关于粮食的英语作文：粮食问题.docVIP

关于粮食的英语作文：粮食问题 　　Most Americans take food for granted. Even the poorest fifth of households in the United States spend only 16 percent of their budget on food. In many other countries, it is less of a given. Nigerian families spend 73 percent of their budgets to eat, Vietnamese 65 percent, Indonesians half. They are in trouble. 　　Last year, the food import bill of developing countries rose by 25 percent as food prices rose to levels not seen in a generation. Corn doubled in price over the last two years. Wheat reached its highest price in 28 years. The increases are already sparking unrest from Haiti to Egypt. Many countries have imposed price controls on food or taxes on agricultural exports. 　　Last week, the president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, warned that 33 nations are at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food. For countries where food comprises from half to three-quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival, he said. 　　Prices are unlikely to drop soon. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says world cereal stocks this year will be the lowest since 1982. 　　The United States and other developed countries need to step up to the plate. The rise in food prices is partly because of uncontrollable forces including rising energy costs and the growth of the middle class in China and India. This has increased demand for animal protein, which requires large amounts of grain. 　　But the rich world is exacerbating these effects by supporting the production of biofuels. The International Monetary Fund estimates that corn ethanol production in the United States accounted for at least half the rise in world corn demand in each of the past three years. This elevated corn prices. Feed prices rose. So did prices of other crops mainly soybeans as farmers switched their fields to corn, according to the Agriculture Department. 　　Washington provides a subsidy of 51 cents a gallon to ethanol blenders and slaps a tariff of 54 cent