Saturday, 22 June 2013

POVERTY: China's polluted farmlands carry the seeds of change


Gao Yu says the severity of China's agricultural pollution and food safety problems offer an opportunity for change. For more sustainable and healthier harvests, farmers need secure land rights
Tuesday, 18 June, 2013, 2:05am
Gao Yu

A clean start
From poisonous rice to melamine-infused milk, reports of tainted food are a regular occurrence in China. Just last month, farmers in Shandong province were found to be using an illegal and highly toxic pesticide to grow ginger. And a food safety inspection earlier this year showed that almost half of the rice for sale in Guangzhou contained excessive cadmium, a hazardous metal.
Not surprisingly, the farmland that produces this food is equally contaminated.
According to a 2011 report by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, 21.5 per cent of soil samples from 364 rural villages failed to meet national soil quality standards. There is widespread belief that the real extent of the pollution may be far worse. Earlier this year, when a Beijing lawyer asked the ministry to release its soil pollution data, the ministry refused, stating that the data is a state secret.
Last week, the Ministry of Land and Resources announced that it is compiling a nationwide map of soil contamination. But the ministry did not reveal if the findings would be made public.
These incidents have helped to focus public attention on the alarming truth about agricultural pollution and food safety in China.
How China's farmers became the world's largest consumers of pesticides and chemical fertilisers is a story that has its roots in China's property rights system.
Rural land across China is owned by village collectives. Farmers have 30-year rights under law, which could provide sufficient tenure security. However, those 30-year rights are often not legally documented and are increasingly violated, with farmers subjected to poorly compensated expropriations by local governments. The result: land tenure insecurity leading to short planning horizons. This naturally leads farmers to maximise crop output without sufficient regard for soil quality, degradation or sustainability.
It is this toxic mix of land tenure insecurity and a blind drive for productivity that has helped give rise to China's tainted fields. There is no denying that the use of fertiliser and pesticides played an important role in helping China become relatively self-sufficient in food production. But now it is having the opposite effect.
According to official figures announced by the Ministry of Land and Resources in January, heavy metal pollution alone is estimated to cause the loss of 10 million tonnes of grain - annually. The contamination of another 12 million tonnes annually will incur 20 billion yuan (HK$25 billion) in direct economic losses. The total loss, 22 million tonnes, is enough to feed millions of people for a year.
Likewise, the overuse of poor-quality chemical fertilisers in China has polluted countless lakes and estuaries, and is also a significant factor for greenhouse gas emissions.
This reliance on chemicals and pesticides is unsustainable both environmentally and economically. The fertilisers and pesticides require significant materials and energy to produce, many of which are not renewable.
To break this harmful habit, China needs to fundamentally shift its agricultural production and investment behaviour. This includes: educating farmers; better regulating the fertiliser industry; enforcing laws against agricultural pollution; testing and strictly labelling food; nurturing the market for organic food and - critically - ensuring farmers have secure and stable land tenure rights.
Farmers' 30-year use rights to the land they till are supposed to be legally documented with an official certificate and contract. However, according to a nationwide survey on rural land rights conducted by Landesa in 2011, only 37 per cent of rural households have the documentation of their land rights required by law. As demand for land continues to climb, farmers who have no documentation are increasingly insecure as well as more vulnerable to land takings with no or very low compensation.
It is increasingly clear that the basis for sustainable agricultural production and associated investments is greater tenure security for farmers, substantiated by laws, policies and systems. Research has shown that without this tenure security, the investments required for sustainable agriculture aren't sensible from an economic perspective.
The path to supporting a more sustainable agricultural approach in China begins with further legislation and policies to strengthen farmers' 30-year land use rights (to make the rights perpetual): reforming land expropriation legislation to limit takings, and increase compensation; accelerating the legal documentation of farmers' land rights; establishing a nationwide land registration system to facilitate and nurture a healthy and secure land transaction market, further restricting illegal land conversion to non-agricultural use; and adopting policies that promote investment in sustainable agriculture.
China is especially suited to sustainable agriculture, including organic farming. Organic farming capitalises on Chinese agriculture's natural strengths: high labour availability, small parcel size, and little access to capital input and machinery. There is a ready market for such "greener" produce. An estimated of 80 per cent of middle-class consumers in China are willing to pay more for safer food products. Demand for sustainable or organic produce is certain to expand as China grows more affluent and educated and as food safety problems continue to capture headlines.
More secure and stronger land rights for farmers are vital to ensure a healthier harvest. In fact, there is no other way China can achieve the critical goals of environmental conservation, food safety and increased economic opportunities for farmers.
Gao Yu is China country director at Landesa, a global development non-profit that works to secure land rights for the world's poor. Follow us @Landesa_Global
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MALNUTRITION: FAO report calls for food systems to improve nutrition

Photo: Jaspreet Kindra/IRIN
New FAO report urges food system changes to eradicate malnutrition
JOHANNESBURG, 4 June 2013 (IRIN) - Poor health and losses in productivity caused by malnutrition are costing the global economy US$500 per person per year, or a staggering $3.5 trillion annually, according to a new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). 

