Japan Says, Increasing Food Price Could Cause Social Strife in Asia

Price hike for food items has become a global problem at this moment. Specially, hike in food staples like rice has been intense across the world. Asian countries are suffering more because of the increase in food items in the global market. Recently, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, at the annual meeting of Asian Development Bank, said that price hike could lead to social unrest in the Asian countries. Mr. Nukaga also added that poor people of the Asian countries would be the worst sufferer and the increase in food items would affect the living standard and nutrition of the Asian people.

Price hike in food staple has led many countries to restrict on food exports, which caused further increase in international market and many countries are subsiding on food items, that Mr. Nukaga thinks, could be a burden for the annual budget of the countries.

AFP reported:

"The recent hike in the price of rice will hit Asian countries particularly hard. The ones who are most affected are the poorest segment of the population including the urban poor," he said at a meeting of the Asian Development Bank.

"It will have a negative impact on the living standards and also affect their nutrition. Such a situation may lead to social untrust and unrest and therefore safety nets addressing the immediate needs of the poorest are needed," he added.

Price of daily food commodities has been doubled in the global market in three years and the situation is more intense in Asian market. In Asia, price of food staples has been tripled over the last one year. So, I agree with what Mr. Nukaga said at the ADB annual meeting that price hike could increase the social problems and would be a threat for social security. Asian countries should focus on increasing the domestic production of agricultural products, which would help the governments of the Asian countries keep the food price under control which is badly needed at this moment.