'Foodgrain export ban by India, China harming third world'
Sunday, 8 March 2009
NEW DELHI, Mar 7 (PTI): A food research institute in the US has expressed concern over the ban on foodgrain exports by countries like India and China causing a crisis in countries depending on imports.
"The banning of exports from countries at times of high food prices have been extremely harmful for third-world countries which depend on these exports or imports," International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Director General Joachim von Braun told PTI.
China and India were among those nations, which had banned exports at critical point of time, he said on the sidelines of a conference here Friday.
"This (the ban) has affected other nations such as Bangladesh or the Philippines," the IFPRI chief said.
He said the large diversion of farm land for bio-fuel purposes has raised the prices of food items by a whopping 33 per cent. "According to our estimate, the bio-fuel utilisation of food crops contributed about one-third to the price rise in the last year's food price crisis. Indeed it had a significant contribution," Braun said.
His statement assumes significance as nations like India had attributed the diversion of huge agriculture land for growing bio-fuel crops in the US to the rise in prices of food items in global markets. The US had earlier blamed increased consumption in India and China for the global food shortages.
"The banning of exports from countries at times of high food prices have been extremely harmful for third-world countries which depend on these exports or imports," International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Director General Joachim von Braun told PTI.
China and India were among those nations, which had banned exports at critical point of time, he said on the sidelines of a conference here Friday.
"This (the ban) has affected other nations such as Bangladesh or the Philippines," the IFPRI chief said.
He said the large diversion of farm land for bio-fuel purposes has raised the prices of food items by a whopping 33 per cent. "According to our estimate, the bio-fuel utilisation of food crops contributed about one-third to the price rise in the last year's food price crisis. Indeed it had a significant contribution," Braun said.
His statement assumes significance as nations like India had attributed the diversion of huge agriculture land for growing bio-fuel crops in the US to the rise in prices of food items in global markets. The US had earlier blamed increased consumption in India and China for the global food shortages.