Oxfam predicts food prices will double by 2020

31 May 2011 by
Oxfam predicts food prices will double by 2020

The average price of staple foods such as corn will double over the next 20 years unless governments tackle the issue of food inflation.

That's the warning from charity Oxfam, which has named governments for having "failed policies" that perpetuate food shortages. It also predicted that prices would rise by 180% by 2030 and that global demand would have risen 70% by 2050.

The governments include those in the European Union, USA and India.

It highlighted biofuels as one cause of rising prices. The EU has set a target for 10% of transport fuel to come from biofuels by 2020, for example, even though the amount of grain required to fill a petrol tank could feed a person for a year.

Oxfam's chief executive, Barbara Stocking, said: "The food system must be overhauled if we are to overcome the increasingly pressing challenges of climate change, spiralling food prices and the scarcity of land, water and energy. We much consign hunger to history."

The charity warned that the world's poorest people, who spend up to 80% of their income on food, would suffer the most.

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By Neil Gerrard

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