World Food & Hunger

The G8 and Land Grabs in Africa

▻http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger/52346-the-g8-and-land-grabs-in-africa.html?itemid=id#1292

The G8, several African governments and transnational corporations such as Cargill came together in 2012 to form the “New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition”. Cooperation framework, an agreement that forms part of the New Alliance, binds the African governments involved to reform land laws to facilitate foreign investment. As part of the agreement, foreign companies promise to invest heavily in agricultural expansion and development. At the beginning of this year, the government of Cote D’ivoire leased the grain trader Louis Dreyfus 100,000-200,000 hectares of land for rice production. These steps are the G8’s response to the global food crisis. However, these dealings force thousands of local communities and farmers off their land; undermine local food markets and lead to the destruction of livelihoods and the deepening of food insecurity. There are no policy obligations in the New Alliance to ensure the protection of peasants’ and farmers’ human rights or land rights. Instead, the group suggests voluntary guidelines for governments to monitor private investment. The UK presidency of the G8 meeting in June 2013 is citing food security as its top priority and will encourage transparency in foreign land deals. However, the guidelines will not be made compulsory and corporations will only be required to reveal basic information surrounding land acquisitions.

#faim #alimentation

#Quinoa: To Buy or Not To Buy…Is This The Right Question?
▻http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/hunger-and-the-globalized-system-of-trade-and-food-production-/52295-quinoa-to-buy-or-not-to-buyis-this-the-right-question-.html?item

The UN has designated 2013 as the International Year of Quinoa and has high hopes for its role in the fight against world hunger. The crop is becoming increasingly popular, with health enthusiasts heralding it as a “super-food”; however, the question surrounding this popularity’s impact on quinoa growers in the Andes is also topical, and contentious. Critics claim that the mounting demand for the super-grain increases its price and makes it inaccessible to poor Bolivians who rely heavily on it for nutrients. Others, including the UN, argue that the farmers are benefiting economically from the high demand for the crop. In either case, the responsibility is placed on the consumer: to boycott its sale or to increase it. This article argues that it is not consumer habits that are affecting the lives of the farmers; it is rather the system behind production that really calls for change. Cheap US wheat products saturate the Bolivian market, undermining the local food market and making it difficult for local farmers to compete. Furthermore, the farming of the crop is having harmful effects on the land and ecosystems as the government pushes for the mechanization of the production system.

#agriculture #paysannerie #agrobusiness

Cameroon: Campaigners Oppose Industrial Palm Oil Plantation

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger/52157-cameroon-campaigners-oppose-industrial-palm-oil-plantation.html?

Up to 45, 000 people are at risk of losing their livelihoods if a large palm oil plantation project in southwestern Cameroon will proceed. SG Sustainble Oils Cameroon (SGSOC), a subsidiary of Herakles Farms, is overseeing the project after signing an agreement with the Cameroonian government in 2009. SGSOC still lacks presidential approval so the project has been unlawful since 2010. Campaigners argue that the environmental and socioeconomic gains from preserving the rainforest outweigh the promised benefits of the plantation. In addition, the working conditions and salaries at SGSOC’s plantation are deplorable and an investigation by Greenpeace and the Oakland Institute noted human rights violations. Opinion among the local population is divided because of the job opportunities that SGSOC is promising to provide.

Farmlandgrab
December 14, 2012

GM Maize in Mexico: An Irreversible Path

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/agribusiness-companies/52161-gm-maize-in-mexico-an-irreversible-path.html?itemid=id#1421

The Mexican government is about to approve the large-scale release of genetically modified maize for commercial production. Agribusiness giants Monsanto, DuPont, Dow and others have requested the government to plant 2.4 million hectares of genetically engineered maize. This decision would have an irreversible impact on Mexican maize, and is a threat to food security in Mexico and globally. It will be impossible to maintain maize diversity when large corporations privatize and control the maize seed market. The Mexican Unión de Científicos Comprometidos con la Sociedad (UCCS), GRAIN and other international organizations have put together a report urging the Mexican government to change track and protect the diversity of maize.

GRAIN
November 23, 2012

Read or download the report here :
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/images/pdfs/GRAIN_Mexico.pdf

Globally Almost 870 Million Chronically Undernourished - New Hunger Report

Laissez les donc crever de faim. SOFI 2012 est sorti.

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/general-analysis-on-hunger/51970-globally-almost-870-million-chronically-undernourished-new-hunge

Globally Almost 870 Million Chronically Undernourished - New Hunger Report

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2012 states that almost 870 million people are “chronically undernourished” – a new benchmark which may lower previous estimates. While the report indicates that the global number of hungry has declined over the past decades and that the Millennium Development Goal target is “within reach”, this global progress has slowed down over the recent years. The report notes in particular that the world economy after the recent financial crisis remains fragile, and continues to affect food insecurity and malnutrition. The report underlines that agricultural growth involving smallholders, especially women, will be most effective in reducing hunger. You can read the report here.

