Global Food for Thought

Secretary Clinton testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee

February 29
By Sung Lee

Secretary Clinton stressed that the President’s FY 13 Budget request focus on: 1) Sustaining the US national security missions in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan; 2) Building a strong relationship with the institutions in the Asia Pacific; 3) Demonstrating America’s commitments to support democratic movement in the Arab world; 4) Engaging in economic statecrafts - utilizing diplomacy and development to create American jobs; 5) Making strategic investments to help the overall US foreign policy goals. She said, “Our Feed the Future Initiative is helping millions of men, women, and children by driving agricultural growth and improving nutrition to hasten the day when countries no longer need food aid at all.” Her testimony is available here.

Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.

The Conservative Case for Foreign Aid, Opinion, John Kerry, Wall Street Journal, February 29
There's nothing fiscally conservative about starving our foreign policy budget of a billion dollars today only to spend a trillion dollars years later in armed conflict. Every day, the State Department leads operations that strengthen our security. At this time of budget crisis, a U.S. senator trying to defend foreign aid might well be advised to seek the counsel of a political consultant if not a mental health professional. But energetic global leadership is a strategic imperative for America, not a favor we do for other countries.

Obama to Sign Executive Order Creating Trade Enforcement Panel, Washington Post, February 28
President Barack Obama plans to sign an executive order creating a U.S. panel to investigate unfair trade practices by nations including China. The Interagency Trade Enforcement Center will bring together lawyers, researchers, analysts and agents to monitor and enforce trade agreements and laws, the White House said in an e-mailed statement. The panel’s director will be chosen by U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, with a deputy selected by Commerce Secretary John Bryson and other staff coming from that agency.

UN Commission on the Status of Women

February 28

By Sung Lee

This week, the United Nations will hold the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Since its creation in 1946, the Commission has been a principal global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. This year, the Commission will examine ways to empower rural women and examine their roles in poverty and hunger eradication. They will also explore innovative solutions to engage young women and men, girls and boys, to advance gender equality globally. The events are webcasted live and the schedule is available here.

Catherine Bertini, senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, will be a part of the U.S. Delegation attending the 56th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women.  The U.S. delegation is led by Ambassadors Susan Rice and Melanne Verveer. Other U.S. delegates include: Christy Turlington Burns, John Coonrod, Helene D. Gayle, Jill Iscol, Melinda Newport, and Randi Ilyse Roth.

Ms. Bertini will also be a part of the Panel to explore how empowering rural adolescent girls spurs economic and social growth and how to best address the triple disadvantages of location, age, and gender unique to rural adolescent girls. Ms. Bertini will present the recommendations from the Chicago Council’s recently published report, “Girls Grow: A Vital Force in Rural Economies.”

The United States has launched “The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index”, which measures the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agriculture sector in an effort to identify ways to overcome those obstacles and constraint. “It will help us see what our results have been and more effectively do programming going forward,” said Tjada McKenna, coordinator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Feed the Future program. The USAID is also scheduled to unveil the Agency’s new Gender Policy on Gender Equality and Female Empowerment on March 1^st.

Today's Agriculture and Food Security Headlines

Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.

February 28
By Sung Lee

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will testify today before the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the President Obama's FY13 Budget Request for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development. The Senate Agriculture Committee will also hold its second Farm Bill hearing on "Strengthening Conservation Through the 2012 Farm Bill."

Scientists: Cassava Will Thrive in Climate Change, MSNBC, February 27
Calling cassava "the Rambo of food crops," scientists said the long-neglected root becomes even more productive in hotter temperatures and could be the best bet for African farmers threatened by climate change.  Cassava is the second most important source of carbohydrate in sub-Saharan African, after maize, and is eaten by around 500 million people every day, scientists said. The root outperformed potatoes, maize, beans, bananas, millet and sorghum in tests using a combination of 24 climate prediction and crop suitability models.

U.S. Considers ‘Women’s Empowerment’ in Aid Choices, Agency Says, Alan Bjerga, Bloomberg, February 27
An index on women’s empowerment in agriculture will help to evaluate the performance of aid initiatives and shape how future programs are designed, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index will track their involvement in farming decisions and income, as well as leadership in their communities, the agency said today. By understanding women’s roles in farming, aid programs can be more effectively designed and administered, said Tjada McKenna, coordinator of the U.S. agency’s Feed the Future program.

China Says Talks With North Korea Covered Food Aid, New York Times, February 27
China said it held talks with North Korea last week about providing food aid to the chronically hungry North, and urged other countries to help while Pyongyang weighs returning to six-party nuclear disarmament negotiations. Beijing rarely acknowledges talks about aid with Pyongyang, although its economic, energy and political aid has become increasingly important to North Korea as its ties with South Korea and other allies of the US have soured.

