Food prices will double in 20 years causing mass world hunger, says Oxfam

The prices of some staple foods will more than double by 2030 unless world leaders reform the global food system, Oxfam has warned.

The aid charity warned that millions more people could suffer food shortages in two decades due to a ‘perfect storm’ of ecological and sociological factors.

A combination of population growth, climate-hit harvests and rising energy prices will see countries ‘sleepwalk into an unprecedented human development reversal’.

Oxfam warned the current 900 million people who experience hunger could rise within 20 years unless the world’s food system is overhauled.

By 2050, the world’s population was expected to rise by a third, from 6.9 billion today to 9.1 billion.

Demand for food would rise even higher, by 70 per cent, as more prosperous economies demand more calories.

But by then, drought, floods and storm caused by climate change will have started to affect crop yields which had already begun to deteriorate in the early 1990s.

The price of staple foods such as corn, also known as maize, which has already hit record peaks, will more than double in the next 20 years, it predicted.

Solutions envisaged by Oxfam focus on cutting out waste, especially of water, and curbing agriculture and biofuel subsidies in rich countries.

The report also calls for prising open closed markets and ending the domination of commodities and seeds trade by a handful of large corporations.

The charity also called for new global governance to tackle food crises, including creating a multilateral food bank.

Oxfam’s report argues that small farms – traditionally dismissed as a hindrance to food production – could help drive the resurgence in crop yields through investment, market access and infrastructure.

The report states: ‘During the 2008 food price crisis, co-operation was nowhere to be seen.

‘Governments were unable to agree on the causes of the price rises, let alone how to respond. Food reserves had been allowed to collapse to historic lows.

‘Existing international institutions and forums were rendered impotent as more than 30 countries imposed export bans in a negative-sum game of beggar-thy-neighbour policy making.’

Daily Mail