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Suppressing Hunger Hormone Could Be As Effective As Bariatric Surgery

US researchers working with pigs discovered a way of lowering appetite as effectively as bariatric surgery except they used minimally invasive surgery that suppresses the hunger hormone ghrelin by vaporizing the main blood vessel that carries blood to the top section of the stomach (the fundus). The study was the work of researchers at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland, and the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and is published in the October 1st issue of Radiology. The researchers wrote that about 90 per cent of the body's ghrelin comes from the fundus, and it needs a good blood supply to make it. First author Dr Aravind Arepally said: "With gastric artery chemical embolization, called GACE, there's no major surgery." "In our study in pigs, this procedure produced an effect similar to bariatric surgery by suppressing ghrelin levels and subsequently lowering appetite," added Arepally, who is clinical director of the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design and associate professor of radiology and surgery at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. Arepally and colleagues wrote that the last ten years have seen several unsuccessful attempts to suppress grehlin safely and easily. Bariatric surgery is where part of the stomach or bowel is either removed, reconstructed or bypassed. It suppresses appetite and results in significant weight loss. However, there are significant risks because it is an invasive and complex procedure. Arepally explained that: "Obesity is the biggest biomedical problem in the country, and a minimally invasive alternative would make an enormous difference in choices and outcomes for obese people." For the study, Arepally and colleagues worked with 10 healthy and growing pigs for 4 weeks. Pigs were chosen because they their bodies have similar anatomy and physiology to humans. Baseline readings for ghrelin and other measures were obtained by fasting the pigs overnight, weighing them and taking blood samples. The pigs were then put into two groups, one for the treatment and the other was the control group. Both groups underwent a procedure that used X rays to guide the surgery where researchers inserted a thin tube in the large blood vessel near the groin and then into the left gastric arteries supplying blood to the stomach. In the treatment group (GACE group) they injected the site once with sodium morrhuate, a chemical that destroys blood vessels, and in the control group they injected the site once with saline. The researchers monitored the blood levels of ghrelin for 4 weeks. The results showed that:

- Changes in ghrelin levels over time were significantly different between control and GACE treated pigs (P < .004).

- In the GACE treated pigs, the levels of ghrelin were suppressed by as much as 60 per cent compared to baseline levels.

- The percentage change in ghrelin levels in GACE treated pigs went down from baseline to-34, -38.6, -42.5, and -12.9 per cent during weeks 1 to 4, respectively.

- In the control pigs, the percentage change in ghrelin was -1.7, -9.7, +2.6, and +18.2 per cent during weeks 1 to 4, respectively.

- At the end of 4 weeks, the control pigs continued to gain weight, putting on 15.1 per cent their original weight in that time, while the GACE pigs' weight plateaued at an increase of 7.8 per cent from their original weight.

The authors concluded that: "Catheter-directed GACE can suppress the appetite hormone ghrelin and affect weight gain." Arepally said appetite is not an easy process to understand or control because it involves both the body and the mind. Ghrelin levels go up and down throughout the day, and they respond to emotional as well as physiological circumstances. "But", Arepally pointed out, "even if the brain says 'produce more ghrelin', GACE physically prevents the stomach from making the hunger hormone".

"Catheter-directed Gastric Artery Chemical Embolization Suppresses Systemic Ghrelin Levels in Porcine Model." Aravind Arepally, Brad P. Barnett, Tarek T. Patel, Valerie Howland, Ray C. Boston, Dara L. Kraitchman, and Ashkan A. Malayeri. Radiology Volume 249, Issue 1, October 2008, pp 127-133. DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2491071232 Source: Catharine Paddock, PhD 19 September 2008 (Source: Johns Hopkins Medicine, journal abstract; Medical News Today; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Junk food ad rules 'not working'

Adverts for unhealthy foods are still appearing during TV programmes seen by children, despite curbs introduced in January, a consumer watchdog has said. Which? said the five programmes with the most child viewers and only four of the top 20 most popular children's shows were covered by Ofcom's rules. These state that ads for "less healthy” foods are not allowed in or around programmes which "appeal" to under-16s. But advertisers said Which's list included shows "not aimed" at children. A programme is defined as being of particular appeal to children if the proportion of those under 16 watching a programme is 20% higher than the general viewing population. This means shows like The Simpsons and SpongeBob SquarePants are covered, while shows like Beat the Star, Animals Do The Funniest Things and Emmerdale are not, even though they are watched by thousands more children.

'Not anti-advertising'

A two-week analysis by Which? found that ads for products including Coca-Cola, Oreos and Kellogg's Coco Pops were broadcast during programmes popular with children but not covered by the restrictions. It said ITV's Beat the Star attracted more than half a million child viewers during the monitoring period, but had contained ads for Coca-Cola, Dairylea Dunkers, Nachos and Sprite. Which? food campaigner Clare Corbett said: "The ad restrictions may look good on paper but the reality is that the programmes most popular with children are slipping through the net. "If these rules are going to be effective, then they have to apply to the programmes that children watch in the greatest numbers." She added: "We're not anti-advertising, we're just against the fact that most of the ads children see are for unhealthy products, rather than the healthier foods they should be eating more of." But the Advertising Association said Which? seemed to want to unfairly restrict companies' ability to deliver commercial messages. Chief executive Baroness Peta Buscombe called its report "sensationalist, unconstructive and missing the point" and said the advertising industry took a "responsible approach" to food advertising. She added: "Their list includes programmes clearly not aimed at children and films screened after 10pm. "There clearly has to be an element of parental responsibility on which programmes they allow their children to view."

Reviews

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "For the first time, TV adverts for foods high in fat, salt and sugar are banned during programmes aimed at or of particular appeal to children under 16. "Although children still see some of these advertisements, the current Ofcom regulations mean that the viewing of these adverts by children is reduced by an estimated 50%, an impressive amount." He added: "We appreciate that there are calls for further restrictions on UK TV advertising but these should be considered once we have had a chance to assess the impact of current measures." Ofcom is set to report to government on the success of its restrictions in December. The Food Standards Agency, which drew up a model for deciding if a food was unhealthy, is also to assess how well it is performing. 19 September 2008 (Source: BBC News; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

The Deadly Economics of the Childhood Obesity Epidemic

Children's International Obesity Foundation sees too many financial benefits going to interests which keep children fat. According to the CHILDREN'S INTERNATIONAL OBESITY FOUNDATION (CIOF), an acknowledged authority and voice regarding childhood obesity, the short-term financial benefits and incentives for fattening up children are making childhood obesity into a profit opportunity for too many, and at the ultimate expense of children's lives. Douglas Castle, speaking for CIOF, said, "It is acknowledged by every major healthcare agency and authority in the United States and throughout the world that obesity is the greatest threat facing our children today. The obesity epidemic is the gravest threat to kids' health that we know, and a whole generation's very survival is threatened by it. "No one argues that more than one in every three children is dangerously overweight or obese. No one disputes that complications from childhood overweight are, by far, the greatest single cause of death amongst our youngsters. And it is well established that this generation of children is the first in recorded history to have a shorter life expectancy than their own parents. CIOF has been shouting this. "The obvious question is, 'if we, as a decent society know this, why aren't we doing something to reverse the epidemic?' "The answer is chilling," said Castle. "Too many companies, agencies and even foundations are simply making too much money by keeping kids fat. The snack food and beverage giants, the pharmaceutical companies, the pop-psychologists, the clothing manufacturers, the fad diet pundits -- even some unscrupulous healthcare providers and foundations which are actually just puppets for these same special interest groups are getting richer and richer by feeding off of this epidemic. "These groups are either oblivious to the future of humankind, or they are engorged leeches, without any conscience. They are trading children's lives for profits and cash flow. Until there is an incentive for these profiteers to behave differently, and until they are revealed for who they really are, they will continue to confound every sincere effort to stop this killer," warned Castle. Robert Hinnen, CIOF's Executive Director, said, "Too much money is going to these profiteers and political interests -- and not nearly enough is going to organizations like CIOF, where our agenda is completely transparent and our mission is to predict, prevent and treat obesity; in that order. "We recently launched our September awareness and fund raising campaign to help stop the obesity epidemic, and we are competing for every single dollar with these 'so called' charities and other groups which are actually controlled by the same interests that push the products which make children fat and keep them even fatter. "Yes, the economy is very shaky right now, but can we allow this to dictate the quality of health for our children? "Donations are desperately needed now more than ever...We fully understand that people want to know where their money is going, especially now with what we all just witnessed with Lehman, Merrill, AIG and everyone impacted by the catastrophic changes on Wall Street...but the difference here is we don't have the option to have the Federal Reserve send 'lifeboats' for our kids, instead, CIOF has to fight for even a small fraction of the funds which actually go toward the promotion of obesity. "My observation is that sadly very few of us realize how much harm is being done...These other players are re-routing dollars right back into the power source that is making our children sick with cardiac problems, diabetes, respiratory failure, kidney and liver diseases and even cancer. "The public is being deceived and misled into believing that their funds are going toward saving kids. Meanwhile, these groups are getting richer and more powerful, and CIOF has to work even harder to get its essential humanitarian work done." Hinnen continued, "We have to stay alive so that we can fight to keep children alive. The economic deck is stacked against legitimate efforts at getting youngsters from fat to fit. Our awareness, education, prediction and prevention programs need even greater resources to fight the efforts of these wolves in sheep's clothing." To make a tax deductible gift to CIOF, visit www.ciofoundation.org and donate. You can donate by mail, or directly online, through a secured portal on the website. CIOF is funded almost entirely by contributions from individuals and small organizations. 18 September 2008 (Source: prweb; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

NHS joins forces with leading universities to improve research and care

TWO partnerships between NHS organisations and leading universities will receive an £18m cash injection to conduct research and improve care facilities for major conditions such as depression, dementia, stroke and childhood obesity. The new National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) collaborations for Nottinghamshire, Cambridge and Peterborough were selected by an independent panel and will start work on October 1, following Tuesday’s funding announcement from the Department of Health. The two groups will complement the seven collaborations announced earlier this year, all of which will also start work next month. Each group will bring together universities and their surrounding NHS organisations to test new treatments and new ways of working in specific clinical areas to see if they are effective and appropriate for everyday use in the health service. Where potential problems are identified, the groups will help NHS staff to incorporate them into their everyday working practices so patients receive a better standard of healthcare. Professor Sally Davies, director general of research and development at the Department of Health, said: “The collaborations for health research and care represent an exciting and innovative partnership between universities and the NHS. They will undertake high-quality applied health research findings into improved outcomes for patients. They will be conducting this work at the frontline of the NHS so the benefits and findings can be swiftly incorporated into routine clinical practice.” Among the themes being considered by the panels are supporting mental health in the older population, stroke rehabilitation, child obesity and designing high-quality care pathways. 17 September 2008 (Source: hes; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Chemical Suppressing Hunger Hormone Might Be The Answer To Obesity

Blocking production of a hormone called ghrelin, which creates the sensation of hunger, could be the answer to obesity, a problem that has become a major reason of concern in the US, where two-thirds of the populations are either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s true that it’s only a lab experiment on pigs for now, but researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore are confident that if a similar procedure could be done safely in humans, it may help people fight obesity. For the study, Dr. Aravind Arepally, clinical director of the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design, and associate professor of radiology and surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, used 10 healthy pigs because pigs have human-like anatomy and physiology. The pigs were weighed and blood samples were taken to determine their baseline ghrelin levels. Then the researchers injected a chemical called sodiaum morrhuate (a chemical that destroys blood vessels) into blood vessels supplying a very specific part of the stomach called fundus in order to cut off production of the hunger hormone ghrelin. “With gastric artery chemical embolization, called GACE, there’s no major surgery. In our study in pigs, this procedure produced an effect similar to bariatric surgery by suppressing ghrelin levels and subsequently lowering appetite,” Arepally said. After the procedure, pigs given the chemical stopped gaining weight, while the others continued to fatten, increasing their body weight as much as 8.6 percent. The procedure reduced ghrelin production by as much as 80 percent. The procedure appears to have no major side effects like in the case of bariatric surgery, which involves cutting off part of the stomach and sometimes small intestine so that people eat less and so their bodies have less time to digest food. About 205,000 Americans had bariatric surgery last year, their number increasing more than fivefold in five years, according to a report in the journal Lancet published last year. Whether the procedure is going to be successful in humans too remains to be seen, as many studies have shown that treating obesity in animals is far easier than treating obesity in humans. “Appetite is complicated because it involves both the mind and body. Ghrelin fluctuates throughout the day, responding to all kinds of emotional and physiological scenarios. Certain stresses can cause ghrelin to bump up. Some people, when they try to lose weight, the ghrelin starts to go up – the ghrelin fights the diet,” Arepally said. However, if the procedure proves to be efficient in humans too, it “would make an enormous difference in choices and outcomes for obese people,” he added. The study findings were published in the Sept. 16 issue of the journal Radiology. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Source: Anna Boyd 17 September 2008 (Source: efluxmedia; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

