"Looks like the impact is even greater than we imagined."
Hades looked at the newspaper in his hand.
In just two months, food prices had risen by an average of twenty percent.
It wasn't just rice. The price of every kind of food had gone up.
Rice was a staple, and the most important one.
People across the seas had begun stockpiling grain, worsening the shortage.
There was no shortage of opportunists on these seas. This was a disaster, but it could also be an opportunity.
Life would grow harder for ordinary people if it went on too long.
Over those two months, the World Government had also delivered some good news.
They had developed a special chemical that could dissolve Red Agent.
But the chemical alone could not eliminate it completely.
Red Agent had seeped into the soil and underground. Every contaminated field would have to be turned over.
Some Red Agent would inevitably remain, and crop yields might fall.
Turning over such vast stretches of farmland would be a massive undertaking.
This was no ordinary plowing. They would have to dig at least half a meter deep, spray the excavated soil with the special chemical to dissolve the Red Agent, then water and fertilize it.
The World Government did not have it as easy as NESTS, which had simply sprayed Red Agent from aircraft.
The work would take several months at a minimum.
It would also consume vast amounts of labor and resources, with no return.
Even so, the Affiliated Nations had to do it. They needed to mobilize large numbers of workers.
The sooner they finished, the sooner their kingdoms could return to Order.
Agriculture was their foundation.
Fast-growing crops were one thing, but fruit trees had suffered badly. They would take much longer to grow back.