An opinion piece by Mark Tran in the Guardian‘s Poverty Matters Blog yesterday (12 Sep 2011) argues that the G20 faces obstacles in its efforts to spread good farming practices, and that a lack of coherence among agricultural research bodies is a major obstacle. ‘Spreading good ideas and practices in farming sounds like a simple enough … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Food price crisis
Drought / East Africa / Food Security / Kenya
The bigger picture: We can no longer afford random acts of (unconnected) aid
Roger Thurow, US journalist and senior fellow for Global Agriculture and Food Policy at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, describes the paradox of great harvest and great hunger existing at the same time in Kenya, a country he often visits and reports on. ‘It is less than two hundred miles from the village of … Continue reading
A4NH / Agri-Health / Animal Diseases / Diagnostics / Disease Control / East Africa / Epidemiology / Event / Human Health / ILRI / Kenya / Middle East / RVF / Trade / Zoonotic Diseases
Kenya forges new pact with Horn and Middle East in old war against deadly Rift Valley fever
The pathogenesis of Rift Valley fever. Viruses 2011, 3(5), 493-519; doi:10.3390/v3050493 (image credit: A J Cann’s Flickr photostream). Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper reports that Kenya is forging a new pact in an old war against the deadly mosquito-transmitted ‘zoonotic’—human plus livestock—disease called Rift Valley fever. ‘Kenya has partnered with neighbouring stats to boost surveillance on Rift Valley … Continue reading
Food and Egypt: Did high food prices help stir the public revolts?
In Egypt, rising food prices have caused panic and hunger: Girl with koshary, Egypt’s national dish, consisting of rice, lentils, chickpeas and macaroni topped with salsa or, for the lucky few with more money, meat (photo credit: James Buck’s Flickr photostream). In the months of October and November 2010, Ellen Geerlings, then working for the United … Continue reading
Burundi / Central Africa / East Africa / Ethiopia / Food Security / Kenya / Rwanda / Somalia / Uganda
As pump prices rise, so do the costs of basic foodstuffs across eastern and central Africa
Skyrocketing fuel and food prices are making Kenyans suffer; an undernourished child at the Kenya Coast drinks store-bought ‘maziwa lala’ (sour milk) (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). A policy brief published earlier this year by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) reports the following. ‘Three years after the 2007–08 food crisis, the prices of basic food items … Continue reading
Agriculture / Brazil / China / Consumption / Egypt / Food Security / India / Middle East / Philippines / Vietnam
The great global food crunch: Was scarce food the tinderbox for Middle East turmoil?
Ancient Egyptian cow relief (photo credit: ILRI/Elsworth). The Washington Post’s op-ed columnist Robert J. Samuelson argued yesterday that the turmoil in the Middle East is related to a global food squeeze. ‘Here’s a question about the Mideast turmoil for future historians: How much did food inflation contribute? We know some basic facts. Middle East countries … Continue reading
Severe weather events are behind soaring food prices–Paul Krugman
Op-Ed columnist Paul Krugman argues in the New York Times recently that it is severe weather events, exactly the kind of thing we’d expect to see with climate change, that have disrupted global agricultural food production, causing world food prices to hit a record high in January (2011). ‘We’re in the midst of a global food … Continue reading
Challenges and potential for food security in Africa
Livestocks such as goats illustrate the complex vulnerabilities of farmers’ incomes during climate crises. Family farmers and their children are especially vulnerable to hunger (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). As of September 2010, there were 925 million people in the world going hungry, and 98% of them lived in developing countries. Chronic deficiencies of carbohydrates, proteins and … Continue reading
Food prices likely to rise with temperatures
‘If average global temperatures keep rising prices for vital food resources could rise by more than 130 percent, an analysis released in Mexico finds. . . . ‘A study by the International Livestock Research Institute concludes that if temperatures continue to rise, maize prices could increase by 131 percent within the next 40 years. ‘Philip … Continue reading
‘Gloomy’ future for agriculture in a much warmer world–climate change researcher Gerald Nelson
Farmer Celeste Sitoe with her maize harvest in Lhate Village, outside Chokwe, in Gaza Province, southern Mozambique (photo credit: ILRI/Mann). The Associated Press today broke a story that researchers are predicting a ‘gloomy’ future for agriculture in the face of greater and faster warming of the world than expected. ‘. . . [O]n our current … Continue reading
ILRI Clippings 