March 6, 2012
By Sung Lee
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will testify before the House Appropriations Committee and the Senate Committee Foreign Relations on the President’s FY13 International Development Budget Request. The President’s FY13 budget request includes $56 billion for the international affairs budget and $1.17 billion for food security and agricultural development.
Today's top stories on global agricultural development and food security issues.
Inclusive Development: USAID’s new gender equality and female empowerment policy, opinion, Ambassador Donald Steinberg, March 5
USAID has long recognized that drawing on the full contributions of women is key achieving better, inclusive, and more sustainable results. That’s why we’re integrating gender equality and female empowerment into the very DNA of everything we do. From Presidential initiatives like Feed the Future, the Global Health Initiative, and Global Climate Change to the full range of the Agency’s programs, we are ensuring that gender is not just being included, but fully incorporated. Eliminating gender bias and empowering women isn’t just a question of fairness or equity: it’s simply good business practice.
Millennium development goal on safe drinking water reaches target early, Guardian, March 6
According to the World Health Organization and UNICEF joint monitoring program for water supply and sanitation, between 1990 and 2010 more than 2 billion people gained access to improved drinking water sources, such as piped supplies and protected wells. Using data from household surveys and censuses, the JMP said at the end of 2010, 89% of the population – 6.1 billion people – now used improved drinking water sources, 1% more than the 88% target contained in millennium development goal number seven, set in 2000.
FAO project helps policymakers maximize benefits for rural communities, prevent food security impacts, FAO, March 6
FAO has released a suite of guidance documents and policymaking tools that governments can use to help rural communities benefit from bioenergy development and ensure that biofuel crop production does not come at the expense of food security. Materials released today by FAO's Bioenergy and Food Security Criteria and Indicators (BEFSCI) Project include: methodologies for assessing the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of bioenergy production, indicators that can be measured when doing so, recommended good practices, and policy measures for promoting sustainable bionenergy development.
Cotton prices jump as India bans exports, Financial Times, March 6
The world’s second-largest producer of cotton instituted the ban with immediate effect on Monday. Analysts said the move was aimed at ensuring sufficient supply of cotton for domestic textile companies, which have been under pressure as prices have risen.
AfDB approves 63 mln USD for Africa's research-for-development initiative, Xinhua, March 5
The overall goal of the multi-Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Center project dubbed "Support to Agricultural Research for Development of Strategic Crops in Africa" (SARD-SC) is to enhance food and nutrition security and contribute to poverty reduction in the Bank's low- income Regional Member Countries (RMCs).
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