Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Agricultural production is only the first step in moving the world’s food from farm to fork, according to Nourishing the Planet, a project of the Worldwatch Institute. The other links in the food chain—harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, marketing, and selling—ensure that food actually reaches consumers. Inefficiencies in these activities, rather than just low yields or poor farming techniques, are often to blame for food shortages and low prices for growers.

With the United Nations projecting a global population of more than 9 billion by 2050, increasing food chain efficiency will become ever more essential. Producers and consumers must be part of a food chain that feeds the world, provides fair prices to farmers, and works in harmony with the environment. “When groups of small farmers better organize their means of production—whether ordering the right inputs at the right time or selling their crops directly to customers—they become more resilient to fluctuations in global food prices while also better serving local communities,” said Robert Engelman, Executive Director of Worldwatch.

In State of the World 2011, contributing author Samuel Fromartz uses the example of corn production in Zambia to illustrate how off-farm inefficiencies exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. Poor market access, unpredictable weather patterns, and insufficient infrastructure make small-scale agriculture a high-risk livelihood. Seasons of surplus corn production can be as detrimental as low-yielding ones. Large surpluses saturate local markets, and local farmers have no alternatives for selling their product. “Many do not have the luxury of picking when to sell or whom to sell to; they are desperate and need to sell to eat. So they take whatever price they can get,” writes Fromartz.

Research done by Nourishing the Planet staff has found innovations in sub-Saharan Africa and other locations around the globe that improve market access, enhance farmer-to-farmer communication, and harness simple information technology. These improvements in the food chain provide farmers with fair prices and also help increase food security by distributing food efficiently.

Nourishing the Planet recommends three ways that agriculture is helping to address gaps in the current food supply chain:

• Coordinating farmers. In Uganda, the organization Technoserve works with farmers to improve market conditions for sales of bananas. Technoserve helps individuals form business groups that receive technical advice and enter into sales collectively. Coordinating business has decreased transaction costs and helped farmers market their crops and compete with larger producers more effectively. Over 20,000 farmers now participate in the project. Farmers in the United States are also banding together to increase sales efficiency and fair prices. The Chesapeake Bay regions’s FRESHFARM Markets act as an organizational umbrella under which area farmers can coordinate, market, and sell their products.

• Increasing market transparency. In Nairobi, Kenya, the DrumNet project uses simple communication technology to provide farmers with real-time market information. Having access to market prices and sale-coordination opportunities allows farmers to receive fair prices for their crops. And the transparency increases overall sales transactions, meaning that less food goes to waste.

• Using low-cost technology to boost efficiency. According to the UN, over 5 billion people on the planet now have a mobile phone subscription. As the cost of the technology drops, using the devices beyond personal communication makes sense. In Niger, farmers use mobile phones to access market information, an application that has reduced the fluctuation in regional grain prices by 20 percent and has helped ensure fair prices for producers and consumers. Similarly, the Grameen Foundation and Google have collaborated to develop Google Trader, an online bulletin board on which farmers and merchants can contact one another. The bulletin also includes applications such as “Farmer’s Friend” a tool that offers farmers information on weather, pests, and livestock management.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Agricultural production is only the first step in moving the world’s food from farm to fork, according to Nourishing the Planet, a project of the Worldwatch Institute. The other links in the food chain—harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, marketing, and selling—ensure that food actually reaches consumers. Inefficiencies in these activities, rather than just low yields or poor farming techniques, are often to blame for food shortages and low prices for growers.

With the United Nations projecting a global population of more than 9 billion by 2050, increasing food chain efficiency will become ever more essential. Producers and consumers must be part of a food chain that feeds the world, provides fair prices to farmers, and works in harmony with the environment. “When groups of small farmers better organize their means of production—whether ordering the right inputs at the right time or selling their crops directly to customers—they become more resilient to fluctuations in global food prices while also better serving local communities,” said Robert Engelman, Executive Director of Worldwatch.

In State of the World 2011, contributing author Samuel Fromartz uses the example of corn production in Zambia to illustrate how off-farm inefficiencies exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. Poor market access, unpredictable weather patterns, and insufficient infrastructure make small-scale agriculture a high-risk livelihood. Seasons of surplus corn production can be as detrimental as low-yielding ones. Large surpluses saturate local markets, and local farmers have no alternatives for selling their product. “Many do not have the luxury of picking when to sell or whom to sell to; they are desperate and need to sell to eat. So they take whatever price they can get,” writes Fromartz.

Research done by Nourishing the Planet staff has found innovations in sub-Saharan Africa and other locations around the globe that improve market access, enhance farmer-to-farmer communication, and harness simple information technology. These improvements in the food chain provide farmers with fair prices and also help increase food security by distributing food efficiently.

