And, this isn’t a Conde Rice, Secretary of State, crisis.  This is a crisis of the availability of rice, the kind we eat.

For many people, U.S. citizens among them, rice has been a staple that was easily affordable and always available.  I first noticed two weeks ago at the market that an ordinary bag of rice that cost $ .99 a few weeks earlier had risen in price to $1.30.  That was quite a shock, but with a new rice cooker at home I purchased the bag.

Then, just last week, India the largest exporter of rice in the world put a ban on the exportation of rice.  Viet Nam, another major producer and exporter also banned the exportation of rice.  That leaves Thailand, the last remaining major rice exporter in the world.  That’s it.  The world is now dependent on Thailand for rice.  And, the price is soaring!

At first I thought there had been some great rice crop failure that had gone unnoticed.  But, now I know better.  Rice is being grown at the same rate as in years past, but with the spiraling costs of food world wide, rice has reached a new status.  In India with the demand for rice rising, the nation decided to ban the sale to other countries, as did Viet Nam.  In those countries, the effort is on to stockpile the commodity to feed their own citizens.

That leaves Thailand.  It is reported that Thailand on average exports 800,000 tons of rice a month.  The exports have grown in just the past month or so to over a million tons of rice per month.  Thai farmers say they cannot maintain the production.  So, the price is going up.  It’s supply and demand.  And, for now Thailand is the only supplier.

Recent video footage shows Thai farmers walking beside huge machinery as the rice is being harvested.  The farmers carry guns to prevent theft of the crop’s harvest. 

What has this done to the rest of the world?  Aside from the price of a small bag of rice going up thirty-one cents in the last month, those in third world countries who are dependent on rice as a meal staple are finding themselves with diminishing food supplies.  In some countries school age children as no longer being fed rice by relief organizations.  In essence, there is a shortage of world food supplies.  The countries that can produce some of the basic food products, fearing the escalating prices of food world wide, are stockpiling their crops to feed their people.  The rest of the world is forced to pay higher prices or do without.

Okay, so I can do without rice.  I can eat potatoes.  But, how long will it be before the price of potatoes soars?  Are you getting the picture?  And, think about this.  If we have a bad growing season in any part of the world due to drought or flooding or any other act of God, we could very well be facing a crisis far worse that the cost of a bag of rice going up by 30% in two weeks.