A global food crisis may “hit us very soon” as a drought ravages corn crops in the U.S., the world’s largest grower, the International Food Policy Research Institute said.
Governments must act to prevent the crisis, said Shenggen Fan, director-general of the institute. The U.S. should end its biofuel program that uses 40 percent of its corn output, to boost supplies to meat producers, Fan said.
The Washington-based institute, supported by governments and international organizations, is part of the Agricultural Market Information System formed by the United Nations to monitor food costs.
Read more: Food Expert: Drought to Trigger Global Crisis ‘Very Soon’“The major problem is policy,” Fan said in an interview with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television’s “First Up”. “Biofuel production has to be stopped. That actually pushed global food prices higher and many poor people, particularly women and children, have suffered.”
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