Nourishing the Planet recommends three ways that agriculture is helping to address gaps in the current food supply chain:

• Coordinating farmers. In Uganda, the organization Technoserve works with farmers to improve market conditions for sales of bananas. Technoserve helps individuals form business groups that receive technical advice and enter into sales collectively. Coordinating business has decreased transaction costs and helped farmers market their crops and compete with larger producers more effectively. Over 20,000 farmers now participate in the project. Farmers in the United States are also banding together to increase sales efficiency and fair prices. The Chesapeake Bay regions’s FRESHFARM Markets act as an organizational umbrella under which area farmers can coordinate, market, and sell their products.

• Increasing market transparency. In Nairobi, Kenya, the DrumNet project uses simple communication technology to provide farmers with real-time market information. Having access to market prices and sale-coordination opportunities allows farmers to receive fair prices for their crops. And the transparency increases overall sales transactions, meaning that less food goes to waste.

• Using low-cost technology to boost efficiency. According to the UN, over 5 billion people on the planet now have a mobile phone subscription. As the cost of the technology drops, using the devices beyond personal communication makes sense. In Niger, farmers use mobile phones to access market information, an application that has reduced the fluctuation in regional grain prices by 20 percent and has helped ensure fair prices for producers and consumers. Similarly, the Grameen Foundation and Google have collaborated to develop Google Trader, an online bulletin board on which farmers and merchants can contact one another. The bulletin also includes applications such as “Farmer’s Friend” a tool that offers farmers information on weather, pests, and livestock management.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet.

Agricultural production is only the first step in moving the world’s food from farm to fork, according to Nourishing the Planet, a project of the Worldwatch Institute. The other links in the food chain—harvesting, packaging, storing, transporting, marketing, and selling—ensure that food actually reaches consumers. Inefficiencies in these activities, rather than just low yields or poor farming techniques, are often to blame for food shortages and low prices for growers.

With the United Nations projecting a global population of more than 9 billion by 2050, increasing food chain efficiency will become ever more essential. Producers and consumers must be part of a food chain that feeds the world, provides fair prices to farmers, and works in harmony with the environment. “When groups of small farmers better organize their means of production—whether ordering the right inputs at the right time or selling their crops directly to customers—they become more resilient to fluctuations in global food prices while also better serving local communities,” said Robert Engelman, Executive Director of Worldwatch.

In State of the World 2011, contributing author Samuel Fromartz uses the example of corn production in Zambia to illustrate how off-farm inefficiencies exacerbate food insecurity and poverty. Poor market access, unpredictable weather patterns, and insufficient infrastructure make small-scale agriculture a high-risk livelihood. Seasons of surplus corn production can be as detrimental as low-yielding ones. Large surpluses saturate local markets, and local farmers have no alternatives for selling their product. “Many do not have the luxury of picking when to sell or whom to sell to; they are desperate and need to sell to eat. So they take whatever price they can get,” writes Fromartz.

Research done by Nourishing the Planet staff has found innovations in sub-Saharan Africa and other locations around the globe that improve market access, enhance farmer-to-farmer communication, and harness simple information technology. These improvements in the food chain provide farmers with fair prices and also help increase food security by distributing food efficiently.

Nourishing the Planet recommends three ways that agriculture is helping to address gaps in the current food supply chain:

• Coordinating farmers. In Uganda, the organization Technoserve works with farmers to improve market conditions for sales of bananas. Technoserve helps individuals form business groups that receive technical advice and enter into sales collectively. Coordinating business has decreased transaction costs and helped farmers market their crops and compete with larger producers more effectively. Over 20,000 farmers now participate in the project. Farmers in the United States are also banding together to increase sales efficiency and fair prices. The Chesapeake Bay regions’s FRESHFARM Markets act as an organizational umbrella under which area farmers can coordinate, market, and sell their products.

• Increasing market transparency. In Nairobi, Kenya, the DrumNet project uses simple communication technology to provide farmers with real-time market information. Having access to market prices and sale-coordination opportunities allows farmers to receive fair prices for their crops. And the transparency increases overall sales transactions, meaning that less food goes to waste.

• Using low-cost technology to boost efficiency. According to the UN, over 5 billion people on the planet now have a mobile phone subscription. As the cost of the technology drops, using the devices beyond personal communication makes sense. In Niger, farmers use mobile phones to access market information, an application that has reduced the fluctuation in regional grain prices by 20 percent and has helped ensure fair prices for producers and consumers. Similarly, the Grameen Foundation and Google have collaborated to develop Google Trader, an online bulletin board on which farmers and merchants can contact one another. The bulletin also includes applications such as “Farmer’s Friend” a tool that offers farmers information on weather, pests, and livestock management.

