Saturday, April 19, 2008

Price Rise of Rice

This has been the talk of the town in the recent weeks.

Yes, shared by someone interviewed (think sometime a week ago) - he said he didn't really feel the pinch because, first, he did not buy (raw) rice - he only bought cooked rice from food stalls! and of course, his main staple is pasta and noodles! hahaha... so, not much of the impact!

That reminded me the very first time I bought my first package of rice was only when at Bhutan! I was amazed by the range available in the provision shop - came with different price tag. Well, being prepared to spend, and bearing in mind what mum always bought, I opted for the most expensive one available in the shop - Fragrance Rice from Thailand! In fact, I thought, the best quality comes from Thailand and so it won't go wrong :D What happened next... I bought a 1-kg pack and I still had more than half a pack left after 11 months! hahaha.. It's not that the rice is not fragrant... but found another side of myself, I prefer noodles! So, in my case, I would not be sensitive to the rising cost and certainly, not much impact to my pocket, too.

On the other hand, why is there a sudden surge in the cost? The root(s) to the problem? Simply put it across - Climate change? (This cross my mind because that's what in the talk nowadays) Population growth (Demand greater than supply)? Unfair dealings???? Yeap, on the 3rd point, are farmers fairly paid for what they harvest? I wonder... While in Paro, saw the hardwork put in by people from the start to harvesting... and they only earn that little... do they have enough for themselves for survival or are they paid enough for a living? The farmers are not rich. Why? I sometimes wonder. So, it's the 'middleman' to blame? I wonder...

Here's another article in today's paper (Straits Times, 19 April) - "Poor hardest hit by food crisis". The article started with this
  • "Let them eat cake" was how Marie Antoinette, France's queen during the late 18th century, was alleged to have reacted to news that her subjects could not afford to buy bread

This reminded me of our peanut story by Mrs Goh... I think, it's really about empathy; knowing the ground and feeling it. Really. When one is ignorant, one could not even imagine, because one does not know what to imagine! It's as good as we quite often say, the most scary part is we don't even know what we don't know! What struck me is the photo of 2 children picking up the grains of cooked rice, putting them in their mouths so gingerly and the appreciative and satisfactory look on their faces - yes, they felt so lucky (isn't it?). Our children here could not imagine that! Go to the foodcourt, look at what's leftover on the plates... Yes, do not waste. Just buy enough and finish it! It's a value that all of us should have with us, and practise it!

On the same day, another heartening news was CJC collected rice for the UNIFEM. It's an act to contribute to the society. Applause!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Haha... It's funny, 'cos I like noodles too. :) I was given a big bag of red rice when I first got here. I think I'm barely halfway through the bag after 6 months.

Talk about contributing, here's a small way we can do online. Ripple.org gives 100% of their click-ad revenue to charity. I put their buttons on my site as well... every click counts.