Newly planted rice saplings have been underwater since July after torrential rain battered northern India, with landslides and flash floods sweeping through the region.
Last month, India, which is the world’s largest exporter of rice, announced a ban on exporting non-basmati white rice in a bid to calm rising prices at home and ensure food security. India then followed with more restrictions on its rice exports, including a 20% duty on exports of parboiled rice.
The move has triggered fears of global food inflation, hurt the livelihoods of some farmers and prompted several rice-dependent countries to seek urgent exemptions from the ban.
The comparison is more apt than appears at first glance. The debates continue, but attacks by the Sea Peoples, or war, is only one of the hypothesized contributers to the collapse. Others include: a pandemic, environmental shifts caused by a volcanic eruption, and drought.