Download Scarcity and the problem of the grain

Food Shortage
in SOUTH ASIA
Linda Lin
What’s going on??
 The price of rice in many parts of South Asia is rising
fast
 Last week Afghanistan appealed for foreign help to
combat a wheat shortage while Bangladesh recently
warned it faced a crisis over rice supplies.
 “There have been queues outside shops in towns
around Pakistan, and flour prices have shot up. “
 ---Global wheat prices are at record highs.
 People across South Asia are struggling to cope
with a severe shortage of affordable wheat and rice.
Why is it happening?
 -Decrease in supply
 Afghanistan does not grow enough wheat to feed all its people and is
partially dependent on imports.
 Pakistan's gov. blames distribution problems. says no shortage.
 Officials accuse suppliers in Punjab, the breadbasket of Pakistan, of
smuggling wheat intended for domestic use to Afghanistan and Central
Asia to take advantage of price differences.
 Damage caused by heavy monsoon rain.
 The BBC 's M Ilyas Khan in Karachi says that the Pakistani gov. buys
wheat in bulk at the time of harvesting, and then releases stocks to flour
mills according to a pre-determined quota.
Price of Grain ($)
S2
S1
E2
E1
D1
Quantity of Grain (kg)
 -Increase in demand
1. Riots
 Flour ran short in Pakistan when many areas saw rioting
after the assassination of opposition leader Benazir
Bhutto in late December.
2. Population
 Population is STILL GROWING. And the growth of
population is much faster than the growth of the amount
of food produced.
The planned quota cannot meet the growing demands.
Price of Grain ($)
S2
S1
E3
E2
E1
D2
D1
Quantity of Grain (kg)
Actions- going to/ought to be done
 The governments now says it has increased the quota
allocated to the mills, warning them of penalties if they
are found selling flour at prices higher than fixed by the
government.
 Rice in Bangladesh is having to be imported (Photo:
Daily Star)
Don’t know yet what would happen next,
but most possibly, the price of foods will
just keep on increasing for a while before it
drops.
THANKS
Bibliography
Original article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7178
876.stm
http://ilib.cn/A-ISSN~1004-1508(2001)020023-04.html
http://www.populstat.info/Asia/asia.html