Author: WHES

Latin America has most unequal land distribution, Colombia fares worst, Oxfam study says

BOGOTA – Land distribution in Latin America is the most unequal in the world where only one percent of the farms and estates control more than half of the region’s productive land, aid group Oxfam said on Wednesday. Colombia, where two thirds of agricultural land is concentrated in just 0.4 percent of farmland holdings, fares the worst, Oxfam said in a report analysing land censuses and policy in 15 countries over the last 50 years.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-latam-landrights-idUKKBN13P2J0?il=0

Hungry Venezuelans flee in boats to escape economic collapse

WILLEMSTAD, Curaçao — The dark outlines of land had just come into view when the smuggler forced everyone into the sea. Roymar Bello screamed. She was one of 17 passengers who had climbed onto the overloaded fishing boat with aging motors in July, hoping to escape Venezuela’s economic disaster for a new life on the Caribbean island of Curaçao.

“http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/world/americas/hungry-venezuelans-flee-in-boats-to-escape-economic-collapse.html

How Narenda Modi of India plans to wipe out black market money

In one of the most audacious experiments in India’s modern history, Prime Minister Narendra Modi banned the two largest bills — of 500 rupees, or about $7.50, and 1,000 rupees — which account for about 86 percent of the currency in a country where 78 percent of financial transactions are done in cash.

 

See full story at “http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/world/asia/how-india-plans-to-wipe-out-black-money.html?ref=world

As grasslands dwindle, Kenya’s shepherds seek urban pastures

NAIROBI, Kenya — Allan Lemayian is what you would call an urban shepherd. He goes where the green grass grows. It doesn’t matter if that grass grows along a four-lane highway or in front of a Shell station or on the lawn of a million-dollar home.

See full story at “http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/world/africa/as-grasslands-dwindle-kenyas-shepherds-seek-urban-pastures.html?ref=africa

Avocados imperil Monarch butterflies’ winter home in Mexico

APÚTZIO DE JUÁREZ, Mexico — The green volcanic hills that tower above Apútzio de Juárez have begun to fill with swarms of monarch butterflies, which return each year for the winter stretch of their celebrated — and imperiled — migration. But downhill from the monarchs’ mountain roost, in the oak and pine forests that border this small farming town, there lurks a new threat to their winter habitat: a lust to grow the lucrative avocados that are being consumed at record rates in the United States.

See full story at “http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/world/americas/ambition-of-avocado-imperils-monarch-butterflies-winter-home.html

Land grab update: Mozambique, Africa still in crosshairs

More than 1,000 large-scale foreign land deals are now under contract for agriculture covering more than 26 million hectares of land, according to the new report, “Land Matrix Analytical Report II: International Land Deals for Agriculture.” That area represents a remarkable two percent of arable land in the world. Nearly three-quarters of the projects have now begun production on some of the land.

 

See full story at http://foodtank.com/news/2016/10/land-grab-update-mozambique-africa-still-in-the-crosshairs