What does small-scale farming contribute to supplying food to agglomerations like Cairo or Manila?
The further they live from the major cities, the smaller the flow of goods. The current crisis shows just how much cities depend on the world market. When prices rise because of a lack of cheap subsidised products from industrialised nations, situations escalate. Many urban agglomerations hardly receive food from their hinterlands. Are rural areas feeling the impact of high food prices as much as the cities do? People in rural areas do not depend on imports to quite the same extent, but even so, their harvests are often insufficient for their own needs. Therefore, higher food prices will impact on the rural areas – but not in the same simultaneous and collective manner. That is why their plight attracts little media attention. What proportion of staple foods is traded internationally? That share varies a great deal. For instance, only a very small proportion of rice, perhaps seven percent, is traded internationally. The lion’s share is sold and consumed in the countries of origin. Whea
