The Hunger Games

Governments and their international agencies (FAO, World Bank) conceive of the eradication of hunger and poverty as a worthy wish that will eventually be realized through economic growth. They also make great cosmetic efforts to present as good-looking trend pictures as they can. Citizens ought to insist that the eradication of severe deprivations is a human rights correlative duty that permits no avoidable delay. Academics ought to collaborate toward providing a systematic alternative monitoring of what progress has really been made against undernourishment and other povertyrelated deprivations

Credit problems of small farmers in Asia and the Far East

This study of agricultural credit problems of small farmers has been prepared as part of the work programme of the joint ECAFE/FAO Agriculture Division &mdash;a programme agreed upon by the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) and the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and approved by the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East at its twelfth session (Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Twenty second Session, Supplement No 2, E/2821&mdash;E/CN.11/430) The study seeks to analyse some of the agricultural credit problems of small farmers in the region&mdash;particularly sharecroppers and tenants at will&mdash;and the relationship between agricultural credit and the marketing of agricultural produce The paper indicates the limited results achieved in the past through remedial measures and briefly presents the salient features of some new programmes currently under way for reorganizing agricultural credit in conjunction with the marketing of agricultural commodities.&nbsp;</p

Agricultural development of Thailand

This study has been undertaken by the joint ECAFE/FAO Agriculture Division in accordance with the work programme approved by the Commission at its Tenth Session (E/CN.11/378). It seeks to present the salient features of the agricultural economy of Thailand, attempts an analysis of the development problems and indicates broadly the directions along which agricultural development could be planned.</p

Checklists and Technical Guidelines to Combat Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing

The purpose of this document is to aggregate the coastal, flag and port State responsibilities to combat IUU fishing contained in select international fisheries instruments within a single reference document. The responsibilities are presented as a checklist, in questionnaire format. The document aims to serve both as a reference document for professionals as well as an assessment tool for practitioners, in order to facilitate the identification of legal, policy, institutional and operational weaknesses at the national level when implementing coastal, flag and port State responsibilities to combat IUU fishing. This is the first volume in the series of “Checklists and technical guidelines to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing”

Transfer of knowledge and skills among peer groups : a manual on methodology

This manual outlines a methodology designed for transferring knowledge and skills among peer groups, particularly in rural communities. It focuses on empowering rural women in Asia by sharing successful community-driven activities and promoting income-raising opportunities through case studies and workshops.Contents Page 1. Introduction............................................................................................... 1 2. The Philosophy .......................................................................................... 1 3. Implementation of the Project ................................................................. 2 A. Preparation for the Workshop........................................................... 2 (i) The target group and area........................................................ 2 (ii) Identification of suitable activities......................................... 3 (iii) Writing the case studies........................................ 4 (iv) Involvement of supporting agencies in preparations for the workshop........................................................................ 5 B. Conduct of the Workshop ............................................................... 5 (i) The setting............................................................................... 5 (ii) Attendance at the workshop ................................................... 5 (iii) Programme of the workshop................................................... 6 (iv) Role of officials....................................................................... 8 4. Follow-up to the Workshop..................................................................... 8 A. Workshop Report.............................................................................. 9 B. Evaluation of the Workshop............................................................ 9 C. Implementation of Participants’Plans............................................. 9 5. Uses of the Methodology.......................................................................... 10 Annex 1 Guidelines for Case Study Writers.................................................. 11 Annex 2 Specimen Case Studies with Comments........................................ 14 Annex 3 Suggested Workshop Programme .................................................. 42 Annex 4 Suggested Outline for Participants’ Plans..................................... 44 Annex 5 Guidelines to a Training Session in the Use of the Methodology 4

A note on the utilization of United States agricultural surpluses in the Republic of Korea : procedures and problems

During the past decade (from 1954 through 1964), the Republic of Korea received approximately $805 million in United States aid in the form of surplus farm products under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act (Public Law 480) and Section 402 of the Mutual Security Act (MSA). This is equivalent to about 28 per cent of the total United States aid ($2,900 million) to the Republic of Korea during that period. Out of these $805 million, about$485 million (about 60 per cent) was for food products. Thus, food products account for about 17 per cent of the total United States aid provided during the decade under review.</p

Nomenclature updates resulting from the evolution of avian influenza A(H5) virus clades 2.1.3.2a, 2.2.1, and 2.3.4 during 2013-2014.

