Global Food Crisis

About The Editorial

Global food prices are characterized by year-to-year volatility and periodic sharp spikes. While this volatility is easily managed by most countries through changes in their trade and domestic policies, it is steep and severe periodic price shocks that can lead to some sort of a crisis at the global and national levels. This crisis can emerge in the form of food shortages, trade disruptions, a rise and spread in hunger and poverty levels, a depletion of foreign exchange reserves for net food importing countries, a strain on a nation’s fiscal resources due to an increase in spending on food safety nets, a threat to peace, and even social unrest in some places. Therefore, it becomes essential to understand the real causes of such shocks and devise effective strategies to deal with them.