WASHINGTON – In a move shockingly similar to anti-government protests in Tunisia and Egypt, demonstrators have forcibly taken over a telephone booth in Washington’s Lafayette Park to demand Barack Obama step down as President of Kenya.

Early reports indicate the protest turnout swelled a dramatic 33% as Sarah Palin joined fellow protesters Orly Taitz and Michele Bachmann in their crusade. In an effort to clamp down on the protest, the Kenyan Communications Ministry cut service to the phone booth, severing the trio’s access to the outside world. Access to Fox News has also been cutoff within the boundaries of the park and the cell phone batteries of the protest organizers were dead.

Click for Video >>

Left with no other means of communication, protest leader Orly Taitz attempted to hand-deliver a list of demands to the White House. However, she was driven away from the White House gates by the Obama family‘s Portugese Water Dog, Bo.

Chemical Attack Threat
Taitz claimed the dog had launched a chemical attack against her, but laboratory analysis of the liquid that came in contact with Taitz’s leg revealed the “chemical” was nothing more than odoriferous, but harmless, dog urine.

Taitz, Bachmann, and Palin called a news conference to explain their demands shortly after noon.

“We demand Barack Obama step down as President of Kenya,” Taitz said. “It’s clear that not only does Mr. Obama have no valid US birth certificate, he has no Kenyan birth certificate either.”

A pool reporter from Brietbart News asked if the women were aware that Obama is not the current President of Kenya.

“No I didn’t, but that don’t matter because you can betcha he’s not the President of North America either,” Palin said. “Lookit here, I can see Nairobi from my front porch and he’s always in there messin’ around with all the other executive branch activists. Everbody knows this misuncertainism surrounding Obama is nothing more than a lamestream media scam to attract attention away from me.”

“By the way, I’m not saying I’m not running in 2012, but I am…not running, that is. I might even run for President of Kenya too. It can’t be that hard if Nobama can do it,” Palin added.

Bachmann was quietest if the three, offering little directly related to the protest. However, she did seem to have her own agenda.

The ‘Usurper Obama’
“That whole business out in Cairo, Illinois the other day is just symptamatic of the socialist’s hold over our America. With the usurper Obama in power, we know and can prove every right-thinking, God-terrorized person in America will be rounded up and put into a FEMA-run concentration camp,” she explained.

“I had expected to become Speaker of the House when Republicans took power away from the Democrats, but Kenyan agents of the Obama legion messed with my calendar and I missed the voting,” Bachmann screeched. “So now that I don’t have anything to do, I’m going to run for President in 2012 on the Kenyan Tea Party ballot.

The protesters were evasive when asked why they chose Washington as the site for a protest about events in another country.

“It was a small miscalculation on my part,” Palin said. “I thought the whole thing was about Obama being the non-President of the United Skates, so I bought tickets to Washington. Who knew Washington and Kenyan were different countries?

The White House has refused to comment about the protests.

Cross posted at The Omnipotent Poobah Speaks!

I haven't posted much on MyDD lately, due to summer jobs and other prior engagements, so I'm doing a double post today.  The first about the open letter to Palin was more of me exercising my frustration in world form.  This one actually has substance.  I hope you enjoy and get something out of it.

(Cross-posted on FDL Seminal)

I’ve been wanting to do one of these for awhile. With the large coverage of things inside the United States  at MyDD, I think its important to catch up on the rest of the world and where recent news breaks and situations begin.

Africa
First off we will start in Africa (and in case you haven’t figured out my trend thus far, one of my favorite stops). Kenya is very close to my heart, so I apologize if it bugs the readers here that I am mentioning it so frequently in the past few weeks. Kenya went through an incredible movement towards a more consummate democracy (at least I believe so) by ratifying the proposed Constitution that has been debated for close to a year now. The vote took place officially on August 4th and the official tally was compiled yesterday. The YES camp, those gunning for the ratification of the proposed constitution, came out on top by a very decisive vote tally.

“The historic journey that we began over 20 years ago is now coming to a happy end. I assure our brothers and sisters who voted against the proposed constitution that their voices have been heard. Let us all join hands together as we begin the process of national renewal under the new constitution.”

President Kibaki

——————————————-

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts whether the dreams of the founders of our nation are still with us, who still questions our people’s thirst for a better country and democracy, who still questions whether Kenyans really want a break with the past, today we have the answer.”

