Urban farming

I'm blogging this link sent to me by Muna because my team is very involved in Urban Agriculture and we are the local branch of RUAF for the Arab Countries. I always thought that Urban Agriculture was an oxymoron, but then I started working more on it and it can be really interesting. It wont resolve the world food crisis, but there is something to be said for the fact that 50% of humanity is now urban and that this is expected to rise to 70% in a couple of decades. Who will produce for all those people? What infrastructure is needed for producing their food, for getting rid of their wastes?

Stimulating innovation in urban agriculture

Authors: van Veenhuizen,R.
Produced by: RUAF Urban Agriculture Magazine (2008)

Urban farming systems are in constant development as urban farmers adapt their existing practices or come up with new ones, yet are rarely given formal support for their innovations. This issue of looks at how urban farmers can be supported in their efforts to improve their livelihoods.

The issue is a collaborative effort of the RUAF, the Prolinnova (Promoting Local Innovation) network and Urban Harvest, an initiative of CGIAR and draws on experiences of urban farming from around the world. Some articles merely promote innovations, while others discuss ways to stimulate the innovation capacity of the farmers themselves. Titles include the following:

• Promoting Local Innovation in Rural Agriculture: experience and lessons for urban settings
• Innovative Wastewater Recycling in an Indian Village: linking the rural with the urban
• Innovations in Greenhouse Rainwater Harvesting system in Beijing, China
• Cleaning, Greening and Feeding Cities: Local initiatives in recycling waste in Kampala, Uganda
• Urban Agriculture in Msunduzi Municipality, South Africa
• Innovations in Producer-Market Linkages: Urban field schools and organic markets in Lima
• Urban Agriculture as Social Justice Change Agent and Economic Engine
• Innovations in Urban Livestock Keeping in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=35677

Can poverty alleviation and environment coexist?

Can payments for environmental services help reduce poverty? An exploration of the issues and the evidence to date from Latin America

Authors: Pagiola,S; Arcenas,A; Platais,G
Produced by: Science Direct (2005)

Recent years have seen considerable interest in using Payments for Environmental Services (PES) as an incentive to enhance conservation efforts. Latin America has been particularly receptive to this approach with programmes in operation in Costa Rica, Columbia, Ecuador and Mexico, amongst others. This paper examines the possible linkages between PES programmes and poverty, drawing on the experience of the main on-going PES programmes in Latin America.

Although PES programmes are not designed for poverty reduction, there can be important synergies when program design is well thought out and local conditions are favourable. As such, the impact of PES programmes on the lives of poor participants remains a critical dimension and one that has been largely under-researched.

The authors observe that the extent of impact the programme has on poverty within the area depends on:

• the level of poverty amongst participants
• the poor's ability to participate in the programme
• the monetary amounts paid out.

The paper asserts that a broader understanding of the potential linkages between PES and poverty leads to specific policy questions:

• How can PES programmes be designed to maximise poverty reduction and minimize possible negative effects (for example, PES-promoted land use practices are much less labour intensive which could result in a loss of jobs for farmers)
• What are the trade-offs between generating environmental services as efficiently as possible and meeting poverty reduction objectives?

The authors argue that it is too early to arrive at conclusive results on the likely poverty impacts of PES programmes. They conclude that whilst making poverty reduction objectives predominate is undoubtedly attractive, it would ultimately prove self-defeating. Subordinating the objective of generating services to that of poverty reduction risks failing to deliver on the services which are being paid for, and thus undermines the very basis of the program. Once service users cease paying, neither poverty reduction nor resource management objectives will be reached.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=35829

Arab Unemployment

"Unemployment in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is currently at a historical high, which may appear puzzling given economic growth in the region. The authors of this conference paper stress the need to look at labour market developments, demographic changes and macro policy frameworks in the region to understand the underlying causes of these high levels of unemployment.

The paper uses a sample of five Arab countries (namely Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia) in a dataset that covers the period from 1990 to 2006.

The study's observations and policy recommendations include:

• Despite healthy economic growth, unemployment has not decreased. Recommendation: enabling an environment where growth is more predictable through state development of a macro policy framework which allows financial markets to function independently albeit within a credible regulatory framework
  
• The labour market appears to strongly discriminate against women's skills. Recommendation: the mismatch between women's schooling and job skills (especially where these relate to the private sector) needs to be addressed.
  
