出版社：Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
摘要：The impact of high food prices is
obviously most severe for the poor
who rely on purchased food. For
the poor in developing countries, food can
account for at least 50 percent and up to
70–80 percent of their budget. Thus,
higher prices affect not only their food
consumption in terms of quantity and
quality, but also their spending in general.
The most visible indicator of this negative
impact was the social unrest and rioting
that erupted around the world triggered by
soaring food prices. The disturbances were
mostly concentrated in urban areas. These
are the areas where dependence on
imported food and exposure to
international food prices is probably
highest and consumers feel the brunt of the
impact of soaring food prices. However,
the rural poor are also affected even
though their connections to international
food markets might be weaker. The impact
of higher food prices on the poor depends
crucially on whether they are net food
sellers, in which case the impact could in
principle be positive, or net food buyers, in
which case the impact is unequivocally
negative. The evidence suggests that most
households in the developing world and
especially the poor are net buyers of food,
and this holds even for rural households
that are mostly engaged in agriculture.
Whether urban or rural, it is the poorest of
the poor who spend the largest share of
their income on food and who have no
access to assets such as land who suffer
most. Female-headed households figure
disproportionately on both counts, so the
negative impacts of high food prices also
have a gender dimension that needs to be
addressed in policy responses.
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