#faim #alimentation #famine #agriculture

Stanford Researchers Show Oil Palm Plantations Are Clearing Carbon-rich Tropical Forests in Borneo

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/hunger-and-the-globalized-system-of-trade-and-food-production-/51975-stanford-researchers-show-oil-palm-plantations-are-clearing-carb

Rob Jordan
Farmland Grab
October 8, 2012

Stanford Researchers Show Oil Palm Plantations Are Clearing Carbon-rich Tropical Forests in Borneo

A new study by Stanford University researchers shows that the expanding production of palm oil is destroying tropical rainforests in Borneo and significantly increasing carbon dioxide emissions. Indonesia is the leading producer of palm oil and home to the world’s third largest tropical forest area. Due to rapid loss of these forests, Indonesia is one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gases. Despite the fact that about 16, 000 square kilometers of forested lands has been cleared for plantations, accurate information about these plantations is not readily available for public review or oversight. Most residents in this area are unaware of these developments, which have dramatic effects on their livelihoods and environment.

#forêt #palm-oil #land-grabbing

Land Acquired Over Past Decade Could Have Produced Food for a Billion People

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger/51963-land-acquired-over-past-decade-could-have-produced-food-for-a-bi

Land Acquired Over Past Decade Could Have Produced Food for a Billion People

John Vidal
Guardian
October 3, 2012

Oxfam calls on the World Bank to stop backing foreign investors who acquire land for biofuels. Oxfam’s analysis of land deals shows that international land investors and biofuel producers have taken over land around the world that could feed nearly 1 billion people. More than 60% of these export-oriented investments in agricultural land by foreign investors were in developing countries with serious hunger problems. A study by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) estimated that about 30% of World Bank’s projects in international land deals involved involuntary resettlement. Oxfam has urged the UK government to use its influence as one of World Bank’s largest shareholders to persuade the World Bank to freeze its involvement in these land deals. You can read Oxfam’s report here.

#faim #agriculture #alimentation #land-grabbing

Designing Food Systems to Protect Nature and Get Rid of Hunger

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/hunger-and-the-globalized-system-of-trade-and-food-production-/51889-designing-food-systems-to-protect-nature-and-get-rid-of-hunger.h

By Vandana Shiva
Al Jazeera
September 9, 2012

Industrial production of food has created a severe ecological and social crisis, and in order to ensure the supply of healthy food, we must move towards agro-ecological and sustainable systems of food production. Vandana Shiva’s article points out that the agrarian crisis, the food crisis and the nutrition and health crisis are intimately connected and need to be addressed together. Industrial agriculture, sold as the “Green Revolution” to developing countries, is a chemical intensive, capital intensive, fossil fuel intensive system that destroys biodiversity. The most effective strategy to address hunger and malnutrition is through biodiverse organic farming that enriches the soil and provides more nutritious food.

Industrialisation of agriculture creates hunger and malnutrition, destroying the food web to which we all belong.

Hunger and malnutrition is manmade. It is in the design of the industrial chemical model of agriculture. And just as hunger has been created by design, producing healthy and nutritious food for all can be designed through food democracy.

#agriculture #faim #famine #alimentation #vandana-shiva #nutrition

Wall Street’s Africa Land Grab
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger/51842-wall-streets-africa-land-grab.html?itemid=id#1292

Wall Street’s Land Grab in Africa reveals how the financial system endemically thrives off of inequality. With global population growth, rise of middle class diets, and a decrease in crop yields connected to climate change, Wall Street translates yet another case of scarce resources into massive profits. Once international investors have reaped the benefits of cheap land deals and large scale industrial farming, the local population is left to bear the environmental and human costs. In other words, the same financial firms that drove the world into a global recession through risky financial practices are now doing the same with the world’s food supply. The article argues that the only way to minimize the damage is to cut down the size of banks.

#terres #Afrique

Must the Poor Go Hungry Just so the Rich Can Drive?
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/general-analysis-on-hunger/51830-must-the-poor-go-hungry-just-so-the-rich-can-drive-.html?itemid=

On the closing day of the Olympics, UK Prime Minister David Cameron hosted the “Global Hunger and Nutrition summit” to promote what George Monbiot sees as a corporate and paternalistic approach to overseas aid. The summit failed to address Western countries’ demand for biofuels, which is causing a global land grab and worsening food price increases brought about by the recent drought. Biofuel policies of Western governments perpetuate an unjust system in which the richest population over-consumes at the expense of the poorest population’s survival. Rather than focusing on charity, Western governments should adopt policies that ease the burden of rising food prices on the world’s poorest.

