GUATEMALA: High Staple Food Prices Drive Up Hunger

The rise in prices of corn, beans and other staple foods, driven up by damages to crops caused by extreme weather events, is making it even harder for the poor to afford a basic diet in Guatemala, which has the highest rate of child malnutrition in Latin America.

Mexico Tempted to Shift From Tortillas to Ethanol

Farmers' protests and the rise in corn tortilla prices in late December put temporary brakes on the Mexican Senate, which was preparing to lift the national ban on utilising maize to make fuel alcohol, or ethanol.

BRAZIL: Oil Palm Plantations Expand on Degraded Land in Amazon

Brazil hopes to eventually become a major producer of palm oil, thanks to the expansion of this new exotic monoculture crop in the eastern Amazon jungle, where eucalyptus plantations are also mushrooming on broad swaths of already deforested land.

PERU: Mineral-Rich Highlands Lack Legal Protection

More than 11 percent of Peruvian territory is distributed among mining concessions. Those mining blocks can include moors, river sources, and even protected natural areas.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Big Steps Forward for Nascent Recycling Industry

Waste recycling as a way to save money, create jobs and take care of the environment is finding footing in Central America, where hundreds of tonnes of paper, plastic, tyres and other products are now being marketed through innovative initiatives.

DEVELOPMENT: Economic Boom Worsened De-industrialisation of LDCs

Least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa did not use the commodity export boom of the mid-2000s to diversify their economies from commodity dependence to manufacturing value-added products. Significantly, the agricultural sector has also not benefited, with the result that LDC reliance on imported food has become even worse.

PERU: Mining Firms Alarmed at Election of Leftist Governor

The triumph of a left-wing candidate, Gregorio Santos, as governor of the region of Cajamarca, one of Peru's richest mining areas, has raised concern among mining companies operating there in a climate of tension and conflicts with local communities.

CHILE: Alarm Over Decline in Mackerel Stocks

Over-exploitation of jack mackerel, the main commercial species of fish caught in Chile, has caused the decline of the Pacific ocean species and a crisis in the fishing industry. Scientists recommend halving the catch in 2011.

China Closes In Around its Rare Earth

The western world sees China erecting trade walls. But China sees a throwback to an era of plundering and forceful western politics that followed the Opium wars of the 19th century and precipitated the collapse of the Chinese empire.

TRADE-SOUTHERN AFRICA: EPA Talks Will Miss Latest Deadline

While a trade deal between the European Union and Southern African countries is close it will not be concluded before the end of this year. In the meantime, South Africa remains in pursuit of an ambitious regional integration agenda.

ARGENTINA: Experts Optimistic, Farmers Cautious on Grain Harvest

Agricultural analysts are predicting a strong grain harvest for Argentina, where soy, maize and wheat are among the engines driving the national economy. But farmers are more circumspect as they plant this year's crops in the southern hemisphere spring season.

PERU: Women Farmers Dream in Organic Flavours of Coffee

It's Saturday and the women hurry in to the cooperative's warehouse in this rural town in southeastern Peru with their huge bags of coffee beans on their backs. Some come on their own, others are accompanied by their husbands or children. But they have all hiked long distances from their farms in the mountains where they grow some of the world's top organic specialty coffee.

AFRICA: Liberalised Services Still Require Proper Regulations

With African countries' trade remaining inordinately dependent on natural resources exports, their economies could benefit from liberalisation of trade in services but only as long as proper domestic regulatory frameworks are put in place, some trade experts argue.

MEXICO: Experts Denounce Slant in Corn Subsidies

The Mexican government's subsidies for corn (maize) production since 1994 have benefitted large- and medium-scale growers, to the detriment of small farmers, according to a new study by Mexican and U.S. researchers.

TRADE: It’s the End of the Export-Led Growth Model, Says UNCTAD

While the recovery from the financial and economic meltdown remains fragile in especially the developed world, the outlook for Africa inspires optimism, according to UNCTAD. The agency also believes the crisis might be the death- knell for the export-led economic growth model -- especially African countries should leave it behind.

SOUTH AMERICA: Argentine Beef Overtaken by Mercosur Partners

South America's Mercosur trade bloc is becoming established as the top world producer of beef, with 40 percent of the international market. But while in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay production and exports are growing, Argentina, the home of the legendary "asado" barbecue, is falling behind.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Women Traders “Blocked” From the “Big Business”

"Africans do not believe women can do big business," fumes Zambian trader Angelica Rumsey.

PERU: Transparency a Challenge for Mining and Oil

Peru is the only Latin American country that has made steps towards joining the international Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), but has a difficult stretch ahead as it tries to overcome industry resistance to reporting profits and the government's own obstacles.

AFRICA: “Free Trade in Natural Resources Bad for Development”

While some believe that restrictions on natural resource exports should be done away with, this could cause an increase in such exports that would be detrimental to the environment and bad for development.

Canada Slowing Biodiversity Protocol’s Progress

The spirit of international negotiations in Montreal on a draft protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) of natural resources were marred by Canada’s insistence on a decentralised approach to ABS, Peigi Wilson, a Métis lawyer present at the meeting in support of the Quebec Native Women, told IPS.

Nigeria Suffers Acute Lead-Poisoning Outbreak

The Nigerian government is trying to cope with an outbreak of lead poisoning which has killed over 200 people in Zamfara State since early July.