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The price of rice is skyrocketing, and it's pushing millions more people towards starvation (www.abc.net.au)

submitted 2 years ago by stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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The Indian rice export ban, the war in Ukraine and El Niño are combining to create a "doom loop" for the world's poorest people, as staple food prices soar.

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[-] Anissem@lemmy.ml 226 points 2 years ago

Started the food wars have

[-] morrowind@lemmy.ml 154 points 2 years ago

Can we please not have silly jokes on a serious topic like global hunger?

This is one thing I don't want from reddit

[-] Anissem@lemmy.ml 192 points 2 years ago

If I don’t laugh about the world I’ll just start crying. It’s sadly the defense mechanism I’ve developed. I use humor to avoid uncomfortable moments in all aspects of my life.

[-] TheSaneWriter@lemmy.thesanewriter.com 92 points 2 years ago

I agree, humor is a valid coping mechanism. It's not like a serious conversation on Lemmy is going to solve world hunger, your joke was fine in my opinion.

[-] Anissem@lemmy.ml 37 points 2 years ago

I’ve had a lot of trauma in my life and have become a very pessimistic and dark person. Everyone has their cross to bear and I wear mine with a fake smile.

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[-] isthingoneventhis@lemmy.world 39 points 2 years ago

It was a fine dark humor joke, don't sweat it.

[-] Anissem@lemmy.ml 20 points 2 years ago

Thanks

[-] barsoap@lemm.ee 17 points 2 years ago

It's not sadly the defence mechanism you developed, but luckily.

Because face it some defence mechanism is needed, and the vast majority of them are absolutely harmful. Fuck the ruffled feathers those are the exact kind of people who say "I'd rather ignore it", "I'd rather deny it's happening", "I'd rather say that it's bad everywhere", "I'd rather say it's because of the Jews", "I'd rather sit here and unproductively wallow in pity", or whatever. You are a human, and as such you have the birth right to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

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[-] SeedyOne@lemmy.ca 95 points 2 years ago

It may sound silly but it's put succinctly and there's an element of grim truth to it.

Additionally, do we have to compare everything to Reddit? It's the Internet, people are going to cope how they cope.

[-] Anissem@lemmy.ml 41 points 2 years ago

I just want to filter out the words Reddit, Elon and Trump. I’m just so tired.

[-] SeedyOne@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 years ago

Curating your experience certainly helps. Thankfully Lemmy clients are starting to have keyword blocks I hear. It's the thing I miss the most about Boost.

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[-] lowleveldata@programming.dev 65 points 2 years ago

Can we please not banning silly jokes on a serious topic? That is one thing I don't want from real life

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[-] oce@jlai.lu 57 points 2 years ago

I'm sorry if this disturbs you but free humour is one of the extremely important aspects of the internet that Lemmy needs to support. When you know who you are talking to you can avoid subjects that may hurt the other person but on the public internet this is not possible. The alternative to never dare making any joke because of the risk to hurt someone is dystopian.
Top comment isn't even a joke, it's a movie reference that supports the idea that this is a serious topic.

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[-] Master@lemm.ee 24 points 2 years ago

[-] Firipu@startrek.website 14 points 2 years ago

You must be fun at parties....

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[-] o_oli@lemmy.world 140 points 2 years ago

More very real effects of global warming that will be ignored or blamed on other things no doubt.

Global warming will fuck us indirectly before the weather on a Sunday afternoon is actually the problem, many seem to miss that.

[-] Green_Bay_Guy@lemmy.ml 32 points 2 years ago

In Vietnam we're losing crop because of saltwater backflow on the Mekong. Dams have been built in several places upstream and all the reservoirs are being filled.

[-] flyingsquirrel@lemmy.ca 104 points 2 years ago

Mainwhile, Russia is actively engaged in the destruction of Ukraine wheat export terminals, and India remains silent.

[-] Zeroxxx@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago

India, Indonesia and the rest of non alignment countries do not need to enter this war set up by the West.

[-] astral_avocado@programming.dev 33 points 2 years ago

I agree with you that India doesn't need to take sides, but I'm pretty sure Russian/West cooperation had been increasingly positive since the cold war ended, right until Putin decided he wanted to be an imperialist again. The West didn't make him invade a sovereign, non-threatening country.

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[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 79 points 2 years ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The cost of rice — a staple food for nearly half the world's population — and other essentials, like wheat, corn and vegetable oils, are rising as geopolitical forces, extreme weather and a dawning El Niño disrupt global trade.

In its most recent rice outlook, the USDA said India was expected to ship a record 23.0 million tonnes in 2024, exceeding the combined shipments of the next two largest exporters — Thailand and Vietnam.

The Indian government runs the world's largest food distribution program, catering to about 800 million people, according to McDonald Pelz business manager Sumit Gupta.

The Indian government has a policy of maintaining reserves of key commodities, and as it assessed the risk of El Niño, and the rapid pace of rice exports this year, it brought the trade to a close on July 20.

"This sharp increase in exports can be ascribed to high international prices due to [the] geo-political scenario, El Niño sentiments and extreme climatic conditions in other rice-producing countries," the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in its statement declaring the ban.

At a conference in St Petersburg recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged 25,000-50,000 tons of free grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea in the coming months.

I'm a bot and I'm open source!

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[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 years ago

At the same time as Ukrainian wheat issues with the blockade could be a really big issue.

[-] TIEPilot@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago

When staple foods (rice/wheat/beans/corn) inflate in price the poor starve.

[-] Nijuu@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago

Is 70% correct?. I thought Thailand and Vietnam were just as big of producers? (we get more rice from thailand/vietnam/cambodia/+ grow our own locally here in australia). I never buy basmati.....

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[-] ahriboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 20 points 2 years ago

Why can't South Asian diaspora just buy Thai jasmine rice instead?

[-] woooferine@lemmy.world 34 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Hong Kong here. We have rice almost everyday and apparently, we don't import them from India. Yet the "Rice Association" said that due to the India ban, the price of rice in Hong Kong will likely to rise by 10% in October.

The nations used to import from India are buying from everyone else, and that drives up the prices.

Edit: typo

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[-] Parsnip8904@beehaw.org 17 points 2 years ago

Because they're really different. People who don't eat rice as a staple aren't aware how much varieties there are and how different they taste. There are three specific varieties used just in my own house for lunch, breakfast dishes and dinner respectively.

Japanese or Thai rice are totally different in taste, consistency and texture.

It would be like trying to bake using whole wheat flour instead of refined flour.

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[-] TokenBoomer@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago

Me, a doomer, with pseudobulbar affect.

[-] EnderWi99in@kbin.social 34 points 2 years ago

Log off social media for a bit there. Things aren't great out there, but I'm being absolutely sincere that this environment is a negative feedback loop that makes it out to be even worse. We all need to step away from time to time. Come back in a week we will all still be here.