[R-G] Inside USA: The politics of rice

[Anthony Fenton]

The politics of rice
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideusa/2008/07/2008767111386154.html
Seventy-five per cent of the rice eaten in Haiti is shipped from the US
This week Inside USA travels to Haiti to look at how the stories of  
politics, rice, and the United States are deeply interwoven.

Twenty years ago, Haiti produced enough rice to feed its population.  
Importing rice from other countries like the US was unheard of.

Today, the country of less than 10 million people is the third largest  
importer of US rice in the world – 75 per cent of the rice eaten in  
Haiti is shipped in from the US.

Great for farmers in places like Arkansas and Missouri but devastating  
for farmers in the Artibonite valley, which used to be Haiti's rice  
bowl.

And now that Haiti is utterly dependent on imported food, the entire  
country is vulnerable to the mood swings of the global market. So when  
the price of rice doubled in the last year, the majority of Haitians,  
who live in bitter poverty, got slammed.

In an election year, Americans are also facing skyrocketing food  
prices, while Congress just passed a farm bill that includes almost a  
billion dollars a year for rice farmers in the US.

On this week's Inside USA, we look at the politics of rice and the  
policies forged in Washington, felt in Haiti.

Watch part one of this episode of Inside USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRbPgqgmGbQ

Watch part two of this episode of Inside USA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnQSTlptUZ8

This episode of Inside USA aired from Friday, July 04, 2008