Agriculture

A mysterious epidemic is sweeping Central America - it's the second biggest cause of death among men in El Salvador, and in Nicaragua it's a bigger killer of men than HIV and diabetes combined. It's unexplained but the latest theory is that the victims are literally working themselves to death.

In the western lowlands of Nicaragua, in a region of vast sugar cane fields, sits the tiny community of La Isla.

The small houses are a patchwork of concrete and wood. Pieces of cloth serve as doors.

Maudiel Martinez emerges from his house to greet me. He's pale, and his cheekbones protrude from his face. He hunches over like an old man - but he is only 19 years old.

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Occupy Wall Street Website

Sat, 2011-10-22 10:45 — admin

We're here for him!

Hear it from the horse's mouth:

http://occupywallst.org/

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Guardian -- "Food security: rising prices, climate change and a growing population"

Thu, 2011-06-02 08:33 — mdmcdonald

The Guardian holds a periodic news round up and forums under their "Poverty Matters" series.

Below is a sample of the issues now being discussed:

Rising commodity prices, a changing climate and a growing population have combined to push food security to the top of the international agenda, and have also dominated coverage on the Global development site this week.

Our Global food crisis interactive highlights the big issues in the current food debate, through blogs, features, video, galleries and audio reports.

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Science alone not enough to boost world farm output

Fri, 2010-04-23 08:28 — mdmcdonald

(Reuters) - Feeding a fast-growing global population in the face of climate change and stagnant funding for food aid and farm research will require a fundamental revamp of agriculture, agricultural experts said. GREEN BUSINESS | COP15 But unlike the "Green Revolution" that dramatically hiked agricultural output in Latin America and Asia from the 1950s, a new agricultural restructuring will need to focus as much on new seed varieties as on good governance, women's empowerment and things like curbing commodities speculation, they added. "We cannot address world food security risks effectively only through a science and technology agenda," Joachim von Braun, former director general of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), told a conference Sunday. "We need to get appropriate market regulations to prevent excessive speculation," he added on the opening day of the conference held in southern France to discuss a roadmap to reform agricultural research to meet development goals. Speculation in food markets contributes to fuelling price swings that can undercut the ability of farmers to plan, often leading them to over or under-produce.