Agriculture & Nutrition

Nearly half the children in drought-stricken South Madagascar are malnourished. Photo: ©Miriam Gathigah/IPS
Nearly half the children in drought-stricken South Madagascar are malnourished. Photo: ©Miriam Gathigah/IPS

Malagasy children bear brunt of severe drought

by Miriam Gathigah Inter Press Service July 21, 2016

Voahevetse Fotetse can easily pass for a three-year-old even though he is six and a pupil at Ankilimafaitsy Primary School in Ambovombe district, Androy region, one of the most severely affected by the ongoing drought in the South of Madagascar. “Fotetse is just like many of the pupils here who, d...

Zhenyuan, China. 73% of the gains that the UN claims against hunger come from China, most of which occurred during the 1990s, before the MDGs even began. Photo: ©©Eric
Zhenyuan, China. 73%  of  the  gains  that the   UN   claims   against   hunger come from China, most of which occurred  during  the  1990s,  before the  MDGs  even began.  Photo:  ©©Eric

The true extent of hunger: What the FAO isn’t telling you

by Food First July 13, 2016

Changes in the way the FAO measures hunger reduced the estimated number of hungry people and increased the percentage reduction in the number of hungry people.  This article discusses those changes....

Miranto (left) and Sitraka were born on the same day in the same Madagascar village, but Sitraka is chronically malnourished. Photo: Tom Maguire/RESULTS
Miranto (left) and Sitraka were born on the same day in the same Madagascar village, but Sitraka is chronically malnourished.  Photo:  Tom Maguire/RESULTS

These 2 boys were born the same day in the same town, but their lives will be dramatically different.

by Lauren Weber Huntington Post July 13, 2016

How chronic malnourishment damages the bodies and brains of 1 in 4 children worldwide....

The fishing boats leave at dawn from the port city of Beira, Mozambique. Photo: ©Guy Oliver/IRIN

One in 10 people may face malnutrition as fish catches decline

by Clare Leschin-Hoar NPR July 7, 2016

Scientists are predicting more than 10 percent of the world's population, a whopping 845 million people, will experience deficiencies in critically important micronutrients including zinc, iron, vitamin A, vitamin B12, and fatty-acids in the coming decades if global fish catches continue to decline....

Golden rice grain compared to white rice grain.  Photo: International Rice Research Institute

107 Nobel laureates sign letter blasting Greenpeace over GMOs; Greenpeace replies

by Joel Ashenbach Washington Post July 5, 2016

Controversy centers in part on a genetically engineered strain of rice that supporters say could reduce Vitamin-A deficiencies causing blindness and death in children in the developing world. ...

The World Food Prize announces its 2016 Laureates: Drs. Maria Andrade, Jan Low and Robert Mwanga helped in providing Vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potatoes to Sub-Saharan African countries and Dr. Howarth Bouis created a global multi-sector organization, HarvestPlus, which has released biofortified crops in 30 countries worldwide. Photo: WFP
The World Food Prize announces its 2016 Laureates: Drs. Maria Andrade, Jan Low and Robert Mwanga helped in providing Vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potatoes to Sub-Saharan African countries and Dr. Howarth Bouis created a global multi-sector organization, HarvestPlus, which has released biofortified crops in 30 countries worldwide. Photo: WFP

Biofortification pioneers win 2016 World Food Prize for fight against malnutrition

by Hunger Notes June 29, 2016

Drs. Maria Andrade, Robert Mwanga, Jan Low and Howarth Bouis were announced as the 2016 World Food Prize Laureates during a June 28 ceremony at the U.S. State Department. Three of the 2016 laureates -- Dr. Maria Andrade, Dr. Robert Mwanga and Dr. Jan Low of the International Potato Center (CIP), ...

The global farmland grab is far from over. Photo: Friends of the Earth International
The global farmland grab is far from over. Photo: Friends of the Earth International

The global farmland grab in 2016: how big, how bad?

by Grain June 18, 2016

Eight years after releasing its first report on land grabbing, which put the issue on the international agenda, GRAIN publishes a new dataset documenting nearly 500 cases of land grabbing around the world....

Launch of 2016 Global Nutrition Report

by IFPRI June 15, 2016

Few challenges facing the global community today match the scale of malnutrition, a condition that directly affects one in three people. The 2016 Global Nutrition Report is a comprehensive stocktake of the state of the world’s nutrition, from child stunting to adult obesity. The report finds that,...

FROM UNIFORMITY TO DIVERSITY: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems

by Emile Frison IPES Food June 15, 2016

The report ‘From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems’ written by International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food System (IPES-FOOD) was launched at the Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity on 2 June 2016. The comprehe...

Dr. Mahfuz Amed of the Asian Development Bank said that shrinking natural resources, degrading environments, climate change and disaster risks, financing gaps, poor logistics and infrastructure deficits are among the major constraints to realize the objectives of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger by 2030. Photo: ADB
Dr. Mahfuz Amed  of the Asian Development Bank said that  shrinking natural resources, degrading environments, climate change and disaster risks, financing gaps, poor logistics and infrastructure deficits are among the major constraints to realize the objectives of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger by 2030. Photo: ADB

Asia-Pacific region aims at hunger-free goal

by Thalif Dean Inter Press Service June 10, 2016

Poor countries in the region including Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, and Cambodia have some of the highest levels of food insecurity in the world....

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