Jonathan Paye-Layleh has an AP story today describing the Liberian government’s new ban on exporting all food.
Most surprising to me was the fact that the price of a 50kg bag of rice in Liberia is currently $27. If I remember correctly, this is not much higher than the normal price. How is it that Liberia has not been affected by the hike in the price of rice when they import so much of it from Asia? Does anyone know if this number is accurate? It goes against other numbers I’ve heard.
My favorite quote in the article come from the new Minister of Commerce and Industry, Frances Johnson Morris, as she encourages Liberians to expand their diets away from the tradition staple of rice: “There are other products here – yams, cassava, plantains. Let’s eat them.” Along similar lines, I highly recommend Kate Thomas’ light-but-kind-of-depressing BBC article “Liberians drop rice for spaghetti.”
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