Flooding of Yellow River in Shangluo, Shaanxi Province on August 6. (Weibo photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping’s call for an end to food waste is a sign that the communist country is facing a shortage of grains and pork after months of flooding, insect infestations, the African swine fever (ASF), and the impact of the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).

According to China’s state-run media mouthpiece Xinhua, Xi called for an end to food waste, describing the problem as “shocking and distressing.” In a quote of Xi posted by state-owned TV channel CGTN, he does not directly acknowledge a shortfall in food production but describes the coronavirus outbreak as a warning sign: “Though China has reaped a bumper grain harvest for years, it is still necessary to have the awareness of a food security crisis. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic this year has sounded the alarm for us.”

This is the second time that Xi has given instructions on China’s grains within a month, raising eyebrows among China watchers as a sign of a possible food crisis. On July 22, Xi toured cornfields in Jilin Province and cryptically said: “The more risks and challenges we face, the more we need to stabilize agriculture and ensure the safety of grain and major non-staple foods,” reported Beijing Review.

On Wednesday (Aug. 12), the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration announced that its purchases of wheat had dropped by nearly 10 million tons from the previous year. According to the government agency, as of Aug. 5, its purchases of wheat reached 42.86 million tons, a year-on-year drop of 9.38 million tons.

Its purchases of rapeseed reached 706,000 tons, a drop of 51,000 tons over the same period last year. Despite the massive floods of rice fields, purchases of rice reached 2.64 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 126,000 tons.

Meanwhile, food prices in China climbed by about 10 percent in July over the same period last year, while pork prices skyrocketed by 86 percent, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The latter can be attributed to the loss of 180 million pigs, or 40 percent of the national herd, to ASF last year and reports of fresh outbreaks this year following the floods.

The flooding, which started in early June, is continuing in the Yangtze River, Huai River, and Yellow River basins, which are all important grain-producing regions. A total of 27 Chinese provinces have been hit by flooding so far this year, inflicting over 144.4 billion Chinese yuan in property damages.

Another serious problem that threatens China’s food supply is insect infestations. The fall armyworm (FAW), which feasts on corn, has been detected in all but five of China’s provinces, pushing corn prices to five-year highs, despite the release of 1.4 billion bushels of corn from the country’s reserves, reported Forbes.

Another major threat to China’s crops are hordes of locusts which have munched their way across Asia. On July 31, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs ordered the spraying of pesticide and deployment of drones to fight off the crop-chomping insects, which it reported had damaged about 90 square kilometers of cropland over the past month in regions of Yunan Province that border Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam.

Source: https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3986625

The post China facing food shortage after months of flooding, infestations first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post North Korea Food Crisis: More than 10M people suffer from food shortages first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

The post North Korea Food Crisis: More than 10M people suffer from food shortages first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

A man sits on a bench in pitch dark, during a power cut in Caracas.Foto: Cristian Hernández / AFP

Walking for hours, making oil lamps, bearing water. For Venezuelans today, suffering under a new nationwide black-out that has lasted days, it’s like being thrown back to life centuries ago.

El Ávila, a mountain that towers over Caracas, has become a place where families gather with buckets and jugs to fill up with water, wash dishes and scrub clothes. The taps in their homes are dry from lack of electricity to the city’s water pumps.

“We’re forced to get water from sources that obviously aren’t completely hygienic. But it’s enough for washing or doing the dishes,” said one resident, Manuel Almeida.

Because of the long lines of people, the activity can take hours of waiting.

Elsewhere, locals make use of cracked water pipes. But they still need to boil the water, or otherwise purify it.

“We’re going to bed without washing ourselves,” said one man, Pedro Jose, a 30-year-old living in a poorer neighbourhood in the west of the capital.

Some shops seeing an opportunity have hiked the prices of bottles of water and bags of ice to between US$3 and US$5 – a fortune in a country where the monthly minimum salary is the equivalent of US$5.50.

Better-off Venezuelans, those with access to US dollars, have rushed to fill hotels that have giant generators and working restaurants.

For others, preserving fresh food is a challenge. Finding it is even more difficult. The blackout has forced most shops to close.

“We share food” among family members and friends, explained Coral Muñoz, 61, who counts herself lucky to have dollars.

“You have to keep a level head to put up with all this, and try to have people around because being alone make it even harder.”

Scouring trash

For Kelvin Donaire, who lives in the poor Petare district, survival is complicated. He walks for more than an hour to the bakery where he works in the upmarket Los Palos Grandes area.

“At least I’m able to take a loaf back home,” Donaire said.

Many inhabitants have taken to salting meat to preserve it without working refrigerators.

Others, more desperate, scour trash cans for food scraps. They are hurt most by having to live in a country where basic food and medicine has become scarce and out of reach because of rocketing hyperinflation.

The latest blackout this week also knocked out communications.

According to NetBlocks, an organisation monitoring telecoms networks, 85 percent of Venezuela has lost connection.

‘People need to eat’

In stores, cash registers no longer work and electronic payment terminals are blanked out. That’s serious in Venezuela, where even bread is bought by card because of lack of cash. Some clients, trusted ones, are able to leave written IOUs.

“People need to eat. We let them take food and they will pay us when bank transfers come back,” explained shop owner Carlos Folache.

Underneath an office block of Digitel, one of the main mobile phone companies, dozens of people stand around trying to get a signal.

“I’m trying to get connected to get news… on this chaotic episode we’re going through,” said one man, Douglas Pérez.

With Caracas’s subway shut down, getting around the city is a trail, with choices between walking for miles, lining up in the outsized hope of getting on one of the rare and badly overcrowded and dilapidated buses or managing to get fuel for a vehicle.

Pedro José said bus tickets have nearly doubled in price. “A ticket used to cost 100 bolivares (around three US cents) and now it’s 1,500 (45 cents),” he raged.

As night casts Caracas into darkness, families light their homes as best they can.

“We make lamps that burn gasoline, or oil, or kerosene — any type of fuel,” explained Lizbeth Morin, 30.

Source:  http://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/weve-returned-to-the-middle-ages-life-in-venezuelas-black-out.phtml

The post ‘We’ve returned to the Middle Ages’ – life in Venezuela’s blackout first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.