Comments on: What Does Wheat Mean? http://registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/ Central Asia News -- All Central Asia, All The Time Sun, 12 Feb 2012 20:58:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Naqib http://registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/comment-page-1/#comment-376791 Naqib Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:06:21 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/#comment-376791 I live in Iowa, a US state with vast agriculture land. Iowa is very famous for corns that exports to countries all over the world. However, the corn and wheat prices have doubled since last year here too. Although one of the reasons is the high gas prices which make the food deliveries more expensive, the main reason is that the government is converting corns to ethnol to find an alternative to impoted gas. But this is a really bad policy because it destroys food sources and they have to use a big pile of corn just to get a gallon of ethnol. I think the UN should force the US to stop converting food items to gas and force the OPEC nation to bring the gas prices down. Otherwise, the world is heading to a terrible food shortages and inflation. I live in Iowa, a US state with vast agriculture land. Iowa is very famous for corns that exports to countries all over the world. However, the corn and wheat prices have doubled since last year here too. Although one of the reasons is the high gas prices which make the food deliveries more expensive, the main reason is that the government is converting corns to ethnol to find an alternative to impoted gas. But this is a really bad policy because it destroys food sources and they have to use a big pile of corn just to get a gallon of ethnol. I think the UN should force the US to stop converting food items to gas and force the OPEC nation to bring the gas prices down. Otherwise, the world is heading to a terrible food shortages and inflation.

]]> By: AG http://registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/comment-page-1/#comment-376789 AG Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:39:30 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/#comment-376789 I second Azad on the issue. Famines (and that includes the man made ones) are not a new phenomenon in Hazarajat. Also, one suspects, localized famines would be fairly common in a population distributed in inaccessible valleys. I second Azad on the issue. Famines (and that includes the man made ones) are not a new phenomenon in Hazarajat. Also, one suspects, localized famines would be fairly common in a population distributed in inaccessible valleys.

]]> By: Dan http://registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/comment-page-1/#comment-376788 Dan Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:37:03 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/#comment-376788 In the short term, it's pretty important. Look at any of the reportage from the Georgian protests last summer, and you'll see that the rising bread prices were one of the constant complaints. The opposition (Labor in particular) were pushing this right through from last spring - blaming it either (fairly) on free markets, or (less fairly) on malice from Saakashvili &co. Same elsewhere, if less dramatically. I believe there have been bread-related riots in Uzbekistan, and if we dug through the news archives we'd probably find the pattern repeating through much of the Caucasus and Central Asia. Long-term? I haven't a clue. Presumably either the UN or the futures markets have some idea what to expect this year and next, but I don't. In the short term, it’s pretty important. Look at any of the reportage from the Georgian protests last summer, and you’ll see that the rising bread prices were one of the constant complaints. The opposition (Labor in particular) were pushing this right through from last spring – blaming it either (fairly) on free markets, or (less fairly) on malice from Saakashvili &co.

Same elsewhere, if less dramatically. I believe there have been bread-related riots in Uzbekistan, and if we dug through the news archives we’d probably find the pattern repeating through much of the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Long-term? I haven’t a clue. Presumably either the UN or the futures markets have some idea what to expect this year and next, but I don’t.

]]> By: Azad http://registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/comment-page-1/#comment-376784 Azad Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:32:18 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/04/10/what-does-wheat-mean/#comment-376784 Just adding to that recent history of famine in Afghanistan, it was probably during the 60s or 70s that Hazarajat was struck by famine. Among the locals, the period is generally referred to as 'the years of the Bangladesh rice', probably because sometimes in those years Afghanistan imported rice from Bangladesh to feed its hungry. Based on what I have heard from locals and my grandmother famine was so serious, hundreds especially newborns had starved to death and people were forced to sell their daughters and sons in Kabul and Ghazni in exchange for a bag of flour or some food. I don't a verification but the word famine just reminded me of what a few elders had told me about a few years ago. Best Just adding to that recent history of famine in Afghanistan, it was probably during the 60s or 70s that Hazarajat was struck by famine. Among the locals, the period is generally referred to as ‘the years of the Bangladesh rice’, probably because sometimes in those years Afghanistan imported rice from Bangladesh to feed its hungry. Based on what I have heard from locals and my grandmother famine was so serious, hundreds especially newborns had starved to death and people were forced to sell their daughters and sons in Kabul and Ghazni in exchange for a bag of flour or some food.
I don’t a verification but the word famine just reminded me of what a few elders had told me about a few years ago.
Best

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