Repeated emergency calls from different international organisations warning the world of an imminent food crisis are not getting too much attentive ear. People all over the globe are sticking to their dietary habits as far as their budgets can afford. Price rises of grains and basic foods are not deterring the demand in the global markets, and there seems to be no shortage yet - despite increased demand. Warning of a possible crisis is genuine, and some indicators remind the world of a previous food shortages, but people's perception of that is not as deep as it used to be decades ago.
There are two direct reasons for the spiralling prices increase of food and agricultural produce. The simple one is the environmental reasons, with severe draught in Australia for example causing a drop in harvest by almost a half last year - a similar condition affected countries such as Morocco in North Africa. So, a drop in harvest due to climate change is a direct factor, but responsibility for climate change is global, with the big and rich industrialised nations taking the largest share of this responsibility in the first place.
The second direct reason for the food price hike is actually one that is not getting much attention, as it is less simple than the previous one. Declining value of the US currency, the dollar, and turmoil in financial markets drove investment funds to the commodities markets. The last couple of years witnessed an attack by such funds on soft commodities futures' markets. As the Germans used to call these funds locusts, they are after huge quick profits regardless of what their practices do to others. Future contracts of wheat, corn and other agro-crops were speculated on in a mad way in major international markets, leading to inflated price hikes. No need to mention that most of these funds are hedge funds investing the wealth of the super rich in the world.
Food prices crisis is a good example of how globalisation is helping the world rich get richer, and not stopping the global poor from getting poorer. Though globalisation has got many virtues, its trickle down effect is hardly felt by more than a billion people of world population who live in some sort of poverty. Main beneficiary of globalisation seem to be global service sector, and particularly financial services, that works mainly for the rich and wealthy. Rapid growth of service sector on the expense of traditional economic sector led to another pitfall, the loss of the value of real work.
Irrelevant question
What do you expect of new generations seeing the fastest and easiest way of wealth is so-called "investment" in services! If most of the world population is to work in marketing and share-dealings, who is going to produce the basic needs of the whole world? That seems to be irrelevant question now, though the current situation of looming food crisis should make it plausible. Technological advances are not going to substitute the need to manual work, especially in traditional sector like agriculture and basic industry. Loss of the value of work is really catastrophic and severe global wealth disparity due to the polarisation emerging from globalisation is not helping to restore such value.
Cynically, while we see more globalisation of services we see more protectionist policies in trade and other sectors of global economy. Most of the big agriculture producers are putting restriction on export of their produce to keep the local market supplied and avoid social tensions emerging from high food prices. Asian and Latin American countries that produce rice, wheat and corn are introducing heavy export levies and duties to keep most of its harvest for local consumption. Now we hear about livestock exporting countries mulling the idea of forming a global organisation, like the oil producers' Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, to manage the market for world meat and dairy products. This again is feeding into the global market in the form of high food prices.
Again, most of this is not benefiting those who work as it benefits those who market, trade and speculate on these agro and food products. So, how can one convince younger generations of the importance and worthiness of work!
Globalisation might have helped people communicate better and helped some to inflate their wealth, but it is not helping stop deterioration of the significance of work as a value. It is actually modifying the meaning of "work", making more virtual than real - but we can not feed people software-generated 3D meals.
Dr Ahmad Mustafa is a London-based Arab writer.
