Temporary Solutions to Haitian Food Issues: What Others are Doing to Help and What You Can Do

According to various news reports, to head off the food issue, Preval has pledged to promote egg, chicken and rice production and subsidize fertilizer costs; the World Bank has promised $10 million in emergency aid and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has agreed to send 364 tons of food, including chicken, milk and lentils. But in Haiti, even the smallest of economic fissures very quickly widen to swallow up any attempt at political equilibrium.

In the midst of all of this, Haitian prime minister Jacques Alexis lost his cabinet position.

Rising Food Prices All Over The World: Foodstuffs, Crops are Lacking

It's not just in Haiti where unrest is growing. A combination of high fuel prices, booming consumption of food in increasingly wealthy Asia, the use of crops for biofuels, and speculation on futures markets have driven commodity prices to record levels.

The rising food prices are causing waves of unrest around the world. In Manila, troops armed with M-16 rifles now oversee the sale of subsidised rice, the latest basic crop to see a spike in prices. In Egypt, Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cameroon there have been protests in recent weeks all related to the food and fuel prices.

Farmers are Growing Corn for Ethanol

Is the food crisis caused by the lack of primary crops? No. Farmers continue to grow as much corn and other crops such wheat, millet as before, but the only problem is that they are producing for bio fuel. Here is a good summary of the problem.

"The surge in food costs has been attributed to several factors, including the increasing number of American farmers who now grow corn to supply the ethanol industry instead of food companies. In turn, they have reduced the amount of land farmed for wheat and soybeans, leading to a huge strain on food processors such as ConAgra Foods, Kraft Foods, General Mills, and Kellogg.

Corn prices have soared, hitting $6 a bushel, up 50% from 2007 and triple the price of three years ago. Corn is the main ingredient in livestock and poultry feed, so prices of milk, chicken, and meat are also higher. "It is important to note the contribution of runaway energy prices to the retail cost of food," says Jim Sartwelle, an economist with the American Farm Bureau. "Transportation, processing, and packaging cost significantly more now than in prior years." According to a survey by AAA, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline was $3.365, up 20% from last year, with many expecting $4 per gallon in some places this summer."

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Travels to Haiti's Food Crisis: Pictures, Photos, Videos and more

How can we help Haitians to find enough foods to eat? How can the government produce enough to feed its own people? Agriculture must be revamped. More investments must come from foreign countries. Haiti is so close to us, but so far in terms of infrastructure and mentality. How can we have pity on the young ones who are suffering?

Welcome to FoodFuel: Recording the food crisis through travels all over the world

FoodFuel aims at presenting the increase in our basic foods such as grains, oil, corn, rice and others. It will show the problems of foods in many countries such as Malaysia, Haiti, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Salvador and many others.