WORLD FOOD DAY

Despite wall-to-wall media coverage of the financial crisis rocking the U.S. and other countries, a food crisis with a larger scope is unfolding with little attention. Many people around the globe are feeling the burden of higher food and energy prices. On World Food Day, read IPS coverage of this brewing crisis –
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/feedingfuture/index.asp

PAKISTAN: Hunger, Poverty Initiatives Suspect
Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI – As Pakistan’s food crisis deepens, with an estimated 60 million people facing food insecurity, the GCAP (Global Call to Action Against Poverty) plans to hold rallies through the weekend demanding ‘’public accountability’’ even for hunger and poverty alleviation initiatives.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44292

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ZIMBABWE: Food Crisis Worsens
Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN – Zimbabwe’s agricultural production has been hit by a long list of difficulties — several rounds of severe drought, a collapsed currency that has made fertiliser and other farm inputs very expensive, ill-considered land redistribution, and brutal pre- and post- election violence by the ruling ZANU-PF that has hurt rural populations most.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44290

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Q&A: “I Smell A Fantastic Aroma”
Busani Bafana
MOMBASA – As Africa and the rest of the world seek to end the current food crisis — which could get worse with the flu sweeping across global financial markets — it is time Africa made gains from the food crisis. An interview with Peter Hartmann, banana visionary.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44291

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Zambia’s Women Farmers Demand Policy Changes
Danstan Kaunda
LUSAKA – Zambia’s tens of thousands of peasant farmers are crucial to the country’s food security, yet they have little voice in agricultural policy. Cecilia Violet Makota is one of the rare exceptions.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44282

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LATAM: Learning Lessons
Daniela Estrada
SANTIAGO – “We can’t wait for crises to happen to start guaranteeing the right to food. We have to act before a crisis hits,” José Graziano da Silva, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, told IPS.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44280

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DEVELOPMENT: A Billion Hungry People Need Rescue Plan Too
Wolfgang Kerler
UNITED NATIONS – Relief for the world’s hungry remains a distant prospect, with this year’s “Global Hunger Index” (GHI) attesting that even before the ongoing food crisis, 33 countries had “alarming” or “extremely alarming” levels of hunger.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=44263

Read more IPS reporting of Millennium Development Goals at:
ipsnews.net/new_focus/devdeadline/index.asp

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