Stark Numbers: Food Solutions, not Promises
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on June 10, 2008 – 3:09 pm -Here are the stark numbers today:
Global food prices force about 100 million people into hunger.
High food prices are pushing 30 million Africans into poverty.
About 850 million people are suffering from chronic hunger worldwide.
Food prices have hit the highest levels in real terms in 30 years.
Price of rice has gone up by 75% globally.
Global food prices rose by 43% in 2007 alone.
The US has diverted about 40 million tons of maize to produce ethanol.
An acre of maize produces only 50 gallons of gasoline.
EU plans to get 10% of auto fuel from Bio-energy by 2020.
Food riots and food wars are not just taking place in the streets of Egypt and in Mexico, they are taking place in the corridors of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN) Read more »
Tags: Environment, FAO, G8 Meeting, Rome Conference, UN, World Food Crisis
Posted in Diaries | 2 Comments »
Tackling World Food Crisis: Agricultural Reform
Written by Asinus Asinum Fricat on April 20, 2008 – 3:57 pm -It took more than 400 scientists and three years of haggling, wrangling and heated arguments to come up with the report by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) as dire warnings from the World Bank, the IMF and the UN’s World Food Programme splashed the front pages of the world press in the last few weeks (the Executive summary, the Global summary and all its regional summaries are here in both pdf & HTML forms, a great trove of information for those who are interested). I have read all summaries and will endeavor to read the regional pieces as well in the next few weeks.
The 2,500 pages report concluded that while advances over the last fifty years had resulted in the world’s food production increasing at a much faster rate than its population, the present system of production and trade meant the benefits were spread unevenly, and as we know, at intolerable price paid by the small farmers, workers and rural communities and of course, the environment.
Tags: agriculture, Farm Reform, Food, IAASTD, IMF, UN, World Bank, World Food Crisis
Posted in Current Events | 3 Comments »