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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/food-prices/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Food Prices</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/food-prices/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Zambia’s bumper harvest masks likely food insecurity amid geopolitics and climate threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2026 13:12:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Chisapi Kumbutso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/03133435/5433664321_547a088000_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322469</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Southern Africa, and Zambia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change Denial, Climate Science, El Nino, Environment, Fertilizers, Finance, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Natural Resources, Nature-based climate solutions, Nutrition, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[LUSAKA, Zambia — The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, has prompted warnings that disruptions to the supply of fuel and fertilizer shipped through the Strait of Hormuz could cause food insecurity in some African countries. While experts say it will take time for the effects of the conflict to be felt in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[LUSAKA, Zambia — The escalating conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran, has prompted warnings that disruptions to the supply of fuel and fertilizer shipped through the Strait of Hormuz could cause food insecurity in some African countries. While experts say it will take time for the effects of the conflict to be felt in Zambia, they also point to vulnerabilities in the country&#8217;s food system and suggest greater resilience to possible stresses. Zambia&#8217;s food security is generally understood to rest on a single crop: maize. Zambia Statistics Agency reports that the price of a 25-kilogram bag of breakfast mealie meal declined slightly from April to May. In fact, the price of mealie meal is 15% lower than it was this time last year. The FAO&#8217;s April 2026 country briefing for Zambia said good rains since last October point to a second consecutive year of above-average harvests of maize. The rains are also expected to support a rebound of wheat harvest, as full reservoirs mean a steady supply of hydroelectric power that will allow the crop’s growers (primarily large-scale, industrial farmers) to irrigate their fields. The briefing reported that reference prices for maize were 25% lower year-on-year in March, thanks to plentiful domestic supply and a strengthening of the currency. Maize meal prices also declined by 15%, according to the Zambia Statistics Agency. Drawing on the IPC classification, the FAO said the number of Zambians facing &#8220;crisis&#8221; levels of acute food insecurity in the six months to March 2026 was&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/zambias-bumper-harvest-masks-likely-food-insecurity-amid-geopolitics-and-climate-threats/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322469</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysian farmers demand transparency over proposed seed quality bill</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/malaysian-farmers-demand-transparency-over-proposed-seed-quality-bill/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/malaysian-farmers-demand-transparency-over-proposed-seed-quality-bill/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Oct 2025 15:28:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lee Kwai Han]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/10/10061025/imgonline-com-ua-FrameBlurred-gIlUnSoAPiJT-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=307342</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Industrial Agriculture, Resource Conflict, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 2 of a two-part series on proposed changes to Malaysia’s seed laws. Part 1 published Sept. 29 here. In a farmland surrounded by oil palm and rubber plantations in Perak, in northwestern Malaysia, a coconut sapling lies on the ground. Its young leaves stand upright and are still fused. Farmer Mohd Naim [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 2 of a two-part series on proposed changes to Malaysia’s seed laws. Part 1 published Sept. 29 here. In a farmland surrounded by oil palm and rubber plantations in Perak, in northwestern Malaysia, a coconut sapling lies on the ground. Its young leaves stand upright and are still fused. Farmer Mohd Naim Razak kneels beside it and checks the leaves. “It’s not stable yet,” he says. A healthy sapling should be spreading its fronds, like the others in his farm. It is a pandan coconut sapling. If it adapts well to his farm, it will start bearing fruit in three years. The juice from a pandan coconut (Cocos nucifera) is known for its sweet fragrance, resembling that of pandan, a fragrant plant commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine. Mohd Naim also plans to sell coconut seeds in the future. He says farmers can’t work without seeds. “Seeds are farmers’ important assets.” So, for him, farmers have to appreciate, conserve, save and take care of seeds. “We must also know that we have to control [seeds] ourselves,” he says. But while Mohd Naim works on his farm, a new challenge looms: Malaysia is set to propose a new law that could contradict his belief in farmers’ responsibility and rights over seeds. This is one of two proposed changes to Malaysian seed laws that have small-scale farmers concerned about their rights. In 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security is expected to propose a crop seed quality bill&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/malaysian-farmers-demand-transparency-over-proposed-seed-quality-bill/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/10/malaysian-farmers-demand-transparency-over-proposed-seed-quality-bill/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-307342</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malaysian small-scale farmers worry about rights under proposed seed law changes</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/malaysian-small-scale-farmers-worry-about-rights-under-proposed-seed-law-changes/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/malaysian-small-scale-farmers-worry-about-rights-under-proposed-seed-law-changes/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Sep 2025 17:32:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Lee Kwai Han]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/29055933/Mohd-Naim-Razak-explaining-different-coconut-varieties-have-different-shape-of-trunk-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306664</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Community Development, Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Environmental Law, Farming, Fellows, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Industrial Agriculture, Resource Conflict, and Social Justice]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 1 of a two-part series on proposed changes to Malaysia’s seed laws. Part 2 reports more on Malaysia’s seed quality bill. On an August Sunday morning, a rice mill roars in a public park in the busy Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Paddy farmer Azhar Hashim has brought it from his house in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This is Part 1 of a two-part series on proposed changes to Malaysia’s seed laws. Part 2 reports more on Malaysia’s seed quality bill. On an August Sunday morning, a rice mill roars in a public park in the busy Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Paddy farmer Azhar Hashim has brought it from his house in Perak state, 280 kilometers (175 miles) away, for the farmers’ carnival. Golden paddy turns into white rice as the machine grinds. At the carnival, farmers and NGOs give out free seeds and plant cuttings, sell saplings and food made from their harvest. Visitors guess plant names from seeds. Many leave with freshly milled rice. The carnival is part of the Malaysian Food Sovereignty Forum (FKMM) initiative to bring farmers and public members together to talk about seeds — something that’s been in the public eye recently. FKMM, a coalition of farmers, fishers, breeders, academics and professionals, is opposing a proposed law amendment to Malaysia’s Protection of New Plant Varieties (PNPV) Act, which, if implemented, critics say could hurt the rights of small farmers. The PNPV Act came into force in 2007. Under this act, a plant breeder can apply to the government for exclusive rights over a new plant variety. If the variety meets the criteria, the breeder is granted 15- to 25-year breeder’s rights. The granted rights are gazetted and added to a public list. While the act protects breeders’ rights, it exempts small farmers who farm less than 0.2 hectares of land (0.5&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/malaysian-small-scale-farmers-worry-about-rights-under-proposed-seed-law-changes/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/malaysian-small-scale-farmers-worry-about-rights-under-proposed-seed-law-changes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306664</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Upmarket fish maw trade in Singapore &#038; Malaysia includes endangered species: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2025 15:33:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Keith Anthony Fabro]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/06151613/15430637796_4791d70d4c_o-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=303862</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, China, East Asia, Malaysia, and Singapore]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Consumption, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Fish, Fishing, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, Illegal Trade, International Trade, Marine, Marine Conservation, Natural Resources, Overconsumption, Overfishing, Research, Saltwater Fish, Trade, Wildlife, and Wildlife Trade]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Fish maw — the dried swim bladder of ray-finned fishes — is prized across East and Southeast Asia as a culinary delicacy and symbol of wealth and status. In Chinese culture, it’s served at family and business gatherings. Beyond tradition, maw is promoted for supposed health and beauty benefits, from aiding recovery after childbirth to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Fish maw — the dried swim bladder of ray-finned fishes — is prized across East and Southeast Asia as a culinary delicacy and symbol of wealth and status. In Chinese culture, it’s served at family and business gatherings. Beyond tradition, maw is promoted for supposed health and beauty benefits, from aiding recovery after childbirth to reducing signs of aging due to its high collagen content. As demand has surged with urbanization and rising incomes, fish maw trade has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry. In Hong Kong alone, studies have found maw imports were worth up to $394 million between 2015 and 2018, with some single bladders selling for nearly half a million dollars. Rare species fetch the highest prices, but once processed, maw is hard to identify — this opens the door to mislabeling and substitutions that mislead buyers. “Given the value of the trade, it is surprising that we do not really know what species are involved or where they are coming from,” Benjamin Wainwright, a marine biologist at the National University of Singapore, told Mongabay by email. A new study, published in Conservation Letters in June 2025, sheds light on the fish maw trade in Singapore and Malaysia. Led by Wainwright and marine taxonomist Seah Ying Giat of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, the study used DNA barcoding to identify the species behind the trade — revealing, among others, the presence of two vulnerable, four endangered and two critically endangered species on the IUCN Red List, including the European