Oxfam report warns about steep increases in food costs, demand

Jun 1 2011

With food costs rising for the second time in three years, Oxfam released a report on Tuesday predicting "the price of some staples such as corn will double in the next 20 years amid a permanent crisis caused by rising demand, flat crop yields and climate change," Associated Press/Forbes reports (Max, 5/31).

According to the report, food prices will increase by 120 percent to 180 percent by 2030; "the world's poorest people, who spend up to 80 percent of their income on food, will be hardest hit;" and "demand will rise by 70 percent by 2050 while the growth rate in agriculture yields is set to decline to less than 1 percent in the next decade," Bloomberg writes (Carpenter, 5/31). "Solutions envisaged by Oxfam focus on cutting out waste, especially of water, and to encourage the growing of food in a sustainable way," according to Agence France-Presse.

The report follows "a campaign for reform that Oxfam is launching in 45 countries, supported by former Brazilian president Lula Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South African Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu and actress Scarlett Johansson," AFP notes (5/31).