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Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate.

Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate. Initial causes of the late 2006 price rises included unseasonable droughts in grain producing nations and rising oil prices. Oil prices further heightened the costs of fertilizers, food transport, and industrial agriculture. Other causes of the food crisis may be the increasing use of biofuels in developed countries, and an increasing demand for a more varied diet, meat in particular, across the expanding middle-class populations of Asia. These factors, coupled with falling world food stockpiles have all contributed to the dramatic worldwide rise in food prices. Long-term causes of the food crisis remain a topic of debate. These may include structural changes in trade and agricultural production, agricultural price supports and subsidies in developed nations, diversions of food commodities to high input foods and fuel, commodity market speculation, and climate change.

136%, maize by 125% and soybeans by 107%. In late April 2008, rice prices hit 24

However, it is understood that many of the youth that are getting involved in drug trafficking are not staying in school

If the government can invest in schools and educate youth so they are equipped to even initiate social reform, then perhaps it could be not only another problem, but also a potential solution.

he reasons for the traffickers to desire Brazil as its transit country choice are quite clear: Brazil is so big, it is easy to elude pursuers, it has markets to the entire world, and it has consumers.