eel&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/upmarket-fish-maw-trade-in-singapore-malaysia-includes-endangered-species-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-303862</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cameroon aims to double cacao, coffee production, yet also save forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jan 2025 18:24:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/14135101/GP0STOUSZ_Low-res-with-credit-line-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292909</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Economics, Environment, Farming, Food Industry, Food Prices, Forests, Industrial Agriculture, Land Use Change, Subsistence Agriculture, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon’s government says it plans to invest heavily in agriculture over the next decade and combine economic growth and sustainable development, while preserving its forests. A recent agreement signed between the government and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) will invest $60 million toward achieving these aims. But the country has lost an average of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon’s government says it plans to invest heavily in agriculture over the next decade and combine economic growth and sustainable development, while preserving its forests. A recent agreement signed between the government and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) will invest $60 million toward achieving these aims. But the country has lost an average of 110,000 hectares (about 272,000 acres) of forest per year since 2013 — in 2023, forest loss spiked to 204,000 hectares (504,000 acres) — casting doubt on claims it’s possible to both double commercial cacao and coffee production and reduce deforestation. According to data from forest monitoring platform Global Forest Watch, Cameroon lost more than 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of forest between 2001 and 2023, primarily due to logging, mining and agriculture. A June 2024 study published in the journal PLOS ONE identified cacao cultivation as one of the drivers of deforestation in the Congo Basin and in Cameroon in particular. Its authors suggested mitigation measures such as agroforestry systems, combined with better land planning and incentives for sustainable agricultural and forestry practices, as ways to reduce the risks of deforestation linked to cacao. Ndomon Albert working on a cacao plantation in Essam village, Molongo. According to Saïdou Hamadou, a CAFI team member in Cameroon, “the partnership aims to promote sustainable intensification and increased productivity of family and industrial agriculture on existing agricultural land.” Image © John Novis/Greenpeace. / Greenpeace. According to the letter of intent signed in October 2024, the $60 million fund&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292909</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>African markets tackle food insecurity and climate change — but lack investment</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/african-markets-tackle-food-insecurity-and-climate-change-but-lack-investment/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/african-markets-tackle-food-insecurity-and-climate-change-but-lack-investment/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Jul 2024 17:32:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/07/16165837/TM-Photo-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=284414</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Politics, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Zimbabwe’s Mbare agricultural market in Harare, the biggest local market in the country’s capital city, opens at 5 a.m. and bustles. Between morning and noon, traders arrive from different parts of the country with more than 100 varieties of vegetables and fruits that need to be sorted for redistribution to other trading markets. In Mbare, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Zimbabwe’s Mbare agricultural market in Harare, the biggest local market in the country’s capital city, opens at 5 a.m. and bustles. Between morning and noon, traders arrive from different parts of the country with more than 100 varieties of vegetables and fruits that need to be sorted for redistribution to other trading markets. In Mbare, prices are decided early in the morning by traders who compare volumes and types of products day by day, depending on the season and climate. Calls, shouts, haggling fill the air. Eye rolls ensue. Prices can change every day. Charles Dhewa, chief executive officer of Knowledge Transfer Africa (KTA), a rural and agricultural development organization, buys his food from Mbare market. One of the strengths of these local African markets is the large volume and diversity of food they can sell, Dhewa said. Whereas other supermarkets in Harare, for instance, supply only 10 tons of potatoes a day, Mbare market supplies more than 800 tons. “The more food that comes in, the more people can get nutrition,” he said. “When there’s more food, the prices are also managed, which means low-income people can also afford the food.” As international agencies around the world continue to sound an alarm over surges in food insecurity, a new report published July 2 says that investing in these “territorial markets” — already embedded in Africa’s cultural fabric — is a solution. These markets can increase self-sufficiency, food security and climate resilience as extreme hunger and malnutrition affect millions, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/07/african-markets-tackle-food-insecurity-and-climate-change-but-lack-investment/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-284414</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Harsh dry season sours harvest prospects for Java coffee farmers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Feb 2024 15:18:21 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Moh. Tamimi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Pablourrutia]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/23093009/coffee-berries-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279128</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Java, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Coffee, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JEMBER, Indonesia — In good weather, Saturi’s coffee field here on a hillside on the east of Indonesia’s Java Island will produce around 2.5 metric tons of coffee beans over the course of a season. This year, he expects to get less than a ton. “The weather has meant there have been a lot of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JEMBER, Indonesia — In good weather, Saturi’s coffee field here on a hillside on the east of Indonesia’s Java Island will produce around 2.5 metric tons of coffee beans over the course of a season. This year, he expects to get less than a ton. “The weather has meant there have been a lot of fires,” Saturi told Mongabay Indonesia at his home in Jember district in December. Saturi’s story reflects the plight of farmers more broadly in the world’s fourth-largest coffee-producing nation, where the weather has lurched from extreme rainfall caused by a La Niña climate pattern that lasted from 2020-2022, to a punishing drought sparked last year by El Niño. This year’s coffee harvest in Indonesia is forecast to be the lowest in more than a decade. Jember farmers blame El Niño, in which above-average temperatures in the Pacific produce dangerously dry weather over Southeast Asia. Torrential rain over a long period can easily drown coffee flowers before they produce beans, while sustained heat and a deficit of water typically stunt coffee flowers and dry up the tree’s leaves. Indonesia recorded coffee output of almost 12 million 60-kilogram sacks during the season that spans 2022 and 2023, but total production in the current year is expected to plummet to less than 10 million as El Niño induces feverish temperatures across low-lying coffee areas. Saturi examining his coffee plants in Jember. Image by Moh Tamimi/ Mongabay Indonesia. Extreme weather has brought challenges to a diverse basket of food crops&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/harsh-dry-season-sours-harvest-prospects-for-java-coffee-farmers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279128</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous Zenú turn to ancestral seeds, agroecology to climate-proof their farming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2024 17:32:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/05161943/5-Remberto-Gil-shows-three-varieties-of-corn-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278560</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Global Agroforestry, and Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MONTERÍA, Colombia — “Look at the rooms in our house,” says Remberto Gil, 45, during a sweltering day last September. “During this time of the year, they are typically overflowing with freshly harvested corn to the point where we only have space to sleep in hammocks hanging over the cobs.” An Indigenous Zenú farmer, Gil [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MONTERÍA, Colombia — “Look at the rooms in our house,” says Remberto Gil, 45, during a sweltering day last September. “During this time of the year, they are typically overflowing with freshly harvested corn to the point where we only have space to sleep in hammocks hanging over the cobs.” An Indigenous Zenú farmer, Gil lives in the Zenú reserve of San Andrés de Sotavento, a nearly 10,000-hectare (25,000-acre) piece of land that’s home to 33,000 people in northwestern Colombia. “Now, everything is empty,” he adds. “We lost around 90% of the first harvest due to drought, and the little corn we have now is smaller than usual. We had no rain during the last month, and now we can’t sow.” In the Zenú reserve, issues with the weather, climate or soil are spread by word of mouth between farmers, or on La Positiva 103.0, a community agroecology radio station. And what’s been on every farmer’s mind is last year’s record-breaking heat and droughts. Both of these were charged by the twin impacts of climate change and a newly developing El Niño, a naturally occurring warmer period that last occurred here in 2016, say climate scientists. Experts from Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies say the impacts of El Niño will be felt in Colombia until April 2024, adding to farmers’ concerns. Other scientists forecast June to August may be even hotter than 2023, and the next five years could be the hottest on record. On Jan. 24,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278560</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Maluku farmers sweat El Niño drought as Indonesia rice prices surge</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Jan 2024 07:19:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jaya Barends]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/25064658/Marmi-a-rice-farmer-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277992</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Maluku, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Crops, Drought, El Nino, Environment, Extreme Weather, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Impact Of Climate Change, Politics, Rice, Tropical Forests, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers here on Buru Island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku region, 53-year-old Tamami set aside his field after the availability of water dried up. “There’s no rain,” [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BURU ISLAND, Indonesia – At the beginning of November last year, Tamami’s rice field lay vacant except for a herd of cattle grazing on the land. Like many rice farmers here on Buru Island in Indonesia’s eastern Maluku region, 53-year-old Tamami set aside his field after the availability of water dried up. “There’s no rain,” Tamami told Mongabay Indonesia in Savana Jaya village. “The reservoir is empty because of the long dry season.” In a normal year, rice farmers begin planting the third and final rice crop of the year in October and November. But the emergence of the El Niño climate pattern made 2023 the hottest year on