Meat in Lebanon

Meat consumption in Lebanon, in thousand tons: total consumption: 182; locally produced: 195; exported: 2 tons; imported 32; reserve: 44. FAO (weird) data.

Watt? Me worry?

Who steals electricity in Lebanon, in million kilowatts: follow up on the file that has left 7 people dead and 30 wounded: Beirut and suburbs: 383, Mount Lebanon 311, Bekaa 334, North 332, South 465. Data from Electricite du Liban.

Exposed!

Corruption sleuth Rasha Abu Zeki exposes the wheat and flour cartels and the government's "inefficiency" in the economics page of Al Akhbar. If you can read Arabic, do not miss this one! Apparently, the government (Haddad again) called for bids to import 50,000 ton of wheat. They were won by 2 companies (25,000 tons each). One company imported from Kazakhstan at $457.90 per ton. The other paid slightly less for Russian wheat. Why did the government buy wheat by bids and then distribute it to the mills? Because the mills cartel offered to import wheat for $420 per ton a price it thought to be too high! So now the government is paying more for it from the "market". Isn't there something wrong here? As a result, the government subsidizes the mills and the bakeries to the tune of $4.65 millions per month from the taxpayer's money. But it gets worse: Rasha reports that Egypt is importing bread wheat from Kazakhstan for...$250 per ton while we are paying $457.9 for the same wheat!

It's been raining all day. I've worked all day. There has been two mega demonstrations in town, one mourning Hariri and the other mourning Mughniyya, the Hizbullah guy who was car bombed in Damascus 2 days ago. There was at least one street battle in Beirut, under the house of my son's friend, near Sodeco. Their car got smashed and riddled with bullets and they had to hide for hours in the corridor, away from the windows.

So no blogging about food for today. I've lost my appetite.

Ecartèle

Lebanese cartels:Companies controlling 50% of the market: One company for the butane gas market (the only way to cook at home). 5 companies for the drugs (medicines) market. 5 companies for the foreign exchange market. 5 companies for the insurance market. 3 companies for the cement market (in the country of the never ending reconstruction). 3 companies for the market of bottled water (in the country of polluted tap water).

From a study by the Ministry of Economy, published in Al Akhbar, the best newspaper around.

Anthropocene

"Soil scientist Daniel Richter at Duke University in Durham, N.C., would agree. In an announcement of his work last month, he explained that human-induced changes to the world's soils are enough in themselves to justify saying we have entered the "Anthropocene (or man-made) age." He notes, "With more than half of all soils on Earth now being cultivated for food crops, grazed, or logged for wood, how to sustain Earth's soils is becoming a major scientific and policy issue."

He adds, "If humanity is to succeed in the coming decades, we must interact much more positively with the great diversity of Earth's soils."

Dr. Richter cites Africa as an example of this challenge. There, widespread farming without nutrient recycling threatens continent-wide soil infertility. He adds that, globally, "expanding cities, industries, mining, and transportation systems all impact soil in ways that are far more permanent than cultivation." Richter is part of an international group that has set up the first global long-term soil research network. This will help develop the knowledge needed for worldwide soil management." (Thanks D.)

Rats!

"Casting doubt on the benefit of low-calorie sweeteners, research released Sunday reported that rats on diets containing saccharin gained more weight than rats given sugary food.

The study in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience found that the calorie-free artificial sweetener appeared to break the physiological connection between sweet tastes and calories, driving the rats to overeat."

Fatal traction

"Earlier this month, President Bush roiled U.S. vegetable farmers by announcing a crackdown on undocumented workers. Last week, industrial-meat giant Smithfield Foods goosed the hog-futures market by inking a deal to export 60 million pounds of U.S.-grown pork to China.

These events, unrelated though they seem, illustrate a common point: that despite all the recent fuss around local food, the globalized food system, far from losing strength, continues to gain traction. " (Thanks D.)

Lunatic calendar

Yesterday, the minister of Economy and Trade Sami Haddad (yes, him again) declared the death of the agricultural calendar and the lifting of all protection measures on Lebanese farm products. I've blogged about this earlier, but Al Akhbar ran a number of really interesting article for those who can read Arabic and are interested: Antoine Hoayeck, the head of the Lebanese Farmer's Association asks if there is a political cover operation for the canceling of the agricultural calendar, and the excellent Rasha Abou Zeki on the repercussions of Haddad's decision. I saw Rasha today and she told me that Haddad refuses to grant her interview after his famous foot in the mouth conversation with her. It looks like he made them change the picture of that famous interview, but I have blogged the original, much funnier one. You have to remember that the Arab trade partners have allowed Lebanon a few protectionist measures, but that Haddad is rejecting them. Yesterday, Rasha also wrote about the calendar in her report of Haddad's press conference. But hidden somewhere in the article, there was an odd piece of news: apparently politicians on all sides of the spectrum are interfering to increase this or that bakery's share of subsidized flour. And if one is to believe what the article says, (reporting a conversation by Kazem Ibrahim, the head of the Bakerie's union) Prime Minister Sanioura was himself asking Haddad to increase the share in flour of the Shamseen Bakeries (one of the largest), in which Sanioura's brother in law is a shareholder. Lebanese politics...

