Urban Farming Takes Root in Brazil’s Favelas

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Fabiana Frayssinet NOVA IGUAÇU, Brazil, May 2, 2012 (IPS) – Women in one of the poorest neighbourhoods of this city 40 km north of Rio de Janeiro no longer have to spend money on vegetables, because they have learned to grow their own, as organic urban gardening [...]


Cashew Producers’ Pain Is Intermediaries’ Gain in Senegal

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Koffigan E. Adigbli ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal, May 3, 2012 (IPS) – Cashew nut growers in the southern Senegalese region of Casamance are complaining bitterly that intermediaries are cutting them out of a fair share of the profits. The Casamance region produced 40 million dollars worth of cashews in [...]


GERMANY: While Some Waste, Others Feast

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Julio Godoy HAMBURG, Jan 20, 2012 (IPS) – Shortly before midnight last Saturday, Alexander, a 24-year-old law student, stepped out of his small apartment in Hamburg and set off for a jaunt around the local supermarkets to pilfer their garbage containers. Alex, who did not want his [...]


AFGHANISTAN: Land Triggers New Conflicts

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Rebecca Murray NANGARHAR, Afghanistan , Dec 4, 2011 (IPS) – A small plot of urban land has pitted Assadullah, 55, against an unwelcome neighbour in a bitter personal property dispute that has stretched on for almost a decade. Assadullah’s story is a common one. A working-class barber [...]


Millions Stand to Benefit from Farmers’ Co-ops

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Elizabeth Whitman UNITED NATIONS, Nov 22, 2011 (IPS) – The 925 million people who went hungry in 2010 are just one facet of an ever-worsening food security crisis. Both food producers and consumers face the consequences of price volatility and unsustainable agricultural practices – challenges that leave [...]


Survival Fear Stalks Millions in West Africa

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Jerome Mwanda IDN-InDepth NewsReport NAIROBI (IDN) – Massive leasing of lands, which the government of Mali justifies with the need to "modernize" the country’s agriculture, is threatening the survival of populations dependent on the water flows of the Niger River in Mali and in the rest of [...]


GUATEMALA: The War Over Land

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Danilo Valladares GUATEMALA CITY, Sept 12, 2011 (IPS) – The violent eviction of 91 rural families in northern Guatemala was the latest incident in the ageold conflict over land in a country where the army is frequently called in to force peasant farmers off their land. "This [...]


BRAZIL: Small-Scale Land Speculators Contribute to Amazon Deforestation

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Stephen Leahy* UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jul 28, 2011 (Tierramérica) – Many migrants from southern Brazil who clear forests in Brazil’s state of Amazonas are making their living as small-scale land speculators and not as farmers or as cattle ranchers, new research has found. This on-the-ground reality and the [...]


Ban Proposed on Export Restrictions that Undermine Food Security

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Isolda Agazzi GENEVA, Jun 24, 2011 (IPS) – Egypt has initiated a proposal in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to ban export restrictions on farm products to poor countries that are net food importers. The Group of 20 has also exhorted the upcoming WTO ministerial conference to [...]


Focus on Smallholder Farmers Vital

Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Ramesh Jaura IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis           BERLIN (IDN) – Leaders of three eminent international institutions have underlined the critical role of smallholder farmers in achieving much-needed global food security and preventing food price volatility. The clarion call comes in run-up to the first-ever official meeting of agriculture ministers [...]