Headlines:
| Rice and flour prices go up all over the region |
|
|
| Monday, 14 April 2008 | |
 St. Vincent and the
Grenadines has announced that flour prices will go up by
17 per cent and in Barbados
flour will go up by 30 per cent, the fourth such in four years.Rice is a staple food for more than half of the world's population, over the past year its price has risen by over 70 per cent putting it beyond the reach of more and more people who need it to survive. In the past week there have been food riots across the world including Haiti where five people died. Over the weekend the Prime Minister became the first government minister to be sacked over the handling of the issue. In the rest of the Caribbean consumers are also feeling the pinch of soaring food prices. The new Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson is expected to include the rising price of food in his address to the nation on Monday. Barbadian shoppers will have to pay 30 per cent more for flour and local bakeries say customers can expect to pay more for bread and pastries as a result. And in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves also announced a 17 per cent increase in the price of flour and has not ruled out a further increase in August. One of the factors driving up food prices is the production of biofuels where agricultural lands are used to produce crops for a less environmentally damaging alternative to petrol. The UN spokesperson on the right to food John Ziegler has called the practice a crime against humanity. |