#agrocarburant #alimentation #transport

Alimentation Agriculture Faim

Du grain pour la bouffe, pas pour le carburant

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/general-analysis-on-hunger/51810-corn-for-food-not-fuel.html?itemid=id#1291

By Colin A. Carter and Henry I. Miller
New York Times
July 30, 2012

Given the current drought in 32 US states, this article calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to lower the renewable- fuel standard by 20 percent and divert corn from ethanol production back into the food chain. While corn is indeed a renewable resource, the current ethanol policy rests on false assumptions pushed by the ethanol lobby about how ethanol lowers the price of gasoline and reduces global carbon dioxide emissions. Reducing the renewable-fuel standard would offset nearly half of the expected crop loss and ease the drastic impacts that the drought would otherwise have on inflation, food security and political instability in many parts of the world.

Déplacements forcés Projets Industriel Etats-Unis Afrique Tanzanie Réfugiés

Une firme américaine soupçonnée de vouloir favoriser le déplacement forcé de 160 000 personnes (des réfugiés burundais en Tanzanie) pour un projet industriel

Iowa Firm Accused of Displacing Tanzanians for Profit

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger/51777-iowa-firm-accused-of-displacing-tanzanians-for-profit.html?itemi

By Ethan Freedman
IPS
July 11, 2012

According to the Oakland Institute, a project by AgriSol Energy, a major U.S energy company, would displace more than 160,000 Burundian refugees in Tanzania, many of whom are subsistence farmers. The Tanzanian government supports the AgriSol project under an initiative that claims to “promote agricultural development through public-private partnerships.” This partnership is contingent on the government leasing the land to the company for just 25 cents per acre. While AgriSol is expecting to earn approximately 300 million dollars a year from the project, thousands of refugees in Tanzania are losing their lands and livelihoods.

A major U.S. energy company, AgriSol Energy, is accused of engaging in land grabs in Tanzania that would displace more than 160,000 Burundian refugees who have lived there for decades, according to a report by the Oakland Institute, an organisation focused on environmental issues.

An ethics complaint from the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) states that AgriSol is benefiting from the forcible eviction of the refugees, many of whom are subsistence farmers, and leasing the land — as much as 800,000 acres — from the Tanzanian government for 25 cents per acre. “All duty and tax free,” the Iowa CCI adds.

The project could net AgriSol, led by co-founder Bruce Rastetter, as much as 300 million dollars a year, according to the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

Corne de l’Afrique Somalie Faim Alimentation Famine

Hunger is not Famine, but it’s not better

“Famine May Have Ended, But For Us Hunger Has Not”

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/lack-of-hunger-relief-and-other-food-aid-challenges/51780-famine-may-have-ended-but-for-us-hunger-has-not.html?itemid=id#1

By Abdurrahman Warsameh
IPS
July 20, 2012

Although the UN declared the end of Somalia’s famine in February, hundreds of thousands of famine refugees are still facing hunger. The food situation has worsened as aid agencies scaled down their assistance and corruption is widespread among international and national agencies, government officials and camp administrators. The lack of systemic programs to help refugees find a sustainable way of earning an income and return to their communities is pushing them back into the cycle of hunger.

One-year-old Miriam Jama is a symbol of life in Somalia after the famine. Born just as the United Nations World Food Programme declared famine in this Horn of Africa nation a year ago on Jul. 20, Miriam has known no other life than the one in the Badbaado refugee camp, situated 10 kilometres outside the country’s capital, Mogadishu.

Cambodia’s Deadly Land Grab Battle
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger/51793-cambodias-deadly-land-grab-battle.html?itemid=id#1292

In Cambodia, disputes over land are getting increasingly violent as state authorities and private companies use armed forces to attack civilians working to protect arable land and forest. Private firms control nearly one-quarter of Cambodia’s surface area and the Ministry of Environment has signed over 10% of the national conservation areas to private plantations. With little or no public consultation or environmental assessments, land concessions by the government have affected more than 400,000 Cambodians in 12 provinces. While recent high-profile attacks have intimidated activists against land grabbing, most of them remain unyielding in the battle to gain land back to their communities.

#terres #Cambodge

Land Ownership and Hunger
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/land-ownership-and-hunger.html

Unfair distribution and lack of access to land are key explanations for poverty and hunger. In many parts of the world, it is the rich elites, not poor rural people, who own the land. And even if they do, inequality in wealth and power relations makes the rural poor more vulnerable to losing their rights. The struggle for land reform, which would shift the balance of power in favor of marginalized landless farmers, has been going on for many decades. However the food and financial crises contribute to worsening the trend towards land concentration, in which governments, agro-industrial corporations and private investors buy up fertile land in poor countries, depriving small farmers of their ability to grow their own food.