Many communities rely on foods that do not meet their nutritional requirements, and when faced with food price shocks, poor families often cut out nutrient-rich foods like milk. The 2013 edition of FAO’s annual State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) report, released today, underlines the need to ensure all the institutions and people responsible for producing and processing food “align to support good nutrition”. 

The report also provides an overview of the linkages between agriculture, quality food, health and the economy, emphasizing that “agriculture and the entire food system... can contribute much more to the eradication of malnutrition”. But while discussions on these linkages have been taking place for at least three decades, the problem of malnutrition remains unresolved. 

Malnutrition comes in a variety of forms: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity. Two billion people in the world suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, such as anaemia, for example, and more than a billion people are overweight and prone to chronic and life-threatening illnesses like diabetes. 

The report urges policymakers to address malnutrition through changes in food systems, public health and education, as well as improvements in supply chains and agricultural productivity. 

Incentives needed 

John Hoddinott, a senior researcher at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), told IRIN that the 2013 SOFA report “gets many things right: that malnutrition imposes high costs on individuals and societies, that addressing malnutrition requires multisectoral approaches, and that agriculture is essential for better nutrition.” 

But Hoddinott - who authored several 2008 studies in the Lancet showing that inexpensive nutrition interventions can reduce infant and maternal mortality and boost economic growth in developing countries - has some reservation about the report. 

He says SOFA “has less to say about the incentives needed at all points in the supply chain to ensure healthy food is available and accessible for all.” 

For instance, rapid agricultural and economic growth has not translated into a significant reduction in child malnutrition in India, which has the largest population of undernourished children in the world. Various explanations such as economic and gender inequality have been offered, says SOFA, but the phenomenon remains "largely unexplained" and needs more research. 

Lawrence Haddad, head of the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) says his problem with all reports that consider the linkages between agriculture and nutrition is that they do not talk enough about how to provide incentives to the agriculture sector to improve nutrition. 

He said in an email, “We know WHY it is important, and there are plenty of opportunities (the WHAT), but they are only seen as opportunities by nutrition people, not by agriculture people. We need research to better understand institutional drivers, incentives and barriers.” 

Questions remain 

The 2013 SOFA recognizes that knowledge about many of the issues covered in the report remains incomplete. Many countries lack basic data and indicators for evaluating and monitoring the effectiveness of initiatives attempting to improve food quality. 

And the report points out that there are still many questions about the effectiveness of home gardens, the role of gender, the fortification of food with micronutrients, technological innovations, biodiversity and the role of local foods in improving nutrition. 

There are also gaps in researchers’ understanding of consumer choice and nutritional outcomes. "Concepts such as 'dietary diversity' and 'healthy diets' remain fuzzy and difficult to measure objectively," the report says. 

Additionally, contentious issues involving import restrictions and targeted farmsubsidies, which serve as a barrier to food production and trade, remain unresolved at the World Trade Organization. 

jk/rz 
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MALNUTRITION (the pther kind): Indonesia’s growing girth takes health toll

Photo: Tony Alter/Flickr
Indonesians are getting bigger
JAKARTA, 5 June 2013 (IRIN) - Poor nutrition and growing levels of obesity are taking a toll on the health of Indonesians, experts warn, as an increasing number of people consume fast food and lead sedentary lifestyles. 

In recent years, the number of overweight adults in this archipelago nation jumped from 12 percent in 2007 to 21 percent in 2010, said Minarto, the Ministry of Health’s director of nutrition, who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name. About 50 percent of those overweight adults suffered from obesity, he told IRIN. 

But many believe the survey numbers do not offer a comprehensive view of the problem, and that the numbers could be even higher. Minarto estimates that 30 million Indonesians are either overweight or obese, compared to 27 million three years ago. 

