Part 2: Global Food Issues

There are many issues concerning food. I will be touching upon the Food vs. Fuel debate where edible plants are grown for fuel and hiking up food prices in the process, to food dumping where food surplus from rich countries is sent as food aid to other countries with unethical intentions whereby the donater benefits more than the receiver.

In a bid to reduce carbon emission, many companies are selling the idea of neutral carbon where the input and output of carbon is the same. For example, growing and cutting down tree specifically for fuel is considered carbon neutral because the same amount of carbon absorbed is released while burning. Crude oil and coal is considered "old carbon" where the carbon has been locked underground for millions of years and releasing them into the air could cause adverse effects. Another craze is the so called "sustainable energy" where energy is produced via methods that is considered carbon neutral (i.e. biodiesel) or zero emission (solar,wind, geothermal,etc technology).

In an ideal universe in a perfect world with unlimited resources, biodiesel would be perfect to tackle our addiction to oil. In reality, like addicts, we merely moved on from one drug to another. Unlike the old drug which is limited, the new drug promises endless supply. This promise fueled a massive shift in terms of investments and thus, the competition whether edible plants (such as maize, sugarcane, etc) is used for food or biediesel begun. Fighting not only for consumption, another fierce competing factor would be growing space. Should hectares of growing land be used to feed the people, or as feedstock for biodiesel production? With increasing demands for biodiesel, companies have started diverting edible food to biodiesel production due to a higher profits. The consequence would be a lesser food supply doubled with an ever increasing mouths to feed in the world, resulting in a hike in food prices. This was exactly what happened in the 2008 food crisis which forced millions under the poverty line and into hunger. Another side effect would be the razing of prime rainforests in order to make space for growing biodiesel feedstock, which by the way, beats the whole notion of biodiesel being environmentally friendly. By cutting down old forests, the local habitat is either forced to leave or destroyed.

Now, we may be inclined to blame the government, fuel companies, etc for this predicament but we must remind ourselves that companies are not a charitable organisation. In contrast, they are the product of a dog eat dog world where the bottom line is the profit margin. Always. Also, we tend to not blame ourselves for anything. Have we ever thought who these companies cater to? Yes, us. And what about the government? They, like companies in an ever globalising environment where income comes from trade, they are also susceptible to the awesome customers' buying pressure. Have we considered about the consequences when we bought more than we could chew? By buying surplus food which is going to be wasted anyway, we are essentially robbing the already limited food supply from nations that needs it. How you ask?

I will use rice as an example. When rice is ready to be sold, countries will bid for it. This is why rich countries with high buying power will always outbid countries with limited resources. Rich countries also tend to do worst in terms of food wastage. Now, rich countries will not just buy what is needed for feeding their country, they will also buy for rationing in hard times. Essentially, they ensure that there is always a surplus of food at any given time. The remaining rice would then be sold to lower bids from the poorer countries.

Now consider this. The rice being wasted, whether due to spoilage or just simply not consumed and thrown away, could potentially be eaten by those who needs it in 3rd world countries. By wasting less, while maintaining our lifestyle (presumably by consuming the same amount of rice), we free up more rice for the poor. Wasting less would mean that the requirements to cater for the demand drops, forcing governments to buy less to ensure profitability. Indirectly, we will free up food for the poor. Remember, at our current situation, for every bowl we eat, another bowl is thrown into the bin.

It is ironic that some of the 3rd world or developing countries such as Africa and India is one of the main producers of plant food. For the case of Africa, rich countries buy huge plots of fertile land from the government, grow its own food, and export the food back to its homeland. This deprives the local people their right to sow their own land and eat their own food. These countries is also experiencing problems due to salination where bad farming practices forces salt underground to come up to the surface, killing the plants. Its is a very serious problem because while we have an increasing amount of stomachs to fill, farm lands are rendered useless due to salination.

Food dumping is another issue I would like to discuss. Food dumping means exactly that, dumping surplus food on someone. And while you're at it, you get the benefit of making the receiver dependent on your donation and thus gaining leverage on them when the time arises.

"...sending food to Africa and Asia opened up new markets for American export, and the threat of denial could be used to exert political and economical pressure"
- United States, Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act (1954)

This act of "kindness" is what I call a sugar coated piece of sh*t. Sweet on the outside. Horrid in the inside. Food dumping disguised as food aid is not only deceiving, it takes away the independence of poorer nations. In 2008, Care International called for an end to non-emergency food aid. It may seem careless, even uncaring to deny food to people. But when there is an ulterior motive that takes away the people's long term survival for its own selfish gain, we are just compounding the problem. What would you think happen when, not if, when there is a particular year of bad harvest? Worst, a series of years with bad harvest. The rich nation will undoubtedly reduce or even cease their "food aid", leaving all those dependent on it starve to death. So the next time you see NGOs collecting funds for food aid, make sure that the food aid is for emergency purposes only.

I would like to remind the reader that although we probably can't do much about what our governement does except by voting (I'm assuming my reader comes from a democratic country), we can however make a conscious effort to waste less ourselves and increase the global food availability. In addition, as customers and consumers to a global market, we have the potential to change what is considered to be a perfect banana, potato, carrot, etc and thus minimise waste due to ridiculous aesthetic reasons. We also need to question ourselves whether filling up our car tanks with "environmentally friendly biofuel" is more important than feeding hungry stomachs. Onwards to Part 3 !!!