For the record: There are motorcades of vehicles overstuffed with young men waving (Hariri) Future movement flags and (Jumblat) PSP flags driving through Beirut shooting in the air with machine guns and hand guns. One just passed under my house in Ras Beirut. My kids freaked out.

Cold spell compounds woes of Palestinian farmers

"A recent cold snap with sub-zero temperatures has caused farmers in the West Bank to incur losses of nearly US$14.5 million, according to initial estimates by the Palestinian ministry of agriculture (MoA) set out in a 6 February joint "fact sheet" with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

"I can't export to Israel anymore because of their restrictions. We can't export to Gaza, because of the closure there. I can't export to Jordan because I don't have [an Israeli-issued] permit," he said, adding that he could only sell within the West Bank, but even there some markets were hard to reach due to checkpoints." (Thanks Marcy)

Probably the only place where agriculture is worse off than in Lebanon.

The P-word

"Even here, however, population growth is not the most immediate issue: another sector is expanding much faster. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation expects that global meat production will double by 2050 - growing, in other words, at two and a half times the rate of human numbers. The supply of meat has already trebled since 1980: farm animals now take up 70% of all agricultural land and eat one third of the world's grain. In the rich nations we consume three times as much meat and four times as much milk per capita as the people of the poor world. While human population growth is one of the factors that could contribute to a global food deficit, it is not the most urgent."

Classic Monbiot, a great read.

Hanging by a thread

There was lots of shooting in Beirut last Saturday night, and it brought back bad memories. Apparently it was supporters of the Loyalists (to the government, as opposed to the Opposition) who were shooting in the air to celebrate Saad Hariri's and Walid Jumblat's (Loyalist leaders) addresses to the crowds. I read the text of the speeches they gave, and they both made it clear that if need be, they are ready for war. The shooting, I assume, was for emphasis.

I have promised myself not to write about Lebanese politics on this blog unless the situation is so bad that it cannot be ignored, like during the Nahr el Bared crisis. These days, I have to keep reminding myself that this is a blog that's just about development and food politics. But tension is really high, with a mega demonstration in memory of Hariri the father being planned with enormous media investments for February 14. Everybody is hoping things will not slip out of hand and that the whole thing won't end in street battles. I personally do not think this will happen.

The celebratory shooting had, however, another result than the intended show of force and readiness by the Loyalist: it undermined the neutrality of the Lebanese army, and it may very possibly have given the Opposition another excuse not to trust Michel Sleiman, the current Army Chief, who is to be the next "consensually elected" president. The public in the areas dominated by the Opposition, as well as the parents of the young people who died during Black Sunday's demonstrations, are asking why did the army not arrest the thugs who were going around Beirut shooting in the air, and in one case, shooting at the Internal Security Forces guarding the house of the speaker of the parliament (these were arrested later), when this same army shot young men burning tires in the street. Since when, they say, is burning tires in the street a deadly offense, while shooting in the streets with machine guns is acceptable.

What do the loyalists get from the escalation? There are many theories circulating (after all this is Beirut), one of them is that armed confrontation will force Hizbullah to address the difficult reality that it is heavily armed and that it promised "never to turn its arms towards Lebanon". Already its public is pressing for revenge for all those who have been killed either by the army, by Internal Security or by thugs. And even if Hizbullah can control its members, the Opposition is not exclusively made out of members of Hizbullah, and they are armed, like most other Lebanese. It will be difficult, for instance, to control the Amal people if they lose of few members to sniping or skirmishes. It is thought that armed confrontation will induce an internationalization of the crisis, which will push the "International Community" led by the US to interfere and appoint a sympathetic regime. The Maronite patriarch has already indicated that if the crisis goes on for longer, the UN should appoint a governor for Lebanon (or something to that effect).

Where is the Opposition in all that? Clearly, they are trying to avoid armed confrontations, because they will be the main (political) losers. Look at the events: Since February 14, 2005, car bombs have killed many loyalist politicians (and scores of innocent people who are not less important than the politicians), but it is almost exclusively Opposition sympathizers who have been killed in shooting incidents. They were killed by other civilians (assumed to be Loyalist thugs), the army, or internal security. And the Opposition has been able to control public anger and to prevent slippage into open war. There is a reason for that: Hizbullah will lose whatever credibility it still has as a resistance movement the moment it turns its weapons towards other Lebanese, and it will become just another sectarian militia. For many it still holds today the "resistance" high moral ground.