Zimbabwe to Maintain Ban on GMO crops, Xinhua, February 26
The top Zimbabwean agricultural official said the government will maintain its ban on imports of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and will not allow GMO crop seeds into the country. Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made said imported GMO seeds pose a risk to national food security, while local scientists can develop seeds that are suitable for the country's soil and not harmful to the health of the people.

A World Bank for a New World, Opinion, Jeffrey D. Sachs, Project Syndicate, February 24
The World Bank, if properly led, can play a key role in averting these threats and the risks that they imply. The global stakes are thus very high this spring as the Bank’s 187 member countries choose a new president to succeed Robert Zoellick. The Bank’s new president should have first-hand professional experience regarding the range of pressing development challenges. The world should not accept the status quo.

This Week's Edition of the Global Food for Thought News Brief

Please click here;to view this week's edition of the Global Food for Thought news brief.

If you have not signed up to receive Global Food for Thought by email, please do so by clicking here.

Today's Agriculture and Food Security News

Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.

February 24, 2012
By Sung Lee

Bill Gates to UN: Find New Ways to Help Poor Farmers; Announces $200 Million in Grants, Washington Post, February 23
Current approaches to global agriculture are outdated, inefficient and don’t give small farmers in poor countries the help they really need, Bill Gates told U.N. food agencies as he announced nearly $200 million in grants. Much of some $2 billion spent over the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has gone toward improving agricultural productivity. Gates urged the U.N. agencies to commit to measurable targets for increasing agricultural productivity.

Working Together for Small Farmers, Opinion, Bill Gates, Impatient Optimists Blog, February 23
Most extremely poor people in the developing world get their food and income from farming small plots of land. Many others live in big cities and need access to inexpensive food to be healthy and productive. So helping small farmers grow more food sustainably is the best way to fight hunger and poverty over the long term. In the past several decades, agricultural yields in many places have doubled, and hunger and poverty have been cut in half. Now it is time to continue and accelerate that progress.

How Do You Solve a Problem like Somalia? The Economist, February 23
In order for Somalia to have any chance of making a cantonal arrangement of six or seven regions work, it must first get some important things right. Donors can play their part by coughing up cash and trying to make sure it is spent correctly, but Somalis have to do much better than they have done so far. For Baobab, the main challenges can be broken down into security, food and business.

Lower Global Crop Prices to Ease Food Inflation-USDA, Charles Abbott, Bloomberg, February 23
Global crop prices will retreat sharply this year as farmers around the world expand production, bringing stability back to commodity markets and easing food inflation fears, the U.S. government forecast on Thursday. After two years of razor thin stocks, world crop supplies, led by wheat, are recovering.

Today's Agriculture and Food Security Headlines

Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.

February 22, 2012
By Sung Lee

Somalia conflict: Why should the world help?, BBC News, February 20
The British government is hoping a conference it is hosting on 23 February can finally start to bring peace to Somalia, which has known little but conflict and misery over the past two decades. An aid appeal for Somalia last year raised at least £72m ($114m) - more than for any other food crisis in Britain's history. If Somalia had a functioning government, the effects of the drought would have been far less severe and thousands of lives would have been saved.

Smart agriculture to help world’s poor, Business Reporter, February 22
Experts from IFAD, a specialized agency of the United Nations, said that there was a satisfactory degree of agricultural success in developing nations but much still needed to be done as small holder farmers remained vulnerable to forces of climate change, lack of market access and under investment. Out of a global population of about seven billion, more than one billion people remained under nourished, yet there is enough arable land to feed the entire world population.

Kenya army says Somali militants causing food crisis by blocking trade in southern Somalia, Associated Press, February 21
Officials said Somalia’s south is now in the beginning stages of a humanitarian crisis because its residents are not getting the needed supplies, and they urged more relief agencies to step in. The Kenyan army blames al-Shabab for the blockage, and says that it is also slowing the army’s advance toward Kismayo.

West Africa: addressing food crisis, The Africa Report, February 22
The Accra meeting will review emerging challenges in funding, food availability, accessibility and other agricultural issues as well as the issue of climate change. FAO wants to achieve by 2015 in the sub region, sustained rural poverty reduction and food security through a broad-based growth on agricultural production, productivity and diversification as well as household incomes, with focus on small holders and vulnerable groups.

Today's Agriculture and Food Security News

Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.

February 21, 2012
By Sung Lee

Using Diplomacy to Create Jobs, Opinion, Thomas R. Nides, Politico, February 19
In this increasingly interconnected and dynamic world, we must work together – whether businesspeople or diplomats, Americans or our international friends – to advance our shared prosperity. We must continue to build the rules, institutions, and relationships necessary to systematically advance the economic interests of our citizens and businesses well into the future. America’s economic strength and our global leadership are a package deal.

