The inflation in food prices of the early 1970s that arose out of excess demand for cereals disappeared in later years not because of any significant supply augmentation, but because it was substituted by an income deflation on the working people, including the peasantry, over large tracts of the world. This income deflation, brought about by the imposition of neoliberal policies, compressed demand and kept food and other commodity prices in check. But over the longer term, income deflation has undermined the very viability of peasant agriculture, adversely affecting supply. All this is part of the process of "accumulation through encroachment' which had been a central feature of colonialism and has re-emerged with a vengeance in the era of globalisation.