Toot toot!

That would be China blowing its own horn.

China’s agricultural minister is claiming that the Middle Kingdom is a major contributor to world food security for the simple reason that the big Panda feeds one-fourth of the global population.

Yeah, right. China takes care of her own.
Whoopdee doo!

What if every country was satisfied that it were able to just take care of itself? Good enough? I don’t think so.

“We are not causing anybody to care about feeding us” does not make a country a contributor. It just makes that country a non-burden. A contributor is an active participant, no?

Blessed are the peacemakers is what the Good Book says. Not the peace keepers.

Blessed are the contributors, not the well fed.

Are we to say, “Thanks, China. For taking care of yourself?”

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Not all countries think more biofuels are the answer. At least not yet.

There’s Japan, the United States, Brazil…the major biofuel-producing countries.

The beef, um, corn is that biofuel output is causing food prices to soar. Biofuels are made from corn, sugar cane and other food stuffs.

At the just closed U.N. Food summit Japan argued for promotion of second generation biofuels, those made from nonfood sources like grass. (But, then the cows, horses and such are likely to want some input.)

The final U.N. declaration called for supplying seeds, fertilizers and such to low-income food-deficit countries. The overall goal “to eliminating hunger and to securing food for all, today and tomorrow.”

Here! Here!

In the end, however, lots of doublespeak and vague wording. The importance of ”in-depth studies” and ”international dialogue.” To be sure, while everyone is talking, nothing is being solved.

The next round of hot air blowing (another cause of climate change?) the G-8 meeting in Hokkaido next month.

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For those expecting rice and corn to be the only food prices to reach record levels, we have news. Chicken meat is going to be sold for more money this year because food companies noted sharply higher production costs. With oil and grains breaking record after record, there is nothing that can be done but to increase the prices, said Chief Executives from the two largest US companies.

Corn, which is a major feedstock, reached a record $6.5 a bushel this year because of high demand from food companies and the bio-ethanol industry. Chicken producers are concerned because they haven’t been able to increase their prices at the same rate their costs soared.

“We have attained some (higher) pricing but not at the same pace as our inputs have increased, especially in chicken. The lag of higher priced corn is just now coming through the products that we are taking to market,” Richard Bond, chief executive at Tyson Foods Inc, said on Thursday. The first solution producers will take, is to cut production 3 to 4 percent to generate the higher prices needed to cover costs.

Now I really wonder if anyone will listen to Jeffrey D. Sachs, who said that the African farmers are one of the solutions to the spiraling food prices, or if any will turn vegetarian if the chicken is going to be very expensive.

There are so many reasons why food prices sky-rocketed during the last twelve months, but more important than blaming, is to find a viable solution.

Jeffrey D. Sachs, head of Columbia University’s Earth Institute and adviser to the U.N. chief, talked on Monday about the food crisis in developing countries. He said that simple reforms could double Africa’s food production in just a few years and this solution may probably cool down food prices. He also mentioned that the African farmers need help from wealthy countries to invest into better practices including fertilizers, water management systems or drought-resistant seeds.

In an interview in Nairobi, Sachs also mentioned that in his belief, a $10 billion aid to small farmers would probably solve the problem which is worse than believed. During the last year, rice prices went up more than 40-percent and reached higher values because of the cyclone in Myanmar, a large rice exporter, that devastated the whole area.

According to Sachs, the only solution is to immediately invest in agriculture.

Picture by Frankie Roberto

If every person from a rich country would pay $10, Africa would double its production and help reduce the burden on poor countries, because those are the most affected by high food price.

Riots and protests in Asia, the Caribbean and several African countries, arose last month which means that the food crisis is real.