Flood Disasters in Sri Lanka and South Africa Driving Food Prices Higher
January 17th, 2011Sri Lanka: Via: AFP:
Sri Lanka warned Monday that food prices could shoot up after devastating floods in the north and east of the country destroyed rice and vegetable crops.
Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said vegetable prices had already been affected because of the impact on growing areas that were swamped by unusually heavy monsoon rains.
More than a million people were displaced by the floods that began nine days ago and at least 40 people have died.
“We have a buffer stock of rice that is good for three months. That means there will be no immediate impact on the price of rice, but vegetables are already going up in price,” Amaraweera told AFP.
South Africa: Via: IOL News:
More than 20 municipal areas in six provinces are expected to be declared disaster areas following the floods of the past two weeks.
And while the floods recede, food prices and unemployment are expected to rise.
The worst-hit areas are in the Northern Cape, followed by North West.
…
Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tina Joemat-Pettersson warned that food supplies would be affected, inflation could rise and the effect would be felt in the agricultural sector.
Yesterday, Joemat-Pettersson flew over flood areas in Gauteng, the Northern Cape, Free State and North West.
“Anticipate food prices to go up. We can’t give the exact statistics or figures yet as we are still investigating the effects of the floods, as well as those in Australia, which could impact on our food supply and our markets. The fear is that more rain is still to come, and we can only make a proper assessment when the water levels have subsided,” she said during her tour.
“Already, 20 000 hectares of farmland in Keimoes have been washed away. It is a grape farm area and has been completely devastated.
“I am also deeply concerned about unemployment in these areas, as last year we had 100 000 job losses in agriculture. We were just recovering from that and had already created 50 000 jobs in the sector, but these floods have reversed that and could possibly result in even more losses,” said Joemat-Pettersson.
She could not estimate the total cost of damage or how much the state would spend on interventions.
Research Credit: ST
nz wheat prices will also go up because of the brisbane floods. That’s where we get most of our wheat.
wow, the Southern Hemisphere is taking a hammering from the rain this summer. Australia, South America, Africa. the seasonal patterns in the Northern Hemisphere seem to follow the south in my observation…