Tag Archives: agriculture
Eight Ways To Solve World Hunger
Millions of people are starving, despite the world producing more than enough to feed everyone. What can we do about it? Alex Renton The Observer , Saturday 8 June 2013 It is estimated that extensive food trade with Africa means China will have no malnourished people by 2020. Photograph: How Hwee Young/EPA PREVENT LAND GRABBING An ugly side of current scares over future food supply is wealthy, land-poor states, like those in the Gulf and South Korea, acquiring tracts of undeveloped countries to use as allotments. It is a campaigning cause of the multi-charity IF campaign against hunger. Ethiopia, Sudan, Madagascar and Cambodia have been targeted and a total area the size of Spain may already have been acquired. Problem: Hard to police. Difficult to distinguish between genuine investment in Africa and the expropriation of land from the poor who need it to grow their food. Chances: 3/10 BLOCK THE SPECULATORS Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images[/color] Huge sums of investment fund money have flooded into the commodities markets since the financial crisis, looking for returns no longer available in equities. Automated trading systems that exploit tiny flaws in the market and encourage volatility make it impossible for traditional traders to keep prices stable and hedge against spikes. Problem: Much discussed in the G20 and G8, an international agreement on reforming and regulating the commodities markets looks no nearer than when the problem was first identified. Banks and investors have marshalled strong arguments against interference. Chances: 3/10 PRODUCE LESS BIOFUEL Photograph: Michael Wald/Alamy[/color] The pressure to achieve targets on reduced carbon emissions from fossil fuel has seen rich countries turning sugar, maize and other food crops into ethanol and biodiesel. Problems: Many economists doubt how important this issue really is in food price rises. Food and fuel prices are inextricably linked, so producing biofuel may lower food prices. A proportion of food crops have always been used for energy – 100 years ago 10% of the world’s grain went to feeding horses. Second-generation biofuels won’t use food crops, but wood, stalks and other waste. Chances: 1/10 STOP THE MEAT FEAST Photograph: Andrey Armyagov/Alamy Meat production is a wasteful use of the planet’s limited resources – even today, 40% of grain crops are going to feed livestock and fish. It is most inefficient with intensive beef farming , where it has been shown that just 2.5% of the feed given to cattle emerges as calories for our consumption. That is why the UN says agricultural production will have to rise 60% to feed the extra 2 billion mouths in 2050. Problems: There is no international mechanism to regulate or alter collective human diets, and no models other than famine that have ever worked. Chances: 0/10 SUPPORT SMALL FARMERS Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Most African farmers are less productive than a US farmer was 100 years ago. There is a consensus between NGOs and governments that supporting and training small farmers is the best possible solution to future food security . A combination of aid, education in low-tech methods such as better rice planting and irrigation, and the introduction of better seeds and fertilizer could spark a green revolution in Africa, such as the one that transformed South Asia in the 20th century. Problem: Rich countries have proved poor at delivering on their aid pledges. Genetically modified crops are already part of these schemes. Chances: 8/10 TARGET INFANT NUTRITION Photograph: Hoberman Collection/UIG via Getty Images “Eliminating malnutrition is achievable. It’s within our reach,” Bill Gates told the London summit, and many companies and rich nations are backing an African government-led plan to tackle it. Big improvements have already been made. The solution lies in education on good feeding techniques and getting the right nutrients to the mother and child from the beginning of pregnancy. Overall, malnutrition makes people poorer – it is responsible for an 11% decline in GDP in affected countries. Problem: Critics say it diverts policy makers’ attention from the job of solving the systemic problems in food supply. Chances: 9/10 ROLL OUT BIOTECH Photograph: Wayne Hutchinson/Alamy Huge gains could be available for health and agricultural productivity if the promises of genetic modification can be believed. Gene-splicing crops to help them withstand drought and flood may be vital. Pigs and chickens could have their digestive systems altered so that they eat food not required by humans, and pollute the environment less. Problem: There are risks with the technology, and no satisfactory regulatory system in place. Public distaste at the idea of GM, especially in Europe, is holding up research and stopping investment. Safer ideas, like stem cell meat fed on algae, are still far from production. Chances: 6/10 REDUCE POVERTY Economic growth has long been seen as the key to reducing hunger. More trade, financial liberalisation and open markets should aid the flow of food, of which there’s no overall shortage. Successful poverty reduction in China has led some economists to predict there will be no more hungry people there by 2020. Problems: Not easy to organise, with the west in economic recession and aid spending falling. More importantly, economic growth does not necessarily trickle down to the hungry poor.Child malnutrition has increased in India during the past decade despite the country’s boom. Chances: 2/10 Continue reading
Database Says Level Of Global ‘Land Grabs’ Exaggerated
