Gazing out over the parched earth of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, one might think these farmlands have not seen water in years. In fact, this is not too far from the truth.The World Food Programme (WFP) last month allocated 2.5 million dollars to assist hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans in the throes of an 11-month drought that has shown no signs of abating.
Author: WHES
Developing countries blast rich-world farm subsidies at Rome talks
ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Wealthy countries are still subsidizing their farmers at the expense of developing nations, undermining market access for some of the world’s poorest producers, two farm ministers told a Food and Agriculture Organization meeting on Monday.
Out of control: How the world’s health organizations failed to stop the Ebola disaster
Tom Frieden remembers the young woman with the beautiful hair, dyed a rusty gold and braided meticulously, elaborately, perhaps by someone who loved her very much. She was lying facedown, half off the mattress. She had been dead for hours, and flies had found the bare flesh of her legs.
14.3 percent of US households were food insecure in 2013; percentage down slightly from 2011
USDA’s latest report on food insecurity in America shows that the prevalence of food insecurity is down from a high of 14.9 percent of U.S. households in 2011 to 14.3 percent in 2013. This annual report takes a look at the number and types of households that had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of financial or other resources. Back in 2007, about 11 percent of U.S. households were food insecure, but with the economic downturn in 2008, that rate had increased and remained relatively high.
Given improvements in employment and other economic indicators, some have wondered why food security has been slow to improve. A recent study by my colleagues and me at the Economic Research Service sheds light on this question. We found that while unemployment declined in 2012 and 2013, inflation and the price of food relative to other goods and services continued to increase. These increases offset improvements in food security that might have resulted from the decline in unemployment. This study provides a useful backdrop to understanding trends in and causes of food insecurity.
The USDA annual report also includes statistics on food insecurity in different types of households. We find that in general, households with children have higher food insecurity rates than those without children. In 2013, one-in-five households with children were food insecure. Most parents try to protect their children from food insecurity, to the extent they can. So in about half of these food-insecure households, only adults were food insecure. But both children and adults were food insecure in 9.9 percent of households with children—meaning that these 3.8 million households were unable to provide adequate, nutritious food for their children at times during the year. A subset of these households—0.9 percent of all households with children (360,000 households) —faced food insecurity so severe that parents reported that children were hungry, skipped a meal, or did not eat for a whole day because there was not enough money for food. This subset of households with children was down from 1.2 percent in 2012. You can see more statistics on the incidence and severity of food insecurity by demographic characteristics, across States, and over time in Household Food Security in the United States in 2013.
Alicia Coleman-Jensen is one of the authors of Household Food Security in the United States in 2013. This article first appeared in the USDA ERS blog and may be accessed at http://blogs.usda.gov/2014/09/03/food-insecurity-among-american-households-surveying-the-numbers/
New hunger figures show millions of Americans continue to struggle
See Report
The state of obesity in the United States
After decades of rising obesity rates among adults, the pace of increase is beginning to slow, but rates remain high. This report reveals that adult obesity rates increased in six states in the past year and remained high overall.
Feed the Future legislation introduced in Congress
(September 30, 2014) Members of the House and Senate each introduced legislation to permanently authorize the US government’s Feed the Future Initiative. The House’s Feed the Future Global Food Security Act of 2014 and the Senate’s Global Food Security Act of 2014 were introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), respectively. The bills are cosponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Sens. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), and Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.).
Feed the Future aims to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, strengthen maternal and child nutrition, and build capacity for long-term growth. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, there are more than 500 million family farms in the world, and the majority are in developing countries.
Both bills will build upon the progress already made through Feed the Future by developing a whole-of-government strategy that supports country ownership, nutrition, and food security. Through this legislation, assistance to small-scale farmers, especially women, will be prioritized. Additionally, each bill seeks to improve maternal and child nutrition during the critical 1,000-day window between a woman’s pregnancy and her child’s second birthday.
These aims are consistent with the nutrition strategy introduced by the US Agency for International Development earlier this year.” Introduced before Congress left for recess, both bills will have to wait until after the November elections for consideration.
Sugar industry highlights conflicts over trade policy and land
OMLIANG COMMUNE, Cambodia — Yim Lon nurses bitter memories of how three years ago the local authorities forced her and her family to dismantle their small home and move it to make way for a sugar plantation.
We’ve killed off half the world’s animals since 1970
The new Living Planet Index report from the World Wildlife Fund opens with a jaw-dropping statistic: we’ve killed roughly half of the world’s non-human vertebrate animal population since 1970.
Farming on sandbars in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of poorest countries on Earth, and farming families have to make use of whatever space is available. Criss-crossed by 230 of the world’s most unstable rivers, the situation is worsened by flooding that affects millions of people each year, with at least 100,000 women, men and children forced to move as villages and livelihoods are literally washed away. And in recent years, flooding has intensified and lasts longer.