record, and extended Indonesia’s main dry season beyond October. Sutiah, a farmer from Waitele village, said planting on her 4 hectares (10 acres) of rice fields had failed owing to the extreme weather and water scarcity. The write-off will cost her family tens of millions of rupiah, she said. “What’s going on with this weather?” she asked. Indonesia’s meteorology agency, the BMKG, documented extremely low levels of rainfall in much of eastern Indonesia during the second half of 2023, including on the island where Sutiah and Tamami grow rice. From August to October, monthly rainfall in the Maluku region was consistently recorded in the low range of 0-100 millimeters (0-4 inches). Yeli Sarvina, a climate researcher at Indonesia’s national research agency, BRIN, said drought had decimated rice harvests across Buru Island. A farmer in Waeapo, Buru, leveling the grain from the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/maluku-farmers-sweat-el-nino-drought-as-indonesia-rice-prices-surge/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277992</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Dam-building on Mekong poses risk to regional industries, report says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2023 16:00:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/08154622/Banner-_-%C2%A9-WWF-Viet-Nam-_-Cham-Team_WW1269211-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275173</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, Laos, Mekong Basin, Southeast Asia, Thailand, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Business, Conservation, Dams, Ecosystems, Environment, Erosion, Fisheries, Food Prices, food security, Freshwater, Freshwater Fish, Governance, Hydroelectric Power, Industry, Infrastructure, Politics, Rice, Rivers, Supply Chain, Tropics, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Crucial industries and supply chains worth billions of dollars are threatened by impacts from hydropower development along the Mekong River, according to a new report from WWF. The report reveals how continued hydropower development along the major watercourse jeopardizes future economic growth in five vital sectors that underpin regional economies: energy production; fisheries and aquaculture; [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Crucial industries and supply chains worth billions of dollars are threatened by impacts from hydropower development along the Mekong River, according to a new report from WWF. The report reveals how continued hydropower development along the major watercourse jeopardizes future economic growth in five vital sectors that underpin regional economies: energy production; fisheries and aquaculture; rice production; sand and construction; and textiles and electronics. “The Mekong’s health is inextricably linked to multiple domestic and global supply chains, countless livelihoods, and the food security of more than 50 million people,” Lan Mercado, WWF Asia-Pacific regional director, said in a statement. “We must pivot towards a more sustainable and balanced approach.” Fisheries upon which millions of people depend for livelihoods and nutrition are among the key sectors examined in the WWF report. Image courtesy of Kelsey Hartman/WWF-Greater Mekong More than 160 hydropower dams operate along the Mekong River and its tributaries, which together drain an immense basin that spans six countries. Despite widespread criticism over their impacts on the environment and traditional livelihoods, hundreds more dams are either planned or under construction. “Maintaining the environmental integrity of the Mekong system has been overshadowed by an appetite for a narrow conception of economic growth,” the report says. “With development decisions proceeding at pace, often with limited or no integration or system-scale planning, the past 40 years have seen a major degradation of the Mekong.” Dwindling fish catches, unprecedented riverbank erosion, collapsing flooded forests, and a sinking delta are just some of the challenges&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/dam-building-on-mekong-poses-risk-to-regional-industries-report-says/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275173</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>What can solve growing conflicts between agricultural giants and communities in Cameroon?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/local-communities-protest-as-land-conflict-grows-with-more-agricultural-giants-in-cameroon/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/local-communities-protest-as-land-conflict-grows-with-more-agricultural-giants-in-cameroon/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jul 2023 18:51:50 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/17112449/DCIMAGE-67-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270986</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and Central Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Business, Development, Economics, Farming, Food Industry, Food Prices, Industrial Agriculture, Industry, Land Conflict, Land Reform, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Subsistence Agriculture, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[YAOUNDÉ — It’s already been three years since the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of Apouh, a village in eastern Cameroon, have been locked in an intractable conflict with Socapalm, a local subsidiary of Belgian agriculture giant Socfin which owns plantations in a dozen African countries. The crux of the problem revolves around the population&#8217;s land claims. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[YAOUNDÉ — It’s already been three years since the nearly 4,000 inhabitants of Apouh, a village in eastern Cameroon, have been locked in an intractable conflict with Socapalm, a local subsidiary of Belgian agriculture giant Socfin which owns plantations in a dozen African countries. The crux of the problem revolves around the population&#8217;s land claims. They oppose the company replanting another batch of palm oil trees in areas located at the edge of the village where the community envisions setting up farm lots to feed their families. “In front of our houses, there are palm trees. Behind our houses, more palm trees,” says the chief of the village, Ditope Lindoume. “We have no yards. They’ve planted everywhere. The fundamental problem is land grabbing. We want to have living space for our families.” In another town in northern Cameroon, Tibati, Indigenous communities are fiercely opposing the government&#8217;s allocation of 95,000 hectares (234,750 acres) of land to a Cameroonian company, Tawfiq Agro Industry, to develop the agro-pastoral sector. These are but a few examples of an exhaustive list of conflicts arising from industrial agriculture companies establishing their presence in or near Cameroonian villages. In Cameroon, agro-industries are viewed by the government as drivers of development that are supposed to generate wealth and contribute to the country&#8217;s economic growth. This remains a challenge in the predominantly import-oriented economy whose trade deficit increased to $1.9 billion in 2022. The country is crumbling under the weight of production deficits in virtually all sectors of agriculture and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/local-communities-protest-as-land-conflict-grows-with-more-agricultural-giants-in-cameroon/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270986</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Agroecology schools help communities restore degraded land in Guatemala</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/agroecology-schools-help-communities-restore-degraded-land-in-guatemala/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/agroecology-schools-help-communities-restore-degraded-land-in-guatemala/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jul 2023 16:29:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Aimee Gabay]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/07063846/Florinda-Dominga-Par-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270654</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Covering the Commons, and Industry and People]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Central America, Guatemala, and Latin America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Economics, Education, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Industrial Agriculture, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Every Friday at 7:30 a.m., María Isabel Aguilar sells her organic produce in an artisanal market in Totonicapán, a city located in the western highlands of Guatemala. Presented on a handwoven multicolor blanket, her broccoli, cabbage, potatoes and fruits are neatly organized into handmade baskets. Aguilar is in a cohort of campesinos, or small-scale farmers, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Every Friday at 7:30 a.m., María Isabel Aguilar sells her organic produce in an artisanal market in Totonicapán, a city located in the western highlands of Guatemala. Presented on a handwoven multicolor blanket, her broccoli, cabbage, potatoes and fruits are neatly organized into handmade baskets. Aguilar is in a cohort of campesinos, or small-scale farmers, who took part in farmer-led agroecology schools in her community. As a way out of the cycle of hunger and poverty, she learned ecological principles of sowing, soil conservation, seed storage, propagation and other agroecological practices that have provided her with greater autonomy, self-sufficiency and improved health. “We learned how to develop insecticides to fend off pests,” she said. The process, she explained, involves a purely organic cocktail of garlic, chile, horsetail and other weeds and leaves, depending on what type of insecticide is needed. “You want to put this all together and let it settle for several days before applying it, and then the pests won’t come.” “We also learned how to prepare fertilizer that helps improve the health of our plants,” she added. “Using leaves from trees or medicinal plants we have in our gardens, we apply this to our crops and trees so they give us good fruit.” The expansion of large-scale agriculture has transformed Guatemala’s ancestral lands into intensive monoculture plantations, leading to the destruction of forests and traditional practices. The use of harmful chemical fertilizers, including glyphosate, which is prohibited in many countries, has destroyed some livelihoods and resulted in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/agroecology-schools-help-communities-restore-degraded-land-in-guatemala/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/07/agroecology-schools-help-communities-restore-degraded-land-in-guatemala/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270654</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>One seed at a time: Lebanese project promotes agroecology for farmer autonomy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/one-seed-at-a-time-lebanese-project-promotes-agroecology-for-farmer-autonomy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/one-seed-at-a-time-lebanese-project-promotes-agroecology-for-farmer-autonomy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 Jun 2023 18:20:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Áine Donnellan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/06/29150810/Cultivating-heirloom-seeds-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=270347</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Covering the Commons, and Industry and People]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Lebanon, and Middle East]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Economics, Education, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Industrial Agriculture, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[SAADNAYEL, Lebanon – Located in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, a region that has been farmed for millennia, a small experimental farm known as Buzuruna Juzuruna (BuJu) is establishing an agroecological network across the country, as well as setting up an heirloom seed cooperative to promote resilience and sovereignty within communities, near