For 600 million rural people across Africa, the food they grow is the food they eat. A new plant breeding academy in Kenya is using advanced genomic technologies to produce more robust and nutritious crops, writes Howard-Yana Shapiro.
… GMO-free bioscience to feed Africa's farming families Howard-Yana Shapiro … | 19th January 2014 Comment Food Farming Africa boabab-tree.png For 600 million rural people across Africa, the food they grow is the food they …
£600 million of UK aid money is going to help companies like Unilever and Monsanto take over African land and agriculture, writes Miriam Ross. The corporate power-grab will be disastrous for the small-scale farmers who feed at least 70% of Africa's people.
… UK 'aid' is financing a corporate scramble for Africa Miriam Ross | 3rd April 2014 News Food Farming Africa Corporations africa-woman-farmer.png £600 million of UK aid …
Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open farming up to an agribusiness invasion - displacing the millions of small cultivators that now feed the continent, and replacing them with a new model of profit-oriented agriculture using patented seeds and varieties. The agencies effecting the transformation are legion - but they are all marching to a single drum.
… Land and seed laws under attack as Africa is groomed for corporate recolonization … AFSA The Ecologist | 12th February 2015 News Africa Food Farming Seeds Corporations Un Development sorghum-cut.jpg Across Africa, laws are being rewritten to open …
The more EU politicians try to look in control of the Mediterranean refugee emergency, the more it's obvious they aren't, writes Assaad W. Razzouk. A key driver of the crisis is climate change, which is causing drought across North Africa. Europe must now tackle the root causes of the crisis, and admit its own culpability in precipitating it.
… | 24th April 2015 Comment Climate Change Africa Human Rights War Food Oceans Water … change, which is causing drought across North Africa. Europe must now tackle the root causes … of one of the key drivers of migration from Africa to Europe via Mediterranean boats: the …
An elite group of aid donors and agribusiness corporations met in London this week to plan the takeover of Africa's seeds, writes Ian Fitzpatrick, replacing traditional seed breeding and saving by small farmers with a corporate model of privatized, 'improved', patented, genetically uniform and hybrid seeds in a profit-driven market.
… Carving up Africa - aid donors and agribusiness plot the … Oliver Tickell | 26th March 2015 News Africa Food Farming Corporations Seeds USA UK … in London this week to plan the takeover of Africa's seeds, writes Ian Fitzpatrick, …
A farming revolution is under way in Africa, pushed by giant corporations and the UK's aid budget. It will surely be good for the global economy, writes Sophie Morlin-Yron, but will Africa's small farmers see the benefit?
… Africa's farm revolution - who will benefit? … | 18th February 2014 News Food Farming Africa Corporations moz-farmers-1.png A farming revolution is under way in Africa, pushed by giant corporations and the …
Coca-Cola is the latest company to join the agricultural 'scramble for Africa', writes Miriam Ross. Backed by £600 million of British aid under the guise of 'food security' and 'nutrition', a vast give-away of Africa's land is under way that will condemn small farmers to landlessness and poverty.
… Coca-Cola is not the solution to hunger in Africa Miriam Ross | 22nd September 2014 Comment Food Farming Corporations Africa UK farmer-ethiopia-keep-watch-cut.jpg A … to join the agricultural 'scramble for Africa', writes Miriam Ross. Backed by £600 …
The rainforest habitat of chimpanzees and other great apes is being destroyed by the expansion of palm oil projects in central Africa, according to new evidence from Greenpeace.
… Palm oil wiping out Africa's great ape rainforests The Ecologist | 24th February 2015 News Food Farming Africa EU Transport Politics Corporations … the expansion of palm oil projects in central Africa, according to new evidence from …
As the G7 leaders prepare to meet in Bavaria this weekend, small-scale farmers from around the world call on them to abandon their disastrous plan for the corporate takeover of global agriculture and the extirpation of small-scale farmers everywhere - those who produce most of the world's food. True food security must be rooted in local control over land, seeds and water.
… estimated to produce 70% of the food in Africa. Addressing food and nutrition … and hunter-gatherer societies. However, African governments and international donors support to African agriculture increasingly focuses on …
The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa had everything to do with logging, deforestation and the disruption of traditional agro-forestry by large scale industrial agriculture, writes Rob Wallace. The only long term solution to this terrible disease may lie in forest conservation, the restoration of agroecological farming systems, and the exclusion of agribusiness investment.
… The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa had everything to do with logging, … drove the emergence of Ebola in West Africa. Apparently I'm an "addled guy" whose … to have been spilling over for years in West Africa. Epidemiologist Joseph Fair's group …
The European Parliament today called on the Commission and member states like the UK to stop funding the 'New Alliance' plan to force export-oriented agribusiness onto Africa. Instead they want support for small-scale family farms and agroecology.
… 'aid' funding billions to agribusiness in Africa Oliver Tickell | 7th June 2016 News Corporations Aid Food Farming EU Africa GMOs Agroecology fatu-kanu-cut.jpg The … to force export-oriented agribusiness onto Africa. Instead they want support for …
The European Parliament has had a great week, writes Molly Scott Cato MEP - for those who oppose GMOs in food and farming. MEPs voted on five occasions to say no to GMOs, and gave their support to agroecology as the only sustainable way to feed the world.
