Food Price Hikes Affecting Aid Agencies

According to sources because of rising food prices there are now many more people and places that are having difficulty receiving food and this means that African countries that were already in need of help will need a lot more of it.

The World Food Program is active in over 30 countries and Greg Barrow, the U.N. agency's leader, says that there are more people who are under threat of being priced out of the food market because most of the countries are food importers. When food gets imported the high cost gets passed on to the consumers and that has led to unrest in some countries, according to Barrow. This is happening in a number of West African countries that have to import food such as Mauritania and Senegal because the rice consumption there is very high and than it leads to frustration. The World Food Program usually concentrates in rural areas and now the agency is finding urban areas where consumers would have been a little bit better protected being hit hard by the rising food prices. The urban neighborhoods often earn slightly higher income but now they are spending up to 80 percent if their earnings on food. The World Food Program is not immune too price hikes because they do have to buy food from exporting countries but things in Africa are still on track. As of now the agency has not made any cuts in Africa but if the agency does not see an increase in funding later on in the year than programs might have to be cut. On Tuesday the agency reported that the available food, Rwanda for example, was able to feed 40 percent fewer people than last June. The WFP's appeals did not go unheard and Donor governments, such as the European Commission, responded to the appeals by donating another $185 million in food aid to soften the impact of soaring prices. The United States responded by giving an additional $200 million to help ease the crisis. The USA contributes to about 50 percent of all global food aid. This is a big problem and some sources even describes the rise in basic food prices as an emerging worldwide humanitarian disaster. The price of food is going to continue to rise because of oil prices and rising fuel costs. Now is the time to look for alternative energy or do something about oil prices. If oil prices do not go down or alternative energy for fuel is not used than the food crisis is only going to get worse.