Photo by Andrea SF [1] and used under a Creative Commons license.
Prices and shortages of food can be seen across Latin America, as many people are becoming desperate with the situation. Blame is being placed on the farmers and blame is being placed on the government for their failure to act or failure to act insufficiently. Bloggers are writing about what they are seeing around them, while others are writing about possible solutions.
One of the places where the crisis has already spilled out onto the streets in the form of protests and counter-protests is Argentina. Gabriela Peralta of La Corresponsal [es] laments that hunger is being seen across the country [2]:
Dá ganas de gritarlo a los cuatro vientos. ¡Hay hambre! Maldita sea. Hay hambre mientras en nuestro país se dan el lujo de guardar los granos para cuando las retenciones no sean tan altas. Hay hambre mientras en nuestro país se especula con que la cosecha les queme los tiempos al sector agrario para poder obtener ganancias no coparticipables. Hay hambre mientras se incendian del Delta del Paraná para trasladar el ganado fuera y dedicarse en exclusivo a la soja. Hay hambre mientras la soja consume campos que tarde o temprano serán incultivables…hay hambre, mientras derrochamos riqueza.
I feel like screaming in all directions. There is hunger, dammit! There is hunger while our country has the luxury of storing grain for when the levies are not so high. There is hunger when in our country, harvest spectulation take place in order to split profits. There is hunger while the wetlands of the Paraná wetlands are burned so that the cattle leaves and that land can be used exclusively for soybeans. There is hunger while the soybeans overtakes so that someday the land becomes unable to be cultivated….there is hunger, while we squander our wealth.
Central America is also feeling the pressure of rising food prices, hunger and a lack of solutions. Julia Ardón of Costa Rica wonders what will become of many people during this crisis [es] [3]:
Resulta impresindible entender qué significa eso tan mentado de “soberanía alimentaria”, y mientras en la tele se anuncian problemas de abastecimiento de alimentos y especialmente de arroz en el mundo…¿ qué vamos a comer por acá? ¿ acaso papeles? ¿ engrapadoras? ¿ sopa de juguetitos de plástico made in China? ¿ spagetti de cables telefónicos? ¿ O comida congelada gringa? eso sí…quien la pueda comprar…para luego tener los problemas de salud y obesidad que tienen los gringos…? Y entonces La Caja tenga que comprar más medicinas y no pueda por las patentes de los medicamentos…¿ No era que el TLC nos iba a beneficiar mucho? Y ya el otro día también él mismo andaba anunciando que venían dos años de vacas flacas…y a mi no me importó porque ando con el telele de convertirme en vegetariana…
It is difficult to understand the often-mentioned phrase “food sovereignty,” when on television they talk about the problems with the supply of food, especially with rice. What will eat around here? Paper? Staplers? Soup of toys made in China? Spaghetti of phone cords? American frozen fod? For those that can afford to buy, will have health problems like the Americans. Then the health system will have to buy more medicines and they won't be able to because of the medicine patents. Wasn't the Free Trade Agreement supposed to provide us benefits? The other day the news was also talking about two years of skinnier cows…it doesn't bother me because I am this close of becoming a vegetarian.
In El Salvador, Ayutuxtepeque of Hunnapuh [es] writes about some of the current proposed strategies of the government, and some additional ones that could be taken to alleviate the situation [4]:
Las medidas que actualmente está anunciando el gobierno para enfrentar la crisis alimentaria son sencillamente insuficientes e ineficientes. Pretender que con repartir granos mejorados y otros pocos incentivos, la producción agrícola va a incrementarse, es un sueño de locos. No es con medidas aisladas, atomizadas y de plazo incierto como se resolverán las cosas. Reconstruir nuestro aparato productivo agrícola no es comida de hocicones.
Por ello continuaremos insistiendo en lo que hemos señalado en innumerables ocasiones. La reactivación del aparato productivo nacional, es urgente y requiere de una estrategia integral de corto, mediano y largo plazo. El gobierno debe comprometerse en esto con seriedad y por ello debe promover que esta estrategia deje de ser un mero plan de gobierno para convertirse en una Política de Estado. Es decir que se continúe su implementación independientemente de quien llegue al gobierno, para ello se necesita del consenso de las otras fuerzas políticas y de amplios sectores sociales. (…) Ya no estoy seguro de si tenemos tiempo para hacerlo, pero hay que empezar de inmediato. En todo caso, lo peor es no hacer nada, o conformarnos con medidas aisladas e insuficientes, que no servirán de mucho.
The proposals that the government has announced to face the food crisis are simply insufficient and inefficient. Believing that by distributing higher-quality grains and other incentives, that the agricultural production will increase, is a crazy dream. It is not with isolated, small measures will things be resolved. Reconstructing our agricultural production apparatus is not for the weak-hearted.
I continue to insist that reactivating the national production apparatus is urgent and requires a short, mid and long-term integrated strategy. The government should commit itself to act and that this strategy should be the government's plan in order to become a state policy. It means that it should continue to be implemented independiently of who in power, and for that there needs to be consensus with the other political parties and a cross-section of social sectors. (…) I am not so sure that we have enough time to make it, but we must start now. In any case, the worst thing would be to not do anything, or we conform with isolated and insufficient measures, which won't amount to much.
Some bloggers, such as Esteban Grinberg from Argentina, even put forth some possible concrete solutions to the crisis. He writes at Un Todo un Poco [es] about more state involvement to control prices [5]:
Que pasaría si el gobierno interviniese activamente en la producción de granos y carnes en la Argentina? Por ejemplo, el día de mañana el gobierno crease algo como la MVF (Mataderos Vacunos Fiscales) o la PFF (Plantaciones Frutiferas Fiscales). Una empresa así, que no tenga intención de exportar su producción, sino vender al mercado interno a un precio rentable, pero no en dolares, permitiría por un lado recaudar un poco más pero además tener una herramienta de control de precios de ciertos productos mucho más eficiente que los acuerdos actuales, de difícil control y ejecución. Porque hay una realidad, como van a hacer los gobiernos actuales para controlar el creciente aumento de precios de los alimentos, que producto del crecimiento mundial y de la utilización de algunos cereales en la creación de biodiesel, todo indica que van a seguir aumentando? Por supuesto esta propuesta es totalmente estatista y contraria a cualquier ideología pro mercado, pero bueno, el mercado por las razones que fuese, esta haciendo aumentar el precio de los alimentos. Y por mas que algunos piensan distinto, no creo en la teoría que el Mercado va a arreglar todo por arte de magia..
What would happen if the government would actively intervene in grain production and meat industry in Argentina? For example, what if tomorrow the government would creat something like the State Meatpacking Plant or a State Fruit Plantation. A company like that, which would not have the intention of exporting its production, but rather sell to the internal market at a profitable price, but not in dollars, would allow for some revenues, but more than anything would allow for price control on certain products. This would be much more efficient than the current agreeements, which is difficult to control and enforce. There is a reality. How will the current governments control the rising price of food? Of course this proposal favors more control by the state and goes against any pro-market ideology, but for whatever reason, the price of food continues to rise. In spite of what others might say, I don't think the market will magically fix everything.