What we’ve been reading this week

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

Chicago Council’s Grow Markets, Fight Hunger Report Featured, Global Food for Thought

FAO food price index drops again in March driven by sugar’s sharp slide, FAO

Deforestation is messing with our weather — and our food, EurekAlert

Agriculture and Agrometeorological Services, PAEPARD

Yesterday’s bread against food waste, Plantwise

“Why Wait Until the Next Food Crisis?” Improving Food Reserves Strategies in East Africa, ACORD

Why we should be worried by the World Bank shoveling $36bn to ‘financial intermediaries’, From Poverty to Power

Feeding the World – Without GMOs, EWG

We’re treating soil like dirt. It’s a fatal mistake, as our lives depend on it, The Guardian

What we’ve been reading this week

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

NIAB leads taskforce on new sustainable intensification guidelines, Farming Online

Are we measuring the right things? The latest multidimensional poverty index is launched today – what do you think?, Duncan Green, Oxfam

Study: Deforestation leaves fish undersized and underfed, BBC News

GMO 2.0: genetically modified foods with added health benefits, The Guardian

EU Nations Back Flexibility on Biotech-Crop Cultivation, Bloomberg

Countries recognize vital role of small-scale fishers, FAO

How Do We Feed The Next One Billion People?, Forbes

The hungry and forgotten, The Economist

What we’ve been reading this week

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

Food security: Ag’s big challenge, Farm Weekly

Ending extreme poverty with a new model of development, Rajiv Shah, Devex

Q&A: Agriculture Needs a ‘New Revolution’, Kanayo Nwanze, IRIN

The Africa Fertilizer Gap, Global Food Security

How can Governments and Donors support Africa’s Women Farmers?, Duncan Green, Oxfam

British firm gets go-ahead for planting genetically modified omega-3 seeds, The Irish Times

Complex land rights feed ‘grabbing’ complaints in Tanzania, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Study casts doubt on climate benefit of biofuels from corn residue, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Six Innovative Initiatives That Are Working to Strengthen Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture, Huffington Post

What we’ve been reading this week

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

Increasing cropping frequency offers opportunity to boost food supply, University of Minnesota

Climate-Smart Pearl Millet Variety May Be a Game Changer for Nutrition, Feed the Future

WTO chief says no chance of global trade deal, USA Today

Iowa in the Amazon, The New York Times

Science’s role in growing diverse, nutritious food, SciDev.Net

What have been the farm-level economic impacts of the global cultivation of GM crops?, Collaboration for Environmental Evidence Library

‘Total inaction’ at UN climate talks, Africa groups charge, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Eating Aliens, Jackson Landers

Crowdsourcing app fights food loss in Africa, University of Twente

Hunger Grains: Are EU policies undermining progress on development?, From Poverty to Power, Duncan Green

How Africa’s natural resources can drive industrial revolution, CNN

What we’ve been reading this week

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

Traditional innovation in farming is under threat, Thomason Reuters Foundation

Tanzania becomes a battleground in fight over genetically modified crops, The Washington Post

The battle lines on food labelling, Politico

Agric: Key to achieving MDGs, Daily Trust

Women’s land rights matter for tackling hunger, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Africa Should Not Ignore the Potential of GM Crops, Jane Karuku

Changing course to feed the world in 2050, Triple Crisis

Seeds of discontent documentary unveils how foreign investors fuel land grabs, Agrarian Justice

‘It’s the small-scale producers who feed the world – promote and protect them’, The Guardian

FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Tenure

Ownership of land, or the absence of, is often cited as being a major barrier to increasing food production and achieving sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. When farmers do not own their own land, particularly true in the case of female farmers, it can be difficult to access credit and invest in on-farm improvements. Beyond the practical benefits of owning your own land it also reduces conflict over land use and removes the threat of having your livelihood taken away. An estimated five million people worldwide suffer from forced evictions every year.

Large-scale land acquisitions have become a topic of debate and in 2009 hedge funds and other speculators bought or leased almost 60 million hectares of land in Africa. In a bid to safeguard the rights of local people and avoid mass displacement, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has created Voluntary Guidelines on the Governance of Tenure. Released in May 2012, the guidelines, seen as a landmark decision of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), set out principles and standards for responsible governance of tenure over natural resources. In the words of the FAO, “They provide a framework that States can use when developing their own strategies, policies, legislation, programmes and activities. They allow governments, civil society, the private sector and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices’.