'Healthy U' at Ys aims to reduce childhood obesity

A new initiative by the Horizon Foundation for New Jersey will use fun exercises and promotion of healthy eating habits to reduce obesity in 18,000 school-age children through YMCAs statewide, foundation officials announced today. The Healthy U program, as the initiative is being called, is being funded by a $1 million foundation grant. The goal is to reduce obesity rates in children enrolled in YMCA after school programs by up to 10 percent by the year 2011. Using a curriculum developed by researchers at the University of Texas, Healthy U will be rolled out at 359 YMCA sites across New Jersey starting early next month. It will be open to children between the ages of 5 and 12 and will also have a strong parental component. Today, a group of four-year-olds at the Garfield YMCA in Bergen County were the first to show off the program, demonstrating exercise techniques to tunes such as "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." "I like exercising and playing with Elmo," said Drue Williams, 4, of Garfield, as she joined other youngsters in doing jumping jacks and moving her body as if it were an airplane or penguin. Healthy U is based on the Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) curriculum, a national, award winning program with over 15 years of proven research documenting its success in reducing childhood obesity. The program, which also provides specialized training to YMCA staff, has three major components -- physical education, proper nutrition and parental involvement. "This is a real philanthropic initiative, a real partnership," said Jonathan Pearson, deputy director of The Horizon Foundation. "We're not changing what the Y's are doing, just enhancing it," he added. William Lovett, chairman of the New Jersey Alliance of YMCAs, agreed, saying "we didn't have to reinvent the wheel." In an age when governments are hard pressed when it comes finances, he said programs like Healthy U are really filling a vital need. "There are new and innovative ways of looking at society issues that don't require government money," said Lovett, who runs the YMCA serving Metuchen, Edison and Woodbridge. Source: Angela Stewart/The Star-Ledger 16 September 2008 (Source: nj.com; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Food for thought on obesity

Councils are at the forefront of tackling childhood obesity. Petra Barnby looks at measures being taken in Liverpool by the council and PCT to tackle the problem and safeguard children’s future health. Free wholesome meals, enticing dining rooms, fruit vending machines and healthy-eating gurus are just some of the exciting developments appearing in Liverpool schools in a bid to tackle one of the most depressing phenomena of our time: childhood obesity. ‘Children’s health should be the number one priority for every council, otherwise we will not reverse the current trend of childhood obesity. That is a fact,’ warns Stephen Tiffany, the senior improvement officer for children’s health and wellbeing at Liverpool City Council. The council and the PCT are investing a total of £2m into trying to keep children healthy, after a survey in 2007 showed 20.7% of boys and 14.8% of girls are obese at 10-11 years old. The council’s children’s strategy aims to cut levels of obesity by 10% in 11-year-olds by 2009. Keeping children healthy has many knock-on benefits for councils. Last month, the Local Government Association warned that council social workers will increasingly have to place more youngsters on the ‘at risk’ register as morbid childhood obesity rises. There are, at present, no clear guidelines as to how far, and when, councils should get involved with the welfare of a seriously overweight child. So the safest bet is to stop them getting overweight in the first place. Liverpool City Council has commissioned a feasibility study into offering free school meals to all 31,373 of the city’s primary school children – meals not featuring limitless pizza, chips or turkey twizzlers. The council and the PCT devised a joint Transforming School Food strategy for 2008-11, to which the PCT has contributed £1.1m, while the council has put in £900,000. The council benefits from having a joint director of public health, Dr Paula Grey, who is employed by the council and PCT, which means her allegiance rests with both organisations. The city’s 28 secondary schools have been given £10,000 each to spend on dishwashers, cutlery, ovens, art displays and furniture to attract more children into having a school meal. One portion of fruit or vegetables is offered to every 7-11 year old every day, on top of the Government’s statutory provision for 5-7 year olds. This costs £400,000 a year. Every high school is in the process of receiving free water coolers to promote the drinking of water rather than fizzy drinks, at a one-off cost of £60,000. A cashless catering service – which sees children pay for their lunch via their thumbprint – has been taken up by 25 secondary schools. This system means the children who get free meals are not identified to their peers, and it helps to record children’s eating habits. It also ties in nicely with the targets of the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme which needs to see more technology in schools. This measure has cost £500,000. Salad bars have been installed in the city’s primary schools at a cost of £650,000 over three years. A school food team of specialist food advisors is set to visit schools to check the nutritional value of the food on offer and arrange taste tests to encourage youngsters to try new things. But getting children to eat more healthily is only half the battle – physical activity needs to be encouraged too. The council has linked up with the charitable arm of Everton Football Club to provide children with top-class football coaching in school. A Healthy Schools bus now visits all primary schools in the city once a year to offer children a two-hour healthy lifestyle programme looking at the benefits of healthy eating and physical activity. Swimming was promoted. In 2005, 50% of children in the city could not swim. That figure is now 16%. Children’s height and weight measurements are calculated every year when they start and leave primary school to monitor their body mass index. Free leisure centre passes are available to all under 17-year-olds, and this has led to a 60% increase in the number of youngsters using the facilities. The council has also trained 300 young people aged 16-18 as health mates to mentor those at highest risk of being obese or overweight to change their diet/fitness regime. Finally, a multi-agency obesity task force was set up in 2007 to drive all these changes forward. Mr Tiffany says: ‘A strategic document is needed to get everyone working towards the same goal and partners feel ing they are making a contribution. School and sports partnerships and key PCT agencies need to be linked up.’ He added: ’It is an exciting time in Liverpool and we are optimistic that we can make a difference to children’s health and wellbeing.’ Source: Petra Barnby 16 September 2008 (Source: localgov.co.uk; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Hidden casualties of war

For many Iraqis, sectarian violence holds a hidden danger - a sedentary lifestyle of TV and food, writes Tina Susman IN A LAND where just staying alive is a challenge, Haider Kareem Said's problem might seem trivial. He is overweight. But that isn't a mere annoyance or something Said can fix with diet and exercise - he's five feet four inches and weighs 495lbs. So in August, Said had a band surgically strapped around his stomach, an operation relatively new to Iraq that is proving to be a godsend for people facing an unusual consequence of war: obesity. For most of the past five years, sectarian violence has drastically altered Iraqis' lifestyles. Most retreated to the safety of their homes and became increasingly sedentary. To go out was to risk being kidnapped, killed by a bomb or caught up in the other violence plaguing Iraq. Curfews hindered people who tried to remain active. Said, 25, had a photographic supply shop but closed it for three years because of security concerns. "I stayed home and couldn't do anything. All I did was play PlayStation and eat," Said says, while awaiting his surgery in Baghdad's St Raphael Hospital. The ankle-length brown gown he wore could not hide his weight. Fat rolled around his ankles, and his rounded feet barely fit into his slip-on sandals. His face, soft and absent of contours and lines, made him appear younger than his years. "When I worked, my weight was a lot less, but those three years really had an impact," he says, estimating his weight gain in that time at about 200lbs. Statistics on obesity in Iraq are difficult to come by, but a 2006 World Health Organisation survey found 26 per cent of men and 38 per cent of women aged 25-65 were obese, with a body mass index of 30 or above. Although no direct comparisons are available, about 33 per cent of American men and 35 per cent of American women were considered obese in a 2005-06 study done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Centre for Health Statistics. Said's BMI is 83, the highest seen by Dr Ramiz Mukhtar, the only surgeon in Iraq who performs gastric band surgery. Mukhtar will not discuss the reason for Iraqis' growing weight problem, beyond saying that they eat too much unhealthful food and don't move around enough. But Said's uncle, Jabar Said, agrees that the war had made many Iraqis fatter, himself included. "People are unemployed. They're sitting at home. Sometimes they're depressed and that makes them eat more. Obviously, the security has had a direct influence on the activities of people,'' he says, his round belly pressing against the fabric of his white dishdasha. "I've been on a diet for the past two years. I've only eaten one meal a day, but I didn't lose anything because I don't move a lot." Now that the violence has decreased, he hopes to shed the 65lbs he's gained. The uncle speaks in the Said family home in east Baghdad the day after his nephew's surgery. Friends and relatives have gathered to welcome home the younger Said, who arrived a few hours earlier. A plasma TV sits on one wall of the long, narrow living room. At the opposite end is another television. They are symbols of the Saids' comfortable middle-class life and of the unhealthy habits adopted by many Iraqis during the war. The fall of Saddam Hussein didn't just usher in chaos and violence - it also introduced satellite television to Iraqis. Suddenly, with scores of channels to watch, even people who aren't forced to stay inside often do. Ironically, TV might have saved Said. About a year ago, he was channel surfing and stumbled on Beauty Clinic, a show on Lebanon's Future TV that focuses on cosmetic surgery. It featured a segment on gastric banding. "I saw the before and after results, and I was amazed, so I decided to do it," he says. He began planning a trip to Lebanon to find a doctor. Then a friend told him that Mukhtar could perform the operation which, in simple terms, drastically shrinks the stomach by strapping a band around it. Once the band is in place, the amount of food patients can consume is limited. For Said, finding a Baghdad surgeon meant avoiding the humiliation of travelling in public. "I was embarrassed to be so fat," he says. "When I walk down the street, everyone looks at me. It's as if I were Saddam Hussein, the way everyone stares." Said says that even as a child he had a weight problem, something he attributes to loving food and hating exercise. The surgery took about 45 minutes, Mukhtar says. He estimates that he has performed about 150 of the operations in the past two-and-a-half years. He would have done more if the price tag of about $4,000 (about €2,826) wasn't too steep for most Iraqis. For Said, the next step is learning to eat tiny portions totalling about 2,500 calories a day, a fraction of what he used to consume. That means giving up the delicious mounds of chicken, beef, sheep's head and fish, along with honey-soaked sweets, that his mother used to make for him. He acknowledges being worried that, when his appetite returns, he will have problems adjusting to his stomach's limited capacity. And he says he has no intention of starting to exercise. "I'm not into sports," he says with a laugh. "If I wanted to exercise, I wouldn't have had to do this operation." But Mukhtar disagrees. Most of his patients take up exercise when they reach their ideal weights, once they see how good they look, he says. "You'll see," he says knowingly. "I know them very well." - Additional reporting by Saad Khalaf • (LA Times/Washington Post) 16 September 2008 (Source: The Irish Times; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Exercise 'can cut diabetes risk'

Woman at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes can increase their chances of staying healthy through exercise, according to a new study. Researchers from Glasgow University found that insulin resistance in "high risk" women dropped by 22% after seven weeks of an exercise programme. Insulin resistance is considered to be the most important biological risk factor for developing diabetes. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) study will be published on Wednesday. Dr Jason Gill, who heads the team that carried out the study, said: "The offspring of people with type 2 diabetes are about three times more likely to develop the disease than those with no family history of the disease. "Not only is type 2 diabetes a very serious condition itself, but it can double or triple the risk of heart disease. "In fact, more than two thirds of all people with diabetes will die from heart disease." Dr Gill's team studied women between the age of 20 and 45 who usually did less than one hour of physical activity per week and had a sedentary job. They tested 34 volunteers who had at least one type 2 diabetic parent against 36 volunteers whose parents had no history of the condition. At the outset of the study the offspring of diabetics had higher insulin resistance than the controls. All the women undertook an exercise training programme of three 30 minute exercise sessions in the first week, working up to five 60 minute sessions in weeks six and seven. Exercise was focused on cardiovascular activities such as running, using a rowing machine, aerobics and cycling.

