The head of a United Nations agency has stated that the ban on rice exports by India is causing global price surges and elevating the potential for political instability in Asia and Africa.
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The cost of this essential crop, which serves as a staple for half of the world’s population, has skyrocketed to its highest level in nearly 15 years following restrictions on exports imposed by the leading rice exporter. India, responsible for nearly 40% of the global rice trade over the past three years, is now contributing to growing worries about food insecurity for billions of individuals in Asia and Africa who rely on this grain.
“Rice, especially in Africa, can certainly bring potential conflict or social unrest, which at this moment in time would be quite dangerous,” Alvaro Lario, who leads the International Fund for Agricultural Development, said in a Thursday interview in New York.
The export ban is evoking memories of the year 2008, a period marked by a global rice crisis that endangered the lives of 100 million people, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. During that time, both Vietnam and India imposed export limitations. Historical instances of food shortages have also played a role in sparking unrest, as evidenced by the soaring wheat prices that contributed to the onset of the Arab Spring, which led to the toppling of governments just over a decade ago.
Lario emphasized that the consequences of such bans extend beyond the boundaries of the countries implementing them. He pointed out that rice is of paramount concern for food security, even surpassing the importance of wheat in this regard.
“Export bans have a lot of impact, especially on the most vulnerable, by raising prices and having a shock on prices,” he said. “Generally they are not positive, neither for the local populations in the medium term, nor for the other countries.”
Lario noted that certain regions in Africa, which heavily depend on rice imports, are already experiencing the effects of elevated prices.
“We have to understand that many of these people who consume this type of crop are sometimes on the brink of poverty,” he said.