“The prevalence of obesity is not yet that high. However, given the country has a large population and the number is growing, it’s a cause for concern,” Minarto said, citing high-fat foods, imbalanced diets and a lack of physical activity as the main culprits. 

The government is still conducting its basic health research survey for 2013. 

Major cause of death 

Only about 60 percent of Indonesians eat enough vegetables and fruit, while only half are engaged in sufficient physical activity, health studies reveal. 

“Consumption patterns have also changed among people. They eat a lot of fast food and not enough fruit and vegetables,” Minarto said. “People used to eat at home, but now they often eat outside. But because good food is expensive at restaurants, they tend to eat junk food,” he added. 

Indonesia’s annual economic growth of more than 6 percent has allowed millions of people to enter the middle class and gain access to western amenities, including fast food. 

The 2010 Indonesian Health Profile shows that obesity is more prevalent in households that spend more per capita, including among those with higher education and those who live in cities. 

Lack of exercise and poor diets are among the risk factors that trigger cardiovascular diseases, health experts say. 

According to the World Health Organization, increased body mass index - a simple height-for-weight measure - is a major risk factor for non-communicable diseases, including: cardiovascular diseases; diabetes; musculoskeletal disorders; and some cancers. 

The Indonesian Ministry of Health reports non-communicable diseases such as strokes, hypertension and diabetes have replaced communicable diseases as the leading cause of death in the country. Deaths from non-communicable diseases comprised nearly 60 percent of all adult deaths in 2007, up from 41 percent in 1995, the ministry reported. 

Minarto said studies also show that people who suffered from malnutrition as children are more likely to be obese when they grow up.
 
Photo: David Swanson/IRIN
Eating on the run

Worldwide problem 

According to a World Bank press release in March, the world had 1.46 billion overweight adults in 2008, of which 508 million were obese. 

Even conservative estimates see that number rising to 2.16 billion for overweight adults and nearly doubling to 1.12 billion for obese adults by 2030, across all regions and in countries like China and India, the report said. 

The World Bank says that half of overweight people live in nine very different countries - Brazil, China, Germany, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Turkey and the US - showing that that the obesity epidemic is not restricted only to rich areas. 

High and volatile global food prices lead not only to hunger and undernutrition but also to obesity, the Bank said, as people opt for cheaper, less nutritious food to feed their families. 

“When poor people with some disposable income in developing countries try to cope with high and increasingly volatile food prices, they also tend to choose cheap food that is high in calories but without much nutritious value,” Otaviano Canuto, the World Bank Group’s vice president for poverty reduction and economic management, said in the press release. 

But according to Emy Huriyati, an expert at the Indonesian Nutritionists’ Association, rising food prices do not necessarily lead to an increase in obesity. 

“In Indonesia, healthy foods remain affordable. Vegetables and fruit are relatively cheap here,” she said, noting that people simply choose unhealthy diets out of lack awareness. 

“There need to be more vigorous campaigns to promote healthy lifestyles, including the need for exercise and balanced nutrition,” she said. 

ap/ds/rz
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MALNUTRITION: Bandit attacks displace northern Nigeria herders

Photo: Aminu Abubakar/IRIN
Displaced Fulani families take shelter in a school in Kaduna's Birnin Gwari district
KANO, 19 June 2013 (IRIN) - Incessant deadly attacks on Fulani settlements and villages in northern Nigeria by armed bandits - made up partly of disgruntled Fulani who themselves have lost cattle - are threatening herds and upping tensions in northern Nigeria. 

Gangs of heavily armed bandits prowl the vast Dajin Rugu forest which spans several hundred square kilometres across Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna states and Niger State in central Nigeria, according to Fulani leaders. 

In February 2012 alone, over 23,000 Fulani herders poured into Cameroon from Nigeria's northeastern state of Taraba, following deadly clashes with farming communities, according to the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), an umbrella association of Fulani herders. The gangs steal herds, loot and burn homes, and assault women in the attacks, according to Fulani leaders. 

Many of the armed bandits are Fulanis who have joined gangs involved in cross-border armed robbery and cattle-rustling in Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Senegal and Mali. 

"Twenty years of conflict has bred criminals among the Fulani who have lost their cattle. All they know is herding, and without cattle, life is devoid of meaning," said Saleh Bayeri, national secretary of MACBAN. "So they turn to highway robbery and raiding the herds of their kinsmen whom they begrudge for not coming to their aid in their predicament." 