• The continuous rise in life expectancy is likely to have serious labour market implications, particularly for men. Recommendation: faster and stable labour-intensive growth strategy which encourages small enterprise growth and diversifies the product base of the economy
  
• The high trade-GDP ratio has had little impact on growth, employment and educational attainment.
  Recommendation: engage with globalisation and search for comparative advantages and/or hindrances."

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=35855

(Thanks Muna)

Opting out

"Romania, which has been one of the most receptive markets on a skeptical Continent for genetically modified crops, is moving toward a reversal of its stance, in what would be another setback for the beleaguered biotechnology industry in Europe.

Over the past decade, Romania became the largest producer of gene-altered crops in Europe because of large amounts of modified soy, mostly produced by Monsanto and Pioneer, a unit of DuPont. That crop was approved for use by farmers in Romania but not in the EU, and the government had to pledge to stop growing the crop when Romania joined the bloc in 2007.

In the future, Korodi said, farmers - particularly those with small plots in mountainous areas - could prosper from selling smaller quantities of unmodified produce, as it would command higher prices on local and international markets.

"GMOs mean crops are cheaper to produce," Korodi said. "But if we look at the market price that GMO-free crops earn, and we look at the costs to biodiversity of using GMOs, then non-GMO crops are better," he said." (Thanks Yaz)

Read also the latest Vanity Fair for an extensive article on Monsanto.

Have mercy

"Aish! Aish!" -- Bread! Bread! -- the stubble-faced men yelled, shouting through the grillwork at bakers laboring over a dented, gas-fired oven. Cursing and pushing, the men thrust crumpled currency through the spaces in the grille.

"Have mercy! Have mercy on us!" a woman in a dusty black head scarf and abaya yelled.

Egypt's economy is expected to grow by 7 percent this fiscal year and is attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment. BMW, one of many luxury carmakers active in Egypt, reported a 20 percent annual growth in sales here last year.

But the percentage of Egyptians living below the poverty line -- meaning they make less than $2 a day -- rose from 16.7 percent in 2000 to 19.6 percent in 2005, according to the World Bank. In all, about 40 percent of Egypt's population lives in poverty, the World Bank said. Strikes by workers demanding higher wages have spiked since last summer.

Ellen Knickmeyer on the inequalities of Egypt

The caring Bank

""In Bangladesh a 2kg bag of rice now consumes almost half of the daily income of a poor family. With little margin for survival, rising prices too often means fewer meals," he said. Poor people in Yemen were now spending more than a quarter of their income on bread. "This is not just about meals forgone today, or about increasing social unrest, it is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth. Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years.""

Regine Szewzyk, a microbiologist at Berlin's environmental agency, said: "Basically it should be left to healthy people to take the rubbish out."

It's a surge!

"As well as this week's violence in Egypt, the rising cost and scarcity of food has been blamed for:

· Riots in Haiti last week that killed four people

· Violent protests in Ivory Coast

· Price riots in Cameroon in February that left 40 people dead

· Heated demonstrations in Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal

· Protests in Uzbekistan, Yemen, Bolivia and Indonesia

UN staff in Jordan also went on strike for a day this week to demand a pay rise in the face of a 50% hike in prices, while Asian countries such as Cambodia, China, Vietnam, India and Pakistan have curbed rice exports to ensure supplies for their own residents."

See this link too for similar (bad) news.

India's farmers debts

"CONTRARY to media hype, Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s latest budget does not set a new direction. Nor does it address the huge imbalances in India’s recent growth pattern. The decision to write off farmers’ loans worth Rs60,000 crores is a belated acknowledgement of the grave agrarian crisis, which has driven 150,000 farmers to suicide in a decade. The write-off is welcome. But it’s not enough.

Sounds uncharitable? Consider that the recent problem with the Indian economy hasn’t been lack of growth. It’s lack of equity — income inequalities, and sectoral and regional disparities. The United Progressive Alliance’s last full budget was to correct this. It has failed to do so."

