i am doing an essay on global famine, and many people belivie this is increasing due to rise in grainpricess and market manipulation. could you please expain to me how this process really work.
this is a big question that i have few answers, and have been investigating for a long time. I am still unclear on the full picture. But i will tell you what i do know and if you learn any different please let me know.
It started after the 2nd world war when Europe decide all the countries needed to be able to support and sustain there own populations. Agriculture increased and that was the end of the old systems. Last year i discovered that it was former SS dude imprisoned and sentenced for crimes against humanity that was given charge of the world food program. He stated simply that if you control the food you control the world.
Then the world heath organization got involved and various other organizations including the world trade organization. they control the global food industry and if they did what was right and not for profit then we would have not a single person suffering starvation. Most food is used to feed animals and if we stopped slaughtering animals there would be 9 times the amount of food the world s population needs. and we could return what land we don’t need to natural processes. But arable farmers create greater revenue than agricultural farmers.
What happened in zimbabwe was there government went to the world bank and asked for a loan so they could build 6 pistatio nut factories. They where granted the lone on the condition that they opened there borders to the trade federation. This the Zimbabwean government recognized could be potentially economically devastating. On voicing there concerns to the world bank the where reassured that everything would be ok and if anything happened they would help.
Any way they opened there boarders and got a percentage of the loan to do what they intended and in the mean time other immigrants entered and things looked ok for a short time. But then the markets started to favor other countries outside of africa and a minority of farmers in Zimbabwe. The government decided that steps needed to be taken and closed its boarders again. This the world trade organization did not look favorably on and because Zimbabwe was not yet a member of the organization.
The organization would not listen to any dispute a non member has and would favor the member over the non member irrespective of legality and with out. The backing of the organization the world court and un would not even hear an argument. But conveniently every time zimbabwe tried to make itself heard blair and bush where pushing iraq. And no resolution seemed posable to the Zimbabweans.
Then sanctions where imposed and they are probably still expected to pay back the small percentage of the loan that they did get I am not to sure if the actually did get the loan in the end. And of course the effect of imposing sanctions on a country that had already suffered an economical break down sent things from bad to worse. What our countries did to Zimbabwe was disgusting! In human! They tried to enter the global market and when the markets favored us over there own population they pulled out and we punished them most savagely.
It is not 1 organization but many. I was watching a program about the coco plantations in africa. Where child labor is used they steal children from a country to the north and they work the plantations. Every major brand knows this and these 2 countries produce over 80% of the world coco. But the guy in the office selling millions of tones making millions dose not care about where it came from how it was harvested or even the quality. Just that he has sold the most at the best price. Nestle, cadburys and all the other major manufactures of chocolate even fair trade. can not put on there labels Child labour free. Because they are not required to do so by law!
They also know that they wouldn’t be able to sell one bar of chocolate if they did reveal how it was harvested and there is some thing the economy will not accept. So it remain the law will sit silently till we the law makers decide what rule we will enforce. These organizations in-charge of our food are exempt from law. The even some how managed to recommend we add 8 of the most toxic chemicals to our food that the G40 and the world health organization banned 30 years ago. But the world heath for some reason that they have not reviled did a u turn.
To manipulate the market it requires many people destroying there product. In australia orange growers regularly destroy a percentage of there crop so they can get a better market value. And i am sure traders will have there own tricks to increase the market value of whatever they choose to sell. You might want to try and get in contact with a market trader but don’t let him know what you are investigating. Ask questions that may lead him to answer a question you haven’t asked but want to know. Or go to a local market at 6 in the morning and talk with people. Start from the bottom and then work your way up trough the ranks learn names and get interviews. A