Believe nothing

Thursday, 18 August 2011 06:14

‘The famine in the Horn of Africa is a result of artificially high prices for food and civil conflict than natural and environmental causes, a World Bank’s expert says.

“This crisis is manmade,” said lead economist for Kenya Wolfgang Fengler in a phone interview with Reuters on Tuesday. “Droughts have occurred over and again, but you need bad policymaking for that to lead to a famine.”

The price of maize, or corn, was significantly higher in east Africa than in the rest of the world due to controls on local food markets, he noted. “Maize is cheaper in the United States and in Germany than it is in eastern Africa.”’

Read more: ‘Horn of Africa Famine Manmade’