Praful Bidwai debunks India's debt write off. My biggest concern with the increasing food prices is that the agribusinesses capture the opportunity and that it ends creating even more disparities and inequalities.

Lebanon Social Watch

2007 report

Gaps and efforts in social protection

Sawsan El Masri

Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)

"Lebanon lacks a coherent and comprehensive system for social protection. Over half the population is not covered by any form of health insurance, and retirement schemes exclude the most vulnerable and poor. NGOs play a major role in providing social assistance to those cut off from formal protection systems. Meanwhile, Palestine refugees, who comprise 10% of the population, face severe discrimination in the right to social security, to work, and to own property, resulting in high rates of abject poverty."

Read more with data here. (Thanks Muna)

Land in China

"The movement for private ownership is not without its critics. Wen Tiejun, dean of the school of agriculture and rural development at People’s University in Beijing, told the Financial Times that it is only due to the current system of state ownership that China has “virtually no rural landless poor, in contrast with most large developing countries.” But in a testimony (PDF) to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in 2006, China expert Joshua Muldavin puts official estimate of landless peasants in China at 70 million, with the number growing by 3 million each year."

Make it a double

"Yet opinion in Washington remains starkly divided. One trade expert and one representative from the American Farm Bureau discuss whether the United States should cut its farm subsidies in a recent CFR.org Online Debate. More basically, discussion of the merits of free trade itself remains highly politicized on Capitol Hill, and the recent expiration of President Bush’s “fast-track” trade promotion authority means any potential multilateral trade deal would be subject to congressional markups. None of this would prevent trade deals from proliferating in the developing world. The question raised by experts like CFR’s Jagdish Bhagwati is whether the United States will be a part of these deals."

Protectionism for us, free trade for them: that's the motto.

Privatising biodiversity

"There have been concerted efforts from certain quarters to promote the use of hybrid seeds in Uganda. Early last year, a grant of 150 million dollars was provided to the country and its neighbours by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

The money is to pay for more research into hybrid seeds, the provision of inorganic fertilizers, water management and extension services to facilitate the propagation of these seeds.

According to the government source, the US Agency for International Development's project, known as the Uganda Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program (APEP), has also been actively advocating the adoption of stronger intellectual property rules, including the use of biotechnology.

Tukundane Cuthbert is an extension worker, someone who helps farmers improve their productivity. He outlined the promises and pitfalls of hybrid seeds as follows: "The hybrid cabbage takes only three months and then you can harvest it.

"Our traditional variety takes six months and there is no time for leaving the land fallow before you have to replant. With the hybrid cabbage, we can have more harvests per year.

"But the seed can only be used once and that is all. We could use our traditional seeds over and over again. This means that at the end of the season (when we have used hybrid seeds), we have to buy new seeds. Those of us who are poor and can't go to the market then cannot eat. Or we have to borrow and it is difficult to get collateral.

"The hybrid seeds are high yielding, but we cannot afford to buy the technology and maintain it. I wish the government would empower the local researchers to own the technology," Cuthbert said.

Another extension worker, John Kisembo, who works with Caritas in Uganda, was even more sceptical about the wonders of hybrid seeds. Caritas is a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organisations." (Thanks Kirsten)

From Global Research. The site has got excellent articles on food systems and agribusinesses

If American Knew

One of my exceptional posts not on food and farming: a site called "If Americans Knew", what every American (and Arab, considering the current state of affairs) should know about Israel/Palestine.

Slow Food Beirut

À l’instar de tous les conviviums dans le monde, Slow Food Beirut fait partie du réseau des associations de Slow Food International et partage de ce fait même la philosophie et la mission du mouvement. Les membres de l’ONG s’engagent ainsi à défendre la biodiversité et à consommer « bon, propre et juste ».

