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Sunday, March 21, 2010

Famines in diverse places…The coming food crisis


2012: End of the World Pt. 5 / Famines in diverse places…The coming food crisis.

This is part 5 in a series of continuing updates on the countdown to 2012 not because of some Mayan prophecies but because of extensive Biblical prophecies that provide great detail about the events that would precede the ‘end of the world’ as defined in previous articles on this subject – “Biblically speaking ‘The World’ is the system that dictates life on Earth, so ‘THE END OF THE WORLD’ is literally a disintegration of all present world systems particularly those of Economics, Politics, and Religion”… According to the New Testament book of Matthew, chapter 24, verses 6 and 7, the major signs of the end of the world can be divided into the following four categories. In order not to draw conclusions for the mere sake of sensationalistic reporting, it is important to keep in mind that all of these signs must occur in relatively quick succession and be of increasing magnitude, severe enough to cause loss of life in the millions if not higher.
Matthew 24 v 6: And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. v7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
·         Wars and rumors of wars on a global scale
·         Famines in diverse places
·         Pestilences in diverse places
·         Earthquakes in diverse places
As a result of these catastrophes there will be worldwide economic turmoil, although ‘turmoil’ in this context maybe too mild an adjective. This article is focused on the food crisis that is currently brewing and may explode on to the global scene while the world is being kept distracted by political non – events like Obama healthcare. Any war that a US President seems to have started since the end of WWII seems to be a losing cause, and I don’t mean just wars fought on the battlefield with guns and bullets. Various Presidents from Johnson to Nixon to Carter to Reagan to Bush to Clinton to Bush II to Obama have declared war on (a) Illiteracy, (b) Poverty, (c) Drugs, (d) Cancer, (Terror), (e) Healthcare and maybe more. None of these wars have been won nor are they expected to be won; all they have done is to create bigger bureaucracies that siphon off more funds in the form of higher taxes out of citizen’s already tightly stretched budgets. So as Mr. Obama pretends to heal all Americans, expect more sick Yanks than ever before. These things too are a sign of the times for those who know how to read the signs. For this report, however our topic is the potential food crisis that may have catastrophic effects on the two most populated countries in the world, India and China. The following news reports though far from detailed yet allow us a glimpse of news that is not considered newsworthy by the western media. I suppose the Olympics are worthy of 24/7 coverage as are the private lives of ___________. On with the report...
Droughts in India
India with its 1.3 billion mouths to feed is facing an unprecedented food crisis while the western media keep harping on about India’s economic miracle that is more of a mirage than a miracle. These stories confirm that most food; even basic necessities are being priced out of the reach of India’s 1 billion poor that are the most perennially undernourished people in the world. It is not at all reported in western media but if it were not for major subsidizing in the prices of food staples, petrol, and fuel such as kerosene by the National and State governments, millions of people in India would starve to death. I recently spent some time in the large Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu where the State government subsidizes the price of rice for a majority of the citizens of the state. They offer rice for 1 rupee per kilo while the open market price is upwards of 30 rupees per kilo and rising higher. 1 US dollar = roughly 40 Indian rupees.
Food prices push Indian inflation up to 9.9 pct: “That's been driven by spiralling food prices due to drought and rising rural incomes, but it has begun to spill over into non-food areas as India's economy picks up and global commodities prices rise, putting pressure on margins of manufacturers.” Food inflation for February was 17.8 percent, up from 17.4 percent in January, the Ministry of Commerce said. Fuel and power inflation was 10.2 percent in February, up from 6.9 in January. Inflation in manufacturing was 7.4 percent, up from 6.6 in January.
Drought in India worries Philippines: MANILA (Commodity Online): Lower food grains production in India due to the drought is a big concern of Philippines, the largest rice importer of the world, as the country feared a spike in the global food prices. Philippines Economic Planning Undersecretary Dennis Arroyo said that the global food prices are expected to spurt further due to the big drought in India, which affected half of the country.
Droughts in USA