Prime Minister Raila Odinga

The official tally is YES: 6,092,593 (66.9%)
NO: 2,795,059 (30.1%)

Source: The Daily Nation

I believe that, although not anywhere near perfection, the new constitution will serve the people of Kenya well and help progress their country along a path towards a more constructive, fulfilling, and better functioning democracy

Middle-East
President Obama’s approval rating among Arabic people has declined a vast amount in just the past year. Al-Jazeera reports (with data from the Brookings Institution polls) that 62% of those polled have a negative view of the president, as opposed to 23% just a year ago. Could these numbers be prompted by President Obama’s lack of action with troop withdraw in Afghanistan and Iraq? One would assume it at least has an inkling of influence.

This year’s poll surveyed 3,976 people in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emirates, during the period of June 29–July 20, 2010.

Among the key poll findings are:
A substantial change in the assessment of President Obama, both as president of the United States and of Obama personally.
Remarkably stable views on the Arab-Israeli conflict and the prospects of its resolution.
A majority of the Arab public now see a nuclear-armed Iran as being better for the Middle East.
Among other things, the poll also examined how Arabs score specific American policies in the past year, how they rank other countries across a number of variables, and how they prioritize attitudes toward social and religious issues.

ATTITUDES TOWARD OBAMA

Among the most striking findings on the question of attitudes toward President Obama: Early in the Obama administration, in April and May 2009, 51% of the respondents in the six countries expressed optimism about American policy in the Middle East. In the 2010 poll, only 16% were hopeful, while a majority – 63% – was discouraged.

As shown from the Brookings Institution data, optimism over American Policy in the Middle East has dropped unfortunately. Its interesting data, for me personally and for the a lot of others I’m assuming, because one of the hopes Obama perpetuated was "pressing the reset button" on foreign policy (I believe that is a Biden quote however)

With Healthcare Reform, Wall-Street issues, and other domestic concerns.. Obama’s time has been consumed to the fullest. Balancing his presidency is a tedious and difficult task of delegating and managing a cornucopia of problems, issues, and other concerns. Al-Jazeera also mentioned another issue Middle-Eastern people polled had with the president:

The precipitous decline in Obama’s popularity, though expected by many Middle East analysts and already documented in a Pew survey of global opinion,has naturally captured the headlines,given the president’s promise to pursue rapprochement with Arabs and Muslims during his campaign and the early months of his presidency.

Arabs’ attitudes toward US foreign policy have turned negative even more rapidly than their opinion of Obama himself.

Source: Al-Jazeera

North/Central America

Haiti has seen better days, I think that goes without saying. The destruction and devastation of the recent earthquake has left the already struggling country in a pit of even bigger despair amongst the valley of the shadow of economic death. A shroud of darkness covers the tattered remains of the country, and guidance is a key issue at this point in their existence as a state.

Popular Record Producer and Recording Artist Wyclef Jean has confirmed his interest in running for the Haitian Presidency. Jean’s response the the quake in the beginning stages was very evident and his passion for his home country has been seen in the wake of disaster.

The Haitian-born singer-songwriter has ended weeks of speculation by confirming he will run for president. For the past five years he has been increasing his engagement with Haiti having left the country when he was nine years old

Source: The Guardian

South America
Venezuelan/Columbian relations improve as Hugo Chavez extends a welcoming hand to Columbia’s new President Juan Manuel Santos. Bitter relations have accompanied the two countries as of recent.

CARACAS Aug 6 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez said on Friday his foreign minister is likely to attend the inauguration of Colombia’s incoming President Juan Manuel Santos, signaling a thaw in ties between the Andean neighbors.

Chavez severed relations with Colombia last month after the outgoing government of President Alvaro Uribe accused him of turning a blind eye to leftist rebel camps on his territory.

Though Chavez is not expected at Saturday’s ceremony, he has made clear he hopes for better ties with Santos.

Source: Reuters Africa

East Asia
Secretary Clinton has had it up to here with North Korea North Korea, more accurately Kim Jong-Il, has been a pain in the rear for the United States for quite some time. Kim Jong-Il’s cognac benders, gulag appointments, and overall schmuck-like attitude has been something of constant concern… yet set on the backburner in order to pursue more serious matters. Newer sanctions are expected to be instated against North Korea, who is probably coming close to (if not setting) the world record for most sanctions against one country… if any such record exists

In response to the threats made by North korea, Clinton said last Wednesday that US intends to impose new sanctions as a penalty for the sinking of the 1,200-ton Cheonan that killed 46 sailors last March. These sanctions are also meant to suppress any nuclear plans the country might have.

"These measures are not directed at the people of North Korea, who have suffered too long due to the misguided and malign priorities of their government," Clinton said while touring the Demilitarized Zone separating the North from South Korea with Defense Secretary Robert Gates early this week.

Source: Illume Magazine

I hope you folks have enjoyed this brief dive into a few more international situations happening around the world. I’ll try to do this semi-frequently if its well-received.