Profiteers Drive 100 Millions Towards Starvation

By Geoffrey Lean, Independent UK
Giant agribusinesses are enjoying soaring earnings and profits out of the
world food crisis which is driving millions of people towards starvation, The
Independent on Sunday can reveal. And speculation is helping to drive the
prices of basic foodstuffs out of the reach of the hungry.
The prices of wheat, corn and rice have soared over the past year driving
the world's poor -- who already spend about 80 per cent of their income on food
-- into hunger and destitution.
The World Bank says that 100 million more people are facing severe hunger. Yet
some of the world's richest food companies are making record profits. Monsanto
last month reported that its net income for the three months up to the end of
February this year had more than doubled over the same period in 2007, from
$543m (£275m) to $1.12 billion. Its profits increased from $1.44 billion to
$2.22 billion.
Cargill's net earnings soared by 86 per cent from $553m to $1.030 billion
over the same three months. And Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's
largest agricultural processors of soy, corn and wheat, increased its net
earnings by 42 per cent in the first three months of this year from $363m to
$517m. The operating profit of its grains merchandising and handling operations
jumped 16-fold from $21m to $341m.
Similarly, the Mosaic Company, one of the world's largest fertiliser
companies, saw its income for the three months ending 29 February rise more
than 12-fold, from $42.2m to $520.8m, on the back of a shortage of fertiliser.
The prices of some kinds of fertiliser have more than tripled over the past
year as demand has outstripped supply. As a result, plans to increase harvests
in developing countries have been hit hard.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation reports that 37 developing countries
are in urgent need of food. And food riots are breaking out across the globe
from Bangladesh to Burkina Faso, from China
to Cameroon, and from Uzbekistan to the United Arab Emirates.