So what will happen if a "High Commissioner" is appointed, or if the loyalists elect a president with a 50% parliamentary majority? Among the various theories circulating is that the opposition will let things happen and will not confront heads-on any attempt to take over the government by the loyalists, with or without the help of the "International Community". Their offer to the loyalists is clear: either we rule together with veto power for all concerned parties (the President being one of them), or you rule on your own and bear responsibility for what happens later on in terms of economic regression and security degradation. A Loyalist regime will not be able to come to an agreement with Hizbullah over its weapons and it would be faced with the difficult choice of sending the army to get them or doing nothing. The military option would certainly be disastrous in terms of human and economic costs, and the army is not a clearly favored winner here. The "doing nothing" option does not appear to be acceptable to the "International Community", especially the US, who backed the loyalists in order to implement UN resolution 1559 calling for the disarmament of Hizbullah.

These scenarios all look pretty dramatic. However, the real drama is the fact that even if tomorrow Loyalists and Opposition come to an agreement, it will not change the reality for the average Lebanese. What is going on is just another round of push-pull for a further division of the country between different parties, many of whom are previous militias having demonstrated their destructive and criminal abilities throughout the 1975-1990 period. As usual, the geopolitical dynamics are put to good use by sects, confessions and their militias, in order to readjust the balance of power in Lebanon. This of course happens at the expenses of the Lebanese people, who is unfortunately taking active part in this tragedy: when Loyalists or Opposition are able to gather millions of people in the streets, there are not many Lebanese left out.

Meanwhile, the livelihoods of the people of Lebanon continue to crash, in spite of the money offered by the various parties (Saad Hariri pledged yesterday in Tripoli $53 millions in "charity", and it is no secret that Hizbullah also has a strong social program for its supporters). However, this money cannot solve much: compared to the needs, this is just scratching the surface, and it can only provide a temporary relief. There are things that only a state can do.

Look for instance at the situation of sanitation in Lebanon: A recent UN report indicates that 1/3 of the Lebanese do not have access to sanitation (no sewer systems!). Read the Arabic summary article here. Those who do have sewers are in cities, while the rural people are left without. This contributes to the infiltration of sewage into the groundwater, and contaminates the drinking water springs. But do not rejoice too quickly o city dwellers: there is NO wastewater treatment in Lebanon to speak of. All that is collected in the city sewers is thrown directly into the sea, near the shores, and then we swim in it. Many many NGOs have tried their hand at sanitation: it does not work, we need a state structure for that, and for a million reasons: economy of scale, but also sustainable maintenance.

Look also at the eternal issue of agricultural production and protectionism: I'm tired of talking about him, but at least he is consistent: the minister of Economy and (Free) Trade, Sami Haddad, is refusing to engage into talks with his Arab counterpart to allow Lebanon to establish an agricultural calendar to protect some of its production. Of course this is a form of protectionism, but the farmers argue: we have no state while all the other Arab countries have one, and we have always been neglected and the government does not do its duties in research, extension, credit and legislations for land access. So, they say, we should ask for special favored treatment. Haddad, will however prevail, apparently and according to this article, he blackmails the government into accepting his ultra liberal policies by threatening to resign, which would have very bad consequences on a government that's already hanging by a thread.

As if it was only the government that is hanging by a thread.

Absurd science

"El-Baz, the director of the US-based Boston University's Center for Remote Sensing, has been advising the Gulf states on science for over three decades, participating in nearly every science and research initiative in the region.

So far, those initiatives have largely failed to bear fruit. "The state of science in this region remains terrible," says El-Baz.

After several unsuccessful attempts in the 1970s to bring scientists into the kingdom, Saudi Arabia is experimenting with an unorthodox model.

The country is looking at supporting foreign researchers at their home institutions worldwide through the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a graduate-level university — and Saudi Arabia's first co-educational institution — due to open on the shores of the Red Sea in 2009. The catch is that the grants will only go, at least initially, to research areas of interest to Saudi Arabia."

And what a great catch it is...for the subcontracted universities in the North! This is the new face of Arab-Islamic Science: pay someone else to do it somewhere else. La science de l'absurde.

Full article here.

meanwhile in Al Andalus...

"The rich realm of Al-Andalus (modern Andalusia) applied innovative agronomy, abandoning the usual practice of rotating crops every two and three years. Instead, farmers intensively cultivated a diverse crop portfolio for several years running, then planted legumes (such as clover and lucerne) to help the soil recover.

