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New Agriculturist - Book reviews 09/1
Record wheat harvest no cause for celebration
Volatility in the financial markets could wipe out the record gains made in world cereal
production, FAO has warned. In its twice-yearly commodity publication Food Outlook, the
UN food agency said that a second price surge could take place in 2009/10 as a result of
ongoing price instability and restricted access to credit in the global economy.
According to one of the report's authors, Concepcion Calpe, the recent fall in food prices
could create a false sense of security that markets are becoming more stable. In actual
fact, the report states that much of the recovery in cereal production was concentrated in
developed countries, where farmers were in a good position to respond to higher prices by
growing more crops.
Land grabs 'a new form of colonialism'
Qatar is eager to snap up land in Africa for food crop production, and has applied for the
lease of 40,000 ha in Kenya to grow fruit and vegetables. The oil-rich Gulf state, which has
virtually no arable land of its own, is dependent on food imports. It has already negotiated
the lease of land in Cambodia for rice production, Sudan for maize and wheat, and
Vietnam for growing vegetables. In Kenya, the potential site is on uncultivated land in the
Tana river delta, an area that saw fierce but unsuccessful opposition by local communities
to a huge sugarcane plantation for biofuel production in 2008.
Sharp food price rises since 2007 have resulted in many wealthy nations looking to poorer
countries to provide them with affordable food. In November 2008, South Korean company
Daewoo Logistics secured a 99-year-lease on 1.3 million ha of cropland in Madagascar,
and Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates are reported to be in negotiation with Sudan
and Senegal. Rustom Masalawala, director of the Earth Institute at Colombia University, is
urging developing countries to be wary. He told New Agriculturist: "If these people come in
and take the best land then essentially you have a new form of colonialism. Local people
will be left with the marginal pieces of land which will create a disaster - nations will not be
able to feed themselves even though food is being grown on their land and being
exported."
International Year of Natural Fibres unveiled
The United Nations has declared 2009 the International Year of Natural Fibres (IYNF).
Nearly 30 million tonnes of natural fibres - those from animals and plants - are produced
around the world each year, with cotton accounting for two-thirds of total production. Other
important fibres include wool, jute, sisal, coir, silk and hemp. These renewable fibres are
easily transformed into yarn for use in clothing, upholstery, packaging and papermaking.
Following the highly successful International Year of the Potato in 2008, IYNF seeks to
raise the profile of natural fibres as important sources of income for poor producers,
particularly in context of the price rise of synthetic substitutes. The UN also hopes IYNF will
help raise awareness of the importance of natural fibres, encourage sustainability and
efficiency in fibre production, promote policies to encourage production and stimulate
international partnerships in the natural fibres industries. A programme of events is being
compiled, including a number of international conferences.
Fears over fertiliser
Diminishing phosphorus reserves could spell disaster for non-organic wheat yields, new
research suggests. The price of the mineral, widely used as fertiliser, has increased by 500
per cent in the past two years as world demand of 125 million tonnes per year eats into the
estimated reserves of 4-8 billion tonnes. Research by the UK's University of Newcastle, as
part of the European Union's Quality Low Input Food Programme, shows that non-organic
wheat yields could plummet from an average of nine tonnes per hectare (t/ha) to just four
t/ha by 2040, and could even fall as low as 2.5 t/ha. Researchers found organic wheat,
grown without chemical fertilisers, yielded six t/ha.
The UK's leading organic lobby group, the Soil Association, said that when phosphate
reserves eventually run out, one solution could be for farmers to use human waste as
fertiliser as an alternative source of phosphorus (see Human fertiliser - closing the nutrient
loop).
Arsenic in the Mekong
Mekong Delta fisheries in Cambodia could be under threat after high levels of arsenic were
discovered in river water. Contamination has already affected water drawn from wells, as
well as bottled and tap water, with up to 1.7 million Mekong people at risk of arsenic
poisoning. In some parts of Cambodia, and in neighbouring Vietnam, contamination levels
are 30 times above the World Health Organization's safe level of 10 parts per billion (ppb).
The discovery, made by UNICEF, follows studies of wells along the river which also flows
through Lao PDR and China.
Arsenic is difficult to detect as it has no taste or smell, and it can take years of slow
build-up before symptoms, including skin lesions and cancer, become apparent in humans.
The source of contamination is currently unclear, but UNICEF said it believed river
sedimentation, causing levels of naturally-occurring arsenic to accumulate, is to blame.
Until a formal scientific study is completed, industrial pollution has not been ruled out.
Cocoa prices soar
Cocoa is the latest commodity to attract the interest of financial speculators worldwide. In
2008, the price of cocoa bean, predominantly used to produce chocolate, surged by 70 per
cent following fears of falling supplies from Cote d'Ivoire, the world's largest producer.
A 40 per cent fall in the amount of cocoa beans reaching the country's ports has been
blamed on the combined impact of cold weather, heavy rains, black pod disease, high
fertiliser prices, strikes and corruption. Ongoing land disputes have also resulted in a
volatile security situation in the country's western cocoa producing areas.
Further speculative activity has been fuelled by reports of lower harvests in Ghana the
world's second-largest cocoa producer.
