed, as it roils developing nations, the spike in commodity prices — the
biggest since the Nixon administration — has pitted the globe’s poorer south
against the relatively wealthy north, adding to demands for reform of rich
nations’ farm and environmental policies. But experts say there are few quick
fixes to a crisis tied to so many factors, from strong demand for food from
emerging economies like China’s to rising oil prices to the diversion of food
resources to make biofuels.

The crisis, which has lead to the ouster of Haiti’s Prime Minister, has the potential for dramatic political and social ramifications. Malaysia’s Prime Minister looks to be in political jeopardy, and leaders from Asia to Africa to Latin America are struggling both with how to feed their people and subdue the anger – in the form of riots and protests – directed toward them.

Just as many in the developing world were being lifted out of poverty and changing their diets for the better – no small development in the fight against poverty and disease – rising food prices have beat back much of that progress and driven others into far worse situations. The broad policy adjustments that will be needed to solve this problem will not be politically easy. Coupled with fuel price increases, which are having more of an effect in the developed world than food prices, there is no more important time than now for political leaders to create an adequate policy response to globalization.