May 5th, 2007
If corn prices rice any further, hundreds of thousands of Guatemalan laborers may find themselves hungry and desperate, according to this article from Reuters. Corn is Guatamela's national food staple but with world prices going up to a 10-year high and with huge demand for ethanol, the country is nearing critical economic levels because of a crop-plague in its corn growing areas which will result in a very low crop year.
The effect of a further corn price increase will mean disaster. According to Ian Cherret of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization:
"The increase in the price of maize has left this sector of the population much more vulnerable than they were before … and weather affecting crops is increasingly unpredictable due to climate change. You put the two elements together and you begin to have a killer."
Is ethanol partly to blame? Can we be saving the planet and yet killing our fellowmen in the process? What is Guatemala to do?