December 19, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
An estimated 12 million children across the United States are currently facing hunger on a daily basis. With nearly 40 million people living below the government’s officially recognized “poverty line”, chronic undernourishment affects as many as 1 in 6 American children. In 2007 98% of US families with “very low food security” reported being afraid they would not have enough to make it to their next opportunity to acquire food, while 97%, reported that the food they bought was simply not enough to avoid going hungry, and that there was no money left to buy more.
More on page 918
November 14, 2008 :: Denver Lessing :: No Comment Yet
The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has warned that shortfalls in food aid to Zimbabwe could leave as many as 5.1 million people at risk of starvation by early next year. The southern African nation, beset by incomprehensible rates of inflation and an agricultural crisis, is now facing what may be the single most severe food security crisis in the world. WFP has made the announcement in conjunction with a cut in aid to Zimbabwe, due to lack of funding and a failed drive to raise funds to increase aid to the troubled state.
More on page 734
July 27, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
There are few things more damaging to the right of witnesses and bystanders to contribute to the resolution of a given problem than harboring the assumption that no one involved has anything to contribute. For western and Asian lookers on, viewing the problems of the African continent as outsiders, there is absolutely nothing to be gained by surrendering to the ugly bias of the belief that Africans cannot contribute to the change and development they both need and deserve.
More on page 556
June 24, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The New Scientist magazine this week heralds a ‘plan B for biofuel’, making the case that starch-based ethanol fuels, like corn ethanol in the US, may drive up food prices, but a new generation of biofuels will sidestep the problem and help ethanol live up to its promise. “The corn required to fill an SUV tank with bioethanol just once could feed someone in Africa for a year” reports the UK-based magazine, but most biomass is not the starch currently being used to create bioethanol.
More on page 456
June 24, 2008 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Corn-ethanol, long a fascination for US politicians and for the farm lobby that courts their support for ethanol subsidies, may play some role in remediating the economic fallout of soaring gasoline prices, though it seems unlikely, for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the fact that the numbers work against us: in order to produce more corn-ethanol, we must divert cropland destined for food production to fuel production, and that has a severely negative impact on the availability and affordability of corn for human consumption.
More on page 455
June 23, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
A fast-unfolding food shortage is engulfing the entire world, driving food prices to record highs. Over the past half-century grain prices have spiked from time to time because of weather-related events, such as the 1972 Soviet crop failure that led to a doubling of world wheat, rice, and corn prices. The situation today is entirely different, however. The current doubling of grain prices is trend-driven, the cumulative effect of some trends that are accelerating growth in demand and other trends that are slowing the growth in supply.
More on page 358
April 21, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
21 April :: Carter says Hamas leaders may be willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist, in exchange for lasting peace, even if negotiated by rival Fatah group, so long as accord is submitted to Palestinian people in referendum; CNN cites Carter saying at the start of his trip: “I’m not a negotiator, I’m just [...]
More on page 208
April 21, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
19 April :: “The global food crisis became official yesterday [15 April] when the UN called for urgent intergovernmental action and farming reforms to tackle the soaring prices that are plunging millions of people into potentially deadly poverty”, reports UK’s Independent; reports of riots from southeast Asia to the Caribbean, along with multiple border crises [...]
More on page 207
March 25, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
As part of the Crisis Policy Forum, the HotSpring collaborative innovation initiative is now planning an effort to tackle the problem of food supply management and chronic food and water scarcity in Africa. The lessons from this experiment in collaborative research will be applicable in many cases to other situations around the world, and we [...]
More on page 265
March 25, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
As part of the Crisis Policy Forum, the HotSpring collaborative innovation initiative is now planning an effort to tackle the problem of food supply management and chronic food and water scarcity in Africa. The lessons from this experiment in collaborative research will be applicable in many cases to other situations around the world, and we are open to spurring dialogue in those areas as outgrowths of this ongoing discussion.
More on page 313
March 24, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
24 March :: Australia’s gov’t is contemplating increases in food aid to poor regions, nations, after study of soarng food prices, mounting scarcity; SMH reports “A steep two-year rise in global food prices, which in Australia has triggered the Federal Government’s inquiry into grocery prices, has taken a heavy toll on poorer populations, particularly in [...]
More on page 202
February 14, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
14 February :: Record-high grain prices will cause an untenable 35% minimum increase in poor nations’ expenditures for cereals imports through July 2008, reports UN Food and Agriculture Organization; prices have increased rapidly due to record oil prices, dramatic deterioration of arable land in China — turning world’s most populous nation into net importer of [...]
More on page 183
March 19, 2007 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Investment in fuel ethanol distilleries has soared since the late-2005 oil price hikes, but data collection in this fast-changing sector has fallen behind. Because of inadequate data collection on the number of new plants under construction, the quantity of grain that will be needed for fuel ethanol distilleries has been vastly understated. Farmers, feeders, food processors, ethanol investors, and grain-importing countries are basing decisions on incomplete data.
More on page 297
