Brown rice from Pakistan

unrich

What do the panel think please?

As an ethical consumer should I not be buying organic brown rice from Pakistan because of the poor and starving and because of the world rice shortages and increased costs for the poorest who may not be able to afford this staple. Get back on the potatoes.

OR

I should keep eating it (moderately) providing hard currency to Pakistan and encouraging a world trade and organic sustainable farming practices.

mute_posting

The way I see it - the latter statement is better

geordie_joe

I would lean towards statement one. The hard currency you provide to pakistan in statement two will not go to the people who are starving.

Voyager2002

And I would lean towards statement two. Stocks of unsold rice within Pakistan are not going to be available to the hungry (India ALWAYS has vast stockpiles of rice in government warehouses, and no-one has found a way to get them to the poor without ruining the market and destroying the livelihoods of farmers). OTOH rice production provides employment to many poor people who have no other livelihood options, and rice exports provide pressure to increase the wages of these people.

welf_man

Better to eat locally-produced food because of the transportation issues, I'd have thought.

Mel.

Quasar

welf_man wrote: »

Better to eat locally-produced food because of the transportation issues, I'd have thought.

Mel.

It takes a particular climate for rice-growing, and the closest (ie. European) countries to the UK that produce rice are the following:

Bulgaria, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Spain and Ukraine.

I often find Italian organic wholegrain rice in some supermarkets. France and Italy are the closest to the Uk and therefore transportation costs (and fuel use) are the least.

SusanC_2

I'd say don't buy it. What use is the money if they die of starvation because we've been sold their rice because we could afford to pay a higher price for it? And anyway the money will not go to those in need. Look at the Gaels. They were dying of starvation during the potato famine even though there was enough wheat to feed them because it was exported to England where it could be sold for a higher price by the land owners.