Monday, March 15, 2010

The new Food Security Index

The latest Food Security Index has been released by Maplecroft. The British risk management operation issues the annual list to rank the nations according to their capacity to feed their people.

According to the survey the United States is the country that has the least risk followed by France, Canada, Germany and the Czech Republic. For the nations at the bottom of the list we turn to this AFP article that we found at The Vancouver Sun.

The five countries topping the risk list -- Angola, Haiti, Mozambique, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo -- are all mired in poverty, but other factors also boost vulnerability.

Nearly three decades of civil war in Angola has displaced millions and wreaked havoc on agricultural infrastructure.

DR Congo and Burundi have also been ravaged by conflict, along with corruption and poor governance.

Mozambique is, in addition, buffeted by weather-related natural disasters, while politically unstable Haiti depends on foreign aid for nearly half of its food needs.

The three most populous countries in South Asia also face food precariousness: Pakistan, ranked 11th on the index, is at "extreme risk," while Bangladesh and India are both at "high risk," ranked 20th and 25th respectively.

"India may be one of the world's key emerging economies, but it is finding itself under increasing pressure from food security issues," the report concluded.

Two-thirds of India's 1.1 billion people depend on farming as their main income source.

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