This Islamic-inspired agrarian movement reached its apogee in the twelfth century in the person of Ibn-el-Beithar of Malaga, also known as Ennabâty (the botanist).

In the words of Stanley Lane-Poole in 1886: "The land deprived of skillful irrigation of the Moors, grew impoverished and neglected… and most of the populous cities which had filled every district in Andalusia, fell into ruinous decay; and beggars, friars, and bandits took the place of scholars, merchants and knights.""

Opinion piece on Muslim agriculture by Denis Murphy. I like these historical pieces, but only for their intellectual benefit, and NOT as a way of evading acknowledgment of the current technological torpor of the overwhelming majority of Arab/Muslim countries. Of course, Islam in the sense used in this piece does not refer to Arabs only, nor does it refer to Muslims only. Many of the great "Muslim" scientists where non-Muslims.

The business of climate change

• "Fully 60 percent of global executives surveyed by The McKinsey Quarterly regard climate change as strategically important, and a majority consider it important to product development, investment planning, and brand management.
• Fewer companies, however, act on these opinions. More than one-third of executives say their companies seldom or never consider climate change when developing overall strategy.
• Nonetheless, executives express optimism about the business prospects of addressing climate change. Sixty-one percent expect the issues associated with climate change to boost profits—if managed well.
• Despite the uncertainties around regulation, a remarkable 82 percent of executives expect some form of climate change regulation in their companies’ home country within five years." (Thanks D.)

From the McKinsey Quarterly (full article needs registration)

Who steals electricity?

Seven young men died and scores were wounded two weeks ago in Chiyah because of electricity cuts. The government blamed it on the victims themselves: they were stealing electricity. Here's who steals electricity in Lebanon, 2002 figures: Tripoli ranks highest with 75.8% of the electricity there being stolen, followed very closely with Chiyah (55.4%) and Walid Jumblat's stronghold of Beyteddine (53.8%) and then Saida (Hariri's town) with 45.8%. And note that the Chiyah district includes both Ghobeiry (Hizbullah and Amal) and Ain el Remmaneh (Lebanese Forces and `Awn).

Trees, Carbon and Deserts

The Offsets Market in India, Confronting Carbon Colonialism. A beautiful photo essay from the TransNational Institute. Look also at this one: Where the Trees are a Desert, on the impacts of the eucalyptus monoculture in Brazil.

Mississippi burping

"A Mississippi lawmaker proposed to ban restaurants from serving fat people. Bill text: 1) Restaurants "shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese." 2) "The State Department of Health shall monitor [compliance] and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates" this rule. Rationales: 1) Mississippi has the nation's highest obesity rate. 2) "Mississippi's obesity rate cost Medicaid alone $221 million each year." Objections: 1) "The food police have gone too far." 2) "It's discriminatory." 3) The state should focus on promoting exercise instead. 4) "Some people are big and happy." 5) "I've seen a lot of crazy laws, but this one takes the cake. Literally." Sponsor's rebuttal: I'm just trying to highlight the problem. Human Nature's view: Banning people from restaurants based on appearance. In Mississippi. Great idea. (Related: The war on junk food; the war on trans fats; the war on soda; the war on salt.)

Fat people are less medically expensive than other people over a lifetime, according to a Dutch study. Findings: 1) Fat people cost more per year than smokers or nonfat nonsmokers do, but only up to age 56. 2) After that, smokers cost more. However, 3) fat people and smokers die earlier (by 4 and 7 years, respectively). Net result: "Lifetime health expenditure was highest among healthy-living people and lowest for smokers," with fat people in between. Conclusion: "Obesity prevention may be an important and cost-effective way of improving public health, but it is not a cure for increasing health expenditures." Critiques: 1) The study didn't include non-medical costs, such as lost productivity. 2) If saving money is our overriding goal, let's promote quick killers such as lung cancer. Old argument for the war on fat: Fat costs everyone money. New argument for the war on fat: Fat's costs are "immeasurable." (Related: Financial penalties for fat employees; obesity and responsibility; the war on smoking.)"

I love this section in Slate (Thanks D. and I've kept your title it is just too good.)

In the drylands

"Washington looks at many of these clashes and erroneously sees Islamist ideology at the core. Our political leaders fail to realize that other Islamic populations are far more stable economically, politically and socially—and that the root of the crisis in the dryland countries is not Islam but extreme poverty and environmental stress.

The Washington mind-set also prefers military approaches to developmental ones. The U.S. has supported the Ethiopian army in a military incursion into Somalia. It has pushed for military forces to stop the violence in Darfur. It has armed the clans in the deserts of western Iraq and now proposes to arm pastoralist clans in Pakistan along the Afghan border." (Thanks D.)

Jeffrey Sachs in Scientific American on the dryland predicament.