Full Coverage: Agriculture

30.04.2008 BANGKOK, Apr 29 (IPS) - As if the burdens they shoulder are not enough, Asia's women are being compelled to bear the additional weight of rising food prices, say women's rights activists from across the region.

28.04.2008 WASHINGTON, Apr 28 (OneWorld) - Far away and close to home the growing world food crisis is taking a toll. While Americans are increasingly shocked at their rising grocery bills, hunger threatens lives and stability in several developing countries.

28.04.2008 Continuing food crisis in Afghanistan is frustrating people as several cities witness protests, riots and looting. While people blame government for this crisis, experts attribute it to both local and global factors. The country would need over half-a-million tonnes of imported wheat to meet the current demand.

25.04.2008 This week's alert on the growing global food crisis is perhaps the most worrying one we've ever sent, says OneWorld's managing editor in the United States.

24.04.2008 A new international study says there is need for more agricultural research to be able to produce more in a sustainable manner. The study however cautions against excessive optimism about transgenic crops, as their potential environmental and health risks are yet unknown.

23.04.2008 The UN food agency has alerted Pakistan against a possible attack of Ug99 on wheat crops. Even as officials from the country have denied its presence, there are fears that winds from Iran and Balochistan may blow in the black stem rust, leading to widespread crop loss in South Asia.

23.04.2008 Shreekrishna Kalamb, a poet-farmer in Vidarbha region of western India, ended his life on March 24. His death and those of 250 others, who have committed suicide since January, are symbolic of an agrarian crisis that the country is reeling under for past many years.

23.04.2008 Expectations of bumper rice crop in Bangladesh may be good news for Bangladeshis. However, the UN food agency feels that it may not be enough to pull the country out of the present food crisis, where half of the population lives below the poverty line.

19.04.2008 NEW YORK, Apr 19 (OneWorld) - The current food crisis causing hunger and starvation for millions of people across the world is not going to end as long as those who dominate the international grain markets remain unwilling to change their behavior, according to experts specializing in international trade and environmental economics.

18.04.2008 An 18-day march by Indian farmers ended on April 12 at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial in New Delhi. The march was organised by Navdanya Trust to spread awareness on seed and food sovereignty currently facing the onslaught of multinational companies.

18.04.2008 With its fertile land and abundant rivers, a long-term investment in agricultural infrastructure from donors can make Afghanistan self-sufficient in food, says a UN official. Up to 70% of Afghans are suffering from acute food insecurity due to poverty, drought and years of conflict.

16.04.2008 DHAKA, Apr 16 (OneWorld) - Although illiterate Bangladeshi villagers don't know the climate change lingo, many have shown an awareness of the situation, using local knowledge to innovate and adapt to the natural changes.

14.04.2008 The rise in food prices, the [Indian] government says, is an international phenomenon. But this argument is unlikely to cut much ice with the people. At the crux of the crisis is the tardy pace at which farm output has been growing in recent years, says senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.

12.04.2008

11.04.2008 As food prices refuse to come down across Asia, more people are in need of assistance from governments and humanitarian agencies. If situation is not brought under control, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, etc. may witness food riots similar to the ones seen recently in the Haitian capital.

10.04.2008 "Show your support of trade agreements that assure job security and decent livelihoods, and take a stand against the NAFTA model that displaces millions from their homes and jobs and furthers environmental destruction," urges a group advocating fairer globalization.

10.04.2008 World food prices have risen by 45% in last few months. FAO, UNIDO and IFAD have underlined the need for corrective measures to reverse this trend. At a press conference in the Indian capital they highlighted the role of agro-industries in overcoming this crisis.

08.04.2008 Rodents and insects have damaged hundreds of thousands of hectares of wet rice and jhum paddy cultivation for the second successive year in a north-Indian state. Already many people are facing starvation. If immediate measures are not taken by the state and central governments, the situation may become even worse.

07.04.2008 Not just the poor, it is also the middle class in Bangladesh who can be found standing in queues to buy subsidised rice. The sharp rise in prices of rice and other food commodities have left people below poverty line spending as much as 70% of their earnings in buying food items.

03.04.2008 Assuming normal weather conditions, the Food and Agriculture Organization predicts a 1.8 percent increase in world rice production, including India and Bangladesh, which may ease the current tight supply in key rice producing countries. On the other side, international rice trade is expected to fall due to restrictions in exports.