Food crises escalate empirically

Food crises are a recurring issue that impacts a significant number of impoverished families in developing countries and they often lack access to sufficient public assistance. This study focused on Latin America, a region that presented waves of food riots during and after such crises. Our primary concern was with the well-being of the rural poor, who face additional obstacles due to their geographical distance from centers of political power and comparatively limited support systems within their respective countries.

The empirical analyses conducted for Latin America largely supported our initial hypotheses. Furthermore, some of the results regarding the explanation of statistical models based on the data for the Latin American region were confirmed in models for countries worldwide. For instance, the association of food riots with (1) employment in agriculture; (2) political polarization; and (3) inequality were consistent. On the other hand, another set of variables including (1) land grab area; (2) tenure security; (3) arable land; (4) urbanization; and (5) hybrid regimes demonstrated statistical significance exclusively for the Latin American region, with its unique characteristics. This, in itself, validates the focus of this research on Latin American countries.

However, further research is necessary to gather additional data and delve deeper into this investigation. Preliminarily, we can conclude that factors such as inequality, hybrid political regimes, rising food prices that hinder proper nutrition, widespread land grabbing, tenure insecurity, high agricultural unemployment, and political polarization contribute to increased participation in food riots, and when confronted by repressive state forces, they often escalate into violence within Latin America and the world, in general.