Culture Blog #3

The article I read is about a small, poor country called Senegal, where people were trying to grow more rice for themselves. After a year of high prices for grains, including rice, the farmers felt that they would like to try to grow  a higher percentage of their countries' needs and cash in on those prices. An old government project, from the 1970's. had developed land and irrigation canals surrounding a river. The project was abandoned, but now that farmers have the opportunity to make money, the government tried to restart the program. Farmers were trying to make a profit, but could potentially lose everything if the world price for rice drops as a cause of overproduction. This is a classic example of supply and demand and how a culture deals with it. Many different places around the world deal with local problems in different ways, and this is one example of what could be a successful feat for a country.

Polgreen, Lydia. "West Africa Villagers Stake Their Fortunes on the Future Price of Rice." The New York Times. 26 Jan 2009. 7 Feb 2009. .