… no 'new' GMOs, no GMOs in the EU, no GMOs in Africa! Molly Scott Cato | 9th June 2016 Comment GMOs Food Farming Politics EU Africa Corporations soy-depot-cut.jpg The … negotiations. No to GMO imports! No GMOs in Africa! Two objections to the authorisation …
African governments, ignoring the protests of their farmers and civil society, this week agreed an oppressive 'plant variety protection protocol' that will open up their countries to commercial seed monopolists, while limiting farmers rights to save, use, exchange, replant, improve, distribute and sell the seeds they have developed over countless generations.
… African governments sell out their farmers in … deal Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa | 10th July 2015 News Food Farming Trade Corporations Politics Africa teff-cut.jpg African governments, …
The Gaia Foundation just launched its latest film - Seeds of Sovereignty. Sharon Garfinkel attended the launch - and urges all those interested food and farming, in Africa and elsewhere, to watch it.
… 13th December 2013 Reviews Seeds Food Farming Africa seeds-of-sovereignty.png The Gaia … all those interested food and farming, in Africa and elsewhere, to watch it. Wonderfully … the world. With its vivid images of Africa, it makes for compelling viewing and …
The Gates Foundation has received a 57,000 strong petition denouncing its support for a 'biopirated' GM banana program in Africa, and calling on it to suspend a feeding trial on US students, writes Vanessa Amaral-Rogers. The banana threatens both the health of the students, say campaigners, and the future of African agriculture.
… for a 'biopirated' GM banana program in Africa, and calling on it to suspend a feeding … students, say campaigners, and the future of African agriculture. On Monday this week Iowa … introduce the GM banana to Uganda and other African countries. The petition was initiated …
Nineteen African nations meet today in Arusha, Tanzania, to finalise a 'plant protection' protocol that would open up the continent's seeds to corporate interests, taking away farmers' rights to grow, improve, sell and exchange their traditional seeds, while allowing commercial breeders to make free use of the biodiversity they embody, to sell them back to farmers in 'improved' form.
… Freedom! A last chance to thwart the great African seed grab Ali-Masmadi Jehu-Appiah | … GMOs Regulation green-seeds-cut.jpg Nineteen African nations meet today in Arusha, … form. This is a crucial week for millions of African farmers - the week in which, under the …
In her new book The Vandana Shiva Reader, the celebrated campaigner and scientist deplores the way in which the Green Revolution forced India's poorest farmers off their land, writes Colin Tudge. Now she fears even worse outcomes in Africa where a GMO-fuelled farming revolution is under way.
… Tudge. Now she fears even worse outcomes in Africa where a GMO-fuelled farming revolution … from on high of another Green Revolution in Africa - which indeed is already train. But … be true, and seen to be above all criticism. Africa's GMO revolution, courtesy of Bill and …
Communities in Muizenberg, South Africa, use participatory methods to disseminate information about Covid-19 and to tackle food scarcity.
… Coronavirus Engagement Food Scarcity South Africa International day_1.jpg Communities in Muizenberg, South Africa, use participatory methods to … there was a massive rebuttal from South Africa’s marginal and poor communities when …
Forest foods are a vital source of nutrition for millions of people, writes Bhaskar Vira, and we need to make them an even bigger part of our diets for the sake of health, biodiversity, local economies, and to increase food global security in a warming world.
… Vira | 1st June 2015 Comment Food Forests Africa Un allanblackia-woman-cut.jpg Forest … from hunger, with the majority living in Africa and Asia. The world's forests have … the iron content of dried seeds of the African locust bean and raw cashew nut are …
Small-scale fishing communities are key to any transition towards an ecologically and socially just food regime. But backed by the World Bank, powerful corporate interests are seizing their fish, seas and shores in the name of 'sustainability'. A revolution of the poor is needed to rebuild food sovereignty - and restore the oceans to the global commons.
… this model has been introduced - from South Africa to Iceland - it unleashes havoc in … market policies + global inequity In South Africa in 2005, over 90% of the approximately … Peoples General Assembly that met in South Africa in September 2014, the World Fishers …
The Democratic Republic of Congo is to consult UNESCO, writes Melanie Gouby, over its wish to 'explore judiciously' for oil in Africa's first and most biodiverse National Park and World Heritage Site.
… Environment | 17th March 2015 News Oil Africa DRC Corporations Un … its wish to 'explore judiciously' for oil in Africa's first and most biodiverse National … UN body to "explore judiciously" . Virunga, Africa's oldest and most biodiverse park, has …
Ghana's government is desperate to pass a Plant Breeders Bill that would remove farmers' ancient 'seed freedom' to grow, retain, breed and develop crop varieties - while giving corporate breeders a blanket exemption from seed regulations. Now the farmers are fighting back.
… October 2014 News Food Farming Seeds Ghana Africa Law Politics … In 2013, the World Bank announced that "Africa represents the 'last frontier' in … corporations are now moving in fast to buy up Africa's formerly independent seed companies . …