'Vulnerable group'

Dr Nick Barwell, who led the study, said: "The same exercise programme reduced insulin resistance to a vastly greater extent in the women with diabetic parents, telling us that exercise is particularly good at reducing diabetes risk in this vulnerable group. "Our research shows that developing diabetes is not inevitable for people with a family history of diabetes. "People at high risk have it within their power to substantially reduce their risk by increasing their activity levels." Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director at the BHF, which funded the study, said: "We know that exercise is good for you, but seeing in black and white that this high risk group improved their own bodies' insulin resistance in just a couple of months is a striking demonstration of how effective it can be." The research team said additional studies were needed to determine whether the benefits of exercise were also seen in men with diabetic parents. 16 September 2008 (Source: BBC News; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Obesity Highest In Children From Lower Income Areas

School children from lower socioeconomic areas are one-and-a-half times more likely to be overweight or obese compared with children living in wealthier areas, a new study has found. The study of primary school-aged children also found almost one in three children aged six to 12 years are either overweight or obese. Study author Rachel Sutherland said: 'Of huge concern was that by age six and seven, around 30 per cent of these kids were already overweight or obese.' The study, published in Nutrition & Dietetics by Wiley-Blackwell, collected data on 2,224 children aged six to 12 years from 16 randomly-selected primary schools in the Hunter region of New South Wales. The researchers called for intense efforts to tackle child obesity in high-risk groups, such as young children and children from lower socioeconomic areas. 'Our research suggests approaches to obesity prevention need to include younger kids,' said Ms Sutherland, an Accredited Practising Dietitian. Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) Executive Director Claire Hewat said: 'It's time we all stopped fighting about who is to blame or who has 'the answer' and start exploring a range of solutions needed to have any useful effect. 'What happens at home has the biggest effect on what kids eat, so any effort to address childhood overweight and obesity must start here. ' DAA wants the Federal Government to provide financial support to assist Australian families get the skills and help they need to feed their families healthy food.

Key study findings:

- By age six, 32 per cent of children were either overweight or obese

- 31.5 per cent of girls were overweight or obese, compared with 25 per cent of boys

- 34 per cent of children in low SES areas were overweight or obese, compared with 22 per cent of children from high socioeconomic areas

Between 1985 and 1995 childhood overweight doubled and obesity tripled in Australia. This paper titled "Higher Prevalence of Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Association with Gender and Socioeconomic Status in the Hunter Region of New South Wales" is published in September 2008, Nutrition and Dietetics (Vol. 65, Issue 4).

Nutrition & Dietetics

Nutrition & Dietetics is Australia and New Zealand's leading peer-reviewed journal in its field. Covering all aspects of food, nutrition and dietetics, the Journal provides a forum for the reporting, discussion and development of scientifically credible knowledge related to human nutrition and dietetics. Widely respected in Australia and around the world, Nutrition & Dietetics publishes original research, methodology analyses, commentaries and viewpoints, research reviews, book reviews and much more. The Journal aims to keep health professionals abreast of current knowledge on human nutrition and diet, and accepts contributions from around the world. http://www.ajnd.org.au 15 September 2008 (Source: Medical News Today; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Mother's Stress Linked To Her Child Becoming Overweight

A mother's stress may contribute to her young children being overweight in low income households with sufficient food, according to a new Iowa State University study that is published in the September issue of Pediatrics, the professional journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study analyzed data collected from 841 children in 425 households in the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Iowa State faculty members Steve Garasky, a professor of human development and family studies; Brenda Lohman, an assistant professor of human development and family studies; and Susan Stewart, an associate professor of sociology, all collaborated on the study. Lead researcher Craig Gundersen, a member of the agricultural and consumer economics faculty at the University of Illinois; and Joey Eisenmann, a member of the kinesiology and pediatrics faculty at Michigan State University, were also previous ISU faculty members on the research team. The researchers used mothers' responses to interview questions to determine their mental, physical, financial and family structure levels of stress -- producing a cumulative stress index. The child's weight status was determined by their Body Mass Index (BMI), age and sex. Subjects were also broken into two age groups: three to 10 and 11 to 17 years of age. Household food insecurity status -- whether or not there is enough food to sustain healthy, active lifestyles for all household members -- was also measured from the mothers' interview responses.

The link between mom's stress and child's weight

Future research will measure dad's stress too

The researchers have future plans to measure the stress levels of fathers in determining overall household stress. Garasky says they started with mothers because single-parent families make up a high percentage of low-income households, and the vast majority of those single parents are mothers. "And then it's the premise that mom is traditionally the primary caregiver," he said. "So if you want to link one person to circumstances of a child, it's more natural to link to mom." "Unfortunately we did not have access to information about fathers' stressors and behaviors in this data set," Lohman said. "Yet in most modern households, fathers may be doing as much or more of the cooking than in the past. So I agree that future work must address stress levels of fathers too." Garasky says the study's results prove that the home environment may be contributing to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. "There's a lot more going on than just asking kids to eat less or exercise more," he said. "Recognizing the complexity of the issue allows us to recognize that we have more options to help children," he said. "If we can reduce mom's stress -- whether it be mental health or financial issues -- the direct effect on mom is helping her, and that's good. But we can also hope to see indirect effects on other household members and children. For example, their reduced probability of becoming obese is another benefit to helping mom." The research was funded through a grant from the National Research Initiative program of the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 15 September 2008 Adapted from materials provided by Iowa State University. (Source: ScienceDaily; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Fat-buster nurses won't give an inch

A TEAM of NHS nurses is patrolling Scotland's streets to target pot-bellied members of the public and tell them how to lose weight. Armed with measuring tapes to check waists and equipment to test blood pressure, the "Street Nurses" are policing busy shopping centres, supermarkets and community centres. Any man with a paunch, or woman with an "apple-shaped" body whose waist measurement is higher than recommended limits is given diet and lifestyle advice or referred to local slimming classes. For women this would be a waist measurement of more than 32 inches and for men over 37 inches because middle regions larger than these are linked with an increased risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, bowel and liver cancer, and strokes. The move is part of a scheme by NHS Ayrshire and Arran to target members of the public in its most deprived areas who might not normally visit their GP seeking help for their weight. Under the scheme the nurses, wearing high-visibility waistcoats, set up portable tables and chairs in town centres to monitor passers-by. If they spot someone who looks overweight they will approach them and strike up a conversation about their health, inviting them to have a "rapid nursing assessment", which includes having their waist measured and their blood pressure checked. Jackie Reid, one of the Street Nurse team, said members of the public were usually happy to discuss their weight if it meant getting some good diet and exercise advice. Reid, a public health nurse, said: "We tend to pick places where people congregate, such as supermarkets. We just walk up and speak to people. We will be looking at the men with the paunches or women carrying external body fat who are an 'apple shape', as we know they are at higher risk of disease and cancer. If you are carrying core body fat around your middle, that's raising your cholesterol." Overweight women can be referred to local Weight Watchers meetings, and men are sent to the NHS Ayrshire and Arran men-only weight loss club 'Slimmin Withoot Wimmin'. Locals can also attend cookery classes where they learn how to prepare healthy meals on a low budget. Other measures include talking to the nurse about diet and lifestyle and how to include healthier food in their diets. Those with dangerously high blood pressure are told about the problem and asked to give their permission for the nurses to write to their GP. Shoppers are also asked about other aspects of their lifestyle and given advice on how to quit smoking or cut down on alcohol if they admit drinking more than the recommended weekly limits. Reid said: "Because you are a nurse it opens doors. No one says we can't do it because they know we're nurses. People honestly aren't that shy. It's a bit of light-heartedness, but getting a serious message across. People are generally OK about us talking about their weight. We are not judging them but giving them support." Reid and her colleagues head out twice a month and have already targeted around 500 locals in the most deprived parts of many of the area's towns, including Irvine, Kilwinning, Kilbirnie, Ardrossan and Stevenston. The results of the scheme are being evaluated, and if it is successful it is likely that other health boards will follow suit. Although NHS Ayrshire and Arran is understood to be the first health board to launch the initiative, support for such a move was first unveiled three years ago by Scotland on Sunday when then Health Minister Andy Kerr said NHS workers needed to go out into deprived areas to persuade overweight and obese people to visit their GP for help. The scheme was welcomed by health experts. Dr Colin Waine, chair of the National Obesity Forum, said: "If this is handled tactfully and sensitively it could make a contribution to reducing people's risk of all the diseases that are associated with obesity and this initiative is to be applauded. "Its success will depend on how tactfully it's done. Some people will listen and others will choose to go their own way. No one knows the complete answer at the moment." Mary Scanlon, Scottish Conservative health spokeswoman said: "There's no doubt there's a community of hard-to-reach patients who do not respond to calls for screening or use their GP." Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said: "Our health is our responsibility and we all know we must not smoke or drink too much or overeat. I think this scheme is fine so long as there are enough nurses in hospitals and doctors' surgeries where we need them."

Why measure waist circumference?

Research has shown waist circumference can be a more accurate indicator than body mass index (BMI) alone of whether an individual is at risk of obesity-related illnesses. While BMI, a calculation based on height and weight, gives a good indication of whether an average person is overweight it does not take into account body shape or body composition. It is thought that carrying too much fat around your middle increases your risk of heart disease and certain cancers. For men, this comes in the shape of a 'paunch' and for women this is described as being 'apple shaped' rather than 'pear shaped'. A waist circumference greater than 32in for women and 37in for men increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, for example, heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. Source: Kate Foster 14 September 2008 (Source: Scotland On Sunday; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

City sheds million pounds of fat

People in Liverpool are being asked to collectively lose one million pounds in weight over the next 12 months. The city-wide public health campaign is backed by footballer Jamie Carragher, Olympic gymnast Beth Tweddle and Mike Bennett of St Helens rugby league team. Anyone who signs up to the NHS scheme will be offered free gym passes and diet advice to help them lose weight. Derek Campbell, chief executive of Liverpool PCT, said obesity was costing the Liverpool NHS more than £5m a year. But he said the human cost was far higher. "Liverpool's Challenge is about encouraging people across the city to stop and think about their health and lifestyles, find out what services and activities are available to help them lead healthier lives and kick-starting what we hope will be a life-long lifestyle change," he said. "We have pledged an additional £10m over the next three years to support not only this programme but to tackle the wider health issues surrounding people being overweight and will provide help, support and motivation to those that want it." Gideon Ben-Tovim, Chair of Liverpool PCT, said: "This will be the biggest health challenge of its kind that Liverpool has ever faced and is the largest ever social marketing campaign being delivered at a local level. "To ask the people of Liverpool to collectively pledge to lose one million pounds over 12 months will be no mean feat but I am confident that as a city we can achieve this." 11 September 2008 (Source: BBC News; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Free cookbooks for 11-year-olds

All 11-year-olds in England will be able to receive a free cookbook under a programme aimed at tackling obesity. Head teachers will be able to order the booklet, which has recipes for favourites such as spaghetti bolognese, roast chicken and jacket potatoes. Ministers are also announcing that £151m will be spent building food technology areas in schools. The initiatives are designed to pave the way for compulsory cooking lessons for all 11- to 14-year olds by 2011. Schools Secretary Ed Balls said everyone should be able to prepare basic, nutritious dishes from scratch instead of "taking pride" in not being able to cook properly. "Too many people just accept they cannot cook or simply do not have time for it," he said. "We've lost touch with making basic dishes from scratch, even though there has never been a wider range of food in our shops. "Schools are only part of the solution - at the end of the day parents bring up children, not teachers. "It will be great if young people had the chance to make healthy dishes from basic ingredients at home, not simply in the classroom – as I did when I was growing up." The government announced in January that from 2011 it would be compulsory for 11- to 14-year-olds to have food technology lessons, including hands-on practical cooking classes. Cookery is already compulsory in primary schools. Money being announced will be used to equip the 515 secondary schools which do not have cooking facilities. In addition, the government has pledged £750,000 to recruit and train 800 new food technology teachers. Head teachers will be able to order the cookbooks for their Year 7 pupils. Recipes in it came from the public, who were asked to nominate the basic dishes every child should learn how to cook. They are also available online on the Teachernet website. The cookbook has a foreword by top chef Phil Vickery. He said: "Cooking is a skill and often it is not learned at an early enough age. Once you can cook the basics you will have the best survival tool in the box to take you into adult life. "Eating good quality meals made from basic ingredients should be part of everyone's daily experience and by learning how to prepare simple and nutritious meals we will make this a reality." 11 September 2008 (Source: BBC News; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Researchers Find Cause Of Severe Metabolic Disorders

