Global food security is at crossroads as rice shortages and surging prices hit the most vulnerable

Prices for rice grown in Kenya soared a while ago because of higher fertilizer prices and a yearslong drought in the Horn of Africa that has reduced production. Cheap rice imported from India had filled the gap, feeding many of the hundreds of thousands of residents in Nairobi's Kibera slum who survive on less than $2 a day. The price of a 25-kilogram (55-pound) bag of rice has risen by a fifth since June.