FPB blogger Sarah Repucci wrote recently about the frustration over which drove “…a single jobless youth set himself ablaze as a statement…” to protest against corruption and “the regime’s self-enrichment.” Soon after, protests against the government of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali picked up in intensity until the president ended his 23-year reign and fled […]
Incessant flooding in Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland is battering the area and could take a toll on global food prices. According to the Associated Press: “Queensland…has been devastated by weeks of pounding rains and overflowing rivers. Eighteen people have died since late November and about 200,000 have been affected by the floods…Queensland officials have […]
Could a survey of 33 questions be the difference between whether a person qualifies for food aid or not? We often talk about food aid organizations and the projects they implement to combat food crises or the chronic challenges to food security. But who are the people who make these projects happen? How do they […]
Global food prices have surpassed the peak reached during the 2007-2008 Global Food Crisis, according to the BBC. The new information comes from the Food Price Index, compiled by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to track global food prices by measuring monthly price changes for a food basket composed of dairy, meat and […]
Dioxin contamination of eggs and poultry originating from small farms in Germany have led to products being pulled from shelves as an expanding investigation continues. A growing fear of food laced with the carcinogenic compound have led some countries to scrutinize or even block German food imports. The source of the contamination is thought to […]
An astounding report from ABC news shows how the western diet has led 95% of one Pacific island nation’s population to become overweight. The island of Nauru is in the South Pacific, 400 miles away from the nearest civilization and with a population of nearly 10,000 people. According to the ABC news report, the people […]
The Meeting Lunch food security blog posted an interview with David Lobell, Stanford researcher and coauthor of a study arguing that our modern high-input, high-yielding agricultural system leads to less green house emissions than if we had a low-input, low-yielding agricultural system. The report argues that even though high-yielding agriculture requires the use of fertilizer, […]
Afghanistan will be more food insecure as 2011 dawns, according to international aid organizations working there. Already one of the most food insecure countries in the world, Afghanistan’s population may not receive needed food aid past June because of a funding shortfall to organizations like the World Food Programme. The summer floods in Pakistan have […]
The “land grab” of fertile farmland in Ethiopia was the subject of a recent post, but is not the only area of Africa that is being made available for foreign countries to buy up, sometimes with the blessing of the international community. The New York Times recently detailed the scope of land grabs across the […]
The cholera outbreak that has been ravaging Haiti since November 2010 is having a lasting effect on Haiti’s rice crop, according to CNN. “A chunk of Haiti’s rice harvest will probably be lost because of farmers’ fears of cholera contamination, the United Nations said Wednesday. On top of that, consumers are afraid to buy rice […]
Less than a week after a deadly suicide attack in northwestern Pakistan, the World Food Programme (WFP) plans to resume food aid for victims of deadly floods. The attack killed 46 and wounded over 100. The attacker was reported to be a woman wearing a burqa, the first time such an attacker was deployed in […]
Overview The best news of 2010 is the decrease of the world’s hungry from 1.023 billion to 925 million, though most of that change is due to a reversal in high food prices and global economic crises, according to the UN’s Committee on Food Security (CFS). Taking this into consideration, 2010 saw a continuation of […]
Even last-minute holiday shoppers have a chance to help with the fight against global hunger this holiday season. Following the recent post about five ways to fight hunger for the holidays the Global Food Security blog offers these additional suggestions: CARE Full-Circle Exchange Freedom from Hunger Credit with Education and Saving for Change Heifer International […]
Discontent from “land grabbing” in Africa has struck in Ethiopia, where the BBC reports that “opposition activists claim that a number of arrests and the killings of 10 local farmers are as a direct result of” the Ethiopian governmental policy to lease 3 million hectares of land – an area the size of Belgium – […]
Still shopping for holiday gifts? Several food aid organizations are offering unique ways to give gifts that will help in the fight against hunger this holiday season. Check out these gift opportunities, and look through the organizations’ websites to learn more about their work and other ways you can help fight hunger throughout the year. […]