THE sharp increase in global food prices and its consequences raise some fundamental questions about the

state of the world economy and how we organise our lives. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisations food price index hit a new high in December 2010. It was partly because of soaring prices that 925 million people worldwide suffered from hunger in 2010, an increase of 150 million since 1995-97. Many reasons explain the present escalation in food prices. Climate change is one. The use of food crops to produce fuel for vehicles is another factor. Related to this is the massive conversion of farm lands to land for roads, parking lots and housing and industrial complexes. In rapidly urbanising and industrialising economies, the implications on food production have been severe. Global population increase, and especially the expansion of the global middle class in recent years, has led to a significant growth in food consumption. The situation has been aggravated further by soil erosion and the shrinking of irrigated areas in certain parts of the world. But more than the demand factor, there is another major cause for food inflation: rampant speculation in commodity prices, including in food staples such as wheat, corn and rice. One of the main reasons speculation has become rife in recent months is quantitative easing the cheap dollar policy pursued by the US government which has increased the flow of hot money, especially to emerging economies. It provides huge opportunities to hedge funds, banks and corporations to speculate upon not only food grains but also other commodities such as oil. The rise in the price of oil, which stands today at over US$90 (RM278) a barrel, is also linked to some extent to speculation. It has increased transport costs for food and other goods. This is why curbing speculation through fundamental reforms to the international financial system is vital. There are powerful vested interests that are totally opposed to such reforms. Nonetheless, those who are concerned about the well-being of the human family including the basic right of every human being to eat should continue to press for change. There should be a more concerted campaign worldwide to enhance public transportation since the adulation of the private car, as we have seen, has a bearing upon food production. For this to happen there has to be a holistic change in our attitudes, habits and values. It calls for a revolution of the heart.

Only if there is such a spiritual and moral revolution will we be able to overcome the crisis of rising food prices and, indeed, all the other monumental crises that confront the human family today. Dr CHANDRA MUZAFFAR, President, International Movement for a Just World.