and far. “The biggest success [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[SAADNAYEL, Lebanon – Located in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, a region that has been farmed for millennia, a small experimental farm known as Buzuruna Juzuruna (BuJu) is establishing an agroecological network across the country, as well as setting up an heirloom seed cooperative to promote resilience and sovereignty within communities, near and far. “The biggest success is seeing our seeds growing tomatoes from Chile to Sri Lanka,” says Serge Harfouche, a co-founder of the project, pointing to the scalability of heirloom seed production. Harfouche says the project draws inspiration from forests: BuJu has a decidedly decentralized operation, allowing free access to education and experimentation — and, of course, seeds. &#8220;People have been starved to submission,&#8221; says Serge, illustrating the dire need for an initiative such as BuJu in Lebanon. &#8220;Heirloom seeds are reproducable seeds,&#8221; returning power back to farmers who had become reliant on chemical pesticides and fertilizers. Image by Áine Donnellan for Mongabay. Somewhere under the rainbow Buzuruna Juzuruna, which in Arabic means “Our Seeds, Our Roots,” probably doesn’t look like what you’d expect of a farm in Lebanon. The first thing that stands out is a large yellow and red circus tent. The tent tends to overshadow the few brown houses on the land, built of clay, with wooden facades made using locally grown poplars. The farm of just 2 hectares (4.9 acres) does a lot with a little space, growing more than 70 crop varieties, including 13 types of wheat, interspersed with flowers and aromatics, and fenced in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/one-seed-at-a-time-lebanese-project-promotes-agroecology-for-farmer-autonomy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-270347</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pollinator declines linked to half million early human deaths annually: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/pollinator-declines-linked-to-half-million-early-human-deaths-annually-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/pollinator-declines-linked-to-half-million-early-human-deaths-annually-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>02 Feb 2023 16:14:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/02/02160452/bees-and-flowers-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265214</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Animals, Bees, Biodiversity, Conservation, Crops, Diseases, Environment, Flowers, Food, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Habitat Loss, Health, Impact Of Climate Change, Insects, Planetary Health, Pollinators, Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Insect pollinator loss is already resulting in an estimated half million early deaths yearly due to reduced healthy food availability and higher prices. Researchers say action to overhaul global agriculture is urgently needed.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Do you know the butterfly effect? It’s a metaphor, often used in the discussion of chaos theory, for how tiny, almost imperceptible changes may lead to massive outcomes: a butterfly flaps its wings in Asia and three months later there’s a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Well, it turns out butterflies, and other pollinators, can cause massive outcomes not just by their presence, but also by their absence. A new modeling study in Environmental Health Perspectives estimates that half a million people are currently dying prematurely every year due to global insect pollinator decline, because of its impact on availability and price of healthy foods such as nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables. And the researchers say their estimate is “conservative.” “Today’s estimated health impacts of insufficient pollination would be comparable to other major global risk factors: those attributable to substance use disorders, interpersonal violence, or prostate cancer,” the researchers write. The researchers arrived at their estimate by first turning to work published in Science in 2016 that estimated how much of the agricultural production yield gap — i.e. the gap between average farms and those bringing in the most crops — was due to insufficient pollination. That study tracked 344 fields of crops depending on 33 insect pollinators around the world, finding that around one-quarter of the yield gap was likely linked to lost pollinators. A butterfly in Sikkim, India. The new study estimates that half a million people are currently dying prematurely every year due to global insect&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/pollinator-declines-linked-to-half-million-early-human-deaths-annually-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/02/pollinator-declines-linked-to-half-million-early-human-deaths-annually-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265214</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>To replace Western food imports, Cameroon gives community lands to &#8216;no-name&#8217; agro-industry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/to-replace-western-food-imports-cameroon-gives-community-lands-to-no-name-agro-industry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/to-replace-western-food-imports-cameroon-gives-community-lands-to-no-name-agro-industry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Dec 2022 23:18:40 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/12/01230036/Photo-1-1-scaled-e1668709863278-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=263184</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Development, Economics, Farming, Food Prices, Industrial Agriculture, Land Conflict, Land Reform, Land Use Change, Subsistence Agriculture, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TIBATI, Cameroon – In Mbanti-Mbang village, Joseph Adamou and his family are living in fear. Living in the Tibati district located nearly 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) north of Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, they are afraid of being removed from their farms that became part of the state land reserve six years ago. At the end of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TIBATI, Cameroon – In Mbanti-Mbang village, Joseph Adamou and his family are living in fear. Living in the Tibati district located nearly 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) north of Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, they are afraid of being removed from their farms that became part of the state land reserve six years ago. At the end of October, the head of the Gbaya family, one of the six Indigenous ethnic groups living in the district of 72,000 people, was informed that the Cameroonian company Tawfiq Agro Industry would be setting up an agro-industrial facility. Gbaya, 60, and his family could lose access to the ten hectares (24 acres) of arable land they have been farming and using for trade for more than 20 years. A young Mbororo shepherd from the Ardo Fougue family herds a flock of sheep on the land reserve / Image © Yannick Kenné. Last May, the Cameroonian government decided to allocate 95,000 hectares (over 234,000 acres) of land – three times the size of Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé &#8211; to the company Tawfiq Agro Industry, to develop an agro-industrial facility aimed at reducing expensive Western food imports. The price of imported food has increased this past year. According to Tawfiq Agro Industry, it aims to contribute to the development of local industry. This Djerem village is home to a community of nomadic people who depend mainly on cattle breeding for their livelihood. Tensions are high among the Ardo Fougue family, whose leader is fearful of the project’s impact. This&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/to-replace-western-food-imports-cameroon-gives-community-lands-to-no-name-agro-industry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/12/to-replace-western-food-imports-cameroon-gives-community-lands-to-no-name-agro-industry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-263184</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lack of finance prevents Bangladesh farmers from diversifying their rice crops</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-finance-prevents-bangladesh-farmers-from-diversifying-their-rice-crops/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-finance-prevents-bangladesh-farmers-from-diversifying-their-rice-crops/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Aug 2022 07:01:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/31061815/farmers-bangladesh-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259774</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Bangladesh, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Crops, Economics, Farming, Finance, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, and Monocultures]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh is home to more than 130 different rice varieties, but a lack of economic incentives means farmers here grow only a handful of the higher-yielding types. This has given rise to a virtual monocrop system, which farmers and experts say threatens both long-run production and soil quality. Most farmers, meanwhile, blame a vicious cycle [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bangladesh is home to more than 130 different rice varieties, but a lack of economic incentives means farmers here grow only a handful of the higher-yielding types. This has given rise to a virtual monocrop system, which farmers and experts say threatens both long-run production and soil quality. Most farmers, meanwhile, blame a vicious cycle of dependence on high interest micro-credit for agro-input, which leaves them overdependent on high yield varieties, and little room to experiment with other varieties. Abdur Razzak,a 48-year-old farmer in the northern district of Dinajpur, has for the past 15 years grown the most popular varieties — known as BRRI-28 and BRRI-29 — which yield around 6 metric tons of rice per hectare of land, or about 2.7 short tons per acre. “A couple of years back we tried BRRI-35,” he says. “[We] dropped it the next year as it yielded only about 3 [metric] tons per hectare,” or 1.3 short tons an acre. Making matters worse, the market price of BRRI-35 and other lesser-known varieties is lower than that of the popular varieties because of the lack of demand. Like Razzak, some 15 million farmers in Bangladesh depend just on five to six rice varieties in an effort to maximize their output, cultivating them on 8.6 million hectares (21.3 million acres) of land. That’s made Bangladesh the fourth-highest rice-producing country in the world, churning out 36 million metric tons of rice annually to feed its 170 million people. A paddy field in Bangladesh. A cycle&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-finance-prevents-bangladesh-farmers-from-diversifying-their-rice-crops/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-finance-prevents-bangladesh-farmers-from-diversifying-their-rice-crops/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259774</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Urban farming in Indonesia addresses food needs and climate crisis</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/urban-farming-in-indonesia-addresses-food-needs-and-climate-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/urban-farming-in-indonesia-addresses-food-needs-and-climate-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Aug 2022 13:33:39 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sri Wahyuni]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/24101446/urban-farming-indonesia-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=259520</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Cities, Climate Change, Ecology, Farming, Food, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Subsistence Agriculture, and urban ecology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MEDAN, Indonesia — Food plants intermingle on the second-floor rooftop of a house in Medan, the biggest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They were planted by Sakiah Nasution, who took up urban farming about a year ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In her open-air garden, measuring 2 by 3 meters (7 by 10 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MEDAN, Indonesia — Food plants intermingle on the second-floor rooftop of a house in Medan, the biggest city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They were planted by Sakiah Nasution, who took up urban farming about a year ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In her open-air garden, measuring 2 by 3 meters (7 by 10 feet), she grows chili peppers, cauliflowers, Brazilian spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, Japanese mustard greens, cucumbers, honey chayotes, turmeric and ginger, all without pesticides. It lowers her monthly food bill and gives her a chance to commune with nature. “The silver lining from COVID is that urban farming became part of the healing process at home,” said Sakiah, a lecturer in agriculture at a local university and mother of three. “I grow it for my daily needs. Some of the greens I don’t even have to buy at the market anymore,” she said.   