New Delhi, Global warming and extreme weather will join hands to create devastating food price shocks around the world in coming decades. According to an estimate by Oxfam, due to climate change and other factors, the price of corn could increase to a staggering 500% by 2030. The agency had previously warned that corn would see a 177% rise in price by 2030. But the further modeling of the impact of warming-driven extreme weather shocks forced Oxfam to revise its earlier conclusion.
The new report, Extreme Weather, Extreme Prices by Oxfam highlights how extreme weather events such as drought and floods could drive up food prices in the future. In its new release, Oxfam explains that the food prices spike will get worse as extreme weather caused by climate change devastates food production.
Here are some of the other highlights of the Oxfam new release:
- Even under a conservative scenario, another US drought in 2030 could raise the price of maize by as much as 140 per cent over and above the average price of food in 2030, which is already likely to be double today’s prices.
- Drought and flooding in southern Africa could increase the consumer price of maize and other coarse grains by as much as 120 per cent. Price spikes of this magnitude today would mean the cost of a 25kg bag of corn meal – a staple which feeds poor families across Africa for about two weeks – would rocket from around $18 to $40.
- A nationwide drought in India and extensive flooding across South East Asia could see the world market price of rice increase by 25 per cent. This could see domestic spikes of up to 43 per cent on top of the longer term price rises in rice importing countries of such as Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country.
Such price spikes would be a massive blow to the world’s poorest who today spend up to 75 per cent of their income on food according to the new release.
