FYI: The causes of the food crisis

Rushing to buy bread as wheat runs short and food prices rise in Mozambique.  Source: ILRI

A few weeks ago, I went to my favorite neighborhood Malaysian restaurant for some spicy cuisine. Much to my surprise, I had to pay extra for the rice to complement my main dish. Pay for rice? At an Asian restaurant??? Unheard of!!

The reality is that crop prices have been rising over the past few years, affecting restaurants and grocers. But it also means that many in the developing world are losing access to crops and food.  

According to Food and Agricultural Organization of the UN, in 2010, there were 925 million people in the world who did not eat enough to be healthy. That translates to one in every seven people that goes to bed hungry each night worldwide. Between June 2010 and February 2011, rising food prices caused an additional 44 million people to go into hunger, making it the highest level ever.

So why are prices of food rising? Here is a roundup of some of the causes:

  

• Increased food consumption: As large countries like India and China develop and their middle classes grow, their food consumption also increases. This has caused a greater demand for food globally.

•  Weather conditions: Droughts, floods, and other natural disasters have plagued crop-producing regions more-so since 2008 than in previous years. Droughts, in particular, have occurred in Australia, the Balkans, Russia, and most recently, in the Horn of Africa.

•   Federal reserves are low: Global grain reserves – wheat, corn, barley, millet, rice, and oats - are at their lowest level since 1960.

•  Increased fuel prices: With oil prices rising, farmers can’t afford the higher transportation costs as well as the costs to commercially produce food.

•  Lack of agricultural investment: In many developing countries, the investment in agriculture has dropped, with governments focusing their attention on urbanization.

•  Use of crops for biofuels: Grains, such as corn and palm oil, have increasingly been used for biofuel production, raising the prices of other grains.

•  Devaluation of the US dollar: Many crops are based on the US currency for pricing.

Does the developing world use technology differently?

Whether through social media, the Internet, or new innovations, technology is increasingly becoming a major factor in solutions for international development challenges. And certainly, the Internet has helped play a huge role in creating awareness for poverty reduction and human rights campaigns.

But what about those in the developing world? Do they use technology any differently?

Ory Kolloh, Google's policy manager for Africa and a Kenyan lawyer and activist, wants you to know that Africans use technology no differently than you.

"We love to connect, to communicate, watch YouTube videos, look for porn, and do all that crazy kind of stuff that everyone else does," she said, speaking at yesterday's Activate summit in London. "The mobile device is not successful in Africa as a development device. It is as a communication device," she added.

"If you start from this principle, everything else will become much easier."

Activate is the Guardian's platform for leaders working across all sectors who have proven that, through the use of technology and the internet, we can make the world a better place.

View Kolloh's full speech below.

For more discussions from the conference, visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/activate/london

Visualize: 5 Most Dangerous Countries for Women

TrustLaw Women asked 213 gender experts from five continents to rank countries by overall perceptions as well as by six key risks: sexual violence; non-sexual violence; cultural or religious factors; discrimination and lack of access to resources; and trafficking. 

For more details about each country, visit: http://www.trust.org/trustlaw/womens-rights/dangerpoll/

Visualize: Rural Poverty

From Farming First: http://www.farmingfirst.org/2011/05/how-can-we-reduce-poverty-around-the-world/

ImpArt: I heart Salgado

One day, I am going to meet Sebastião Salgado.

I want a glimpse into his brain. Or more specifically, I want to understand how his eyes see what they see and how he has the innate ability to capture what he sees so beautifully in a photograph.

I am in total awe of his work, even jealous I admit. And there is no surprise why. The black and white photographer has produced some of the most striking social documentary photographs ever. 

In the past, Salgado’s collections have focused on human-related social issues such as migration and urbanization. His current project, Genesis, documents the world's many eco-regions and serves as his homage to the planet. Recently, The New York Times sent the photographer to Alaska to add to his current collection.

Salgado’s photographs are never just art pieces, gracing the walls of a gallery. They are catalysts for change and move their viewers in disparate ways. Shocking, beautiful, serene, and haunting all in one glance.

Devoted to social impact through photography, Salgado also serves as one of UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassadors.

As an ambassador, photographer, and activist, his message is simple:

What I want is the world to remember the problems and the people I photograph. What I want is to create a discussion about what is happening around the world and to provoke some debate with these pictures. Nothing more than this. I don't want people to look at them and appreciate the light and the palate of tones. I want them to look inside and see what the pictures represent, and the kind of people I photograph.  -Sebastião Salgado

ImpArt: A Glimpse of Energy Poverty

Imagine no light to study and no electricity for refrigerating food or to heat your home. A few days ago, I caught a glimpse of this life of darkness in photojournalist Peter DiCampo’s exhibition, Life Without Light, held in Brooklyn.

Peter, a fellow at VII Photo Agency, is on a mission to detail the global 1.4 billion population who live without access to electricity as well as some of the potential solutions to this problem. The exhibition showcases energy poverty in Ghana, where an estimated 73 percent of villages in the north of the country remain without electricity.

Life Without Lights from Peter DiCampo on Vimeo.

Shot at night, Peter’s photos illustrate how difficult living without lights could be. Many of the photos portray villagers’ faces hidden in the night’s darkness, depicting a commonality found in poverty: these are the invisible, the unknown, and the forgotten.

Last year, a number of UN agencies released a report declaring that solving energy poverty doesn’t have to be expensive or worsen climate change. Estimates are that an annual investment of $41 billion a year – or .06 percent of the global GDP – would be sufficient to provide electricity for 395 million people by 2015.

Life Without Light is running until July 12 at 28 Jay Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn. You can also view the photographs at http://www.lifewithoutlights.com/.