The war in Ukraine, one of the world’s leading grain exporters, has fueled rising food prices globally, including in Indonesia, a major grain importer, giving people like Sakiah extra incentive to cultivate food crops on her rooftop. Before the start of the war in February, a pack of Indomie instant noodles cost 2,400 rupiah (16 U.S. cents). It now sells at grocery stores in Jakarta for 3,200 rupiah (21 cents), a 33% increase. Chili peppers, a local staple, normally sell for 40,000 rupiah per kilogram ($1.22 per pound) in Jakarta, but the price tripled to 120,000 rupiah in April, prior to the Eid&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/urban-farming-in-indonesia-addresses-food-needs-and-climate-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/urban-farming-in-indonesia-addresses-food-needs-and-climate-crisis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-259520</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Lack of timely rains, fertilizer hits rice farmers in Nepal&#8217;s granary</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-timely-rains-fertilizer-hits-rice-farmers-in-nepals-granary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-timely-rains-fertilizer-hits-rice-farmers-in-nepals-granary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Aug 2022 16:11:16 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/08/17064515/nepal-rice-planting-banner-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258952</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Earth Science, Extreme Weather, Fertilizers, Food, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Rice, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Thousands of farmers in Nepal&#8217;s fertile southern plains, the country’s rice bowl, face a double whammy of a fertilizer shortage and inadequate monsoon rains. This is likely to affect production of the country&#8217;s staple grain, which also contributes around a quarter of the country&#8217;s gross domestic product and provides employment of at least [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — Thousands of farmers in Nepal&#8217;s fertile southern plains, the country’s rice bowl, face a double whammy of a fertilizer shortage and inadequate monsoon rains. This is likely to affect production of the country&#8217;s staple grain, which also contributes around a quarter of the country&#8217;s gross domestic product and provides employment of at least six months for a large proportion of the population. &#8220;Paddy has been planted only in around 75% of the fields as of end of July,&#8221; said Suma Karki, a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture. &#8220;Last year this time, the figure was around 88%.&#8221; The monsoon clouds, which originate in the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean, are obstructed by the Himalayan mountain range when they try to move north. They then form a low-pressure band, shedding their moisture in the form of rain in the foothills of the mountains as well as the Gangetic plain that runs through Nepal, India and Bangladesh. The band, known as the monsoon trough, moves between the foothills of mountains in the north and the Indian plains in the south bringing rain wherever it goes. &#8220;This monsoon season, the trough has remained in the Indian plains for a longer period than we&#8217;d expect it to,&#8221; said senior government meteorologist Indira Kandel. This is why Nepal&#8217;s southern plains haven&#8217;t received adequate rains for rice farmers this year, she added. The monsoon rains account for 60-90% of Nepal’s total annual precipitation, and are crucial for the farmers who grow rice&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-timely-rains-fertilizer-hits-rice-farmers-in-nepals-granary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/lack-of-timely-rains-fertilizer-hits-rice-farmers-in-nepals-granary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258952</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Did Wall Street play a role in this year’s wheat price crisis?</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/did-wall-street-play-a-role-in-this-years-wheat-price-crisis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/did-wall-street-play-a-role-in-this-years-wheat-price-crisis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Jul 2022 11:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/07/25133331/wheat-in-ukraine-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=258534</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Covering the Commons and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Business, Climate Change, Conservation, Economics, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Finance, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Globalization, Governance, Green, International Trade, Politics, Resource Conflict, Trade, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[War, supply chain breakdowns, and climate change-driven weather disasters are pushing wheat prices up and increasing the threat of global hunger. Some analysts say financial speculation is making things worse.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In late March, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its second month, U.N. agencies began to issue dire warnings regarding the world’s food supply. The war, they said, was pushing food-insecure countries to the brink of a “devastating” hunger crisis, with the combination of brutal fighting in Ukraine and unprecedented economic sanctions on Russia threatening to disrupt as much as a third of the world’s wheat exports. Just two weeks after the war’s start, spot prices for a bushel of wheat skyrocketed from less than $8 to nearly $13. The World Food Programme said the soaring prices were placing 345 million people at risk of “acute food insecurity,” with an additional 50 million drifting toward a state of emergency — particularly in North Africa, a region that relies on wheat imports from the two nations. Coming on the heels of a supply chain-disrupting pandemic, the situation was a “perfect storm,” as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in early June. Since March, the price of wheat has fallen precipitously. As of July 26, a bushel was trading at $9.37, according to the website Macrotrends — a drop of nearly 30% in just over four months. This whiplash-inducing turnaround hasn’t entirely rescued food-insecure countries; prices are still much higher than before the pandemic. But some of the worst-case projections now look far less likely to occur than they appeared in March. However, the wild fluctuations in wheat prices during the unfolding war have exposed the fragility of the global food system, laying&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/did-wall-street-play-a-role-in-this-years-wheat-price-crisis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/07/did-wall-street-play-a-role-in-this-years-wheat-price-crisis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-258534</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Conservation and food production must work in tandem, new study says</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/conservation-and-food-production-must-work-in-tandem-new-study-says/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/conservation-and-food-production-must-work-in-tandem-new-study-says/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Dec 2021 12:20:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/12/06233320/Women-harvesting-pine-nuts-Sergio-Izquierdo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=250512</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, China, Europe, South America, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Business, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Consumer Action, Deforestation, Development, Ecology, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Policy, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, Forest Loss, Forestry, Forests, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Mammals, Plantations, Primary Forests, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Reforestation, Restoration, Saving Rainforests, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Technology, Threats To Rainforests, Tropical Deforestation, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Confining conservation efforts to only 30% of Earth&#8217;s land may render a fifth of mammals and a third of birds at high risk of extinction by 2030, according to a new study. If that 30% were to be strictly conserved without accounting for food production, it could also result in food shortages and insecurity. Known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Confining conservation efforts to only 30% of Earth&#8217;s land may render a fifth of mammals and a third of birds at high risk of extinction by 2030, according to a new study. If that 30% were to be strictly conserved without accounting for food production, it could also result in food shortages and insecurity. Known as “30 by 30,” the target in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework draft released by the United Nations in July calls for policymakers to conserve 30% of Earth&#8217;s land and sea by 2030 through “area-based conservation measures” like protected national parks. While the idea has picked up steam in recent years, excluding food production activities from protected land areas could lead to serious impacts on food availability and local livelihoods, researchers behind the study, published November in One Earth, told Mongabay. Their research warns against setting hard targets in isolation, and instead proposes a land-use planning strategy where conservation and food production goals are integrated. Agricultural areas in South Africa. Image by Rhett A. Butler. With the planet’s population growing toward 9.1 billion people in 2050, overall food production needs to increase by 70% in the next few decades, according to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. (FAO). Modeling an extreme version of the 30 by 30 plan, which involves strictly conserving protected land areas while optimizing food production outside, researchers found food production shortfalls, and a fifth of mammals and a third of birds at high risk of extinction by&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/12/conservation-and-food-production-must-work-in-tandem-new-study-says/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-250512</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Brazil farming co-op carves a sustainable path through agribusiness stronghold</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Oct 2021 16:47:12 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shanna