Food for thought
Water problems and bad agricultural management are combining to set up a crisis in Southeast Asia over rice, its critically important staple food, according to authorities on the issue. At least 2 billion people rely on rice for subsistence, with another billion and a half making it a major part of their diet, according to David Dapice, chief economist for the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia’s Vietnam Program, located in the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. As became evident during the food crisis of 2008, critical shortages aren’t necessary to create serious problems, Dapice said. If the international supply is disrupted enough so that prices soar, the poor who rely on rice for food are simply no longer able to purchase it. Dapice said that people who spend half of their incomes on food would be devastated by tripled rice prices, as 2008 demonstrated. He said prices still...