AsiaDHRRA Online

Stumbled upon this newsbit in time for FrankenThursday at the Cornucopia Institute. Seems like american organic farmers and seed producers have filed a lawsuit against Monsanto to “prohibit  the biotechnology giant from suing organic farmers and seed growers if innocently contaminated by roundup ready genes.” NEW York: On behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses [...]

An interesting read for your downtime. HungerWednesday it is… “The World Development Movement has compiled extensive evidence establishing the role of food commodity derivatives in destabilising and driving up food prices around the world.” click here to view the report  (issuu pdf)….

HungerWednesday shares this fascinating report from The Economist.com about the impending global problem on food scarcity This special report concentrates on the problems of feeding the 9 billion. It therefore gives greater weight to the first group. It argues that many of their claims are justified: feeding the world in 2050 will be hard, and [...]

Hmmmm, a good idea don’t you think so?  Newsweek sez …… Representatives of 153 nations and regions will meet in Geneva this week to try and salvage one of the longest and most laborious trade negotiations in modern times. For almost a decade, the World Trade Organization has been trying to lower trade barriers for [...]

TechTuesday is back!!! and for you dear NGO workers we bring back this fab toolset famously known as NGO-in-a-box. “NGO-in-a-box is a collection of essential tools for running a small-to-medium sized NGO. You can use this toolkit to set up and coordinate your office, organise and manage projects, collaborate online and support your campaigns. The [...]

As the year draws to a close, FarmFriday leaves you with this interesting bit from ScienceMag. Food for thought as another year is about to start. Happy New Year everyone and may we all have a peaceful, just and bountiful year ahead… Population growth, arable land and fresh water limits, and climate change have profound [...]

Here’s an interesting and witty  infographic from Mashable stacking up virtual farming vis-a-vis real farming. Interesting gender angle in there too. wonder what the GAD wonks would think…. “With all those millions of Facebook and iPhone users tending to virtual crops and sharing them with friends, have you ever wondered how their toils stack up [...]

Something we picked up while browsing The Economist. Food for thought when planning anti-poverty programmes The Economist CELIA ORBOC, a cake-seller in the Philippines, spent her little stipend on a wooden shack, giving her five children a roof over their heads for the first time. In Kyrgyzstan Sharmant Oktomanova spent hers buying flour to feed [...]

An excerpt from the IPS interview with the AsiaDHRRA SecGen Ms. Marlene Ramirez… In an unprecedented nod toward civil society organisations, this year’s annual FAO event to shape global food security policy rolled out the welcome mat to some 150 activists who took part in the just-finished meeting – on equal footing with government delegates. [...]

an interesting read from IHT. i remembered intense discussions about this years ago. whaddya think of this? For more than 40 years, social scientists investigating the causes of poverty have tended to treat cultural explanations like Lord Voldemort: That Which Must Not Be Named. The reticence was a legacy of the ugly battles that erupted [...]

FarmFriday, shares this thought-provoking article from the The Economist about Brazil’s success in developing its vast savannah into one of the world’s great breadbasket. Make sure to read the article comments for some interesting viewpoints. The increase in Brazil’s farm production has been stunning. Between 1996 and 2006 the total value of the country’s crops [...]

Here’s an interesting graphic outlining a “taxonomy” of the much discussed practice of “poverty tourism”.  Update: Aaron Ausland, the author, has recently updated the graphic which i think added some context and made it more meaningful. Read more here…

Here’s something to interest you if you’re planning your career path or thinking of embarking on a new line of work. ScienceMag presents a nice overview of career opportunities in the area of food security. The demand for scientists with expertise in the agriculture/food sector is likely to increase in the next decade, says Celia [...]

Download the Synthesis of Deliberations of the Third Meeting of the Farmers’ Forum held in Rome on February 15th-16th 2010 Learn more about the Third Farmers’ Forum here… What is the Farmers’ Forum?

FarmFriday shares this interesting article by Elizabeth Pennisi in ScienceMag about the scientific community’s efforts in creating “the ideal crop” and “developing new technologies for a better farming future” Substantial improvements are needed in current crops to achieve higher yields and sustainable farming. To achieve those gains, agricultural companies have turned to robotics and other [...]