Hanbury]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/10/11125530/1-CoopCerrados-two-decade-bet-on-biodiversity-and-sustainable-family-farming-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=248058</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Cerrado, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroecology, Business, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Crops, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, Governance, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Overexploitation, Solutions, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When farmer Mônica de Souza Ribeiro moved into her landless settlement in the state of Goiás in central Brazil in the late 1990s, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of agrotoxins and chemicals deployed in the cattle- and soy-dominated region. At first, she followed suit, using chemical fertilizers to grow the vegetables that she [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When farmer Mônica de Souza Ribeiro moved into her landless settlement in the state of Goiás in central Brazil in the late 1990s, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of agrotoxins and chemicals deployed in the cattle- and soy-dominated region. At first, she followed suit, using chemical fertilizers to grow the vegetables that she sold for her family business. But she became increasingly concerned as she watched the destruction around her. Brazil’s Cerrado, a Mexico-sized tropical savanna, holds 5% of the world’s biodiversity, but almost half of the natural vegetation has now been replaced by agribusiness — mostly soy and corn monocultures as well as cattle pastures. The vast destruction is now fueling desertification, threatening regional climate stability, biodiversity, and Brazil’s energy and food supplies. “When we moved here, I wouldn&#8217;t see a single bird. The poison would kill everything,” Ribeiro told Mongabay in a telephone interview from the settlement in rural Guapó municipality. “I wanted to take care of nature and the Cerrado, but I didn’t know how.” That changed when she joined Coopcerrado, now a 5,000-family-strong organic farmers’ cooperative and the 2021 winner of the United Nations’ Equator Prize under the category “New Nature Economies” for its two-decade-long fight to make regenerative and organic production possible for smallholders. Coopcerrado is today made up of 238 smallholder and traditional communities across five states in Brazil’s agribusiness stronghold. Life has gotten harder for the region’s vulnerable communities under Brazil’s anti-environment president, Jair Bolsonaro. As economic and political pressures continue&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/10/brazil-farming-co-op-carves-a-sustainable-path-through-agribusiness-stronghold/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-248058</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A world of hurt: 2021 climate disasters raise alarm over food security</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/a-world-of-hurt-2021-climate-disasters-raise-alarm-over-food-security/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/a-world-of-hurt-2021-climate-disasters-raise-alarm-over-food-security/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2021 18:29:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Glenn SchererSue Branford]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/08/04171902/banner-image-768x450.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=245515</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Agroecology, Covering Climate Now, Covering the Commons, and Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, China, European Union, Global, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Climate Science, Conservation, Deforestation, Disasters, Diseases, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Fires, Flooding, Food, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Hunger, Impact Of Climate Change, Livestock, Politics, Poverty, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Record extreme weather in the U.S., Brazil, China and elsewhere is impacting food production this year, with the future expected to be far worse. Agriculture requires “transformational change” to meet the climate crisis, say experts.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In July, a video went viral on social media in Argentina showing people walking across what looks like a desert. But it isn’t a desert. This is the bed of the Paraná River, part of the second-largest river system in South America. Normally the stream rises in Brazil and reaches the sea via the River Plate, draining a vast watershed covering all of Paraguay, southern Brazil and northern Argentina. Normally the water volume flowing to the Atlantic roughly equals that of the Mississippi River. What’s happening now is not normal. The drying up of large stretches of river comes as the most severe drought since 1944 afflicts the region. No relief is expected in the short term. According to forecasts from Argentina’s Ministry of Public Works, the lack of rain will last for at least another three months. Besides damaging crops, the drought also means barge-hauled grains can’t get to market cheaply, forcing Argentina to support commodities transport with $10.4 million, and costing the nation&#8217;s grain farmers and exporters $315 million. It’s likely consumers will ultimately foot the bill. The Paraná region is experiencing “a veritable environmental holocaust,” says Rafael Colombo, a member of the Argentinian Association of Environmental Lawyers. The multiple causes, he states, include “a complex and diversified series of anthropomorphic interventions, associated with the expansion of agro-industrial, ranching, forest, river and mining extractivism over the last 50 years.” Add to that the impact of global human-caused climate change. Due to lack of rain at the source of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/a-world-of-hurt-2021-climate-disasters-raise-alarm-over-food-security/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/08/a-world-of-hurt-2021-climate-disasters-raise-alarm-over-food-security/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-245515</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Coffee sustainability check: Q&#038;A with Sjoerd Panhuysen of Coffee Barometer report</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/coffee-sustainability-check-qa-with-sjoerd-panhuysen-of-coffee-barometer-report/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/coffee-sustainability-check-qa-with-sjoerd-panhuysen-of-coffee-barometer-report/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2021 19:50:34 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/18105927/Bale_Mongabay_5edit-768x434.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=241250</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Coffee, Crops, Food Industry, Food Prices, Sustainability, and Sustainable Forest Management]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the start of 2021, Mongabay connected with Sjoerd Panhuysen, lead author of the biennial Coffee Barometer report for Ethos Agriculture, to discuss the present and future of sustainable coffee. The following interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Mongabay: As the world gains incremental distance from the pandemic and its myriad ripple [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At the start of 2021, Mongabay connected with Sjoerd Panhuysen, lead author of the biennial Coffee Barometer report for Ethos Agriculture, to discuss the present and future of sustainable coffee. The following interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Mongabay: As the world gains incremental distance from the pandemic and its myriad ripple effects in 2021, is there good news or bad news for environmentally conscious coffee drinkers? Sjoerd Panhuysen: There is a wealth of choice in environmentally friendly produced coffee. However, as the size of the coffee economy increases relative to its agricultural resource base, it becomes even more urgent to manage the ecosystems, biodiversity and forests in coffee producing countries. What’s currently the greatest challenge when thinking in terms of sustainability for coffee at all levels — from growth to production to consumption?  The main challenge is to redistribute the value in the coffee sector more evenly. For example, currently coffee-exporting countries only capture 10% of the coffee category value. The dire situation of many coffee farmers operating well below the poverty line due to a long period of low coffee prices and rising production costs is in stark contrast with the booming revenues of major roasters and retailers in the coffee-consuming countries. Coffee flowers blooming in April. Image by Monica Pelliccia for Mongabay. Is the industry a whole sustainable, or there are pockets of sustainable practices?  Sustainability is not an end goal, it’s a continuous improvement process. There are coffee regions that are doing significantly better&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/04/coffee-sustainability-check-qa-with-sjoerd-panhuysen-of-coffee-barometer-report/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-241250</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>For Philippine farmers reeling from disasters, lockdown is another pain point</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/for-philippine-farmers-reeling-from-disasters-lockdown-is-another-pain-point/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/for-philippine-farmers-reeling-from-disasters-lockdown-is-another-pain-point/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 May 2020 21:12:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mavic Conde]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Leilani]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/07203918/Quezon-Lumutan-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=230016</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate Change, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Crops, Extreme Weather, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, and Pandemics]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ALBAY, Philippines — Ramon Oliva, a rice farmer from the Philippine province of Camarines Sur, has been tasked to look after the main dam at Mount Isarog in the town of Pili. The dam provides water to irrigate 34 hectares (84 acres) of rice farms in the village of Concepcion Grande in Naga City, some [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ALBAY, Philippines — Ramon Oliva, a rice farmer from the Philippine province of Camarines Sur, has been tasked to look after the main dam at Mount Isarog in the town of Pili. The dam provides water to irrigate 34 hectares (84 acres) of rice farms in the village of Concepcion Grande in Naga City, some 385 kilometers (240 miles) south of the capital, Manila. Oliva visits the facility twice a week but has been shut out of the dam since March 16, following a lockdown, or enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), imposed by the national government to stem the COVID-19 pandemic, which has affected 10,343 people and caused 685 deaths in the Philippines as of May 7. The stringent measures aren&#8217;t surprising; in the Bicol region, which covers six provinces, a total of 55 COVID-19 positive cases have been recorded as of May 6. &#8220;Not being able to maintain the irrigation facility will have a devastating impact on our rice farms,&#8221; Oliva tells Mongabay. &#8220;We’re harvesting by the end of May. If I don’t look after the irrigation, the farms will dry up.