Les produits doivent donc avoir « bon goût, ce qui est important sur le plan gastronomique », explique Rami Zurayk, directeur du programme des sciences de l’environnement à l’Université américaine de Beyrouth. « C’est un moyen de permettre aux petits producteurs de concurrencer les grands producteurs, poursuit-il, puisqu’ils offrent des produits au goût différent, au moment où les produits offerts par les gros producteurs ont un goût standardisé. »

Les produits Slow Food doivent également être propres, « c’est-à-dire générés de manière à préserver l’environnement, les espèces animales et la santé ». « L’agriculture est l’un des plus grands pollueurs mondiaux, souligne Rami Zurayk. Selon la philosophie de Slow Food, les agriculteurs doivent donc, à titre d’exemple, appliquer la gestion intégrée des produits nuisibles, recourir à des méthodes de labour qui conservent le sol, etc. Il faudrait aussi que le produit lui-même soit propre, c’est-à-dire qu’il ne contienne pas de pesticides ou qu’il ne soit pas contaminé. »

Célébrer le « juste », enfin, « c’est veiller à ce que les producteurs alimentaires reçoivent une compensation juste pour leur travail ». « Les producteurs locaux pourront pourvoir à leurs besoins, les campagnes et les zones rurales pourront aussi revivre », insiste Rami Zurayk. Le consommateur Slow Food devient ainsi un partenaire actif du processus de production.

Pays basé sur l’inégalité

Qu’apporte cette ONG de plus sur le plan national ? « Le Liban est en chute libre sur le plan alimentaire, répond Rami Zurayk. La qualité des aliments est très médiocre parce qu’il n’y a ni certificat ni contrôle sur les produits consommés. L’agriculture libanaise est elle aussi en chute libre et ne fait que se rétrécir. Avec le coût des importations des denrées alimentaires qui s’est accru au cours des derniers mois, il faut vraiment mettre au point une politique qui puisse générer une activité du côté des producteurs locaux pour relancer ce secteur qui a été complètement détruit. »

Et Rami Zurayk d’insister : « Le Liban est un pays basé sur l’inégalité, qui est constatée au niveau social, financier, comme au niveau de l’accès à la terre et aux ressources. C’est l’un des pays les plus inégaux du monde et malheureusement, les personnes aisées ne le savent pas. Elles vivent en dehors de cette réalité et évitent d’y penser. Or, l’agriculture est l’un des moyens qui permettent de combattre la pauvreté. C’est ce qu’a souligné d’ailleurs la Banque mondiale dans son dernier rapport. “Bon, propre et juste” ne peut être donc que bénéfique pour le Liban d’un point de vue social, alimentaire et environnemental. J’ai été désigné à plusieurs reprises conseiller du ministre de l’Agriculture et je sais que le Liban n’a aucune politique agricole pour plusieurs raisons, la principale étant le clientélisme politique et le confessionnalisme qui prévalent dans ce pays. Il faudrait donc agir et essayer d’adopter à travers la société civile des politiques en ce sens. Il s’agit, par la suite, de faire du lobbying auprès des responsables et leur montrer que les alternatives existent et que celles-ci sont susceptibles de protéger l’environnement et la culture alimentaire du pays, qui fait partie de notre patrimoine, au même titre que la culture littéraire, etc. »

From a long article on Slow Food Beirut in today's L'Orient-Le Jour. Good, Clean and Fair should be the basis of the agricultural policy of Lebanon.

Hangover

"The headlong rush in many parts of the world to replace oil with biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel) illustrates how the best of intentions can run afoul of the law of unintended consequences. While positive effects have been elusive -- and, in fact, are unlikely with current policies -- starvation and malnourishment are becoming worse among the poorest of the poor.

The reality is that with current technology, almost all of this biofuel would have to come from corn because there is no other feasible, proven alternative. But because of the inefficiencies inherent in producing ethanol from corn and the relatively meager amount of energy yielded by burning ethanol, the demands on farmland would be staggering. An analysis by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development suggested that replacing even 10 percent of America's motor fuel with biofuels would require that about a third of all the nation's cropland be devoted to oilseeds, cereals and sugar crops. Achieving the 15 percent goal would require the entire current U.S. corn crop, which represents a whopping 40 percent of the world's corn supply."

I know this has been over-discussed, but every little bit helps.

Livestock in development

"The 2008 World Development Report on Agriculture surveyed 14 countries and noted that most rural households, and 40 percent of the poorest households, own livestock. The World Bank estimates that livestock are the main livelihood asset for up to 200 million pastoralists and agropastoralists in arid and semi-arid environments worldwide. Furthermore, 35 to 90 million of these people are extremely poor.

