The first ever meeting of G8 agriculture ministers in Italy last weekend recognised the real difficulties facing the world in feeding itself. But the G8 ministers admitted they are “very far from reaching” the UN target of halving the number of people experiencing chronic hunger by 2015. The UN told the G8 that the number
The BBC World Service’s flagship ‘World Today’ news programme interviewed Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda to hear her thoughts on global food security and the emerging outcomes of the G8 agriculture ministers’ meeting, which occurred in Italy from April 18-20.
Dr. Sibanda noted that food shortages in certain parts of the world were unavoidable. Noentheless, policy experts
In a Reuters article published today, Farming First’s Ajay Vashee warned of the possibility of another food crisis, given increasing demand and finite resources.
He was joined by the Italian Agriculture Minister and a representative from the FAO in highlighting the need to address these food security and sustainability issues before they become even more serious.
The
The Guardian newspaper has released the results of a poll asking climate specialists at a scientific conference in Copenhagen in March to predict climate changes throughout the 21st century.
Only 18 of the 182 experts thought that the climate would rise by less than 2C this century while the remaining 164 respondents forecasted higher changes and
Sometimes simple solutions looking at the issue of timing and planting cycles can provide effective solutions.
For example, in India, mustard seeds were planted in September and harvested in late December/January.
But often, up to 30% of the harvest was often lost to frost.
In response, breeders worked on a seed with a shorter duration period, which enabled
A study by the Inter-American Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam and Cambodia recognized that farmers in the two countries could require two or three times as much rice grain as they consume to meet their food needs because of spoilage from poor storage techniques.
The full article is available here.