A healthy body stores fat in the form of so-called triglycerides in specialized fatty tissue as an energy reserve. Under certain conditions the delicate balance of the lipid metabolism gets out of control and fat is accumulated in the liver, leading to the dreaded fatty liver. This increases the risk of many metabolic diseases, such as the metabolic syndrome known as "deadly quartet". This combination of fatty liver, obesity, diabetes and hypertension is regarded as the primary cause of life-threatening vascular events such as myocardial infarction and stroke. It was still unknown which conditions cause the body to deposit fat in the liver. However, scientists knew that the body's own glucocorticoid hormones such as cortisol promote the development of fatty liver. This can be observed, for example, in a condition known as Cushing syndrome. Cortisol levels in affected patients are permanently raised - often caused by malignant tumors. This, in turn, leads to high blood sugar levels and patients frequently develop fatty liver. Long-term cortisone therapies such as those used for treating chronic inflammatory diseases such as asthma also cause the triglyceride level in the liver to rise to dangerous levels. Dr. Stephan Herzig, head of the Junior Research Group "Molecular Metabolic Control" at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), and his team have now published the mechanism by which the body's own glucocorticoid hormones contribute to this disruption of the lipid metabolism. The researchers in Herzig's team specifically switched off the cortisol receptor in the livers of mice, thus blocking the hormone's effect. As a result, the triglyceride level in the livers of the experimental animals dropped considerably. Investigations have revealed that, in the absence of the cortisol receptor, large amounts of the HES1 protein are produced in the livers of these animals. HES1 activates a number of enzymes that break down fat and, thus, counteracts fat accumulation in the liver. If, on other hand, normal mice are treated with cortisol, their HES1 levels in the liver drops, while triglyceride levels rise. Further experiments have shown that the cortisol receptor in this newly found metabolic pathway act directly on a switch of the HES1 gene and, thus, switches it off completely. "We have discovered a key mechanism here that plays a crucial role in many pathologic metabolic disorders," explains Stephan Herzig. "It has been obvious for some time that there is an association between the body's own cortisol or therapeutically administered cortisone and the development of fatty liver. Now we also know what the interconnections look like at a molecular level." Source: Dr. Sibylle Kohlstädt, Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres 11 September 2008 Article adapted from original press release. (Source: Medical News Today; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Link Discovered Between A Mother's Stress And Her Child Becoming Overweight

The link between mom's stress and child's weight

In households with no maternal stress, low-income children in food secure households had a 33.0 percent probability of being overweight, while those in food insecure households had a 34.8 percent probability. As maternal stress levels increased, the probability of becoming overweight increased in children from food secure households, but decreased among those in food insecure households. When the maternal stress was found to be at twice the average level of the study sample, children in food-secure households had a 43.7 percent greater probability of being overweight or obese when compared with children in food insecure households. "We were not able to observe what people are eating in these data. That's definitely part of future work," Garasky said. "But at this point we have to conclude that in stressful environments, children in households with adequate food -- maybe it is 'comfort food,' or maybe it's just larger quantities of more traditional food -- are possibly acting on the desire to eat more, and maybe even eat differently, than those from food insecure households." For children over the age of 10, the relationship between household stress, food security and weight was found to be statistically insignificant -- meaning it was young children who were most affected. "If you see the developmental differences in a 6-year-old vs. a 16-year-old, the 6-year-old relies more on the food choices in the households, while the 16-year-old spends more time away from home and has a network of friends or lunch plans at schools where they have more food options," Lohman said. "It could also be that the adolescents are also able to cope with their mother's stress and handle it better through their support mechanisms -- siblings, friends, or teachers -- and the younger kids don't have those same networks, so they might internalize the mother's stressors more." Future research will measure dad's stress too The researchers have future plans to measure the stress levels of fathers in determining overall household stress. Garasky says they started with mothers because single-parent families make up a high percentage of low-income households, and the vast majority of those single parents are mothers. "And then it's the premise that mom is traditionally the primary caregiver," he said. "So if you want to link one person to circumstances of a child, it's more natural to link to mom." "Unfortunately we did not have access to information about fathers' stressors and behaviors in this data set," Lohman said. "Yet in most modern households, fathers may be doing as much or more of the cooking than in the past. So I agree that future work must address stress levels of fathers too." Garasky says the study's results prove that the home environment may be contributing to the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. "There's a lot more going on than just asking kids to eat less or exercise more," he said. "Recognizing the complexity of the issue allows us to recognize that we have more options to help children," he said. "If we can reduce mom's stress -- whether it be mental health or financial issues -- the direct effect on mom is helping her, and that's good. But we can also hope to see indirect effects on other household members and children. For example, their reduced probability of becoming obese is another benefit to helping mom." Source: Mike Ferlazzo, Iowa State University 11 September 2008 Article adapted from original press release. (Source: Medical News Today; Rachel Leach - HOPE network and network Co-Ordinators)

Low stocks keep grain prices high

World grain stocks have hit an historic low and Kaija Viljanen, Managing Director of Avena Nordic Grain, estimates that it will be at least a few years before they recover, so prices will remain high for some time. According to the latest estimate issued by the US Department of Agriculture, stocks of wheat – the world’s most important grain in making bread – will fall to 110 million tonnes at the close of the crop year ending June/July. Ms Viljanen reports that this represents the lowest level in proportion to consumption since 1960.

Protectionism kicks in

The price of food has risen all over the world and both Russia and China announced at the turn of the year that they will increase grain tariffs. The two countries are aiming to slow the rise in food prices and the inflation that comes with it. It is estimated in the US that there may be a real shortage of corn in the next crop year, exacerbated by farmers switching to wheat and soy on which they can obtain a better price.

Environmental concern driving market speculation

The growing demand for ethanol as an alternative fuel source has driven its production from e.g. corn, wheat and sugar beets, and this is yet another factor impacting farmers’ choice of crop and pushing up feed grain prices. Rising prices during the last six months have made grain markets an attractive target for investment funds buying e.g. grain options and futures, which is creating even greater price instability. 10.01.2008 (Source: Maaseudun tulevaisuus, a specialist Finnish broadsheet published 3 times weekly.)

Restaurants need guidance in applying nutritional recommendations

Restaurant meals often contain too much fat, a great deal of protein and too little in the way of carbohydrates, suggests Enni Mertanen, an expert in health care and education, in her recently published doctoral dissertation. The study also found that while menus may offer low fat and low salt dishes, only some fall in line with nutritional recommendations. Many of us want to eat healthily at restaurants, which according to Ms Mertanen need guidance on how to apply nutritional recommendations in order to be able to respond correctly to their customers’ needs. Clear instructions are required at the very least on how much energy, energy nutrients and salt a meal should contain. Research data was compiled from 12 restaurants offering a total of 478 different dishes on their à la carte menus. Customers answered a questionnaire, the kitchen staff were interviewed, and the nutritional content of each dish was calculated from the original recipe. 10.01.2008 (Source: Finfood)

Nanotechnology offers new levels of food safety and Finland is taking a lead

Food safety and traceability are a matter of growing concern and an area in which Finnish industry has the know-how to excel, says a group of experts from three Finnish business support organisations, Finpro, Tekes and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.

Smart people, smart packaging

The group believes that Finland has a real opportunity to capitalise on its special competencies and build a brand around food safety expertise. “I believe that the standards of safety attributed to Finnish foods will become just as celebrated as the country’s education system which has attained global prominence as verified by the universally accepted PISA assessment process,” said Tuula Honkanen-Buzalski. Head of the Animal Diseases and Food Safety Research Department of the Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira, Tuula was speaking at the Finpro Food Safety seminar on 4th December 2007.

New technology makes product tracking easier

Faster and more efficient solutions have been developed to track food products, a key factor in assuring their safety. Barcodes will be replaced by Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) remote identification technologies. A product or package will carry what is in effect its own tiny transmitter. “Information on the procession of food products along the cold chain can be encoded on the label, to show for instance if the product has been kept in overly warm conditions at some point,” says Hans Brunila, Sales Director of software company Edu Avenue.

Nanotechnology comes in colours

VTT has developed visible colour-coded indicators to inform consumers about a product’s freshness and safety, such as one that changes colour when it comes into contact with hydrogen sulphide formed in a package. Similar types of indicator would react to other gases such as oxygen. Maria Smolander, Senior Research Scientist at VTT, points out that while for instance humidity indicators already exist, they are intended for non-food products so VTT is developing the technology for food based applications. Aside from monitoring packages and their contents, nanotechnology can also be utilised in food processing, for instance to modify the flavour or structure of foods or to improve their functionality. Pirating may come to food products as it has to so many industries where branding is an issue. With printing inks already available that contain DNA information to label and identify products, the food industry is well prepared. Finpro is a commercial association supporting Finnish companies in their internationalisation. TEKES funds innovative research and development projects in companies, universities and research institutes. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland aims to develop new technologies and innovations that create value added. PISA is the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment. 18.12.2007 (Source: Finfood News)

Berries and the prevention of colon cancer

Food has been shown to cause definite changes in the epithelial cells and affect the risk of cancer, in an experimental colon model described in a doctoral dissertation published recently in Finland. Prepared by Marjo Misikangas (Master of Food Sciences), the study suggests that the dietary use of berries, such as cloudberries and lingonberries, appears to be a promising factor in cancer prevention and the results may offer fresh opportunities e.g. in the development of functional foods.

A combination of health promoting compounds

A diet comprising 10 per cent cloudberries, lingonberries or white currants reduced both the number and size of tumours compared with the control group, with the cloudberry seemingly the most effective. The compound that accounts for the berries’ effect cannot be named unambiguously but it can be said that the berries’ positive health effects do not seem to be caused by the individual phenols they contain. A number of compounds reinforcing each others’ efficiency is a more likely scenario.

A national and international health risk

Colon cancer is one of the most common cancers found in Finland. An abundant energy intake combined with the plentiful use of hard fats, red meat, sugars and alcohol increases risk while high-fibre grains, vegetables and fruit are understood to have the opposite effect. Marjo Misikangas conducted the public defence of her doctoral dissertation entitled “Dietary modulation of ß-catenin signalling in an experimental model of colon cancer” in the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry at the University of Helsinki on 7th December 2007. Read more: Dissertation available at https://oa.doria.fi/handle/10024/29121 18.12.2007 (Source: Finfood News)

Finnish food industry supports consumer choice for a balanced diet

The Finnish food industry is supporting consumers’ balanced dietary choices, reports a survey conducted by the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation among its member companies in spring 2007. 56 companies large and small representing different sectors of the food business replied to the survey questionnaire providing a comprehensive picture of the industry as a whole.

Finnish food industry launching healthier products to promote healthy eating

The most common measure is to change the content of a product and make it healthier. 65% of the respondents say they have reduced energy, fat or sugar in their products, while 60% have added healthier items to their range, and nearly 40% have launched new products containing less energy. Almost half are favouring softer fats or adding fibre, while others have added lactic acid bacteria to promote for instance gut health. Many new and modified products are also better for our teeth. Investments in health promotion look set to continue.

Marketing reflects the trend

Health values have become increasingly visible in marketing, too. 65% of respondents said they have increased the amount of nutritional content information displayed on packages, nearly 40% use health-related language in their marketing communications, 40% reported concentrating on their healthier products, and 25% have launched smaller package sizes.

Taking responsibility is sound business

85% of the respondents agreed that supporting balanced choice is more than ever a fundamental factor in running a responsible food industry operation. 80% are taking health aspects into account in product development, which is considered very important for future business.

Educating consumers on healthy eating

“Obesity has become more common worldwide and Finland is no exception. Since the phenomenon is rooted in causes ranging from a lack of information and physical exercise, to poor behavioural models at home and problems specific to individuals, we need to seek solutions from a variety of sources. The food industry must provide consumers with a wealth of opportunities to make balanced choices,” says Seppo Heiskanen, Director, from the Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation. The industry’s proactive stance has most recently been demonstrated by its take-up of the Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) package labelling initiative, based on the recommendations of the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries in the EU (CIAA). Introduced in Finland earlier in 2007, the voluntary label shows at a glance how much energy and key nutrients are contained in a single product portion. Further information: Seppo Heiskanen, Director, tel. +358 9 1488 7230 Sointu Lassila, Project Consultant, tel. +358 9 1488 7221 12.12.2007 (Source: Finnish Food and Drink Industries’ Federation press release, 28th November 2007)

Finnish grain harvest the second largest ever

The Finnish grain harvest will total an estimated 4.2 billion kilos in 2007, according to figures published by the Information Centre of the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (Tike). Bettered only by the record crops of 1990 (4.3 billion kilos), it is the second largest harvest in Finnish history and up 460 million kilos on 2006. The final statistics will be available in January 2008.

