Newly planted rice saplings have been underwater since July after torrential rain battered northern India, with landslides and flash floods sweeping through the region.
Last month, India, which is the world’s largest exporter of rice, announced a ban on exporting non-basmati white rice in a bid to calm rising prices at home and ensure food security. India then followed with more restrictions on its rice exports, including a 20% duty on exports of parboiled rice.
The move has triggered fears of global food inflation, hurt the livelihoods of some farmers and prompted several rice-dependent countries to seek urgent exemptions from the ban.
We really ought to be strengthening our supply networks. And it’s really frustrating that we’re not.
We already saw a glimpse of what can happen under covid lockdown. And that was a controlled shutdown. What happens if the supply chain breaks unexpectedly?
Not even that, producers and consumers need to stop being dependent on one crop.
Could probably just translate that to