"Ugly trend" 

Thousands of herders in northern Nigeria's Kaduna State have fled their homes since 8 June 2013 following raids by cattle rustlers over May and June that killed at least 16 people, according to officials and local vigilantes. On 13 June armed bandits launched a pre-dawn raid on Kwasa-Kwasa village in Birnin Gwari District of Kaduna State, killing five people, including two soldiers and three local vigilantes guarding the village against possible attacks, Adamu Sarkin-Noma, head of a vigilante group in the village, told IRIN. 

"This ugly trend is compounding the dilemma of the Fulani herders who are caught in a vicious cycle of conflict, with farmers over-grazing land that has forced thousands of nomads to flee into neighbouring Cameroon, along with their cattle," Bayeri said. 

The level of violence - both between these gangs and between Fulani nomads and farmers - has been stepped up over recent years as guns proliferate. 

Timeline of recent raids
13 June 2013: Bandits raid Kwasa-Kwasa village in Birnin Gwari District of Kaduna State, killing five people, including two soldiers and three local vigilantes, Adamu Sarkin-Noma, head of a vigilante group in the village, told IRIN.
8 June 2013: Bandits attack three villages in Birnin Gwari District, Kaduna State, killing seven residents and carting away over 300 cattle , according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). The attacks displaced 3,000 residents who are now sheltering in a primary school, NEMA's northwest Nigeria spokesperson, Musa Illallah, told IRIN.
19 May 2013: Around 2,000 residents of six nomadic villages in Faskari District, Katsina State, abandoned their homes after raids by gunmen in which four people were killed and scores of cattle were stolen in the latest of a series of raids by cattle rustlers, according to Shehu Hammayidi, a community leader from Unguwar Tsamiya, a nomadic village in Katsina State.
5 January 2013: Thirty gunmen on motorcycles gunned down seven people in raids on Makera and Usi villages in Birnin-Magaji District, Zamfara State, in retaliation for killings of their gang members, according to government officials.
12 June 2012: Scores of motorcycle-riding bandits shot dead 23 residents of Dangulbi village in Dansadau District, Zamfara State, in an early morning raid which the authorities described as a reprisal killing for the deaths of suspected bandits by the village's vigilante group.
14 October 2012: Following the killing of 20 people in an attack on Dogon Dawa village in Birnin Gwari District by bandits (in retaliation for killings of suspected bandits by local vigilantes), the Kaduna State government deployed a military battalion to seek out bandits hiding in the forest.
Some of the gangs have sponsors who supply them with arms in return for a share of the spoils, Ali Kwara, a local hunter in northern Nigeria involved in combating armed robbery and cattle rustling, told IRIN. Weapons are readily available on the black market in northern Nigeria. 

Boko Haram (BH) leader Abubakar Shekau has, in several video messages, made reference to the ethno-religious killings in Plateau State, including the attacks on Fulani nomads, and has threatened to avenge the killings of Muslims in the region. Although BH has carried out bombings on churches and some Christian neighbourhoods in Jos (Plateau's capital), none was linked to the nomads-farmers conflict. 

However, BH claimed rersponsibility for the 8 July 2012 attack on a funeral of some 50 Christians killed in reprisal attacks by suspected Fulani nomads the day before in Gashis District, Plateau State. Many people, including the Nigerian government dismissed BH claims as cheap propaganda. 

Vigilante gangs 

Villagers in the affected areas, particularly Zamfara and Kaduna states, have formed vigilante gangs to combat the bandits. Kwara runs a vigilante outfit that hunts down bandits across the north alongside the police. "Looking at the sophisticated guns the Fulani bandits are using in their operations it is clear they have sponsors and some of them are among the elite in society, including MACBAN," he told IRIN. 

According to Kwara, much of the cattle rustling is controlled and funded by a cartel including chiefs, politicians and lawyers who can provide legal aid to the bandits in court when arrested. 

Bayeri agrees with Kwara. "It is a fact that in some areas Fulani leaders are complicit. This is why we want to be involved in the government effort at combating this menace by exposing them." 

Kwara also accused police of supplying weapons to the bandits in return for money. "On many occasions armed robbers we arrested mentioned the names of their arms suppliers, including policemen who we reported to the police authorities." 

But some of the vigilante groups have also been accused of carrying out extra-judicial killings of suspected bandits, which in turn, lead to reprisal killings. 

