The Food Crisis & Property Rights

By Richard Ivory

The international food crisis that is hitting nations around the world is partially due to a failure to clearly define property rights. In many nations like Zimbabwe the concept of property rights is foreign to the average citizen. Poorly defined property rights imposed by dictators keep small businesses from cultivating new crops for fear that when they become profitable they will be seized by the government. A perfect example of this is when Robert Mugabe evicted white farmers from the land they had previously owned and for years taken care of. In doing this Mugabe destroyed not only his nations agriculture but its entire economy.

The domino effect of these and other government interference policies show just how delicate supply side market economies can be.The failure of nations to inculcate property rights legislation into there constitutions has added much to the food crisis. Many government's in the developing nations like to control everything in there nation. The aid that comes to these nations mostly from the US is then used by them to remain in power. They use the aid as a means to pacify while controlling its people.

The United States must demand that nations that receive our aid have within their legal structure a clear concept of property rights. We must also encourage these nations to be independent of us while at the same time showing them the importance of property rights a tool for economic growth . By giving people financial incentives to grow there own crops and to sell them not just locally but internationally, these nations economies will in a short time turn around.

These nations own economies in turn will be what will feed there local populations. The need for foreign aid will be lessened and the workforce of these nations will expand. However the leaders of these nations must understand that hard work and the ingenuity of its people and small businesses is what feeds the world not government handout's.

Richard is a founder of the blog HipHopRepublican.com