Thirty countries have already seen food riots this year. The ever higher cost of food could push tens of millions of people into abject poverty and starvation.
To a large degree, this crisis is manmade - the result of misguided energy and farm policies. President Bush and other heads of state of the Group of 8 must accept their full share of responsibility and lay out clearly what they will do to address this crisis.
To start, they must live up to their 2005 commitment to vastly increase aid to the poorest countries. And they must push other wealthy countries, like those in the Middle East, to help too. That will not be enough. They must also commit to reduce, or even better, do away with their most egregious agricultural and energy subsidies, which contribute to the spread of hunger throughout the world.
In the last year, the price of corn has risen 70 percent; wheat 55 percent; rice 160 percent. The World Bank estimates that for a group of 41 poor countries the combined shock of rising prices of food, oil and other raw materials over the past 18 months will cost them between 3 and 10 percent of their annual economic output.
Some of the causes are out of governments’ control, including the rising cost of energy and fertilizer, and drought in food exporters like Australia. Higher consumption of animal protein in China and India has also driven demand for feed grains.
Wrongheaded policies among rich and poor nations are also playing a big role.
Of those, perhaps the most wrongheaded are the tangle of subsidies, mandates and tariffs to encourage the production of biofuels from crops in the United States and the European Union. (Britain announced last week it would slow the introduction of biofuels.
) Longstanding farm subsidies in the rich world have also contributed to the crisis, ruining farmers in poor countries and depressing agricultural investment.
Rich countries are not the only culprits. At least 30 developing countries have imposed restrictions or bans on the export of foodstuffs. Importing countries are now stockpiling supplies, which takes more food from global markets. So far there is no sign that the leaders of the developed countries are ready to do what is needed.
In a letter to heads of state of the G8, Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president, estimated that the bank needs $3.5 billion to provide immediate food aid and seed and fertilizer in poor countries. The International Monetary Fund and the World Food Program estimate they need $6.5 billion more in the short term to help feed vulnerable populations. This does not even count the need for essential longer- term investments to increase farm productivity in poor nations in Africa and elsewhere.
As Mr. Zoellick wrote, the food crisis is a test of the world’s willingness to help the most vulnerable.