Yemen's Instability Could Be Fixed by Food Aid, William Lambers, History News Network, February 20
UNICEF is trying to provide plumpy'nut, a special peanut paste to save Yemeni children from potentially deadly malnutrition. However, low funding prevents them from reaching the vast majority of mouths. Low funding has forced the UN WFP to scale back food programs for children as well as other hunger relief efforts.

USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah Discusses the Importance of Faith-Based Groups to Combat Global Hunger and Poverty, PBS, February 17
Partners like World Vision or Catholic Relief Services that take the time to engage with communities they’re trying to serve, that are willing to be there for the long run, that work in partnership and cooperation with governments so that they are coordinating their efforts and getting the most out of what we—the investments we make.

Obama Says Export Aid Will Help U.S. Companies Compete, Bloomberg, February 17
The administration will use existing authority “so that the Export-Import Bank can provide U.S. firms competing for domestic or third-country sales with matching financing support to counter foreign non-competitive official financing that fails to observe international disciplines,” the White House said in a statement released in conjunction with Obama's Boeing visit.

This Week's Edition of the Global Food for Thought News Brief

Please click here;to view this week's edition of the Global Food for Thought news brief.

If you have not signed up to receive Global Food for Thought by email, please do so by clicking here.

Roger Thurow - Outrage and Inspire - "Mr. Xi Goes to Iowa"

Mr. Xi Goes to Iowa

Those were interesting photos from the dusty archives that appeared in various newspapers and TV reports this week, pictures of a visitor from China inspecting hogs, vegetable farms and grain processing facilities in Iowa back in 1985.  It became downright fascinating when it turned out that visitor, Xi Jinping, was now returning to the U.S., and to Iowa, as the vice president of China.  Oh, and he is presumed to be China’s next president.

Xi knows farming – he had first come to Iowa as a Communist Party leader to study farming practices that could help his agriculture region back home.  And he knows the importance of increasing food production for his country and for the entire world.

This raises the tantalizing possibility of China becoming a top ally in the U.S. push to end hunger through agriculture development.  The two countries have deep differences on a number of issues, but this may be one on which they can agree: creating the conditions for the world’s smallholder farmers, particularly those in Africa, to be as productive as possible.  It would be good for those farmers – among the poorest and hungriest people on the planet – and good for all of us.  For those smallholder farmers are indispensable if we are to conquer the greatest challenge facing the world over the next couple of decades: nearly doubling food production by 2050 to meet the demand of a population that is growing in both size and prosperity.

US launches the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to fight Climate Change

February 16, 2012
By Sung Lee

Secretary Clinton launched the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, aimed at reducing production of short-lived pollutants that contribute to climate change.  Studies have shown that short-lived pollutants such as methane, black carbon or soot, hydroflourocarbons are responsible for one-third of current climate change, which is one of the most serious and complex problems facing today's world, according to Clinton. "Eliminating these pollutants can “protect health, improve agricultural productivity, and strengthen energy security."

The United States will commit $12 million of new funding. The coalition will develop a targeted global campaign to spread solutions to the short-lived pollutants. The full speech is available here.

Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.

Farmers are ready to do their part on climate change, Opinion, Kanayo F. Kwanze, Huffington Post, February 15
Creating an enabling environment for them to manage their risks, access markets, and get the technical know-how they need to succeed in their businesses are all essential to driving them toward a climate-smart, more productive agriculture. We must all recognize that, farming is a business, even for the poorest farmers on the planet. Today's focus needs to show small farmers not only how to increase their yields through sustainable approaches, but also how to make money and improve their lives when they implement such approaches.

As Xi Charms Iowa, China Hedges Corn Ties With U.S., Wall Street Journal, February 16
It’s in China’s interests to diversify its suppliers. Unlike most other sectors, it’s running a trade deficit in agricultural trade with the U.S., an issue that rankle some Chinese officials. As the world’s biggest buyer of most commodities, China understands that a good bargain is better if there are more sellers. So even as Vice President Xi put a personal touch on China’s growing relationship with the world’s largest corn exporter, it’s paving the way for deals with the world’s second largest.

East Africa crisis response was effective but not fast enough, report says, Guardian, February 16
The response to the crisis in east Africa by members of the Disasters Emergency Committee was effective, but not quick enough to prevent the suffering of thousands of people, according to a report published. The report acknowledged that a shortage of outside funding and red tape, including restrictions caused by the centralized control of the aid effort by the Ethiopian government, had delayed members' response there.