DFID announces help for Rwanda's farmers
Small farmers in Rwanda are to receive legally-recognised land rights as part of a new
US$55 million scheme, led by the UK Department for International Development (DFID)
and supported by a range of donors. It is hoped the initiative, which will take around four
years to implement across the whole country, will lead to fewer disputes over land
ownership and provide the security needed by farmers and businesses to invest in
long-term food production.
The programme, which has been successfully trialled in four areas, will enable farmers to
map their own boundaries using satellite images or aerial photography. DFID Minister Ivan
Lewis said: "Land registration will bring greater prosperity to hundreds of thousands of
farmers and their families - and help them stay in control of their livelihoods. Secure land
title is key to helping the Rwandan economy to continue to grow."
Reclamation crop blamed for Yemen floods
Experts in Yemen are calling for the government and NGOs to tackle a fast-growing
invasive shrub, which has been blamed for contributing to floods that have devastated
acres of farmland. Mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), a hardy evergreen weed from the
Americas, was introduced to combat desertification and stabilise sand dunes in the Middle
East state. It has since spread, mainly through animal droppings, to arable land, blocking
waterways and diverting floodwater into nearby villages.
Mesquite has been linked to severe flooding in Yemen's southeastern Hadramaut region,
where over half-a-million palm trees, thousands of other fruit trees and nearly 70,000
beehives were washed away in October 2008. According to the country's Ministry of
Agriculture, around 80 per cent of farmers in the region have been affected by the loss of
crops, livestock, agricultural equipment and wells.
Central Asia facing fisheries crisis
The fishing sector in Central Asia is close to collapse, FAO has warned. The UN agency
said fish production in the region has plummeted by as much as 98 per cent in Kyrgyzstan.
At a recent meeting in Tajikistan, the organisation blamed overfishing, widespread
poaching and pollution for the crisis, as well as a lack of investment in research, processing
facilities and poor maintenance of fleets and hatcheries.
Poor management of the sector is linked to the collapse of the Soviet Union, which was
followed by rapid privatisation and widespread corruption. Average fish consumption
across the region has dropped to less than one kilogramme per capita per year, against the
world average of 16kg pa. FAO called for regional cooperation to solve the crisis. It
recommended the establishment of an intergovernmental fisheries body tasked with
rescuing the industry and promoting sustainable fisheries development.
Ebola discovered in Filipino pigs
Parts of the Central Luzon region of the Philippines are under strict quarantine controls
after the Ebola-Reston virus was found for the first time in pigs. The discovery was made
during government investigations into the high mortality rates in pigs in the area, when
tests revealed Ebola-Reston as well as the virulent porcine reproductive and respiratory
syndrome (PRRS) virus. The World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation
for Animal Health (OIE), and FAO are to investigate the source, strength and transmission
of the virus, in order to develop effective guidelines for protecting human and animal
health.
Ebola-Reston is part of the same Filoviridae family as the highly-pathogenic Ebola viruses
found in parts of Africa. While the discovery of the virus in swine is a world-first, it has
previously also affected monkey populations in the Philippines.
Bingu double for agricultural reform
Malawi's president, Bingu wa Mutharika, has been formally recognised - twice in quick
succession - for his government's work to substantially improve agriculture and reduce
poverty. Wa Mutharika was awarded FAO's Agricola Medal just one month after receiving
the first Food Security Policy Leadership Award by FANRPAN (Food, Agriculture and
Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network). FANRPAN praised wa Mutharika as being
instrumental in bringing about "a unique green revolution for Malawi."
In less than three years, Malawi's Agriculture Input Subsidy Programme has helped the
country, previously suffering from dire grain deficits, to become a net exporter of maize,
and the initiative has been hailed as a potential model for food security in Africa. At the
award ceremony in Lilongwe, FAO director-general Jacques Diouf also cited Malawi as one
of the few countries to surpass the 2003 Maputo agreement by African Heads of State and
Government to allocate ten per cent of their budgets to agriculture.
African agriculture and forests key to climate change mitigation
Smallholder farmers in Africa hold the key to adapting to and mitigating against climate
change through sustainable agriculture and forests, says a bold initiative launched by
African countries at the COP 14 meeting in Poznan, Poland. In supporting the Africa
Climate Solution, a high level delegation called for the recognition of the contribution made
by African agriculture and forestry to climate change mitigation.
According to Sindiso Ngwenya, Secretary General of COMESA, "Despite the expansion of
the global market for carbon emissions, Africa has been left out in the cold from this trade."
The Africa Climate Solution initiative calls for the inclusion of the widest range of
bio-carbon - including afforestation, reforestation, agroforestry, enhanced natural
regeneration, re-vegetation of degraded lands, reduced soil tillage, and other agricultural
practices - in the climate change agreements to be concluded at the Copenhagen Summit
in December 2009.
"We are saying reward our resource-poor farmers for contributing to efforts towards
adapting and mitigating the effects of climate change," said Dr. Lindiwe Majele Sibanda,
CEO of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN)
and lead advocate for Africa's civil society organisations (CSOs), who have added their
voice and endorsed the African Climate Solution as a model for a better future after 2012.