Q&A: Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute

Aired 05/20/08 Anuradha Mittal (Oakland Institute) http://www.oaklandinstitute.org on the global food crisis.World food prices rose 39% in the last year. Rice alone rose to a 19-year high in March -- an increase of 50% in two weeks alone -- while the real price of wheat has hit a 28-year high.Food riots erupted in Egypt, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. For the 3 billion people in the world who subsist on $2 a day or less, the leap in food prices is a killer. They spend a majority of their income on food, and when the price goes up, they can't afford to feed themselves or their families.Obvious causes: increased demand from China and India, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, increased use of bio-fuels and climate change. But less obvious causes have also had a profound effect on food prices. In the last 30 years, the US, the World Bank and the IMF have imposed devastating policies on developing countries. By requiring them to open up their agriculture market to giant multinational companies and persuading them to specialize in exportable cash crops, they have turned developing countries that used to be self-sufficient in food into large food importers.