Food crisis translates to economic crisis

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, April 28 (UPI) -- A global food crisis is creating a paradox for African nations as wages fail to keep pace with rising costs and push people closer to famine, analysts say.

Supplies on the agricultural market can't keep pace with global demand, forcing many exporting countries to limit the amount of food they export.

The U.N. World Food Program said 30 countries worldwide face unrest due to the food crisis and 22 of those are in Africa, The Washington Post reported Monday.

WFP officials issued an international appeal for $755 million in food aid. Aid groups say they are falling behind in the available assistance, creating a spiraling crisis in the most effected nations, the Post said.

Economists said an integrated global market was supposed to put world prices in equilibrium and eliminate gaps in supply but economic protection of farms and prices in wealthy nations distorted market prices to the disadvantage of the poor nations.

Many African nations, such as Mauritania, funneled state revenue to industry in an effort to enter the world market, leaving the agriculture sector in disrepair.

But forced to move to autonomous food production, Mauritanian Prime Minister Zeine Ould Zeidane has put agriculture as "the government's No. 1 priority," the Post said.