&#8221; He was only able to access the dam in the first week of April through a renewable certificate; the latest will expire on May 31. These restrictions come on top of bigger problems local farmers face: the fields in town have been hit by extreme weather events. The past two years have been difficult for low-income farmers like Oliva, as they reel from successive typhoons and El Niño-driven droughts. The&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/for-philippine-farmers-reeling-from-disasters-lockdown-is-another-pain-point/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/05/for-philippine-farmers-reeling-from-disasters-lockdown-is-another-pain-point/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-230016</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As COVID-19 spreads, commodity markets rumble</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/as-covid-19-spreads-commodity-markets-rumble/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/as-covid-19-spreads-commodity-markets-rumble/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Apr 2020 12:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ashoka Mukpo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/01/02190133/Aceh-palm-oil-fruit-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=228555</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Global Forests]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Beef, Biofuels, Business, Deforestation, Finance, Food Prices, Forest Products, Forests, Globalization, International Trade, Palm Oil, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The images are stark. Smogless skies over Los Angeles. A drop in air pollution over northern Italy that’s so sharp it can be seen from space. Emissions from vehicles in New York City are down nearly 50%. For a battered planet, the international coronavirus pandemic has so far been — at least temporarily — an [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The images are stark. Smogless skies over Los Angeles. A drop in air pollution over northern Italy that’s so sharp it can be seen from space. Emissions from vehicles in New York City are down nearly 50%. For a battered planet, the international coronavirus pandemic has so far been — at least temporarily — an eerie reprieve. Across the world, countries are virtually shutting down in hopes that severe restrictions on movement and commercial activity inside their borders will slow the spread of the disease. The economic impact of these measures has already led some economists to predict a crisis to follow that could rival the 2008 recession — or worse. Commodity markets are already starting to feel the squeeze, as producers anticipate an economic downturn that could last for months or longer. And economists say it may only be the beginning. “It is obviously a little early to tell,” Sven Wunder, principal scientist at the European Forest Institute, said in an email to Mongabay. “Just one month ago, we were still at all-time US stock markets highs. But we could well see a game-changing 1929 type of watershed moment for the world economy.” Deforestation in Indonesian Borneo. Palm oil production is one of the biggest drivers of deforestation in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler. Economic crises have historically had a major impact on the environment. Reduced demand for commodities like timber, vegetable oil, and beef can alleviate pressure on forests, and extractive industries are less likely to invest&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/as-covid-19-spreads-commodity-markets-rumble/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/04/as-covid-19-spreads-commodity-markets-rumble/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-228555</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Averting an agricultural and ecological crisis in the Philippines’ salad bowl</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/averting-an-agricultural-and-ecological-crisis-in-the-philippines-salad-bowl/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/averting-an-agricultural-and-ecological-crisis-in-the-philippines-salad-bowl/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Mar 2020 15:00:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Karlston Lapniten]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Leilani]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/09230306/Benguet-farms-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=227749</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Philippines, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Fertilizers, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Protected Areas, and Videos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BENGUET, Philippines — Every day, at least 1,500 metric tons of semi-temperate vegetables are trucked down from Benguet, a mountainous province in the northern Philippines, to depots called bagsakan in the country’s capital, Manila. The volume of deliveries can triple around holidays like Christmas and Easter, when demand surges. From Manila, crops are shipped across [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BENGUET, Philippines — Every day, at least 1,500 metric tons of semi-temperate vegetables are trucked down from Benguet, a mountainous province in the northern Philippines, to depots called bagsakan in the country’s capital, Manila. The volume of deliveries can triple around holidays like Christmas and Easter, when demand surges. From Manila, crops are shipped across the archipelago, meeting 80 percent of the country’s demand for semi-temperate vegetables like potato, cabbage, radish, chayote, carrot, lettuce, and broccoli. Seated atop the Cordillera mountain range, the province of Benguet’s high altitude favors the production of such crops, also referred to as highland vegetables. Its annual production is at least 1.1 million metric tons, earning it the moniker of the “Salad Bowl of the Philippines.” However, half a century of toiling the land to feed millions across the country is leading to the slow decimation of forest cover and the soil’s inevitable deterioration as farmers resort to chemical-heavy fertilizers to boost yields. The growing number of farmers and farmland in the region, all planting upland vegetables, has also resulted in fluctuating vegetable prices and oversupply, which often leads to spoilage and losses for farmers. To ease these problems, the government has started introducing agricultural strategies, among them providing farmers with data-driven planting schedules to optimize profits while minimizing environmental damage; and agroforestry, an efficient use of land to combine trees with shade-loving shrubs and crops. Vegetables over forests The high demand for highland vegetables has driven deforestation in the mountains as farms encroach even into&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/03/averting-an-agricultural-and-ecological-crisis-in-the-philippines-salad-bowl/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-227749</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Massive profiteering uncovered in Indonesian fertilizer distribution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/massive-profiteering-uncovered-in-indonesian-fertilizer-distribution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/massive-profiteering-uncovered-in-indonesian-fertilizer-distribution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2016 02:03:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mongabay Editor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/02/02182431/Oil-palm-riau-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian Palm Oil and Jokowi Commitments]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Java, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Corruption, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Human Rights, Hunger, Law Enforcement, Organized Crime, Palm Oil, Plantations, Poverty, Rubber, and Subsidies]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian government investigators have uncovered widespread profiteering by state-backed retailers, who are selling millions of dollars worth of subsidized fertilizers meant for small farmers to big plantations. Nearly a third of subsidized fertilizers were misallocated in some parts of the country last year, according to a yet-to-be-published government report seen by Reuters, the news agency reports. It was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Indonesian government investigators have uncovered widespread profiteering by state-backed retailers, who are selling millions of dollars worth of subsidized fertilizers meant for small farmers to big plantations. Nearly a third of subsidized fertilizers were misallocated in some parts of the country last year, according to a yet-to-be-published government report seen by Reuters, the news agency reports. It was not clear which arm of government conducted the report, but two officials at the agriculture ministry told Reuters they had not heard of any problems in distribution this year. &#8220;If it happens, please report it as soon as possible and if possible please report where it happened and when,&#8221; said Hasil Sembiring, the ministry&#8217;s director general of food crops. Suwandi, the ministry&#8217;s head of the information and data, said, &#8220;In 2015, there were 40 cases processed by law enforcement. It is better now. Before farmers were complaining about fertilizer scarcity, now not as much.&#8221; Terraced rice and banana agriculture in Java. Photo by Rhett A. Butler An oil palm plantation in Indonesia&#8217;s Riau province. Photo by Rhett A. Butler The revelations come at a time when small farmers are struggling across the archipelago, with the prices of commodities like palm oil and rubber in free fall. Many farmers in Sumatra and Kalimantan also saw their crops incinerated during last year&#8217;s fire and haze crisis. A shortage of cheap fertilizers has presented another obstacle — one allegedly aggravated by the state-backed retailers&#8217; practices. &#8220;We are only getting about half of our subsidized fertilizer,&#8221; farmer Setyarman told Reuters at his home&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/massive-profiteering-uncovered-in-indonesian-fertilizer-distribution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-180760</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Poor rains then floods lead to food crisis in Somalia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/poor-rains-then-floods-lead-to-food-crisis-in-somalia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/poor-rains-then-floods-lead-to-food-crisis-in-somalia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Nov 2014 13:52:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/11/poor-rains-then-floods-lead-to-food-crisis-in-somalia/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Somalia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Environment, Food, Food Prices, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Green, Hunger, and Impact Of Climate Change]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A girl stands in front of freshly dug graves in Dadaab, Kenya. The town was one of the places Somali refuges fled to during the 2011 famine, but many didn&#8217;t make it. Most of the dead were children. Photo by: Andy Hall/Oxfam East Africa/Creative Commons 2.0. Four years after over a quarter of a million [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A girl stands in front of freshly dug graves in Dadaab, Kenya. The town was one of the places Somali refuges fled to during the 2011 famine, but many didn&#8217;t make it. Most of the dead were children. Photo by: Andy Hall/Oxfam East Africa/Creative Commons 2.0. Four years after over a quarter of a million people perished in a famine in Somalia, the East African country is again on the verge of a possible humanitarian disaster. Flooding in southern Somalia, following months of little rain, has just exacerbated an already-precarious situation according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). The group is calling for $49 million to provide emergency funding to programs already in place to stem the crisis. &#8220;We have a small and critical window of opportunity&#8212;we must seize it now if we want to avoid going the same way as four years ago,&#8221; said Luca Alinovi, the acting Head of Office at the FAO Somalia. In all, the United Nations estimate that a million people in Somalia are in need of assistance. The group also reports that 218,000 children in the country under five are already acutely malnourished. &#8220;If we&#8217;ve learned anything from the devastation of the 2011 famine, it&#8217;s that early warning signs must lead to immediate action,&#8221; said Bukar Tijani, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa. &#8220;We know from experience that quick responses to early warnings are crucial to prevent disaster and are less costly than emergency responses to full-blown humanitarian crisis.