Poor Suffer as Food Prices Likely to Stay High
17 October 2011
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
There are growing concerns about food insecurity in the developing world. Rising food prices, weather emergencies and political problems are deepening the struggle of families in many countries.
Three United Nations agencies published a report last week before Sunday's observance of World Food Day. This year’s "State of Food Insecurity in the World" report says high prices are likely to continue. Gregory Barrow is with the World Food Program in Rome.
GREGORY BARROW: "If you look at the places where World Food Program works particularly in developing countries, you see populations of people who might be spending sixty, seventy, eighty percent of their salaries on purchasing food for their families."
The report says even short-term price increases can have a long-term effect. Reducing nutritious food early in a child’s life can affect mental and physical development and limit future earnings.
East Africa is suffering its worst drought in years. In Kenya, at least three and a half million people are going hungry, mostly in the north. Yet food is going to waste in central Kenya. Now, farmers there want the government to buy their food and get it to those in need.
Farmers say bad roads and a lack of transportation make it difficult for them to get their produce to market. Storage is another problem. And they complain about a big drop in food prices.
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