AIM: The A/goose/Guangdong/1/96-like hemagglutinin (HA) genes of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5) viruses have continued to rapidly evolve since the most recent update to the H5 clade nomenclature by the WHO/OIE/FAO H5N1 Evolution Working Group. New clades diverging beyond established boundaries need to be identified and designated accordingly. METHOD: Hemagglutinin sequences deposited in publicly accessible databases up to December 31, 2014, were analyzed by phylogenetic and average pairwise distance methods to identify new clades that merit nomenclature changes. RESULTS: Three new clade designations were recommended based on division of clade 2·1·3·2a (Indonesia), 2·2·1 (Egypt), and 2·3·4 (widespread detection in Asia, Europe, and North America) that includes newly emergent HPAI virus subtypes H5N2, H5N3, H5N5, H5N6, and H5N8. CONCLUSION: Continued global surveillance for HPAI A(H5) viruses in all host species and timely reporting of sequence data will be critical to quickly identify new clades and assess their potential impact on human and animal health.The Melbourne WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza is supported by the Australian Government Department of Health.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/irv.1232

Compendium on standards for seafood exports in selected Pacific island developing countries

This compendium represents an initial step which, as the fisheries sector evolves over time, will require updating as well as improvements in its format and coverage, so that it remains a useful and relevant source of readily accessible information to producers, exporters and policy makers, particularly in the Pacific islands. The success of this exercise will depend on inputs provided by the main users of the compendium and in this regard the ESCAP Secretariat would welcome receiving additional information or suggestions to ensure that future editions are as comprehensive and informative as possible.</p

Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, nutrition and gender:Conceptual and methodological considerations

Indigenous Peoples, especially women and children, are affected disproportionately by malnutrition and diet-related health problems. Addressing this requires an investigation of the structural conditions that underlie unequal access to resources and loss of traditional lifestyles, and necessitates inclusive approaches that shed light onto these issues and provide strategies to leverage change. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are inextricably connected to land, which in turn is interwoven with issues of self-determination, livelihoods, health, cultural and spiritual heritage, and gender. Ongoing loss of land and the dominant agri-food model further threaten Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. Continuing gender-based discrimination undermines the self-determination and rights of women, and negatively impacts on their health, nutritional status, and overall wellbeing, as well as on the wellbeing of households and communities. We suggest that feminist political ecology and modern matriarchal studies provide holistic interlinking frameworks for investigating underlying issues of power and inequality. We further argue that a focus on the principles of respect, responsibility, and relationships, and an openness to different worldviews, can facilitate a bridging of Indigenous and Western approaches in research and community action conducted in partnership with Indigenous Peoples. This can contribute to creating new ways of knowing regarding Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, equally valuing both knowledge systems. Indigenous Peoples’ rights, right to food, and food sovereignty are frames that, despite some tensions, have the common goal of self-determination. Through their ability to inform, empower, and mobilize, they provide tools for social movements and communities to challenge existing structural inequalities and leverage social change. Publisher Statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Lemke, S &amp; Delormier, T 2018, 'Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, nutrition and gender: Conceptual and methodological considerations' Maternal &amp; Child Nutrition, vol 13, no. S3, e12499, which has been published in final form at https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12499. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving

Indigenous African soil enrichment as a climate-smart sustainable agriculture alternative

We describe for the first time a current indigenous soil management system in West Africa, in which targeted waste deposition transforms highly weathered, nutrient-and carbon-poor tropical soils into enduringly fertile, carbon-rich black soils, hereafter “African Dark Earths” (AfDE). In comparisons between AfDE and adjacent soils (AS), AfDE store 200–300% more organic carbon and contain 2–26 times greater pyrogenic carbon (PyC). PyC persists much longer in soil as compared with other types of organic carbon, making it important for long-term carbon storage and soil fertility. In contrast with the nutrient-poor and strongly acidic (pH 4.3–5.3) AS, AfDE exhibit slightly acidic (pH 5.6–6.4) conditions ideal for plant growth, 1.4–3.6 times greater cation exchange capacity, and 1.3–2.2 and 5–270 times more plant-available nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Anthropological investigations reveal that AfDE make a disproportionately large contribution (24%) to total farm household income despite its limited spatial extent. Radiocarbon (14C) aging of PyC indicates the recent development of these soils (115–692 years before present). AfDE provide a model for improving the fertility of highly degraded soils in an environmentally and socially appropriate way, in resource-poor and food-insecure regions of the world. The method is also “climate-smart”, as these soils sequester carbon and enhance the climate-change mitigation potential of carbon-poor tropical soils