Food Sovereignty and Security/ Real and present dangers...

 

 

 

• Ghana To Receive $25 Million For Agric Sector

• World Bank begins training on Agricultural Insurance

 

How can Africa grow more food?

Rising food prices are focusing minds on Africa's agricultural output, and on whether or not technology is the best way to boost production

Food production in Africa is 10% lower than it was in 1960. Photograph: Howard Burditt/Reuters African agriculture has become the focus of extraordinary attention and interest. Yesterday a big report was launched by the Harvard academic Calestous Juma with the backing of several African presidents, and next week Chatham House in London is hosting a major conference on food security where the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (Ifad) is launching a new report on rural poverty.
Meanwhile Olivier De Schutter, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, warned that the current UN climate summit in Cancun needs to launch a "Green Marshall Plan for Agriculture" or risk a possible 40% increase in emissions by 2030 if current agricultural methods are extended.
Rising food prices and terrible future scenarios of the impact of climate change on food production, are focusing minds on what is perceived as Africa's huge untapped potential for agriculture. This week yet another report from the International Food Policy Research Institute warns that climate change could push prices up by 130%, and calls for unprecedented human ingenuity to meet the challenge of feeding a burgeoning population.

REPORT: FOOD PRODUCTION WILL REMAIN AT THE SAME LEVEL FOR THE NEXT DECADE



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Today, IFAD President released The Rural Poverty Report 2011 at Chatham House in London, #rpr2011

Posted by Roxanna Samii Monday, December 6, 2010

Here is our big day. We are launching the Rural Poverty Report 2011. The report is the result of two years of extensive work.

To make sure that nothing would go wrong, I  went down early to the plenary hall of Chatham House to get myself  organized to find out to the my biggest chagrin that there was no  internet access in the plenary hall. PANIC, total PANIC. I pulled out my  Blackberry, more PANIC, no signal!!

Deep breath, think and think fast. Rushed  upstairs to do as much as I could do  before the meeting started. After  putting in place the contingency plan and coming to terms with my  constraint, I headed back downstairs.

At 9:33, David Nabarro welcomed the  participants and opened the “Food Security 2010 – Making Food Security  work: Matching supply to demand. More...

The Multifunctionality of Agriculture
WTO Agreement on Agriculture
GM Crops and Foods
Food Subsidy and local economies
Corporate, Foreign Government land grab
The Right To Water


  • RESPONDING TO REAL AND PRESENT DANGERS •

•  Food Sovereignty and Security

• Social

• The Ecology

• Health

• Education

• Peace and Security

• The Wealth of Africa

• FACILITATING SELF-MOBILISATION •
CHALLENGING DOGMA AND PROPAGANDA

• EFFECTIVE NETWORK •
AMBUSHING AN IMMINENT CONJUNCTION

• THE ENDURING IMPERATIVES •
OF THE PAN-AFRICANIST STRUGGLE

• CONSOLIDATION OF INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY •