Spuds - the sustainable staple?
Can spuds save the world? With food riots against rising prices breaking out across the globe and many developing countries facing the risk of food shortages, experts are pointing to the humble potato as a possible solution.
The Independent reported today on the Bangladesh Armed Forces' decision to switch to spuds:
With Bangladesh and the rest of Asia gripped by a rice crisis that has sent governments into panic, last Friday's announcement by the military that it was turning to the potato to supplement its troops' rations was for real. "The daily food menu now includes 125g of potato for each soldier irrespective of ranks," it said.
But it is not just in
Year of the Potato
Such are the hopes being placed on the tuber that the UN named 2008 the International Year of the Potato. "As concern grows over the risk of food shortages and instability in dozens of low-income countries, global attention is turning to an age-old crop that could help ease the strain of food price inflation," said the world body.
"It is ideally suited to places where land is limited and labour is abundant, conditions that characterise much of the developing world. The potato produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land, and in harsher climates than any other major crop."
Sooo good for you!
Experts say the potato has great nutritional value. It is a source of complex carbohydrates which release their energy slowly and have just 5 per cent of the fat content of wheat. They have more protein than corn and nearly double the amount of calcium. They also contain iron, potassium, zinc and vitamin C, and were eaten by sailors in previous centuries as a guard against scurvy.
(You can read the rest of the article here)
Rising food prices: The Basics
Food prices have risen 40 percent globally since mid-2007, according to CBS news. So what's going on?
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Prices are increasing sharply for some of the most basic foodstuffs traded on international commodity markets.
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The price of wheat has doubled in less than a year, while other staples such as corn, maize and soya are trading at well above their 1990s averages.
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Rice and coffee prices are running at 10-year highs, and in some countries, prices for milk and meat have more than doubled
(Bullet points from BBC news online)
Written by Becky Williams. Posted on 21st April.
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