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 2 July 2008
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How trade restrictions and farm subsidies contribute to the food crisis

02/07/2008

As prices of basic foods nearly doubled over the past year, many countries banned exports.

This increased prices on the global market, as the demand from importing countries exceeded the supply. On the other hand, agricultural subsidies in industrialized countries over the years have made developing countries dependent on food imports. Now that prices of their staple foods have gone up, they can't afford them.

Bissera Kostova has more on this in the fifth installment of our series on the food crisis.

(duration: 8'01")