#terres #agribusiness #pauvreté

Is the EU Taking its Over-Fishing Habits to West African Waters?
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/general-analysis-on-hunger/51461-is-the-eu-taking-its-over-fishing-habits-to-west-african-waters.

According to the UN’s FAO, 25 percent of all fish caught by EU-registered boats comes from developing countries, at the expense of over 1.5 million local fishermen. Though fish supplies in developing nation’s waters are rapidly declining, rich countries and country groups, like the EU, are continuing to over-fish. Host country governments are becoming increasingly dependent on the income received by selling fishing rights to foreign corporations and countries. In West Africa, many people fear that communities where fishing is the main source of income will become less stable, making the region “more and more like Somalia.”

According to the PFA, about 50 international freezer-trawlers are active in Mauritanian waters at any one time, of which 30 originate from countries such as Russia, China, Korea or Belize. “By targeting fish species that cannot be fished by local fishermen, we avoid disrupting local competition and growth and always fish outside the 12-13 mile fishing limit for our type of vessel,” says a spokesman.

“Not all international operators active in Mauritanian waters meet the EU’s safety and environmental standards. This threatens our efforts to foster sustainable practices in the region.”

Greenpeace says the over-exploitation of African fisheries by rich countries is ecologically unsustainable and also prevents Africans from developing their own fisheries. It takes 56 traditional Mauritanian boats one year to catch the volume of fish that a PFA vessel can capture and process in a single day. Since the 1990s, the once-abundant west African waters have seen a rapid decline of fish stocks. Local fishermen say their catches are shrinking and they are forced to travel further and compete with the industrial trawlers in dangerous waters unsuitable for their boats.

#surpêche #Afrique #Europe #pauveté #inégalité #développement #pillage

Indian Farmers Hostage to Middlemen
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/general-analysis-on-hunger/51399-indian-farmers-hostage-to-middlemen.html?itemid=id#1291

While India’s economy has been growing steadily, its agriculture sector has declined steeply since the “green revolution” of the 1970s. Scientists believe that the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as the government’s encouragement of water-intensive crops has led to severe environmental degradation.The current government policy is to give aid to farmers by subsidizing agricultural inputs, such as fertilizers, but these subsidies do not solve the problem and mainly benefit input producers. According to national statistics, over 250,000 small farmers committed suicide between 1995 and 2010, “mainly attributed to their inability to pay debts incurred on agricultural inputs.”

#agribusiness #agriculture #commerce #Inde

Biotech Group Bids to Recruit High-Profile GM “Ambassadors”
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/general-analysis-on-hunger/50891-biotech-group-bids-to-recruit-high-profile-gm-ambassadors.html?i

Leaked documents show that biotech industry giant EuropaBio has hired a PR firm to approach high-profile “ambassadors” to lobby European leaders on genetically modified (GM) policy. Draft e-mails to potential ambassadors do not offer an outright paycheck but they offer to research, write, and publish on behalf of the ambassadors while promising to secure lucrative speaking engagements. This attempt by EuropaBio to change the debate on GMOs in #Europe exposes the influences of the powerful GM lobby. The PR company claims to have had interest from Kofi Annan, Lord Patten, and Sir Bob Geldof.

#Lobbying #OGM

Resisting the Corporate Theft of Seeds
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/hunger-and-the-globalized-system-of-trade-and-food-production-/50715-resisting-the-corporate-theft-of-seeds.html?itemid=id#1081

Preeminent land activist Vandana Shiva emphasizes the need to resist the agro-industrial takeover of small farmers and communities. This fundamental shift has played a significant role in denying millions of people their right to food. According to Shiva, it is important to move away from food “dictatorship” and build food “democracies,” which address the challenges of seed monopolies and advocate agroecology.

#agriculture

Why GMOs Won’t Feed the World (Despite What You Read in the New York Times)
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/social-and-economic-policy/world-hunger/hunger-and-the-globalized-system-of-trade-and-food-production-/50595-why-gmos-wont-feed-the-world-despite-what-you-read-in-the-new-yo

This article discusses how “sustainable intensification”—the production of food while reducing agriculture’s negative impacts on the environment—is a better alternative to GMO technology. Unlike GMO crops that rely on synthetic fertilizer and pesticides, sustainable farming increases the capture of carbon in the soil while simultaneously decreasing health risks from exposure to toxic chemicals. In this article Anna Lappé, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute, argues that GMOs do not strengthen social networks or up production significantly and they are not the answer to global food needs.

#agriculture #ogm