The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a “doom loop” for the world’s poorest people, as staple food prices soar.
so eat something else? if you’re reliant on a grain crop that you cant even grow yourself, you’ve never had food security. plenty of other grain crops that are cheaper to grow than rice (which requires a massive amount of water). those pictures of people that live in arid environments means they’re not growing rice, ever
cake is generally comprised of wheat flour. does wheat grow that well in africa?
You’re not wrong.
But this is equivalent to telling a homeless person to get a job. It’s not that simple.
perhaps. i’d argue that it really is that simple. for decades, many countries in areas that are well known, historically, for having famines have been importing most/all of their food because the food was available for export by other countries that are very good at growing things & they had excess. now those countries have stopped or drastically curtailed exports. the end result is that the famine countries cannot buy their way out of famine - and now the population isnt just a few hundred thousand but tens of millions.
if you’re reliant on a grain crop that you cant even grow yourself, you’ve never had food security.
I guess I’ll die
so eat something else?
Agreed, but this is going to require changes by governments. Certain crops often get subsidies, whether they’re the best option or not. There are healthier grains that can stand up better to climate change than rice. Many governments are so stuck into subsidizing specifically rice that they have backed themselves into a corner with a thirst crop that isn’t all that nutrient dense. And unwinding those subsides is unpopular, even if it’s ultimately the right thing to do.
Most rice in the world is poisoned by pollutants anyway. Since rice grows in water it collects arsenic from pesticides and when you eat it regularly it puts you at risk for a wide variety of arsenic related diseases. Ironically, the rice with the least amount of nutrients (white rice) also has the lowest arsenic levels.
What are you talking about? The whole point of flooding rice fields is to manage insects without pesticides
Arsenic was used as a pesticide in many parts of the world throughout the 20th century. Even if it wasn’t used on rice it ended up in the water where the rice grew.
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm
