Food Crisis in Central America

The rising costs of food is creating a crisis situation in Central America, which has 7.5 million undernourished people, informed the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

According to FAO representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jose Graziano, the rising costs of cereals, milk and grains could last five years as a result of demands by China and India as well as financial speculation.

He warned that countries such as Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador will observe an increase of hunger due to insufficient food production after the effects of hurricanes and droughts.

This situation allows Brazil, Argentina and Chile, main agricultural product exporters in Latin America, to raise production strategically estimated at 122 billion dollars a year.

For Graziano, the unbalanced distribution of benefits, mostly controlled by intermediaries, constitutes another factor that affects an increase of hunger in the region where 30 percent of the rural population is impoverished.

The official added that raising the production of food products presupposes an enormous challenge for Central America that will require investments in research and production, reconversion and active governmental policies.