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Looming food crisis?

Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 12:59 PM by Ian Sager
Filed Under:

By Mara Schiavocampo, NBC Nightly News digital correspondent

Yesterday morning a woman approached me on the street here in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, begging. She lifted her shirt, revealing a gaunt stomach, and repeated the word "Clorox," over and over. She was referring to an expression here, "eating bleach," that people use to describe burning hunger pains.

This week Haiti descended into chaos. Thousands took to the streets, looting, smashing windows and burning tires. The gates of the Presidential Palace were stormed. At least five were killed and 20 injured. "We are hungry," said one woman I spoke to.

Haiti is ground zero of a possible emerging food crisis. It's the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere and the price of food has risen 50 percent in the last year. People are going hungry because they simply can't afford to buy food.

But this problem is global. In addition to this week's riots in Haiti, we've seen unrest over food prices in Indonesia and Egypt. Experts say things could get much worse. During an interview today, I asked Haiti's director of the World Food Program what would happen worldwide if this crisis isn't addressed now. His answer couldn't have been more direct: "It will be a disaster."

Watch Mara's web-only footage from Haiti. 

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Comments

It is a frightening forecast for earth.
I would not miss it, even for Thunder over Louisville,
which is a yearly awesome event before the
Kentucky Derby.

Phyllis Kunz Louisville, Ky. (Sent Saturday, April 12, 2008 3:17 PM)

Well it looks like congress needs to mandate and subsidize another 10% of ethanol. That should fix everything including Manlied GoreBull Warming. The bastardization of food when there is oil available here at home is wrong.

Dave, Tn (Sent Saturday, April 12, 2008 4:21 PM)

I think you just hit on a very real and potentially looming issue here. There has been a great deal of attention and reporting on the "climate crisis" and it's effects like sea level rise and changes to weather patterns. However, most reporting seems to stop there.

But what happens when those changes to weather patterns actually occur? What are going to be the cause-effect chain reaction to the worlds food supply as the current food producing areas of the world are no longer able to sustain crops?

I agree with Haiti's director of the World Food Program, "It will be a disater." And unfortunatly, I feel what we are seeing in Haiti now is only the begining.

David Longcore, Orlando, FL (Sent Saturday, April 12, 2008 4:49 PM)

Something fishy has been going on with the Farm Bill which is coming up this week. A small percentage of American farmers receive a large amount of government support while many others receive little or nothing.
Some are given supports not to plant. A recipe for hunger in the U.S.

Check it out with Dave Beckman/Bill Moyers

Nan Volpe Oviedo Florida (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 9:26 AM)

Please let me know how to access the Free Rice game featured tonight (April 14, 2008) in which my grand- children could help themselves to abetter vocabulary as well (and even more important) help to feed so many other children around the world. Thank you for letting one concerned father help all of us to do a little better.  

Mrs. Howard Brandt, Jefferson Hills, PA (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 7:18 PM)

Everyday I see increasing problems in our food chain.  Tonight in the USA it was scarcity of salmon & safety of greens and starving children getting rice from a our children playing a computer game.  We are seeing increased prices due to rising gasoline cost and more farmland being used for alternative fuels. We are finally acknowledging the reality of global warming.  Yet, we are also seeing increasing population as a result of focus on eradicating diseases and no focus on birth control.  Must we bring more children into this world for foster care and starvation?

Norva Loyd (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 7:19 PM)

Please publicize the Free Rice game featured in the evening news tonight (April 14, 2008). Thank you for showing it.

Mrs. Howard Brandt (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 7:20 PM)



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