The majority of weather forecasting models indicate that an El Nino weather pattern that can bring drought to India, Southeast Asia, and Australia is to develop mid-2014 according to the UN weather agency. After experiencing social unrest in the past because of high food prices caused by El Nino, Asian governments are taking precautionary actions. Indonesia’s government is distributing calendars to farmers scheduling early planting dates, Malaysia and the Philippines are working to manage water supplies and have begun cloud seeding, and India is stockpiling food. Drought in 2007 due to an El Nino caused the price of rice in 2008 to increase 300% to over $1,000 per ton that sparked riots in countries from Egypt to Cameroon, to Haiti. Then in 2009, the last El Nino caused the worst drought in India in forty years. Historically Malaysia and the Philippines have been the worst affected countries and drought conditions have already hit northern Philippines with dams reaching critical levels. On a positive note, global food stockpiles are higher today than they were in 2009 which should help mitigate any severe price fluctuations. Rice stockpiles across India, China, and Thailand have increased 15 million tons since 2009 to reach 109 million tons. To read further:
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