Food Security

Organic Farming Taking Off in Poland … Slowly

By Claudia Ciobanu
Polish farmer Slawek Dobrodziej has probably the world’s strangest triathlon training regime: he swims across the lake at the back of his house, then runs across his some 11 hectares of land to check the state of the crops, and at the end of the day bikes close to 40 kilometres to and back from a nearby town for some shopping.

The ‘Global’ Land Rush

By Anuradha Mittal
The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale.

Analysis: Ten Reasons for Saying ‘No’ to the North Over Trade

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda and Phil Harris
India’s decisive stand last week not to adopt the protocol of amendment of the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) unless credible rules were in place for the development issues of the South was met with  "astonishment" and "dismay" by trade diplomats from the North, who described New Delhi’s as "hostage-taking" and "suicidal". 

India Stands Firm on Protecting Food Security of South at WTO

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
The failure of the two major players in global trade negotiations to bridge their differences has put paid to the adoption of the protocol of amendment for implementation of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) for the time being. 

Land Grabbing – A New Political Strategy for Arab Countries

By Mona Alami
Food price rises as far back as 2008 are believed to be the partial culprits behind the instability plaguing Arab countries and they have become increasingly aware of the importance of securing food needs through an international strategy of land grabs which are often detrimental to local populations.

Food – Thou Shall Not Waste

By Silvia Giannelli
“Only two years ago, the soup kitchen was serving 50 meals a day. Today the number has almost doubled and, what is even more worrying, we have started receiving families with children,” says Donatella Turri, director of the Caritas Diocese of Lucca.

Drought and Misuse Behind Lebanon’s Water Scarcity

By Oriol Andrés Gallart
In front of Osman Bin Affan Mosque, in a central but narrow street of Beirut, several tank trucks are being filled with large amounts of water. The mosque has its own well, which allows it to pump water directly from the aquifers that cross the Lebanese underground. Once filled, the trucks will start going through the city to supply hundreds of homes and shops.

A Carrot Is a Carrot – or Is It?

By Justin Hyatt
Food security is often thought of as a question of diversifying supply and being able to move food through areas plagued by local scarcity, relying on the global economic system – including trade and transport – as the basis for operations.

South Stymies North in Global Trade Talks

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
A group of developing countries brought a tectonic shift at the World Trade Organization on Friday by turning the tables against the industrialised countries, when they offered a positive trade agenda to expeditiously arrive at a permanent solution for food security and other development issues, before adopting the protocol of amendment of the contested Trade Facilitation Agreement.

Fish Before Fields to Improve Egypt’s Food Production

By Cam McGrath
Less than four percent of Egypt’s land mass is suitable for agriculture, and most of it confined to the densely populated Nile River Valley and Delta. With the nation’s population of 85 million expected to double by 2050, government officials are grappling with ways of ensuring food security and raising nutritional standards.

Positive Outlook For Agricultural Prices But Not For World’s Poorest

By Geneviève Lavoie-Mathieu
The official outlook for agriculture up to 2023 carries optimistic forecasts for agricultural productivity and commodity prices but it is unlikely that the benefits will be shared by the world’s poorest.

Food Insecurity a New Threat for Lebanon’s Syrian Refugees

By Mona Alami
A declining economy and a severe drought have raised concerns in Lebanon over food security as the country faces one of its worst refugee crises, resulting from the nearby Syria war, and it is these refugees and impoverished Lebanese border populations that are most vulnerable to this new threat.

Fragility of WTO’s Bali Package Exposed

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
The “fragility” of the World Trade Organization’s ‘Bali package’ was brought into the open at the weekend meeting in Sydney, Australia, of trade ministers from the world’s 20 major economies (G20).

Malnutrition Hits Syrians Hard as UN Authorises Cross-Border Access

By Shelly Kittleson
Gaunt, haggard Syrian children begging and selling gum have become a fixture in streets of the Lebanese capital; having fled the ongoing conflict, they continue to be stalked by its effects.

Public Stockholding Programmes for Food Security Face Uphill Struggle

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
Framing rules at the World Trade Organization for maintaining public stockholding programmes for food security in developing countries is not an easy task, and for Ambassador Jayant Dasgupta, former Indian trade envoy to the WTO, “this is even more so when countries refuse to acknowledge the real problem and hide behind legal texts and interpretations in a slanted way to suit their interests.”

El Niño Triggers Drought, Food Crisis in Nicaragua

By José Adán Silva
The spectre of famine is haunting Nicaragua. The second poorest country in Latin America, and one of the 10 most vulnerable to climate change in the world, is facing a meteorological phenomenon that threatens its food security.

Post-2015 Development Agenda – Will the Voices of the Hungry be Heard?

By Genevieve L. Mathieu
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will expire in 2015 and be replaced with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are intended to strengthen the international community's engagement with eradicating poverty and hunger.

Flexible Biofuel Policies for Better Food Security

By José Graziano da Silva
Modern biofuels have become a fact of life, part of a quest for more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable businesses and lifestyles. But to be truly sustainable, biofuel production must strike a balance between its benefits and its potential hidden costs, between energy security and food security.

Sri Lanka Waits in Vain for the Rain

By Amantha Perera
Stuck in mid-day rush hour traffic, commuters packed tight into a tin-roofed bus in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, peer expectantly up at the sky that is beating a savage heat down on the city.

Food Security Can Come in Tiny, Wiggly Packages

By Amy Fallon

It is known as the land of copper to the outside world, but there’s another c-word that does a roaring trade in Zambia, albeit locally - caterpillars.

Food Security, Trade Facilitation Clash in Bali

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
The World Trade Organisation’s ninth ministerial meeting at Bali, Indonesia has morphed into a fierce battle between the countries seeking social safety nets for hundreds of millions of poor people and those insisting on having advanced import-facilitation programmes in the developing countries on par with the industrialised nations.
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