Policy and institutional changes in the livestock sector, and the growing demand for meat, milk and other livestock products, will affect poor livestock producers in many ways. This issue of id21 insights examines some of the implications and suggests how the livestock sector can focus on 'pro-poor' development."

An excellent issue of ID21 on livestock issues sent to me a while ago by D. Adresses many critical issue. Look up for example this article of pastoralism:

"There are currently academic debates about whether pastoralism is still a viable livelihood option in the Horn of Africa. Ian Scoones suggests greater commercialisation of herds is one way to strengthen pastoralist livelihoods. This seems logical, as there is a growing demand for milk and meat in the expanding urban centres of countries with pastoralist populations, as well as other countries.

However, policymakers often regard pastoralist areas as problematic, where many animals have serious diseases. This perception means that current international standards prevent trade with pastoral areas. These standards are based on the assumption that eradicating diseases from a given area or country is the only way to guarantee livestock products as safe for trade. But is this assumption correct?"

Il Duce must be doing somersaults

"In second place was L’Arcangelo, a restaurant with a head chef from India. The winner: Antico Forno Roscioli, a bakery and innovative restaurant whose chef, Nabil Hadj Hassen, arrived from Tunisia at 17 and washed dishes for a year and a half before he cooked his first pot of pasta.

“To cook is a passion,” said Mr. Hassen, now 43, who went on to train with some of Italy's top chefs. “Food is a beautiful thing.”

But Italians take their food very seriously, not just as nourishment and pleasure but also as the chief component of national and regional identity. Change is not taken lightly here, especially when the questions it raises are uncomfortable: Will Italy’s food change — and if so, for the worse or, even more disconcertingly, for the better? Most Italian food is defined by its good ingredients and simple preparation, but does it become less distinct — or less Italian — if anyone can prepare it to restaurant standards? Does that come at some cost to national pride?" (Thanks Leila)

The last of the Bedouins

""The government used force against us, they detained people, demolished houses, fined us and nothing helped," said Aqil al-Talalqah, 66, a retired headmaster who now lives in a tent in Twayil, only a few hundred yards from the demolished two-room building where he once went to school as a child. "They say we are invading state land. How are we invading state land? This is our land."

A leading international human rights group yesterday accused the Israeli government of discrimination against the bedouin, citing a sharp increase in housing demolitions and a "systematic violation" of their land and housing rights.

The detailed 126-page report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) comes as a new government-appointed commission begins a study on the long-running land ownership dispute. The Goldberg Commission, appointed by the housing ministry but without any representatives from the unrecognised villages, is due to report later this year.

Tens of thousands of bedouin - Arabs who have lived a semi-nomadic life on the land for many generations and who all carry full Israeli citizenship - live in 39 "unrecognised villages" in southern Israel where their homes are subject to frequent demolition." (Thanks Anna)

Everywhere in the Middle East, the Bedouins are marginalized and oppressed. They have lost their historical fight with the settled and their way of life is gone, probably forever. They have become tourist attractions, praetorian guards or slum dwellers. But only one country has a state policy to oppress the native: Israel.

Egypt in crisis

"But it is not just the price of bread that is stretching Egyptians’ meager budgets to the breaking point. An investigative report by al-Misri al-Yawm concluded that the price of basic foodstuffs rose at rates of at least 33 percent (for meat), and as much as 146 percent (for chicken), from 2005 to 2008. The official annual rate of inflation for January 2008 was over 11 percent and over 12 percent for February. The Mahalla workers have popularized the demand for a national minimum wage of 1,200 Egyptian pounds a month to cope with this inflation. This move has embarrassed the trade union federation into advocating increasing the minimum wage from 115 Egyptian pounds a month, which has been the rate since 1984, to 800 Egyptian pounds a month. A family of four would live just below the poverty line of $2 a day on 1,200 pounds a month."

Joel Beinin for the Middle East Report Online. Essential read at a time when the crisis deepens in Egypt. Yesterday's strike was not as successful as expected, I hear. Strongly worded article very critical of the regime by the director of Middle East Studies at the American University of Cairo. Good for AUC.