[Letter to the editor]Food crisis looming

Consumers are worried about rising inflation as flour prices soared recently. Now we are getting familiar with the newly coined term agflation, a combination of agriculture [which refers to escalating food prices] and inflation. As grains and agricultural exports are increasingly used for the production of bio-energy, grain prices for food have skyrocketed due to a decreased supply in the market. This is a side effect of global efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuel, which is fingered as the main culprit in global warming.
Korea is approaching a food security crisis as the country can provide only 5 percent of its staple food needs, except for rice. The central government has to recognize the seriousness of the food security problem and come up with proper measures to provide for the imminent crisis.
Park Ung, Busan