Record barley yield

The barley yield per hectare (3,700 kg/ha) is the highest since records began in 1920, and the wheat yield (3,860 kg/ha) is the second highest. 80% of the harvest is feed grain at 2.0 billion kilos of barley and 1.3 billion kilos of oats. Rye weighed in at 87 million kilos, up 37 million on 2006.

Sugar beet hectare yield high

While sugar beet cultivation continued to decline, falling sharply from last year, the yield per hectare (41,800 kg) hit an historic high producing a total harvest of approximately 667 million kilos. The land under cultivation fell by a third to 16,000 hectares. The potato harvest increased 20% in total on last year showing a strong 25,800 kg per hectare yield. The low yield for turnip rape (1,210 kg/ha) was in part due to flea beetle damage in the spring and at 95 million kilos the harvest was almost a third smaller than in 2006. 05.12.2007 (Source: Finfood News)

Investment tip: healthy lifestyle and sustainable development on a steep rise

Sitra's Food and Nutrition Programme ERA / Innovative Investing in Food Chain Seminar 20th November 2007

The Innovative Investing in Food Chain seminar, organised jointly by Sitra and the European Network for Financing Food Innovation (ENFFI) at the end of November, gathered together representatives from international venture capital companies and experts in the field to discuss the food industry as an investment target. The participants agreed that Europe must adopt a more active role in investing in the food industry. They also concurred that health was the most significant trend in the field.

Healthy Living Index 142.2%

The health trend is going from strength to strength. The markets built around healthy food and lifestyle and looking after yourself are growing at a rate of nearly 15% per year in the US,” says Mark Braman, President of the US-based company Efficas, who has had a long career in the industry and has extensive knowledge on the trends in functional food. “The great pace at which the field is developing at the moment is indicated by the Healthy Living Index, which describes the success of listed companies in the field. This index has grown 142.2% in the past five years, while Dow Jones Index has risen 59.6% over the same boom period."

Investors and entrepreneurs are more alert

Venture capital investments in the food industry are mainly flowing into the rapidly-growing Eastern European markets. The US is traditionally heavily oriented towards its own domestic market. The European food industry and investors in the field have begun to contribute to the development in Europe. The seminar introduced various funding models and experiences of, for example, ENFFI, the EU body developing innovation funding in food industry, and Sitra’s Preseed activities. Sitra’s Food and Nutrition Programme ERA is also prepared to make venture capital investments in enterprises in the field to the tune of €10-15 million.

Finnish Food industry must be attractive to international investors

“By organising this seminar, we wanted to contribute to the development of the food business within the EU," says Anu Harkki, Executive Director of Sitra’s ERA Programme. “Our aim is to raise discussion on the important role of investment activities in launching new food business in Finland. Finnish SMEs in the food industry should sharpen their competitive edge and be able to attract international investors.” Harkki also points out that in addition to healthiness, clean food and the transparency of the entire food production chain are clearly Finland’s forte. Sitra is now joining the discussion with the key operators in the global network of food industry investors, which aims to encourage international investment in the Finnish food industry. Further information: Harkki Anu, Executive Director, phone + 358 9 6189 9458 Aaltonen Jukka, Investment Director, phone + 358 9 6189 9237 05.12.2007 (Source: Finfood)

Valio Evolus® functional drink helps control elevated blood pressure

Elevated blood pressure is a major public health concern sometimes referred to as the silent killer. It can lead to heart failure, coronary heart disease, peripheral artery disease and stroke.

Sound Finnish science and healthy living

Valio Evolus® has been shown to lower elevated blood pressure and reduce arterial stiffness. The drink contains bioactive peptides formed during milk fermentation and effectively supports the drug-free treatment of blood pressure when combined with other healthy lifestyle factors.

Top quality research produces verifiable results

In her recently published doctoral dissertation, Valio Research Scientist Dr Tiina Jauhiainen reports on a double-blind placebo-controlled study of the effect of Valio Evolus® drink on patients with elevated blood pressure. The results showed that arterial stiffness in patients taking Valio Evolus® decreased significantly compared to the control group. Jauhiainen conducted the public defence of her dissertation at the University of Helsinki, and in a clear demonstration of the strength of such research in Finland, her opponent, supervisors and reviewers were all from Finnish universities – Tampere, Helsinki and Oulu – plus a representative from MTT Agrifood Research Finland.

Leading R&D produces more functional foods

Other important Finnish studies in the field published in 2007 include that of another top Valio researcher, Dr Katja Hatakka’s dissertation examining the long-term effect of probiotics on the prevention of infections in children and the elderly. It focuses on Lactobacillus GG (LGG®), the world’s best documented probiotic, and the new generation LGG®Plus. “Sound, honest and ethical science combined with plain hard work and a logical approach is the route to long-run success,” says Riitta Korpela, Vice President, Research at Valio R&D. More groundbreaking studies are due for publication in 2008. For more information about other functional foods visit www.valio.com 05.12.2007 (Source: MilkShake 3-2007. Published in Russian, Swedish, French and Estonian.)

Food tourism is more than just the flavour of the month

Gastro-tourism is a growing international trend shaping our choice of holiday and while Italy and France are often thought of as the traditional European food destinations, other countries are waking up to the opportunity to spice up their own tourist trade. Finland is well placed to raise its profile in the industry and according to Statistics Finland, a national agency, people are travelling to the country in ever-growing numbers. The number of overnight stays by foreign tourists was up more than 10 per cent on the previous year and Finland is proving increasingly popular with Russian tourists in particular. Visitors from the Baltic States, Great Britain and China are also making a strong contribution.

Appealing to our emotions

One of the reasons for the growing popularity of gastro-tourism is our emotional connection with food. “Food leaves a lasting impression on our senses and gives you a real feel for a region’s culture and history. Exotic local flavours linger long in the memory,” says Eeva Blomqvist from Finfood – Finnish Food Information. “Local, seasonal, genuine and ‘small is beautiful’ are important themes. The culture, origins and traditions linked to food add yet another dimension to the eating experience,” says Ms Blomqvist who has studied food tourism.

Food tourists spoilt for choice

As well as dining at restaurants, food tourism can often take in visits to farms and food and drink festivals, and benefit from themed package tours and trips. “In England you can find for example a tour focusing on tea, wine or even sausages, while in Scotland you can follow the Whisky Route,” Eeva explains. And then there’s a lobster safari in Sweden. Finnish food tourism promotions include for instance the Skärgårdssmak concept that introduces the treasures of the famous southern Archipelago.

Getting a taste of real food in the countryside

According to Vesa Heikkinen, Research Director of Tourism Studies at the University of Lapland, a leading trend in Finnish gastro-tourism is to seek out unique products courtesy of rural ventures, and people come a long way to sample such treats. Genuine tastes and idyllic milieus attract tourists who are simply fed up with amusement parks. “A food tourist attraction doesn’t necessarily have to offer a ten-course meal. Even a small company can succeed with a product that’s not available in shopping centres,” Dr Heikkinen suggests. For more information about Finnish food tourism contact us at foodfromfinland@finfood.fi 27.11.2007 (Source: Finfood – Finnish Food Information)

Record harvest for wild Finnish berries

A new high of 5 million kilos of Finnish bilberries was picked for retail and the food industry this summer, the highest total since records began 30 years ago. The average annual harvest picked for sale is around 2.1 million kilos. The Arctic Flavours Association, which promotes Finnish forest berries, mushrooms and herbs, has reported that the record was helped along by foreign pickers who supplement the local workforce, particularly in the North of the country. Foreign pickers are also responsible for more than half of the bilberries and lingonberries harvested for commercial use. The 5.7 million kilo lingonberry harvest was also above the average of around 4.5 million kilos. Crowberries weighed in with 0.5 million kilos to make up the top three. All figures are based on preliminary data and the official statistics will be published in spring by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

A resourceful raw material

Finnish berries are used in foods, nutrient supplements and cosmetics, and the number of berry products made in Finland has increased in recent times. Wild berries present a real export opportunity for Finnish business, and the trade in frozen berries in particular is showing a positive trend.

Time to specialise in berry products

The majority of Finnish wild berries is exported in an unprocessed or part processed form. Although it is hard for Finnish companies to compete with the large international food industry players in manufacturing jams or juices, there is real scope to concentrate for example on components for special berry-based products and functional foods. Further information: Arctic Flavours Association, Simo Moisio, Executive Director, tel. +358 40 580 1186 http://www.arctic-flavours.fi

More about Finnish berries:

• Finland is full of berries. So full that with a wild berry crop of anywhere from 500 to 1000 million kilos, there are at least 100 kilos for every Finn!

• Around 50 different wild berries grow in Finland of which some 20 can be picked. The best known and most commercially valuable are lingonberries, bilberries, raspberries, cloudberries, cranberries, sea buckthorn berries and crowberries.

• Finnish organisations conduct a good deal of high quality research on berries’ health promoting qualities. Berries contain large amounts of vitamins, minerals and flavonoids, so it’s well worth adding more to your diet.

• Preserving and processing Finnish fruit, berries and vegetables contributed 457 million euros turnover to the national economy in 2006 (up by 10%), while the value added through processing was up more than 14% at 130 million euros. 27.11.2007 (Sources: Finfood News Service; Arctic Flavours press release 12th November, 2007)

Finnish fractionation technology unleashes the power of oats as a functional food

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland working in collaboration with Agrifood Research Finland (MTT) has developed a technology to separate the health-promoting soluble fibre beta-glucan efficiently from oats. The new fractions are ideal for the food industry.

Less cholesterol means better health

The blood cholesterol lowering effect of the beta-glucan found in oats is well known, but ß-glucans have made relatively little impact in the food industry. The lack of ß-glucan-rich fractions feasible for food applications had been a major barrier, but Finnish food expertise has changed all that. Oat fractions produced by the new technology are perfect for e.g. beverages, dairy applications, baking, snack products and fermented products.

Beneficial technology promoting food effects

First the fat is removed from the oat using supercritical extraction technology developed by MTT. VTT’s dry processing method is based on the fractionation of fat-free oats using milling and classification technologies. High quality oat protein, starch and lipid fractions can now be produced. VTT has many years experience of developing special know-how in dry milling and classification technology of plant-based food raw materials.

Capitalising on unexploited potential

Oats are well positioned as a raw material for functional foods, given the health-promoting effects of the soluble beta-glucan fibre found in this cereal crop. Finnish oats are valued around the world for their high quality. Approximately 25 million tonnes of oats are produced annually worldwide, half of which is used as cattle feed and only a quarter for food, seed and other products. Further information: VTT, Anu Kaukovirta-Norja, Technology Manager, tel. +358 20 722 7117, anu.kaukovirta-norja@vtt.fi 21.11.2007 (Source: VTT Press release 1st October, 2007)

International congress on nutrition and health claims held in Finland

The NHClaims 2007 Congress on 7th–9th November attracted more than a hundred food industry representatives and stakeholders to discuss the prospects presented by the EU regulation on nutrition and health claims. The legislation sets out to bring clarity and consistency to how the various benefits and effects of foods are described in the member countries. Delegates heard the latest news on food industry legislation, addressing issues such as currently permitted and approved claims in specific countries, nutrient profiling, and the commercial challenges and opportunities presented by the impending changes.

Benefitting consumers and food companies alike

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is currently compiling instructions ahead of legislative implementation. Provisions concerning research requirements have already been completed, and the first applications for claims are being processed. Definitions for the nutrient profiles to be carried on product labels are still under preparation. The congress was organised by the Functional Foods Forum of the University of Turku in co-operation with the Finnish Centre of Expertise Programme in Food Development as part of the FunctionalFoodNetwork (FFNet) which concludes its activities in December 2007. The congress was held in Naantali, Southwest Finland. 21.11.2007 (Source: Finfood News Service)

Nutritech Finnish foods and services research programme promotes well-being

One of the Finnish food industry’s objectives is to create tasty, convenient and memorable products made from health promoting ingredients. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and the University of Kuopio are contributing to this development by starting up the Solutions for Intelligent Nutrition (NUTRITECH) research programme to combine the advancement of enabling technologies with consumer and health sciences and initiate new food and nutrition solutions.

Research and technology working together

The NUTRITECH research programme (2007–2011) aims to support the development of technologies and interdisciplinary expertise enabling new products and services for the promotion of consumer health and well-being through improved nutrition. Target industries include the food and packaging sectors as well as the communication and health care sectors. Applying its bioprocessing expertise, VTT will tailor enzymatic and microbial technology tools for the isolation of health-promoting ingredients from raw materials, production of new ingredients and modification of food characteristics to satisfy consumer needs and preferences.

