Water, food supply and impact its on food importing country.

As our own experience with the south west monsoon shows us, the weather is getting increasingly uncertain. There are floods and droughts in unexpected locations, at unexpected times. Climate shocks, particularly droughts which are becoming more frequent now and occurring in unlikely locations, have caused the most upheavals in global food supplies.

The American Midwest is the world’s greatest producer of maize and soybean. The drought of 1988/89 swept through the maize-soya belt of the US. This resulted in a loss of 12 % of global maize supply, which meant maize eating food importing countries had lesser maize to import at higher prices.

The widespread drought of 2002/03, hit wheat production in Russia, Europe, India and China, resulting in a 6% reduction  in global wheat supply. At the same time, the 2002/03 drought hit rice production in India , causing a decline of 4% in rice output. When there is a shortfall in global food stocks, the biggest casualties are food importing countries that are dependent on imported food.

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