food insecurity
Rainy season fails in east Africa, jeopardizing farm families
"Damages to crops appear to be irreversible and rangeland conditions remain generally poor" in east Africa, following scant rainfall during the October-December rainy season, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a special alert that describes support for agriculture as an urgent need. "Food insecurity is expected to significantly deteriorate by early 2017."
Global food insecurity increases due to armed conflict
Civil conflicts and their consequences, including refugees needing food in neighboring countries, are a factor in 21 of the 39 countries that need food assistance, says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a quarterly report. Warfare in Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and Nigeria has disrupted food supplies for at least 40 million people, it said.
Renters are three times more likely to be food insecure
Some 10.5 million households lack the money or other resources to have an adequate food supply, says a Census Bureau housing survey that included questions about food security for the first time. Renters were three times more likely than homeowners to be food insecure.
Green Revolution 2.0: It’s no longer just about boosting food
At the 50th-anniversary meeting of the main body that launched the Green Revolution, a range of researchers and policymakers made clear that the focus of their efforts is no longer just raising crop yields to “feed the world,” as their mantra had been for decades. Production is now just a starting point for a range of food issues faced by developing countries.
More than one in seven Haitians need food aid after hurricane
Some 1.4 million people in Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, require food assistance because of widespread damage by Hurricane Matthew to supplies and crops in large swaths of the country, according to a survey by UN and Haitian agencies. In Haiti's Department of Grande-Anse, "agriculture has been virtually wiped out," says the UN, and "losses of subsistence crops in the Department of Sud have been nearly total."
One in five households with children face food hardship
Families with children are more likely to face hardship in obtaining enough food year-round than households without them, says the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center. Based on a Gallup survey, FRAC estimated that 20 percent of households with children nationwide suffers food hardship.
Climate change a threat to world food supply
Without concerted action, millions of people "could fall into poverty and hunger," said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a message marking World Food Day. "To bolster food security in a changing climate, countries must address food and agriculture in their climate action plans and invest more in rural development."
Poverty rate falls nationally but not in rural areas
The U.S. poverty rate fell to 13.5 percent, down by 1.2 points from the previous year and the largest one-year decline since 1968, says the Census Bureau. But in rural areas, there was no significant change, with 16.7 percent of rural Americans living in poverty.
Study: U.S. teens trading sex for food
A new study by the Urban Institute, a D.C.-based think tank, found that kids in poor communities across the country are hungry enough to trade sex, sell drugs, and join gangs for food, reports The Guardian.
Southern Africa drought hits Zambia, pushing up food prices
Despite forecasts of bountiful harvests and a global grain glut, lower harvests of corn, wheat and sugarcane as a result of severe weather in southern Africa are pushing up prices for Zambia's staple foods, Reuters reports.
U.S. sees lowest food insecurity rate in eight years
Fewer Americans are skipping meals or running short of money to buy food than any time since the 2008-09 recession, says the annual USDA report on food insecurity. Some 13.3 percent of Americans, or more than one in eight people, were food insecure in 2015, the lowest rate in eight years, while child food insecurity, at 9.4 percent, was the lowest in nearly two decades of recordkeeping.
Biointensive farms in U.S. a model for smallholder farmers
Biointensive farming, which includes close plant spacing, use of seeds from plants that have been naturally pollinated and specific food-to-compost crop ratios, "produces far greater yields than conventional agriculture while using far less land and water," Ensia magazine reports, and is especially well-suited to small-scale farmers in Latin America and Africa looking for low-cost, low-tech solutions to grow food.
Drought threatens food security of 40 million in southern Africa
The worst drought in 35 years in southern Africa will imperil the food supply of 40 million people until next March, when crops planted in coming months are ripe for harvest, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "Widespread crop failure has exacerbated chronic malnutrition in the region," said FAO, which appealed for $109 million to equip farmers and grazers ahead of the growing season.
Congress passes global food-security bill
The House gave final congressional approval, 359-53, to a bill that calls for a comprehensive U.S. strategy to reduce hunger and malnutrition in developing nations. President Obama praised passage of the bill, which makes permanent the Feed the Future program, an early initiative of his administration.
Global food insecurity declines, with lower prices, higher income
Rising incomes and lower food prices will lift tens of millions of people out of food insecurity in the coming decade, said a government forecast. The insecurity rate, now one-in-six people globally, would shrink to one-in-17, with Asia seeing the greatest improvement.
In severe drought, Malawi faces food crisis
Malawi is facing a food crisis as the southern Africa region wrestles with drought and high temperatures. Due to record high winter temperatures hitting southern Africa during planting season, Malawi’s corn production fell by 12 percent in April leaving the country short of 1 million tonnes of grain during its worst food crisis in a decade, The East African said.
Summer food program plateaus at 3.2 million children
Fewer than one of six eligible children takes part in the summer food program, a participation rate that plateaued in 2015 after three years of steady growth, says the Food Research and Action Center in a report released today. The anti-hunger group said Congress should expand the program as part of the pending update of child-nutrition programs costing $23 billion a year, headlined by school lunch.
Drought and displacement put Nigeria in crisis
Nigeria, Africa’s largest and most-populous country, needs help feeding refugees fleeing armed conflict in the northeastern corner of the country, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in a quarterly report on food insecurity around the world.