Political uncertainties, such as wars and civil strife, droughts and floods, and economic conditions can contribute and increase the problem of food insecurity in countries. The prices for major agriculture commodities obviously play an important role in the prices consumers pay for their foods. The world market prices for those commodities are often subject to large fluctuations depending on the harvests in the countries that are the main producers. For example, according to the United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organization's cereals price index, prices for cereals dropped dramatically in the last three years from highs in 1996 to record lows in 1999. This was due to several reasons, such as lower demand from Asian countries facing an economic crisis and large supplies due to good harvests in the U.S. and other countries.
Price levels are a two-sided story.
While farmers are concerned with lower prices of agricultural commodities, consumers should be the beneficiaries of dropping prices. However, agricultural markets in most countries are highly protective, and world market prices do not necessarily dictate what consumers are being charged for their food. Price support systems, artificially high prices, and subsidies cost consumers and taxpayers huge amounts of money every year. For example, according to a recent article in The Economist, OECD calculations estimate that consumers in industrial countries would pay about a third less for their food without those support programs. In other parts of the world, paying those amounts of money to support farmers is unthinkable.