foodcrisis

Source: Flickr

The persistent food shortages and problems in the agricultural sector show that it is not enough to celebrate the country's natural gifts; they must be harnessed and used sustainably.

Nearly 40 people have died of hunger-related complications across the country since May. Millions more in the north, east and north-eastern regions of the country are living on food handouts given by the World Food Programme and other aid agencies.

Source: Flickr

This week, 4 million more people will go to bed hungry all over the world. Seven out of ten of them are women. The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization recently reported that the total number of hungry people worldwide now has topped 1 billion. Today, with high food prices and the global economic crisis, the world's poorest citizens can only afford a third as much staple food as they could three years ago.

Positive changes are starting to take root in Zimbabwe. Now is the time to start investing in its future, according to Oxfam CEO Barbara Stocking.
My visit to Zimbabwe turned out to be quite a surprise. I expected, a flattened, depressed place with people worn out by the lack of food and then cholera.

India and Spain Wednesday signed cooperation agreements in the fields of renewable energy, tourism and agriculture that will give Asia's third largest economy greater access to Spanish technology and expertise.

The deals were signed in the presence of visiting Indian President Pratibha Patil and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who held talks on the global financial crisis, cooperation in the fight against terrorism and trade relations, Zapatero's office said.

The world faces a permanent food crisis and global instability unless countries act now to feed a surging population by doubling agricultural output, a report drafted for ministers of the Group of Eight nations has warned.

The policy document, prepared by the G8's Italian presidency for the group's first ministerial meeting on agriculture and seen by the Financial Times, says "immediate interventions" are needed.