Rising food prices worldwide causing riots

Seen in the Guardian:

As well as this week’s violence in Egypt, the rising cost and scarcity of food has been blamed for:

  • Riots in Haiti last week that killed four people
  • Violent protests in Ivory Coast
  • Price riots in Cameroon in February that left 40 people dead
  • Heated demonstrations in Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal
  • Protests in Uzbekistan, Yemen, Bolivia and Indonesia

16 thoughts on “Rising food prices worldwide causing riots

  1. I think about stories like this every time I see $12 all you can eat buffets.

    There’s plenty to go around, it’s just not going around.

  2. Gee, makes me think about my food storage.

    You’re right. There is plenty to go around and it isn’t getting around. Just yesterday I was dropping my son off at school. I walked by a garbage can full of fruit with one bite taken out of it, granola bars tossed in, sandwiches that kids had eaten around the crust and then thrown away….we certainly are a wasteful society.

  3. Were you aware that last year that some bee keepers lost between 30% and 90% of their bee hives to a condition called Collony Collapse Disorder? This problem is in America and Europe. The bees leave the hive and do not come back. In some parts of the country feral bees (wild) have competely disappeared because of this disorder. 25% of the food we eat need bees to pollinate. Unless the bee keepers are able to replace their hives, I expect the price of food will continue to rise.

    It used to be every Spring I would see bees flying around on nearly every flower in bloom. This year, I have not seen a single bee. Have you seen any where you live?

    Perhaps you could help lower the cost of food to the third world countries by keeping a hive of bees to help with pollinating. Plus you get free honey.

    Just a thought.

  4. I don’t think our back yard would be zoned for a bee hive and our dog would be bound to upset it and be stung horribly by all the angry bees.

  5. I second the beehive recommendation. Keep it up off the ground and pets shouldn’t be a problem.

    Getting honey out of them takes work to maintain the hive properly, and to harvest the honey of course. Plus with the cost of tools needed to maintain the hive for honey-productions and tools to harvest the honey, you’d need several hives to harvest enough honey to pay back the cost of the tools.

    However, if all you want to do is have a hive to help out the world bee situation, then you don’t need all the tools, just get a hive, a queen and a few starter bees, and keep it in sunlight in the winter.

  6. Since grain prices are high, and global grain reserves are dwindling, maybe this is a good time to plant one’s own garden.

    And for those doing food storage, if you already have a year’s supply of grain, don’t add to it, as that would likely exacerbate the shortages.

    And even if you are currently building up a 1 year’s supply, I wonder if focusing on non-grain items at this time would have a ripple effect on grain prices around the world.

    If a million Mormons in the US made a run on rice at their local groceries, would that have a national effect, and would it have an international effect?

    Would it be safe to say that this is not a time for panic buying? Or should we all stock up now before a bigger crisis hits later in the year or next year?

  7. lol, no you haven’t met him. He would not let a little thing like some height keep him from getting at it. Or anything.

  8. Your dog would leave a bee hive alone. Wild pigs leave bee hives alone.

    It would be very benefical to the world if North Americans would increase our personal production of food thus leaving more commercial food available for third world countries. If only 1 million LDS families grew 100 lbs of food for themselves, think how much that could help lower the cost for those who need the food to survive. 100 million lbs of food would feed a lot of people.

    Bees might be a cheap way for each of us to help feed the world. 100 lbs of honey from 1 hive is not uncommon.

  9. No, he wouldn’t. You don’t know our dog and if you did, you would understand quite well that he wouldn’t, instinct or not. He doesn’t have the instinct to leave a beehive alone. Or anything else really.

  10. Sounds to me like you have a dog in need of proper dog training.

  11. “If only 1 million LDS families grew 100 lbs of food for themselves, think how much that could help lower the cost for those who need the food to survive.”

    I would predict that it’d lower the cost of food precisely zero. Food is a commodity and like most commodities, there is a price-point that retails will hit regardless of lack of demand.

    If you really want to help the third world, help them clean their water or buy them a mosquito net.

  12. Food prices vary from week to week as well as trending up over time with inflation. To save money, check that food prices are low, or shop around between grocery stores to get specials and discounts, and buy in bulk.

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