The price of rice is skyrocketing, and it's pushing millions more people towards starvation
The price of rice is skyrocketing, and it's pushing millions more people towards starvation
The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a "doom loop" for the world's poorest people, as staple food prices soar.
The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a "doom loop" for the world's poorest people, as staple food prices soar.
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Started the food wars have
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Can we please not have silly jokes on a serious topic like global hunger?
This is one thing I don't want from reddit
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I'm sorry if this disturbs you but free humour is one of the extremely important aspects of the internet that Lemmy needs to support. When you know who you are talking to you can avoid subjects that may hurt the other person but on the public internet this is not possible. The alternative to never dare making any joke because of the risk to hurt someone is dystopian.
Top comment isn't even a joke, it's a movie reference that supports the idea that this is a serious topic. -
No
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Some of us can only deal with existential horror by laughing and the absurdity of it all.
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You must be fun at parties....
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No!
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More very real effects of global warming that will be ignored or blamed on other things no doubt.
Global warming will fuck us indirectly before the weather on a Sunday afternoon is actually the problem, many seem to miss that.
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In Vietnam we're losing crop because of saltwater backflow on the Mekong. Dams have been built in several places upstream and all the reservoirs are being filled.
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Mainwhile, Russia is actively engaged in the destruction of Ukraine wheat export terminals, and India remains silent.
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India, Indonesia and the rest of non alignment countries do not need to enter this war set up by the West.
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Enter the war, no. Make a simple moral comment on who the agresssors are and that they should stop, years.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world's population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade.
In its most recent rice outlook, the USDA said India was expected to ship a record 23.0 million tonnes in 2024, exceeding the combined shipments of the next two largest exporters — Thailand and Vietnam.
The Indian government runs the world's largest food distribution program, catering to about 800 million people, according to McDonald Pelz business manager Sumit Gupta.
The Indian government has a policy of maintaining reserves of key commodities, and as it assessed the risk of El Niño, and the rapid pace of rice exports this year, it brought the trade to a close on July 20.
"This sharp increase in exports can be ascribed to high international prices due to [the] geo-political scenario, El Niño sentiments and extreme climatic conditions in other rice-producing countries," the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in its statement declaring the ban.
At a conference in St Petersburg recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged 25,000-50,000 tons of free grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea in the coming months.
I'm a bot and I'm open source!
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Good bot.
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At the same time as Ukrainian wheat issues with the blockade could be a really big issue.
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When staple foods (rice/wheat/beans/corn) inflate in price the poor starve.
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Is 70% correct?. I thought Thailand and Vietnam were just as big of producers? (we get more rice from thailand/vietnam/cambodia/+ grow our own locally here in australia). I never buy basmati.....
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What’s wrong with basmati?
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It's quite a bit more expensive and only grows in specific regions
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Basmati is the only top quality rice out there. The cheap stuff is okay but if you want to enjoy go with basmati
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Why can't South Asian diaspora just buy Thai jasmine rice instead?
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Hong Kong here. We have rice almost everyday and apparently, we don't import them from India. Yet the "Rice Association" said that due to the India ban, the price of rice in Hong Kong will likely to rise by 10% in October.
The nations used to import from India are buying from everyone else, and that drives up the prices.
Edit: typo
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Same as our energy in the UK, we were never reliant on Russia for our gas, but because countries like Germany didn't cut themselves off fast enough they were suddenly bidding up what we usually buy when the sanctions came in.
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Because they're really different. People who don't eat rice as a staple aren't aware how much varieties there are and how different they taste. There are three specific varieties used just in my own house for lunch, breakfast dishes and dinner respectively.
Japanese or Thai rice are totally different in taste, consistency and texture.
It would be like trying to bake using whole wheat flour instead of refined flour.
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I think its the quality and people only want to consume high quality rice.. I tried Thai jasmine and Indian basmati. Can confirm Indian Basmati is really good when compared to jasmine rice.
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Asian guy here. I use jasmine for Asian dishes, Basmati for Indian and middle eastern dishes, and generic American long grain for Mexican and Cajun dishes. Pairing the right variety of rice with the right cuisine is a simple choice that can really improve the dish.
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Me, a doomer, with pseudobulbar affect.
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Log off social media for a bit there. Things aren't great out there, but I'm being absolutely sincere that this environment is a negative feedback loop that makes it out to be even worse. We all need to step away from time to time. Come back in a week we will all still be here.
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Taking a week off isn’t going to stop collapse. Ignoring something doesn’t make it go away.
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The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining...
There's a war in El Niño? What does that even mean? I thought El Niño was a weather thing, not a location.
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You're probably joking, but in case you're not or anyone else is confused;
There are three reasons listed for the price skyrocketing:
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The Indian rice export ban
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The war in Ukraine
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El Niño
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Oxford commas forever. Commas save lives, people!
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I've always wanted all countries to ban staple food and water exports. If you can't grow your own food and have your own water, you don't need to have people living there.
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Why would a country cripple their economic growth like that?
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A bit valid. Just rough for the people already living there that may not have chosen it
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Could do a phased approach over a decade or so, rather then all at once. But the other thing is that places (like saudi arabia) that shouldn't have near the population they do, are able to pay much more for food then somalia and so food growers in somalia would rather produce food to sell rather then feed their own people. So you basically shift the starvation to the food producers rather than the food buyers.
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So what happens to all the refugees that do already live there who then need to be relocated, will your nation take them all?
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How dare you advocate for national stability through hard times
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Ok... Now let's see the positive effects of less people...
Climate change certainly gets a little less fuel...
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Referring to the potential starvation deaths of a large group of people as a positive for climate change is like saying you’re glad someone died early from a car accident instead of suicide.
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It's culling the wrong demographic. Removing poor people is the least efficient. Removing the poorest will have the least effect possible.
These comments always make me wonder wether it's a lack of education, bad taste or racism.
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so eat something else? if you're reliant on a grain crop that you cant even grow yourself, you've never had food security. plenty of other grain crops that are cheaper to grow than rice (which requires a massive amount of water). those pictures of people that live in arid environments means they're not growing rice, ever
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You're not wrong.
But this is equivalent to telling a homeless person to get a job. It's not that simple.
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perhaps. i'd argue that it really is that simple. for decades, many countries in areas that are well known, historically, for having famines have been importing most/all of their food because the food was available for export by other countries that are very good at growing things & they had excess. now those countries have stopped or drastically curtailed exports. the end result is that the famine countries cannot buy their way out of famine - and now the population isnt just a few hundred thousand but tens of millions.
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It is THAT simple!
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if you're reliant on a grain crop that you cant even grow yourself, you've never had food security.
I guess I'll die
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and could you keep it down please your upsetting whats left of the middle class, thanks.
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Like at least 98% of the population who does not grow anything.
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Maybe those cheaper crops aren't readily available to them? It does say it will mainly hit the poorest people....
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Yeah, the rich 😎
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so eat something else?
Agreed, but this is going to require changes by governments. Certain crops often get subsidies, whether they're the best option or not. There are healthier grains that can stand up better to climate change than rice. Many governments are so stuck into subsidizing specifically rice that they have backed themselves into a corner with a thirst crop that isn't all that nutrient dense. And unwinding those subsides is unpopular, even if it's ultimately the right thing to do.
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Most rice in the world is poisoned by pollutants anyway. Since rice grows in water it collects arsenic from pesticides and when you eat it regularly it puts you at risk for a wide variety of arsenic related diseases. Ironically, the rice with the least amount of nutrients (white rice) also has the lowest arsenic levels.