DailyDirt: Food Shortages
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
It's strange to know that the world actually produces enough food to feed everyone, but losses in distribution and economic issues prevent everyone from eating. There are estimates that the world produces enough food to feed the world's population about 2-3 times over, and about half of the global food supply is wasted. Still, nearly a billion people are undernourished. If you haven't lost your appetite yet, here are just a few more factoids on the topic of food shortages.- Monsoons in India have created a shortage of onions in a country that loves this vegetable. It's a serious problem, and thieves have started targeting trucks carrying onions due to the 500% increase in the price of these tear-inducing crops. [url]
- Water scarcity could become a more serious global issue as some forecasts say the world will need to find the equivalent of 20 Nile Rivers in order to keep up with the global food demand in 2025. Currently, about 3,800 cubic km (910 cubic miles) of fresh water from lakes/rivers are needed each year, and if the world adds another billion people to the global population, we'll need to find another 1,000 cubic km (240 cubic miles) of water. [url]
- The great rice crisis of 2008 was a disaster for many people in Asia -- even though many rice farmers were experiencing record harvests that year. The price of rice skyrocketed when several countries started limiting their rice exports, but luckily, a million and a half tons of high-quality rice was just sitting in Japan which could be used to re-adjust the markets. Interestingly, that stockpile of rice didn't actually need to go anywhere to stabilize the rice market, and the simple announcement that there was a huge amount of rice available calmed fears and ended the crisis. [url]
Filed Under: food, food waste, onions, rice, rice crisis, scarcity, shortage, water