Academic excellence driving health and well-being

The University of Kuopio will employ its expertise in health and well-being to identify food and dietary factors relevant to health maintenance, and analyse the efficacy of the dietary prevention of chronic diseases. “We will also work out new ways of interacting with companies in order to bring together technology push and business opportunities,” says programme coordinator, Research Professor Kaisa Poutanen. The utilisation and impact of the research will be a key feature of the programme, and part of the industrial platform open to interested companies. Visit www.nutritech.fi to learn more. Further information: VTT and the University of Kuopio, Kaisa Poutanen, Research Professor Tel. +358 20 722 5192, kaisa.poutanen@vtt.fi University of Kuopio Professor Hannu Mykkänen Tel. +358 17 162789, hannu.mykkanen@uku.fi VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland University of Kuopio 15.11.2007 (Source: Finfood)

Finnish cuisine gaining ground

Factors such as diversification, an improved product range and greater health consciousness have all helped to improve Finnish consumers’ image of Finnish food as part of the national diet, according to a survey conducted by market research company Taloustutkimus Oy. That cooking has acquired a fashionable status, and the domestic food market continues to internationalise, was also considered to have made a substantial contribution.

A five-year phenomenon

The Suomi Syö 2007 survey canvassed 2,126 Finns aged 15–79 who decide on grocery purchases in their household, and a significant 39% share of the respondents – compared with 34% in 2006 and 27% in 2005 – felt that Finnish food culture has strengthened and that the trend is positive. The survey looked back over the last five years.

Traditional values combining with internationalisation

“Consumers’ perceptions of the national food culture are built on the Finnish origin of ingredients, product familiarity, and an appreciation of traditional Finnish foods,” says Tiina Lampisjärvi, Executive Director of Finfood – Finnish Food Information. The survey suggests that internationalisation and the consequently improved range of products available in Finland also has a positive effect on variety in the Finnish diet. Further information Finfood – Finnish Food Information Tiina Lampisjärvi, Executive Director, Tel. +358 40 7222424 Minna Kantén, Research Manager, +358 9 6155 4572, +358 40 543 0603 www.finfood.fi 15.11.2007 (Source: Finfood)

Leaf brings xylitol pastille to Finnish schools

Finnish schoolchildren know that a xylitol pastille after lunch is an intelligent habit because of their teeth. A xylitol innovation developed by Leaf Suomi Oy has been received with delight by hundreds of schools. Leaf, which is well known as a pioneer in xylitol products, developed a dispenser for use in schools for a xylitol pastille marketed under the name Läkerol Dents. The dispenser was tested in two localities for the first time in the autumn term of 2004. "The feedback was unusually positive and interest in the xylitol pastille began to grow at a brisk pace," says Marjatta Sandström, communications manager for xylitol products at Leaf. Xylitol´s health-promoting effects on teeth have been proven in many scientific studies. Xylitol cuts off acid attacks, prevents holes, reduces the amount of plaque and prevents mothers infecting their children with caries. Xylitol also reduces children's ear infections. "Läkerol Dents is the result of long-tern clinical tests and product development, the first xylitol pastille in the world," Sandström says.

Intelligent habit works

In the school canteen children roll out a xylitol pastille onto their tray and enjoy it at the end of the meal. "The price of one pastille is less than four cents, so the costs per pupil are just under seven euros in a school year," Sandström reckons. Enjoying xylitol to finish off lunch continues a habit learnt in Finnish day-care centres. Schoolchildren know that xylitol repels acid attacks and is good for the teeth. Although the xylitol pastille for schoolchildren is not yet known around the world, xylitol and its health effects are well known. The awareness is greatest in the Nordic area, Estonia, Holland and Switzerland, but it is also known in the Far East, Japan, South Korea and China. Related links: www.xylitol.net www.leaf.fi

What is xylitol?

• Xylitol is a natural sweetener the raw material for which is found in birch, corn, beech, berries and fruit.

• Xylitol was discovered by German and French scientists in the 1890s, but its good effects on teeth were discovered in the 1970s at the Institute of Dentistry at Turku University.

• Industrially xylitol is made from the fibre material of birch or xylan. For this reason xylitol is also called birch sugar.

• It is recommended that xylitol products be used in small amounts several times a day, always at one time between 5 and 10 minutes after a meal or snack. 15.11.2007 (Source: Finnfacts News 12.11.2007)

Finnish potato business grows its international presence

Pohjoisen Kantaperuna Ltd (Northern Seed Potato) is the leading Finnish seed potato operator. Teaming up with partners as far afield as the Netherlands, Kantaperuna is in a state of ongoing internationalisation. Kantaperuna and Dutch company HZPC Holland B.V. that focuses on the development of new potato varieties established a joint venture in Sweden in late October 2007. The aim is to achieve a significant market share there within the next few years and to that end seed potato production will start in Sweden in the spring. The joint venture’s core mission is to promote the export of Finnish and Dutch seed potatoes to Sweden. The Kantaperuna group of companies includes Sadokas Export Oy in which HZPC recently became a shareholder. Sadokas focuses on marketing and exporting Finnish and Dutch seed potatoes to Russia and also produces seed potatoes in and for the local market.

Technology, development and online traceability

As part of Kantaperuna’s R&D push, Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, has granted financing for a two-and-a-half year development project that enables the utilisation of new technology in the development of Kantaperuna’s operations and seeks to build a new business concept. MTT Agrifood Research Finland and Kantaperuna are building a potato production traceability model, as part of which the online ePotato product description service opening in the first quarter of 2008 will provide buyers with detailed information about certified seed potato lots. 08.11.2007 (Source: Finfood News Service)

Raisio reacquires rights to Benecol for new products

Finnish food industry company Raisio Group has bought back the rights to the stanol ester used in Benecol products from its US partner McNeil Nutritionals. As part of the amended agreement, Raisio will also gain rights to the Benecol brand in France and the US in categories where McNeil and European partner Cilag GmbH International are not currently active. “This means we can now launch innovative new products,” explains Matti Rihko, CEO of Raisio. The stanol ester can in practice be used in any product due to its chemically stable state that does not change, for example, when heated. It is a safe, natural compound found in rapeseed. Margarine is probably the best-known Benecol product worldwide, while in Finland e.g. Benecol yoghurts, porridge and pasta are available, too. As a result of the McNeil agreement, any new products that are launched can now be exported, although in essence Raisio seeks out manufacturing partners for applications that match local consumption habits, and makes the stanol ester component available. “We always work with a local partner, selling the idea and product application,” Mr Rihko notes, and while he does not specify which types of product Raisio is targeting, the CEO does reveal that there are a number of initiatives under consideration. The key market for Benecol is Europe, but China has enormous potential. Raisio also considers the USA an attractive market for new Benecol products and the company’s strength in different market areas lies in its adaptability. 08.11.2007 (Source: Finfood News Service)

Nordic oat industry players join forces

Nordic stakeholders are pooling their resources and expertise under a single banner following an initiative discussed at the first ever Nordic oat seminar, which was held on 18–19th October in Espoo near the Finnish capital Helsinki and attended by more than 60 Nordic oat industry professionals. The aim is to exert a greater influence in the Nordic and EU markets. Oats are largely not well-known outside the Nordic countries and we could promote a considerable increase in interest and consumption, says Ilmo Aronen of Raisio Group, Chairman of the Finnish Oat Association (FOA).

Industry-researches dialogue

The key success factor is to brand research results and sell them to consumers, and while many new Finnish oat products have been launched in this way, we can’t afford to stop there, says Mr Aronen. “The greatest challenges lie in designing consumer marketing communications that highlight the oat’s functional, beneficial properties in an interesting way. The health effect mainly results from the beta-glucan contained in the kernel, which has been found to lower cholesterol.”

New markets

Oats are generally consumed in the market areas where they are produced. Seppo Koivula, Commercial Counsellor of the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, believes that Southern Europe, Asia and South America are potential new markets for oats. 30.10.2007 (Source: Finnish press, Maaseudun tulevaisuus, 22 Oct 2007)

Finland to be accorded best BSE status

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has proposed that Finland is placed in the lowest risk category for mad cow disease (BSE) after the OIE Scientific Commission described the risk as negligible. Only Finland and Sweden in the EU, and two other European countries (Norway and Iceland) have been granted this status in the new classification that should be made official next spring. Riitta Heinonen, Deputy Director General of the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, believes that this recognition would benefit Finland especially in the trade of live animals, embryos and sperm. “Russia and China, for example, might consider the classification an important trade criterion.” 30.10.2007 (Source: Finnish press, Maaseudun tulevaisuus, 22 Oct 2007)

Finland develops foods that protect us from infection

Foods are being developed in Finland to help protect the consumers of the future from infections. Special risk groups such as the elderly and children may be primary targets while specific cases might include e.g. reducing ear infections in day care centres.

Food R&D at Finnish universities

The University of Kuopio’s BerryMilk project is examining the potential of Finnish berries, cow’s milk and Chinese herbs to prevent respiratory tract infections, ear infections, dental caries, meningitis and sepsis. Functional foods are, compared to vaccines, relatively inexpensive to produce, easy to transport and can be distributed more hygienically, which makes them an ideal solution to meet the needs of underdeveloped countries, too. Problems related to tariffs, ethical and legal issues such as those that plague pharmaceutical donations to poor countries would be eliminated.

Preventing bacterial adhesion

Anti-adhesion therapy has emerged to challenge traditional vaccine focused pharmaceutical research. The therapy does not kill the bacteria and is believed as a result not to cause antibiotic resistance. BerryMilk is looking to prevent the adhesion of infection-causing bacteria on the mucous membrane of both the mouth and respiratory tract, and detach any bacteria attached to the surface of the cells there. Cranberry juice prevents the adhesion of E. coli bacteria to the mucous membrane of the urinary tract and posses known potential to prevent other urinary tract infections. Lingonberry and blueberry have also been found to prevent adhesion.

Foods and pharmaceuticals

It is particularly important to retain the adhesion-preventing effect, so that the berry and milk components can be used in both food and drug development. BerryMilk is focusing on berry polyphenols and cow’s milk carbohydrates. This EU project is financed by TEKES, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation. Further information: University of Kuopio 30.10.2007 (Source: Finfood news service)

Finnish Food industry business barometer rising

Finnish food industry production started to rise in the first half of 2007, reversing a two year trend. The Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK) business barometer indicates that food industry order portfolios are larger than usual and the trend seems set to continue for the foreseeable future.

Rising world market prices impact turnover

Finnish food industry turnover for the first six months of 2007 was up 2.6% compared with the same period in 2006, and continues to grow driven by increasing production and the state of the global food market. The industry has also been able to compensate decreasing volumes by increasing sales of more highly processed products. An EK survey has indicated that food industry investments were up 21% in the second quarter year-on-year. Relatively few new investments are being made in Finland but increasingly in local production in e.g. Russia and the Baltic States.

Structural reorganisation ongoing

Food industry structural reorganisation is likely to continue over the next few years and has been most significant in the meat and feed industries. Improved efficiency resulting from reorganisation has been the main contributor to last year’s 4.6% fall in employment in the industry. 24.10.2007 (Source: Pellervo Economic Research Institute (PTT) review 3/2007)

Science leads to adaptation with climate change

As the world celebrates Environment Day, science is continuously mobilized to help mitigate the threats caused by global warming and climate change. Along with this, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in Patancheru, Hyderabad in southern India, is intensively working with its partners to develop science-based strategies that empower vulnerable communities to cope with climate change in the dry tropics of the world. These strategies will help farmers to face the challenges of climate change on two fronts:

- Short to medium-term : Helping farmers and their support agents to cope better with current rainfall variability as a prerequisite to adapting to future climate change.

- Medium to longer-term : Adapting dryland crops (sorghum, millet, groundnut, chickpea and pigeonpea) to grow in a warmer world.

