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With rising prices of food and fuel, everyone is struggling to afford their daily essentials. Photo: Abbie Trayler-Smith

Global food crisis

Food prices have risen 83 per cent since 2005, and the world's poorest people are struggling to cope. In East Africa, millions are in urgent need of emergency food supplies.

Rising food prices

Food prices have reached record levels, and we're all feeling the pinch. It’s exacerbated an already desperate situation: the number of hungry people has risen from 850 million to nearly 1 billion. This is a serious crisis.

Food riots

Food riots are happening across the world, and the spectre of widespread hunger exists in Ethiopia, Somalia, and northern Kenya, with worsening problems elsewhere. Women in developing countries are particularly vulnerable, as they are responsible for 80 per cent of agricultural production, and almost entirely responsible for providing their families with food. As families cut back on meals, it is women who deprive themselves to ensure that men and children are fed first.

Why is it happening?

The causes of the food crisis are complex and interlocking, but biofuel policies, high fuel prices, growing global demand (particularly from large, emergencies economies of China and India), unfair world trade rules, and climate change are all playing a part.

Biofuels

The global push for biofuel crops, which then take food crops out of production, is playing a big role in raising prices. On top of this, high oil prices have led to increases in the cost of fertilisers and other farm expenses, which in turn impact heavily on food prices.

Global supply and demand

Growing global demand for products like meat and grain, and a corresponding lack of supply, has made this situation worse. Years of under-investment in agriculture in poorer countries, and unfair trade rules and farming policies which benefit rich countries, are also having a huge impact.

Climate change

And finally, increasingly unpredictable weather patterns mean that poor farmers are unable to grow as much, and elsewhere have affected the large-scale production of crops such as wheat from Australia.

Learn more

How you can help

Donate to our Africa Food Crisis Appeal
Your donation will directly support the work of Oxfam and our partners throughout Africa where it is needed most, helping us to provide relief as well as develop sustainable solutions to provide food for the future.