Letter to the editor, Business Times 29 Apr 08;
I REFER to your editorial 'Tackle food crisis as urgently as credit one' and to the column 'Biofuel not the main culprit behind rising food prices' by G Panicker (both in BT, April 25).
Contrary to what most people would think, the fundamental cause of this crisis is not a shortage of food. In fact, as The Independent newspaper of the UK states (April 16), in 2007, there was a record global grain harvest, with more than 2.1 billion tonnes produced - an increase of 5 per cent.
Instead, the current food crisis stems not from inadequate supply but from inefficient distribution of the plant food that we do grow. In particular, meat production wastes food, as Mr Panicker states. For every kilogramme of food that cows, chickens, pigs, etc, are fed, only a fraction of the calories are returned in the form of edible flesh. The rest of those calories burn away in the daily life processes of our fellow animals or contribute to the feathers, blood and other parts of these ill-treated beings that are not eaten by humans.
A central fact that everyone needs to grasp is that just the amount of food used by the meat industry could feed all the people on the planet. For instance, the Audubon Society estimates that about 70 per cent of the grain grown in the US goes to the meat industry - not to directly feed people. In poor countries, food that could go to feed hungry people goes to meat production.
The food crisis is a complicated one, but eating less or no meat is a part of the solution that each of us can help with - every day, three times a day.
George Jacobs
President, Vegetarian Society (Singapore)
