What we’ve been reading this week

This week’s summary on the news stories and blogs that have grabbed our attention. We welcome your thoughts and comments on these articles.

Davos 2013: new vision for agriculture is old news for farmers, The Guardian

Investors wary of going back to the land, Financial Times

USAID, DuPont work with Government of Ethiopia to improve food security, US Agency for International Development

Bill Gates: My plan to fix the world’s biggest problems, Wall Street Journal

Water-stressed Kenyans learn to share to keep the peace, AlertNet

Anti-hunger campaign ‘If’ launches with call for G8 to act, The Guardian

Climate Conversations – Chickpea genome map to benefit poor farmers, AlertNet

Agriculture ‘still the best bet’ in cutting African poverty levels, Africa Review

Support smallholder farmers to achieve food security, Government of Ghana

Resolving the food crisis: The need for decisive action, Aljazeera

Enough food for everyone IF….

Originally posted on the Agriculture for Impact blog.

One in eight women, men and children go to bed hungry every night and by 2025 nearly a billion young people will face poverty because of the damage done to them now through hunger and malnutrition. These are just some of the startling statistics that have led over 100 organisations to combine under a new campaign.

“Enough food for everyone if…” is the slogan of this UK campaign launched on the 23^rd January 2013. Backed by Desmond Tutu and Bill Gates, the campaign aims to reach 20 million people in the UK and get 5 million people involved with the ultimate goal of petitioning David Cameron to lead on hunger at the G8, which the UK have presidency over for 2013. With his leadership, the campaign hopes to ensure global leaders, meeting at the G8 summit in June, act on the underlying causes of hunger.

Namely that there can be ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE:

• IF we give enough aid to stop children dying from hunger and help the poorest families feed themselves
• IF governments stop big companies dodging tax in poor countries, so that millions of people can free themselves from hunger
• IF we stop poor farmers being forced off their land and we grow crops to feed people not fuel cars
• IF governments and big companies are honest and open about their actions that stop people getting enough food