 According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), nearly eight percent of the U.S. (including Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico) was experiencing moderate to severe drought as of March 16th. Drought afflicted 60 percent of Hawaii's land cover, with the northern portion of the Big Island moving into exceptional drought—the highest category as defined by the USDM—at the beginning of the month for the first time since the inception of the USDM in 1999. According to NOAA's Climate Prediction Center, the El Niño phenomenon—anomalously warm ocean waters in the equatorial Pacific—is responsible for the continuing dry conditions over Hawaii.
As of mid-March, moderate to severe drought persisted in the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, southern Sichuan, and northwestern Guangxi in South China. Since fall 2009, drought conditions have affected 10 million acres (more than 4 million hectares) of farmland in southwest China, according to China's ministry of agriculture (Source: Beijing Climate Center; Commodity Online).
Drought spreading across China / 2010-03-20 13:58 BJT / Severe drought is continuing to plague southwest China, and is spreading to other parts of the country. These are the worst conditions the region has ever seen in a century. The government is calling on people to use water sparingly. The drought has affected about 6.5 million hectares of farmland around the country. More than 20 million people and 12 million head of livestock are short of drinking water. This drought in China is probably more severe than is being reported; the Chinese Premier himself took a trip out to the region to ‘comfort’ those effected by the calamity. As I reported in a previous article titled ‘Playing God with the Weather’, China has a history of weather modification such as clearing the skies over Beijing for the Olympics or making snow just this past winter. So why are they not making it rain to help these poor famers, make you wonder!
Droughts in Western Africa
Aid Group: Severe Food Shortage Threatens Millions in West Africa: 18 March 2010 / “Oxfam says 10 million people across the Sahel region in West Africa, particularly in Niger and Chad, are facing severe food shortages. Oxfam is urging developed countries to take rapid action in the face of what it called an "unfolding disaster" in the Sahel, namely severe food shortages in coming months caused by irregular rains in 2009. The international aid agency warned that eight million people are at risk in Niger and two million in Chad.  Oxfam said the looming food shortage also threatens a substantial number of people in Mali, as well as those in parts of Burkina Faso and Nigeria.
The Potential 2010 – 2011 Food Crisis that maybe catastrophic by 2012
This story was reported on in one of my previous entries but is worth repeating.
The 2010 Food Crisis Means Financial Armageddon / “Over the last two years, the world has faced a series of unprecedented financial crises: the collapse of the housing market, the freezing of the credit markets, the failure of Wall Street brokerage firms (Bear Stearns/Lehman Brothers), the failure of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the failure of AIG, Iceland’s economic collapse, the bankruptcy of the major auto manufacturers (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler), etc… In the face of all these challenges, the demise of the dollar, derivative markets, and the modern international system of credit has been repeatedly forecasted and feared. However, all these doomsday scenarios have so far been proved false, and, despite tremendous chaos and losses, the global financial system has held together.

The 2010 Food Crisis is different. It is THE CRISIS. The one that makes all doomsday scenarios come true. The government bailouts and central bank interventions, which have held the financial world together during the last two years, will be powerless to prevent the 2010 Food Crisis from bringing the global financial system to its knees”…click on the above link to read full story.
In conclusion this series will continue bringing readers the signs of gathering storm clouds; it is best to prepare for a storm before it hits. Things such as food shortages, especially in western countries seem like a remote possibility but if history teaches us anything, it teaches us to expect the unexpected and to be prepared for the worst in the best of times. The whole world rallied to help Haiti when the big quake hit there. However there has not been much in the news anymore about the Chile quake that struck a few weeks later. If such catastrophes do start befalling the world in quick succession, then it is a safe bet that there will be no help coming from any corner. Except from Him who foretold of all these things two thousand years ago; Jesus Christ is His name and all these are a sign, as much of His coming to claim what is rightfully His as they are of the end of the world.  

1 comment:

  1. The March 29 Wall Street Journal had an article regarding a pending locust outbreak throughout the Western States destroying crops and livestock feed. This could be the tipping point for mass famine.

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