“Climate variability and change is an important consideration for ICRISAT given our mandate for the improvement of rainfed farming systems in the dry tropics of the developing world,” says ICRISAT’s Director General William D Dar. Satellite data shows that the dry tropics, where rainfed agriculture provides 60% of the world’s food, will be the most vulnerable to climate change. ICRISAT data shows that increases in temperature will have a significant (8% to 30%) reduction in grain yields of dryland crops. Nevertheless, due to their evolutionary advantage, dryland crops are better adapted than other major food crops (rice, maize and wheat) to environmental stresses such as drought. “ ICRISAT believes that the ability of agricultural communities and agricultural stakeholders must first be enhanced to enable them to cope better with current climatic variability if they are to adapt to the predicted future increases in climate variability,” added Dr Dar. Watershed management has also contributed to improving the resilience of agricultural incomes despite the high incidence of drought as evidenced from the drylands of India. This shows that where rural communities have viable livelihoods, adaptation to climate change is feasible. ICRISAT has identified long-term strategies that will result in crop varieties and cropping systems that are adapted to a changing environment. An Integrated Genetic and Natural Resources Management (IGNRM) approach is pursued which considers factors such as:

- Higher temperature tolerance

- Increased root stresses due to soil salinity, acidity, nutrient availability, drought, flooding

- Changed severity and distribution of pests and diseases

- Migration of dryland crops into geographical areas already marginal for crops currently being grown

Dr Dar confidently affirms, “ICRISAT is well placed to respond to this challenge with goals of developing resilient ecosystems and crops. Along with our partners, we recognize the importance of the issue and firmly believe that our approach will benefit the livelihoods of communities who are the most vulnerable to climate change. World Environment Day is an excellent reminder about our mission in the dry tropics.” ICRISAT is one of 15 global agricultural research Centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). It works with a wide array of lead organizations dealing with meteorological services and climate science research worldwide. Research focuses on making better use of natural resources and developing innovations that have a high probability of success. 5 June 2008 (Source: CGIAR, icrisat)

From Intentions to Implementation

The Rome food summit is a positive step; now world leaders need to follow through on their commitments World leaders will gather today in Rome for the "Conference on World Food Security: Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy. As they offer solutions to the crisis of rising food prices, they deserve praise for recognizing the need to act decisively to prevent large-scale increases in hunger. A high-level summit of this nature is necessary to elicit strong commitments from national governments and the international community. Even before the food prices began to rise precipitously in the last two years, there was scant progress in reducing hunger. Now matters are precarious for many of the poorest people. Detailed actions plans have been put forward by IFPRI http://www.ifpri.org/PUBS/ib/foodprices.asp, the World Bank, and others. A consensus is emerging around several key steps to address the current crisis, especially the need to:

- expand emergency aid and social protection for poor

- calm the markets with sound trade, reserve, and regulatory policies

- change the biofuels policies that spur high food prices, and

- invest much more in agriculture, especially to benefit the small farms of the developing world

Now the real issue is implementation. While the background documents for the conference spell out what needs to be done, they are not yet showing a sufficient emphasis on how the necessary actions will be implemented and who the responsible parties are. To be successful, we need clarity on accountability, responsibility, and authority, and this should be made transparent to the global community. Further, governments need a coordinated strategy of public investment at all levels, not just more commitments to projects. This strategy requires priority setting on a timeline – a key element missing from previous food summits. Additionally, the private sector and civil society need to be involved in planning and implementation. The capacity to respond effectively will not come cheap. It will require significant investment. However, the cost of not responding – more humanitarian emergencies, increased malnutrition, food price inflation, and destabilization – is much, much higher. The June Food Summit offers the opportunity to break new ground. The most affected countries and the international community should seize the moment to respond to the current food crisis and to make real headway in the fight against hunger. Significant progress depends not just on good intentions, but primarily on good follow through. Source: Joachim von Braun, Director General, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) 3 June 2008 (Source: CGIAR, ifpri)

Scientific Innovations will Trigger Green Revolution in Africa

Scientific innovations can help bring about Africa’s Green Revolution. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in Patancheru near Hyderabad in southern India, is working with other institutions in the global initiative to bring about a green revolution in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking at an international conference titled Israel and the Green Revolution in Africa held on 1 June in Jerusalem, and addressing politicians, policy makers, scientists and other distinguished participants, Dr William D Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, said, “I am certain that MASHAV and ICRISAT can provide critical leadership in this Revolution, particularly in the dry areas, which are our bread and butter.” The drylands cover about 40% of Africa’s arable landmass, and about 25% of Africa’s populations live and work in these areas. According to the United Nations Human Development Index these areas cover most of the poorest nations on earth, and the farmers here earn less than one US dollar a day. “African governments need to be more supportive of their rural poor, “ Dr Dar added, “They need to adopt policies that encourage, rather than penalize agriculture. Developed countries need to break with their past habits of huge subsidies to domestic farmers that create unfair competition with the poor in the developing world.” Rising food prices hurt the rural poor, and the rising cost of fertilizer, essential for increasing food production, is a double blow. In this context, Dr Dar cited the scientific innovations that ICRISAT and partners are mobilizing to help bring about Africa’s Green Revolution. Methods such as microdosing and planting-basin cultivation can deliver three dollars worth of extra gain for each dollar’s worth of extra fertilizer when combined with the use of improved crop cultivars. “We need the support of donors and the leadership of the countries themselves to roll this out on a large scale.” said Dr Dar. ICRISAT is also screening over a hundred tree and vegetable crop varieties to help African farmers identify horticultural crops that can diversify the production system and increase incomes. Drought and heat waves will increase with climate change in the coming years, and farmers need to prepare now by saving water to be used sparingly to overcome these situations. Drip irrigation greatly increases the efficiency of water use. ICRISAT and partners have promoted more than 2,500 small-scale drip irrigation market gardens in four countries of Africa, which raised incomes 5 to 7 times. Immediate funding to gear up ongoing seed multiplication and the expansion of tree nurseries is also required stated Dr Dar. For farmers with no irrigation potential and limited market access, ICRISAT has been developing Dryland Ecofarm systems that are crop-tree-vegetable-livestock systems that focus on rainwater harvesting. Besides reducing climatic and market risks by half, these systems can be used to bio-reclaim degraded lands. Given Israel’s historic agricultural expertise, Dr Dar suggested five priorities for the Israeli research and development community – (1) develop and disseminate high-value horticulture crops; (2) build entrepreneurial capacity of African farmers; (3) hydrological surveys and irrigation feasibility studies, with attention to sustainability; (4) new irrigation facilities based on drip-irrigation; and (5) develop or rehabilitate seasonal dams to capture surface rainwater and raise water tables. For every $1 invested in international agricultural research, $9 worth of additional food is produced in developing countries where it is needed most, concluded Dr Dar. 3 June 2008 (Source: CGIAR, icrisat)

Agricultural Researchers Call for a Revolution in Sustainable Agriculture

Earlier Efforts to Achieve Sustainable Agriculture Stalled by Declining Support With the aim of helping avert future food crises, the world’s largest organization dedicated to international agricultural research called today for renewed commitment to a revolution in sustainable agriculture, which was set for success in the 1990s but then stalled as a result of waning financial support. Just as all the elements needed for such a revolution came together more than a decade ago, support for agriculture, at the international and national levels, went into a tailspin, explained Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International – one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Frison spoke on behalf of the Alliance of CGIAR Centers during the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bio-energy, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Adjusting for inflation and exchange rates, Frison noted, wealthy countries cut their support roughly in half from US$6 billion to $2.8 billion between 1980 and 2006. “The new revolution in sustainable agriculture was essentially put on hold,” he remarked. “That‘s one of the reasons we’re facing a food price crisis now,” Frison continued. “It also helps explain why we’re not better prepared to confront the impacts of climate change in agriculture. Farmers would be much further along in adapting to those impacts, if more of them had the resilient varieties now available and if more were using improved practices for managing natural resources, including biodiversity, soils, water and small-scale fisheries.” Beginning in the 1960s, international agricultural research centers later supported by the CGIAR began developing modern varieties of rice and wheat, which made possible the worldwide Green Revolution in agriculture. Responding well to fertilizer, the new varieties gave crop yields a large boost, especially in irrigated areas with uniformly favorable conditions. The steady stream of improved varieties and other technologies had huge impact. For every dollar invested in CGIAR research since 1971, nine dollars worth of additional food has been produced, according to a 2003 study led by Yale economist Robert Evenson. The Green Revolution even offered environmental benefits, lessening the pressure on fragile land that otherwise would have been brought into cultivation. But it also had environmental costs. More intensive cultivation, without proper resource management, led in many places to severe degradation of soils and water. By the 1990s, however, the CGIAR had in place a strong program of research to achieve a more sustainable revolution in agriculture. Through that research, they found ways to balance the need for more intensive crop production with the need to protect natural resources. A notable example is the spread of “zero-till” technology in the rice-wheat systems of South Asia’s Indo-Gangetic Plain. Close to half a million farmers are using this technology on more than 3.2 million hectares, according to CGIAR impact reports. Crop yields are higher, and production costs are down, mainly because of savings in energy and water. Economic benefits were estimated several years ago to have reached a total of $147 million. Increased harvests and steadily declining food prices throughout the 1980s and 1990s lulled donors into complacency about agriculture, Frison commented, and they shifted attention to other development challenges. Despite the funding cuts to agriculture, key research received support and produced important results. For that reason, Frison asserted, the Alliance of CGIAR Centers is ready to help resolve the current food crisis and reduce the risk of future crises through a set of short-, medium- and long-term measures, outlined in an action plan presented at the FAO High-Level Conference. “We urgently need to accelerate the flow of new varieties tolerant to heat, drought and other stresses that will become worse with climate change,” Frison said. “We must also spread more widely the new tools and methods from research on natural resource management. But there are no simple solutions and no magic bullets. “Nor should we concentrate just on globally important staples,” Frison added. Locally important crops and livestock are often the key source of sustenance for poor, rural people. Production in such systems, which are common in marginal areas, must be increased to improve food security and nutrition for the poorest farmers. “Success will require a substantial increase in funding and collective action among all key actors and players,” Frison stressed. ”We believe that, in order to deliver the knowledge and technologies required, we must double our annual investment in pro-poor research.” The Alliance will continue to work in concert with other international institutions, such as FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme and World Bank, as well as with many regional, national and local partners. 3 June 2008 (Source: CGIAR)

Scientific Innovations will Trigger Green Revolution in Africa

Scientific innovations can help bring about Africa’s Green Revolution. The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), headquartered in Patancheru near Hyderabad in southern India, is working with other institutions in the global initiative to bring about a green revolution in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa. Speaking at an international conference titled Israel and the Green Revolution in Africa held on 1 June in Jerusalem, and addressing politicians, policy makers, scientists and other distinguished participants, Dr William D Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, said, "I am certain that MASHAV and ICRISAT can provide critical leadership in this Revolution, particularly in the dry areas, which are our bread and butter." The drylands cover about 40% of Africa’s arable landmass, and about 25% of Africa’s populations live and work in these areas. According to the United Nations Human Development Index these areas cover most of the poorest nations on earth, and the farmers here earn less than one US dollar a day. "African governments need to be more supportive of their rural poor, " Dr Dar added, "They need to adopt policies that encourage, rather than penalize agriculture. Developed countries need to break with their past habits of huge subsidies to domestic farmers that create unfair competition with the poor in the developing world." Rising food prices hurt the rural poor, and the rising cost of fertilizer, essential for increasing food production, is a double blow. In this context, Dr Dar cited the scientific innovations that ICRISAT and partners are mobilizing to help bring about Africa’s Green Revolution. Methods such as microdosing and planting-basin cultivation can deliver three dollars worth of extra gain for each dollar’s worth of extra fertilizer when combined with the use of improved crop cultivars. "We need the support of donors and the leadership of the countries themselves to roll this out on a large scale." said Dr Dar. ICRISAT is also screening over a hundred tree and vegetable crop varieties to help African farmers identify horticultural crops that can diversify the production system and increase incomes. Drought and heat waves will increase with climate change in the coming years, and farmers need to prepare now by saving water to be used sparingly to overcome these situations. Drip irrigation greatly increases the efficiency of water use. ICRISAT and partners have promoted more than 2,500 small-scale drip irrigation market gardens in four countries of Africa, which raised incomes 5 to 7 times. Immediate funding to gear up ongoing seed multiplication and the expansion of tree nurseries is also required stated Dr Dar. For farmers with no irrigation potential and limited market access, ICRISAT has been developing Dryland Ecofarm systems that are crop-tree-vegetable-livestock systems that focus on rainwater harvesting. Besides reducing climatic and market risks by half, these systems can be used to bio-reclaim degraded lands. Given Israel’s historic agricultural expertise, Dr Dar suggested five priorities for the Israeli research and development community - (1) develop and disseminate high-value horticulture crops; (2) build entrepreneurial capacity of African farmers; (3) hydrological surveys and irrigation feasibility studies, with attention to sustainability; (4) new irrigation facilities based on drip-irrigation; and (5) develop or rehabilitate seasonal dams to capture surface rainwater and raise water tables. For every $1 invested in international agricultural research, $9 worth of additional food is produced in developing countries where it is needed most, concluded Dr Dar. 2 June 2008 (Source: CGIAR)

