FAO Raises 2009 Cereals Forecast Despite Rice Dip

“…world cereal utilization in 2009-10 was expected to grow faster than earlier anticipated, in part due to weaker prices.” World cereal production this year is expected to be 2.234 billion tonnes, just two per cent below last year’s record crop and nearly 26 million tonnes higher than previously expected, the United Nations said Nov. 10.

Ethiopia Targets Land For Commercial Farms

Ethiopia plans to offer three million hectares of land over the next two years for investors to develop large-scale commercial farms, a government official said Nov. 5. Countries in Asia and the Gulf – such as China, India and Saudi Arabia – have rushed to buy farmland abroad to grow crops for their own people


U. S. Eyes Flexibility In Allocating Food Aid

The Obama administration wants more flexibility in how it allocates food aid dollars to complement its new strategy to help small farmers in poor countries boost their food production, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Oct. 16. Vilsack and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is leading the adminstration’s three-year, $3.5-billion global food security initiative, did

World Food Output Must Rise

The world will have to produce 70 per cent more food by 2050 to feed a projected extra 2.3 billion people and as incomes rise, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said Sept. 23. Global cereals demand for food and animal feed is expected to rise to three billion tonnes by 2050 and more


Starvation In An Age Of Plenty

Other countries’ domestic and foreign policies are often at the root of food disasters What is it about Africa? With its tropical climate and rich soil, it should be able to feed its teeming millions many times over. Yet too often Africa becomes a metaphor for famine and hunger. In 1984-85 a horrified world responded

Aid Sought As Drought Hits Kenya’s Maize

The UN’s World Food Program (WFP) appealed Aug. 25 for more than US$230 million to provide emergency food aid over the next six months for 3.8 million Kenyans affected by deepening drought and high food prices. Experts say Kenya’s output of its staple food maize is likely to be just 15 million 90-kg bags this


In Brief… – for Aug. 13, 2009

One in nine Americans seeking food aid: More than 34 million Americans received food stamps last May, signalling one of the longest and deepest recessions since the Great Depression. Enrolment surged by two per cent to reach a record 34.4 million people, or one in nine Americans, in May. It was the sixth month in

G8 Promises A $20-Billion Chance To Beat Odds On Hunger

Last week’s promise by the world’s wealthiest nations to spend $20 billion on impoverished farmers represents a chance to tackle chronic hunger, but leaders face daunting odds to make the pledge count. The back-to-basics three-year commitment by G8 governments to aid small farmers in Africa and parts of Asia – sparked in part by riots


Plant Breeder Hopes African Development Takes Root

For Gebisa Ejeta, it was not enough that he developed new varieties of a food staple crop that resisted droughts and a devastating weed that sucked the life out of cereal crops in his native Ethiopia. Ejeta, who was awarded the 2009 World Food Prize on Thursday, was really driven to get the seeds he

Pirates Affect Insurance Rates

The attempted hijacking of a U. S. flagged vessel off Somalia has not raised the cost of shipping grain and food to the region, but insurance rates have been rising due to piracy, shipping sources said April 13. “Historically, piracy has not been a problem for the large vessels, but now in this area it