By Matt McGrath Environment correspondent, BBC News While the majority of investment still comes from developed countries to Africa, there is a growing trend for regional and national investment in land Researchers have released a new version of a database that records global land acquisitions by governments and private investors. There has been growing concern that large purchases, often in Africa, were in effect “land grabs” by the rich. But the Land Matrix Global Observatory says that many deals have been significantly exaggerated. The database has been developed by a group of five international research centres. For several years now, media reports of land acquisitions have highlighted the growing trend of private investors and national governments to secretly acquire land in poorer countries in order to secure supplies of food and other resources. Campaigners have complained that these investments were often unjust, with the people living on the land being thrown off by the new owners. Verified deals But despite the concerns that many investors are buying to take advantage of high food prices, there has been very little clear information about the scale of the issue. After being launched in beta mode last year, the Land Matrix Global Observatory now hopes to paint a more realistic picture of the number and impact of land purchases. The database suggests that more than 46 million hectares of land have changed hands in 756 verified land deals. About half of all transactions take place in Africa, with many in Mozambique and Ethiopia. Land battle in India In the Indian state of Gujarat, some 50,000 hectares have been acquired near Ahmedabad by the government for development as a special economic zone. But for the 16,000 people who live in 44 villages in the region and who graze their animals on this land, the move is unwelcome. As they don’t have legal title, they would receive no compensation if the plan goes ahead. But the researchers say that getting accurate information remains a significant challenge. They quote the example of the investment by Agri-SA, the South African national farmers’ union, in land in Congo-Brazzaville. Initial reports suggested that 10 million hectares were being purchased. In the end, a contract was actually signed for 80,000. Much of the hype comes from investment companies trying to influence the market, the researchers say. They also believe the role of countries like China has been exaggerated. “We see from the new data that the activities of China have been overestimated,” Dr Ward Anseeuw, from the French research centre CIRAD, told BBC News. Demonstrators in Burma protest about land grabs that have become the focus of growing resistance “In the press you see China everywhere, but in the database there is not as much China as we think there is.” While the bulk of direct investment continues to come from western countries and companies, there are growing numbers of land purchases that are funded by national or regional governments. In Asia, over 80% of acquisitions are financed from within the region. The researchers found that when land has been bought for agriculture, it was split equally between food and non-food crops. The team said there was no clear bias towards biofuel crops. Invisible hand But apart from direct investment, the new database suggests there are some worrying trends emerging. “What we are seeing is the development of other instruments that allow investors to be more invisible, such as contract farming or through bank control,” said Dr Answeeuw. “Instead of buying land through a foreign entity, they are buying stakes in local agribusiness that are controlling these lands.” While the researchers say that economic failures especially in Africa have made investors more cautious about where they put their money, the inflow of funds is still posing some significant challenges for indigenous peoples. “In many cases, it is common land or community land that is under threat,” said Michael Taylor from the International Land Coalition. “If it is grazing land or land that local people use, they don’t have any legal protection. It is on this land that we see the gravest of threats,” he said. The database now uses a wide number of data sources to help increase both accuracy and transparency. While those involved recognise its limitations they believe that it will promote good practice. Not all foreign direct investment is land-grabbing. “If there is no investment in agriculture in Africa, it will not grow,” said Dr Answeeuw. “We need these investments; the public sector alone can’t do this. We need the private sector to come in,” he added. Continue reading
US Farmland Appears Dangerously Overpriced, Analysts Say, And Small Community Banks Could Suffer In Any Abrupt Downturn
By Mike Obel | June 11 2013 5:53 AM The decade-long surge in the price of corn and wheat has finally trickled down to U.S. farmland prices, lifting the value of agricultural land that grows the two grains to dangerously high levels, analysts say. peckumn.com Farmland in Greene County, Iowa There has been a massive geographical disparity, however, with the price of prime Midwest cropland surging, while the Southeast has actually seen prices fall, said economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics. Between 2009 and 2012, only 11 states saw price gains above the national average. Most worryingly, Nebraska has seen farmland prices nearly double over the past three years, while prices have increased by more than 80 percent in Iowa. Land in that state may now be overvalued by 40 percent to 100 percent. “The states with the biggest gains in farmland values are notable for also being the nation’s largest producers of corn and wheat. To some extent, the rise in farmland values in the Corn Belt and across the Northern Plains is a natural response to the prolonged rise in agricultural selling prices,” said Ashworth. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago said last month that its survey of 219 bankers revealed that the price of farmland in its area, which includes Wisconsin, Michigan and northern Indiana and Illinois plus nearly all of Iowa, jumped 15 percent in the first quarter of this year from a year earlier. And the Agriculture Department estimates that the value of U.S. farmland will top $2.4 trillion this year. “Between 2009 and 2012, corn prices nearly doubled while wheat prices increased by one-third. The increase in prices and rising yields have together resulted in a sustained period of strong growth in the annual value of farm production. Between 2009 and 2012, the overall value of national crop production increased by 25 percent,” said Ashworth. He said near-zero interest rates have undoubtedly played some role in this, but the bigger factor has been the surge in corn and wheat prices over the past decade. If the bubble in farmland values in the Corn Belt were to burst, it could hit small community banks hard as well as devastate the farmers involved. Continue reading
