Topic: UN Food and Agriculture Organization

All Content

Economy adds 120,000 jobs. Why the dip from bigger gains in early 2012? (+video)

The unemployment rate fell from 8.3 percent to 8.2 percent in March. Economists had been expecting higher numbers of new jobs.
Africa Monitor
Chad: a closer look at the food crisis

The current food crisis in Chad could affect 3.6 million people, writes guest blogger Alex Thurston.
Change Agent
12 simple ways to go green in 2012

If many people resolve to make their lives just a little greener in 2012 it could make a huge difference.
Famine alert: West Africa still has time to avoid 2012 food crisis

A Famine Early Warning System – which accurately predicted the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa – warns that millions of West Africans may face a food crisis in 2012.
Change Agent
As world population passes 7 billion, strategies make for future gains

Ensuring that women make their own choices about child-bearing and cutting waste are two important ways to ease the challenges of a more populous world.
World population hits 7 billion, but there are easy ways to curb growth

Water, food, and resource shortages, environmental degradation, poverty – population growth is endangering people and planet alike. By 2050 we'll need two planets just to contain us. The good news: Population growth does not have to rise as fast as projected.
New rules needed for African farm investments, Oxfam report says

The Oxfam report says private investments in Africa have forced tens of thousands from their lands, taken land out of production, and reduced food security, especially as investors focus on bio-fuels.
Africa Monitor
How rising global food prices could affect Africa (VIDEO)

Higher global food prices are likely to spell trouble for aid organizations working to relieve famine in the Horn of Africa.
US reports a drop in jobless claims. Is this the beginning of something?

Weekly unemployment claims dropped below 400,000 in the most recent report. While some see this as a signal that the economy is firming up, others caution that more positive indicators are needed.
International groups accelerate effort to relieve East Africa's famine

The first UN plane in two years is scheduled to go into the Somali capital's airport Wednesday carrying food aid. Some 3.7 million people in Somalia alone need help.
Africa Monitor
West Africa Rising: Ghana looks to fix its floundering fisheries

The World Bank plans to pump $53 million into Ghana's fisheries industry, which employs 2.2 million people, to reverse a decade-long downturn.
Africa Monitor
African food prices: When they rise, why, who they impact the most

Rising food prices can prompt political and urban unrest. The potential for that is elevated in Kinshasa, the continent's third largest city.
Rising world food prices: Can a G20 'action plan' prevent a crisis?

The last spike in global food prices was marked by rioting. With prices again on the rise, G20 agriculture ministers are meeting in Paris and are expected to adopt an 'action plan.'
Letter to the Editor from Consul General of Japan

Takeshi Hikihara, the Consul General of Japan in Boston, responds to commentary from Jacques Attali about the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Bernanke: Don't blame Federal Reserve for record-high food prices

Ben Bernanke says Federal Reserve policy is not responsible for the UN's Food Price Index now standing at its highest level in 21 years or gasoline costs rising 49% in six months.
The Daily Reckoning
Behind Libya: rising food prices and US debt

Behind the popular discontent in the Arab world is food. And behind soaring food prices is Ben Bernanke.
Study: Eating bugs could reduce global warming

For much of the world, eating insects — officially called entomophagy — is neither strange nor disgusting nor exotic.
Rising world food prices may soon hit Africa hard, but could be a future boon

The World Bank warned Tuesday that global food prices are reaching 'dangerous' levels. Africa is bracing for short-term trouble, but sustained high prices could spark agribusiness investment across the continent.
Brace yourself for the food-price bubble

If the world has a poor harvest this year, food prices will rise to previously unimaginable levels. Food riots will multiply, political unrest will spread, and governments will fall.
The Daily Reckoning
Rising food prices and the Fed's shady alibi

The Fed says it's not to blame for rising food costs. But could its money printing be a cause?
Editor's Blog
As world population heads toward a peak, Malthusian worries reemerge

By 2050, the planet will add the equivalent of a new China and India in population. Africa is increasingly seen as the new global breadbasket in the quest to feed all those people.
Spike in world food prices: It's more than bad weather

A global index for food prices, as measured by the UN, reached a record high last month. This on the heels of a food crisis in 2007-08. The weather isn't the only culprit -- or solution.
Suicide attacks down, Predator drone exits, and other overlooked stories in 2010

Here are some stories in 2010 that you may have overlooked, including a global decline in suicide attacks and the phasing out of the Predator drone.
Africa Monitor
Most corrupt country in the world? Somalia, says Transparency International.

According to Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index, Somalia is the world's most corrupt country, highlighting the convergence of conflict and corruption.
Corporate land grabs threaten food security

Wealthy countries are buying up farm land in poorer countries – with global consequences. These controversial land grabs hurt local workers and ecosystems, and dangerously tip the scale of the world's food economy.