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Food Security

  • Seeds of a perfect storm

    Demand for plant products has never been greater, more people, rising affluence, and expanding biofuels programs are rapidly pushing up the prices of grain and edible oil. Boosting supply isn't easy: All the best farm land is already in use. There's an acute need for another jump in global agricultural productivity-a second Green Revolution. Can it happen? Will it happen? (Editorial)

  • Food crisis hits northern Taplejung

    Food crisis has been looming in the northern parts of Taplejung district after the Chinese authorities sealed Olangchungola border point since the last five months. The locals of Olanchungola, Yangma, Ghunsa, Phale, Topkegola and adjoining villages are finding difficulties now to manage foodstuffs. People living in the northern parts of Taplejung depend upon Tibetan markets for food and other essential goods. As the Olanchungola has been sealed since long, the villagers have started coming to the district headquarters in search of food.

  • The new face of hunger

    Samake Bakary sells rice from wooden basins at Abobote market in the northern suburbs of Abidjan in C

  • Scientists call for radical changes to agriculture

    Edie Scientists call for radical changes to agriculture (22 April 2008) Food production will have to change radically to continue to feed the world in the face of climate change, a major new report by more than 400 scientists has said. The study, published by the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), was presented to an intergovernmental plenary in Johannesburg, South Africa.

  • G8 summit to discuss food price rises

    Record global food prices will be on the agenda of the Group of Eight heads of state summit in July for the first time in almost 30 years, amid mounting concerns about the social, political and economic impact of the food crisis. The International Monetary Fund on Monday gave its starkest warning about the impact of rising commodities, saying food and oil prices "risk becoming a destabilising force in the global economy'. Yasuo Fukuda, Japan's prime minister, said in a letter to his G8 colleagues that soaring food prices were posing "imminent and serious' global challenges.

  • GM chief hits at UN biofuel data

    Rick Wagoner, General Motors' president and chief executive, has dismissed United Nations research that links biofuel production to rising food prices as "shockingly misinformed". The blunt assessment by the head of the world's largest car company reinvigorates intense debate about ostensible social costs and environmental benefits of biofuels, a burgeoning industry some analysts say crowds out food production. "If you look at what's causing higher [bio]fuel prices, the cost of corn is a very small part of that," Mr Wagoner said at the Auto China show in Beijing yesterday.

  • Sarawak to be rice bowl' amid food fears

    Malaysia will spend $1.3bn to achieve food security and turn the Borneo state of Sarawak into a "rice bowl' for the nation, in response to surging agricultural prices and fears of shortages. The plan to stockpile food and increase domestic production of rice, fruits and vegetables would bring Malaysia closer to self-sufficiency, Abdullah Badawi, prime minister, said at the weekend.

  • Poor nations defend farm import tariffs

    Developing countries are fighting hard to retain the right to increase farm im-port tariffs in spite of slashing them rapidly to cope with the global food crisis. Faint signs of progress in the troubled "Doha round" of global trade talks last week in Geneva were imperilled by a fresh dispute over poor countries' ability to protect their farmers with tariffs.

  • Malaysia Moves to Boost Food Security, Fight Prices

    Malaysia announced a $1.3 billion-plan on Saturday to boost food security by building stockpiles, raising rice output and reining in inflation. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the government would ensure the country was self-sufficient in rice, a staple food for its 27 million people. A third of Malaysia's rice needs of over two million tonnes a year is now met by imports. Across the globe foods from bread to milk have become more expensive and in some countries helped fuel inflation and shortages.

  • EU Environment Chief Raises New Biofuels Condition

    EU Environment Chief Raises New Biofuels Condition BELGIUM: April 16, 2008 BRUSSELS - The European Union's environment chief raised new conditions on Tuesday for the use of biofuels in road transport, saying social concerns such as food prices and food security must be taken into account. Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas did not explicitly question the EU's target of producing 10 percent of road transport fuel from crops and biomass by 2020, but he made clear that goal must be subservient to strict conditions.

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