Same story half a world away

In late April, the Washington Post featured this story on food shortages in Mauritania - a country that like Haiti has become totally dependent on imports to meet their population's dietary needs. It provides some good background on why the global food trade does not match the hopeful expectations of free trade advocates who say it is possible to benefit everyone through an open global market. In response to the global food price increases, many net food exporting countries are raising export tariffs in order to make sure food is available at home while better-off food importing countries are buying up and hoarding what is available on the global market to ensure their local supply. This leaves the most poor and vulnerable net food-importing countries (e.g. Haiti) paying even more to import the food commodities it needs - if they can find them on the global market at all.