&#8221; Experts fear&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/11/poor-rains-then-floods-lead-to-food-crisis-in-somalia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24483</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Of Prawns and Men on the Bali Strait</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/of-prawns-and-men-on-the-bali-strait/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/of-prawns-and-men-on-the-bali-strait/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2014 16:17:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Melati Kaye]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Tiffany Roufs]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/08/of-prawns-and-men-on-the-bali-strait/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bali and Indonesia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Aquaculture, Environment, Fishing, Food, Food Prices, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, and Mongabay.org]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This article first appeared in The Seashore Issue of the culinary magazine Lucky Peach. The piece was funded under the Mongabay Special Reporting Initiative program. Why is shrimp so cheap? (Answer: it&#8217;s not.) Wednesday&#8217;s special ebi nigiri at Sushi Ichiban; chạo sôm (grilled prawns on sugarcane skewers) as a prelude to pho; frozen blocks of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This article first appeared in The Seashore Issue of the culinary magazine Lucky Peach. The piece was funded under the Mongabay Special Reporting Initiative program. Why is shrimp so cheap? (Answer: it&#8217;s not.) Wednesday&#8217;s special ebi nigiri at Sushi Ichiban; chạo sôm (grilled prawns on sugarcane skewers) as a prelude to pho; frozen blocks of &#8220;headless and skinless&#8221; that could be turned into paella for ten. Back in college, these two- or three-dollar shrimp dishes were my gateway into gourmanderie. Cheap, protein-packed, a quick and forgiving thing to cook, shrimp was the backbone of my formative culinary explorations, my go-to for special occasions on a budget. Yet, even as a ditzy sophomore, I couldn&#8217;t help wondering how something as delicious as shrimp could be affordable even on a Pell Grant budget. But these thoughts were fleeting—far more amusing to busy myself with my dorm room hot plate than to question crustacean bargains or knuckle down to worksheets in O-Chem, Population Ecology, and Economics. A huge pile of shrimp. Photo by Rhett A. Butler / mongabay.com I should have paid more attention in class. Only after I moved back to my birthplace, Indonesia, did I come to understand first-hand how cheap shrimp could be explained by the Econ 101 concept of &#8220;externalities.&#8221; The real cost of farmed shrimp never shows up on your restaurant tab or grocery bill. Costs like: Truncating marine ecosystems right at the base, as bottom-of-the-food-chain pelagic species get depleted for shrimp farm feed stock. Destruction of storm-buffering,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/08/of-prawns-and-men-on-the-bali-strait/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24776</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Somalia could face another famine due to delayed rains, insecurity</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/somalia-could-face-another-famine-due-to-delayed-rains-insecurity/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/somalia-could-face-another-famine-due-to-delayed-rains-insecurity/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2014 19:44:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/05/somalia-could-face-another-famine-due-to-delayed-rains-insecurity/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Somalia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Environment, Food, Food Prices, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Hunger, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a million people are in need of immediate food assistance in Somalia, where delayed rains, high food prices, and insecurity threaten a repeat of the 2011 famine that left 258,000 people dead. According to the UN&#8217;s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), 857,000 Somalis need immediate assistance while over 200,000 children under five [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Nearly a million people are in need of immediate food assistance in Somalia, where delayed rains, high food prices, and insecurity threaten a repeat of the 2011 famine that left 258,000 people dead. According to the UN&#8217;s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), 857,000 Somalis need immediate assistance while over 200,000 children under five in the country are currently suffering from acute malnourishment. &#8220;The month of May remains critical during which, if rains fail, combined with sustained insecurity, we might see new levels of crisis unfold especially in southern parts of Somalia and the mainly pastoral northeast,&#8221; Daniel Molla, the Chief Technical Advisor of FSANU, said. Rains in April were far below normal in the country&#8217;s north, which &#8220;has led to early depletion of fresh water sources for human and animal consumption,&#8221; according to a release from the FSNAU. &#8220;The two major rivers that support irrigated agriculture, the Juba and Shabelle, are currently below their normal levels for this time of the year and one meter lower compared to the levels of last year.&#8221; A girl stands in front of freshly dug graves in Dadaab, Kenya. The town was one of the places Somali refuges fled to during the 2011 famine, but many didn&#8217;t make it. Most of the dead were children. Photo by: Andy Hall/Oxfam East Africa/Creative Commons 2.0. The situation is also exacerbated by an increasing battle against al-Shabab insurgents, who have blocked trade into some areas where they&#8217;ve been pushed out by Somali government troops. &#8220;For&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/somalia-could-face-another-famine-due-to-delayed-rains-insecurity/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25285</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nearly a million people face food crisis in Niger</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/nearly-a-million-people-face-food-crisis-in-niger/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/nearly-a-million-people-face-food-crisis-in-niger/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 May 2013 17:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/nearly-a-million-people-face-food-crisis-in-niger/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Mali, Niger, Sahel, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Conflict, Desertification, Deserts, Environment, Food, Food Prices, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Around 800,000 people in Niger face food insecurity in coming months, according to the UN&#8217;s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Rising food prices and refugees from Mali, which is plagued by conflict, have made access to food difficult in the west African country. The OCHA calculates that currently 84,000 are in need [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Around 800,000 people in Niger face food insecurity in coming months, according to the UN&#8217;s Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Rising food prices and refugees from Mali, which is plagued by conflict, have made access to food difficult in the west African country. The OCHA calculates that currently 84,000 are in need of immediate aid. Food aid may be required throughout June-August, which is considered the lean season in the region before the harvesting starts around September. In some parts of the country, delivering available grains to market has posed problems. Food insecurity in Niger is exacerbated by some 60,000 refugees from Mali, where a government coup and conflict in the north pushed many people to flee the country into neighboring Niger. An international military intervention, led by France, has reduced the conflict in Mali though the situation remains precarious. Niger is found in the Sahel region, which is plagued by inconstant rains and drought, leading to frequent food insecurity. Regional conflict combined with possible impacts from climate change have also played a role. A farmer collecting millet in Koremairwa village in the Dosso department. Photo by: USDA. Related articles Scientists: stop treating population growth as a &#8216;given&#8217; and empower women (02/27/2013) Climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion, water scarcity, and land issues: almost all of the world&#8217;s environmental problems are underpinned by too many people inhabiting a finite planet. A new study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B warns that overpopulation&#8212;combined with over-consumption&#8212;is threatening&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/nearly-a-million-people-face-food-crisis-in-niger/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29019</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;Suffering&#8230;without witnesses&#8217;: over a quarter of a million people perished in Somali famine</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/suffering-without-witnesses-over-a-quarter-of-a-million-people-perished-in-somali-famine/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/suffering-without-witnesses-over-a-quarter-of-a-million-people-perished-in-somali-famine/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 May 2013 13:58:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/suffering-without-witnesses-over-a-quarter-of-a-million-people-perished-in-somali-famine/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Somalia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conflict, Development, Drought, Environment, Food, Food Prices, Global Environmental Crisis, Green, Hunger, Impact Of Climate Change, Poverty, War, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[A new report estimates that 258,000 people died in 2011 during a famine in Somalia, the worst of such events in 25 years and a number at least double the highest estimations during the crisis. Over half of the victims, around 133,000, were children five and under. The report, by the UN Food and Agricultural [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[A new report estimates that 258,000 people died in 2011 during a famine in Somalia, the worst of such events in 25 years and a number at least double the highest estimations during the crisis. Over half of the victims, around 133,000, were children five and under. The report, by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), argues that the international community reacted too late and too little to stem the mass starvation brought on by government instability, conflict, high food prices, and failed rains, the last of which has been linked to climate change by some scientists. &#8220;The suffering played out like a drama without witnesses,&#8221; said Philippe Lazzarini, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, said as the report was released, adding &#8220;we could have done more before famine was declared on 20 July 2011&#8230;warnings that began as far back as the drought in 2010 did not trigger sufficient early action. In the worst affected areas, access to people in need was tremendously difficult.&#8221; The crisis, which lasted from October 2010 to April 2012, killed 4.6 percent of the total population in Southern and Central Somalia. Ten percent of children in these regions perished. In Lower Shabelle, 18 percent of children under five died. &#8220;There is consensus that the humanitarian response to the famine was mostly late and insufficient, and that limited access to most of the affected population, resulting from widespread insecurity and operating restrictions imposed on several relief agencies, was a major constraint,&#8221; the report reads. Between May&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/suffering-without-witnesses-over-a-quarter-of-a-million-people-perished-in-somali-famine/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29070</doi>				</item>
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