SOURCE:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0018c87/newsnight-16062022?page=1
BBC Newsnight ran a piece a week ago on the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, which is effectively bankrupt. (13.30 minutes in).
While record energy prices and the pandemic have crippled the economy, the BBC makes a big play of rising food prices. Staple foods have quadrupled in price, and even carrots are regarded as a luxury.
All of this is put at Putin’s door. However, the BBC have failed to mention probably the key factor in food shortages, the government’s ban in April last year on imports of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides, in order to encourage organic farming.
The BBC itself reported on this last September, long before the war in Ukraine had any impact:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-58485674
A farm survey last revealed that farmers expected a fall in harvests of 47% as a result of the ban:
Such a drop in output will obviously lead to massive shortages of food, and rocketing inflation. On top of that, much of the affected output goes for export, such as tea and rubber. This, of course, has damaged Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves, which is root cause of the fuel shortages mentioned in the video.
In the BBC’s vision of the future, oil will be much dearer and in much shorter supply than now, and chemical fertilisers a thing of the past.
Funny Newsnight did not bother to mention that!
FOOTNOTE
The UN published this brief in March, which backs up the earlier reports:
Notice how prices suddenly shot up last September, long before the war in Ukraine.