Call for joint military, police unit 

More coordinated efforts by the local authorities and security forces is needed to try to temper the violence, said Kaduna State information commissioner Saidu Adamu. "A military battalion is grossly inadequate to patrol the vast forest. We are in touch with Zamfara, Katsina and Niger state governments to forge a common front in dealing with this security threat," he told IRIN. 

Shehu Hammayidi, a community leader from Unguwar Tsamiya, a village in Faskari District, Katsina State, urged the Nigerian government to establish a special joint military and police unit on cattle rustling as an effective approach to quelling the violence. 

But any efforts that do not involve MACBAN will not work, warned Bayeri, saying that only it can mobilize community surveillance to track bandits on the scale needed. 

"These criminals are a transnational syndicate of renegade Fulani nomads who know the forest very well, and no amount of military deployment can check their activities without the involvement of MACBAN," he said. 

MACBAN knows who some of the criminals are and is willing to expose them, he said, but has been rebuffed by local authorities whom, he says, mistakenly blame all of MACBAN for being complicit in the violence. 

aa/aj/cb 
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Africa Fighting Malaria Updates and Events June 19 2013

 
Africa Fighting Malaria Updates and Events
Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM) seeks to raise awareness of the huge burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and promote sensible policies for long-term solutions.
 
Exciting progress has been made in the global fight against malaria. The malaria map continues to shrink each year; in the last ten years four countries have been certified malaria-free, and thirty-four additional countries are now working towards malaria elimination targets.  
 
Other News
Events and Information
With 300-500 million people falling ill to malaria each year, this debilitating tropical disease remains a global problem. Current combination drug therapy is still generally effective, but recent signs of resistance present scientists with a new challenge. Malaria is major issue in Africa, in particular, where drug resistance in the 1990s contributed to a higher than usual death rate from the disease.  
 
 
Whenever Murashani Gosbert felt what he thought were symptoms of malaria, he would purchase a dose of Artenam at any drug shop. "Apart from stomachache, Artenam never gave me any side effects like nausea. I would feel better the following morning and could even work just as well as long as I was taking enough fluid. It being sugar coated was a big plus for me also because just imagining the bitterness of medicine makes me throw up," he admits.
 
Also on FightingMalaria.org

Please email Africa@fightingmalaria.orgfor more information.
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MALARIA: Solomon Islands: Community effort lowers malaria rate

Posted at 03:30 on 17 June, 2013 UTC

Strong community involvement has been key in helping a province in Solomon Islands move towards eliminating malaria.
The Ministry of Health says the number of confirmed malaria cases nationwide has dropped significantly, from 132 per 1000 people in 2007 to 44 per 1000 people in 2012.
However, Isabel Province is leading the country in its elimination efforts, with only one case per 1000 people tested in 2012.
The permanent secretary of health and medical services, Dr Lester Ross, says the success is due to vigorous efforts from the community.
“Strong support from the provincial government, from the traditional chiefs, and the third one is from the church, especially through their Mothers Union, this is the women’s group that is spearheading the activities for the church, they are in all of the communities, they ensure the villages are clean, they make sure that the children and people that have malaria have their treatment and they also help in the distribution of these long lasting treated bed-nets.”
Dr Lester Ross says Isabel Province hopes to eliminate malaria from the province by 2014.
News Content © Radio New Zealand International
PO Box 123, Wellington, New Zealan
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Crop Biotech Update June 20 2013

 

In This Issue

June 20, 2013

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Brief 44 Infographic 
A new infographic on the 2012 Global Status of Commercialized Biotech/GM Crops is now available at the ISAAA website. It summarizes the important details presented by Clive James in the annual review.
Pocket K 43 on Biotechnology and Climate Change 
Pocket K 43 covers the various contribution of biotech crops in mitigating the effects of climate change. This newest addition to the series also covers a short discussion on climate change and its effects in agriculture as well as biotech crops that are being developed or are in the pipeline that have tolerance to abiotic stresses such as salinity, drought and extreme temperatures.
From Monologue to Stakeholder Engagement: The Evolution of Biotech Communication 
ISAAA Bried 45-2013 is now available! Download the electronic copy now!
Sowing the Seeds of Success: A Decade of Biotech Corn Adoption in the Philippines 
This 10-minute video presents an updated story of biotech corn in the Philippines, a decade after its commercialization. It complements the first ISAAA video entitled "Asia's First: The Bt Corn Story in the Philippines".
Top Ten Facts about Biotech/GM Crops in 2012 
A new overview of biotech crops in 2012. Download PDF:Arabic, English, Portuguese

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