New research director to help IRRI tackle the rice price crisis head on; list of rice experts working to increase production and improve food security

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) has appointed a leading German soil scientist as head of its research programs for the next 5 years. Born in East Germany, Achim Dobermann takes over one of the world’s largest and most respected rice research programs at a crucial time for the crop that feeds almost half the world. Rice production is under unprecedented pressure globally, causing rice prices to rise to historically high levels. Rice research will also be on the agenda of the United Nations High-Level Conference on World Food Security next week. As IRRI’s new deputy director general for research, Dr. Dobermann is responsible for rice research programs, projects, and activities in almost every Asian nation as well as important new partnerships in Africa. He was recruited from his position as a full professor of agronomy at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, one of the world’s leading agricultural research and extension institutions. “Dr. Dobermann brings to the position the energy, enthusiasm, and expertise to drive and direct the research that can reverse the decline in productivity gains that have resulted in the world consuming more rice than it produces—and the consequent price rises that can push poor rice consumers deeper into poverty,” said IRRI Director General Robert Zeigler. “The appointment of Dr. Dobermann,” said Dr. Zeigler, “furthers IRRI’s mission to attract some of the best and brightest minds in the world to solve the biggest problems facing rice production in Asia and beyond.” Comprehensive background information on the rice price crisis—and IRRIs response—is available at a special new Web site: http://solutions.irri.org. Journalists who would like to know more about both the current crisis and rice research and production in general are invited to familiarize themselves with the below list of IRRI rice experts. First point of contact for journalists is IRRI’s new media officer and spokesperson, Adam Barclay, who also edits IRRI’s Rice Today magazine (www.irri.org/ricetoday). He replaces Duncan Macintosh, who has become IRRI’s development director. Adam can be contacted at Email a.barclay@cgiar.org Phone +63-2-580-5600, extension 2204 Mobile +63-917-544-0043 30 May 2008 (Source: CGIAR)

Cutting edge science helps the poor overcome soaring food prices

The poorest of the poor, especially those in the drylands, are hardest hit by soaring food prices. Even as the urban poor are the most vulnerable, the rural poor also suffer since most of them are net buyers of food. In sub-Saharan Africa, the World Bank estimates that more than 100 million people will be pushed back to poverty after seven years of progress. But cutting edge scientific innovations can help the poor overcome this problem. Fundamental changes are making agriculture more expensive, such as rising fuel costs, a growing middle class that demands more food, and the use of maize (corn) by the bioethanol industry. The cost of production, particularly for fertilizer is going up faster than food prices. Since fertilizer requires large amounts of energy to produce, higher food prices are likely here to stay. In the drylands, the prices of crops like sorghum, millet and legumes have increased by 20 to 40% in the past year. They continue to increase sharply during this period known as the “hungry season” in sub-Saharan Africa. It is during this time when last year’s food stocks in poor countries dwindle to a minimum before the 2008 harvest is reaped. Price trends are now on a parallel pattern that caused famine in Niger in 2005. Nevertheless, scientific innovations in crop cultivation techniques can help poor farmers cope with soaring food prices, say experts from the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). According to Dr William D Dar, Director General of ICRISAT, “On-farm yields of cereal crops in the drylands can be doubled or tripled with modest inputs, such as low rates of fertilizer combined with highly responsive crop varieties, particularly hybrids, and low-cost rainwater harvesting”. ICRISAT is one of 15 global agricultural research centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). More specifically, Dr Dar cited the scientific innovations that have been found effective in producing food at lower cost. These include: planting-basin cultivation, fertilizer microdosing, use of improved crop varieties and hybrids, improved seed systems, tree-crop integration, gravity-fed drip irrigation, growing new types of crops, integrated pest management and value-added to sorghum by producing bioethanol as well as grain and feed from sweet sorghum. Planting-basin cultivation begins by scooping small basins by hand-hoe that concentrate rainwater and plant nutrients at the base of the plant, where roots are most dense. Coupled with this, small doses of fertilizer (less than a tenth of the rates used in developed countries), applied in combination with small amounts of manure in these moist basins and planting improved crop varieties (especially hybrids) can double or triple yields. Improved crop varieties use fertilizer more efficiently, are more resilient to drought, pests and diseases and incorporate grain quality traits demanded by the market. Likewise, h ybrid varieties can turbo-charge yields through their fertilizer responsiveness and robust growth. To make these varieties available to poor farmers at the right time, improved seed systems are required to multiply seeds in the right quantities. Another new farming system technique is to grow special trees in the same field as crops. The trees collect additional nutrients from the soil, and farmers slice off the branches to allow leaves to drop off onto the soil surface, adding nutrients for the young growing crops. These trees and leaves also protect the soil from erosion by wind and water. While boosting crop yields, the trees also provide higher-value products such as fruits, gums, cosmetics, and renewable energy (in the form of firewood). Irrigation is a third new technique, but practiced in more efficient ways than in the past. “Drip irrigation” delivers tiny amounts of water drop-by-drop to each plant through a plastic tube, providing just the amount the plant or tree needs for optimal growth. Fertilizer mixed with the drip water also improves its efficiency of usage. ICRISAT has pioneered inexpensive drip irrigation systems suitable for sub-Saharan Africa. It has also identified the matching trees and vegetable crops that deliver high profits when drip-irrigated. Situated near urban areas, these lush ‘m arket gardens’ connect poor farmers to increasingly affluent middle class markets, giving them easy access to better technologies and infrastructure. A fourth technique is “integrated pest management” which cuts the costs and hazards of pesticide sprays on legumes, allowing farmers to obtain higher prices from organic food markets. The demand for better-quality food from cities in the developing world as well as from overseas markets for dryland crops like chickpea, pigeonpea and groundnut can become an engine for development, said Dr Dar. That demand “pull” links farmers to processors and sellers who, in turn provide farmers with new technologies that assure the processors of a constant supply of top-quality produce. Another “pull” factor that can lift rural areas out of poverty, is the new bioethanol market. Rather than export precious cash to overseas oil producers, it can be invested into the poor rural areas to stimulate development. This need not come at the expense of food production or the environment. Sweet sorghum is a ‘smart’ crop that produces food (grain) and fuel (stalk juice) on the same plant, plus vital livestock feed. After crushing to extract the sugar-rich juice that ferments into bioethanol, the residual stalk material is prized as feed for cattle, goats and sheep. In the 1990s, the world grew complacent with food security. As food prices declined, it was assumed that investments in agricultural research and development could also be allowed to decline. “Now we’ve received a harsh wake-up call. Unless we re-invigorate agriculture and lift it to a new level of productivity and efficiency, the world will face more hunger, more poverty, more despair, and more anger,” Dr Dar warned. “We do not have the luxury of an easy excuse. We must not say that “it can’t be done”, because we know it can be,” he added. “Big increases in food production are within our reach, so we must grab this opportunity right now. There is no other choice but to do so, since we will be judged on this choice by the world’s poor and hungry.” 27 May 2008 (Source: CGIAR, icrisat)

Forest Day 2 - UNFCCC COP 14 Parallel Event Shaping the Global Agenda for Forests and Climate Change.

Forests are now at the very center of the climate change debate. 6 December 2008, Poznan, Poland. Following the success of the inaugural Forest Day at last year's Bali COP13, CIFOR will host Forest Day 2 at the UNFCCC COP14 in Poznan, Poland, 6 December 2008. The event will be co-hosted by the Polish Government and the State Forests, and the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF). Forest Day 2 will bring together the world’s pre-eminent forest stakeholders, agenda setters and policy makers to address the key forest and climate issues of our time: • Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) • Climate Change adaptation • Poverty, livelihoods, equity and justice • Data collection, baselines and methodologies • Rights, compliance, law and enforcement • Forest investment and environmental service payments. 27 May 2008 (Source: CGIAR, cifor)

Prime Minister of Mozambique and Italian Finance Minister to attend IFAD 2007 Governing Council meeting

Other attendees to include the Director General of OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) The Prime Minister of the Republic of Mozambique, Luisa Dias Diogo will deliver the keynote address at the 30th session of the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on 14-15 February at the Palazzo dei Congressi. Also in attendance will be the Finance Minister of Italy, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa; the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdul Rahman Bin Hamad Al Attiyah; and the Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development, Suleiman J. Al-Herbish. Rural employment and livelihoods will be the focus of the meeting. Many of the world’s poorest countries are plagued by high rates of unemployment and underemployment. Higher incomes and better standards of living in some urban areas have encouraged a large number of poor rural people to migrate to nearby cities or other countries to find work. Those remaining in rural areas are facing new challenges that require renewed commitment to rural development. "The international community must scale up efforts to create economic opportunities in poor rural areas," explains IFAD President Lennart Båge. "The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Professor Mohammed Yunus signals the community’s willingness to address poverty alleviation through a broader range of innovative income generating activities." The Governing Council is IFAD’s highest decision-making authority, and its annual meeting serves as a forum for discussing policy and budget issues that relate to the global fight against rural poverty. Delegates from IFAD’s 165 member states, including ministers of finance, agriculture and rural development will attend.

Employment and rural poverty

Eight hundred million of the world’s 1.1 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas with sparse employment opportunities. As a result, many developing countries have witnessed a massive migration of people from rural communities to urban centres and neighbouring countries. Remittances from those migrant workers have become a major source of external funding for some developing countries. In 2005, money sent home by expatriate workers reached an estimated US$232 billion. A significant portion of these international funds flow to rural areas. At the same time, rapid migration has robbed many rural areas of its skilled workers. Increasingly, women are joining the tides of migration — another aspect of migration that is changing the social and demographic face of rural life. Unemployment and underemployment are particularly high among rural people between the ages of 15 and 24. Given the opportunity, rural youth can be productive members of society. But without employment, they can be a breeding ground for social unrest. The ability of the international community to harness the power of the constructive aspects of migration and mitigate the detrimental aspects, is an important factor in meeting the Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of extremely poor and hungry people by 2015.

Round tables

On the first day of the Governing Council, IFAD will host three roundtable discussions on issues related to rural employment and livelihoods:

- Round table 1: "Migration and rural employment" will explore the consequences of rural migration to urban areas and to other countries. The discussion will cover policies and interventions that can support migrants, especially women given their growing participation in migration and in the labour force.

- Round table 2: "Rural employment promotion through the value chain approach" will look at how increased access to markets and the exchange of goods and services on fair terms can help smallholder farmers boost their incomes. The discussion will explore the technological, financial and commercial strategies needed to enhance poor rural people’s benefits from each activity required to bring a product to market.

- Round table 3: "Generating remunerative livelihood opportunities for rural youth" will explore how development policies can better support rural youth in their search for remunerative work. Panellists will discuss the various challenges associated with finding new ways to engage rural youth and enhance their capabilities, particularly through education and support services.

Record-breaking IFAD work programme reaches US$557 million in 2006

In 2006, IFAD completed its largest ever programme of work. The Executive Board approved new loans and grants for a total of US$557.0 million, an almost 10 per cent increase over last year. The Board approved a total of 27 new programmes and projects in as many countries. At the end of 2006, IFAD had a total of 185 effective programmes and projects in 82 countries and one territory. IFAD’s investment in these activities was worth a total of nearly US$3 billion. Disbursements were also at a record high in 2006, reaching US$386.9 million.

WESTERN AND CENTRAL AFRICA

Although the Western and Central Africa region is undergoing a process of rapid urbanization, most people still live in rural areas. There are positive trends and opportunities to capitalize on including strong economic and agricultural sector growth in several countries. In the region, IFAD continues to focus on: strengthening the capacity of poor rural people and their organizations; improving equitable access to productive natural resources and technologies; increasing access by poor rural people to financial services and markets; and reducing vulnerability to major threats to rural livelihoods. At year-end, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 42 programmes and projects in 18 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$538.6 million.

EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA

Although a third of the countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have projected economic growth rates of over 5 per cent, only Mozambique and the United Republic of Tanzania look likely to meet the Millennium Development Goals. While the proportion of people living on less than US$1 a day is declining only marginally in the region, their absolute number continues to increase. Last year in Eastern and Southern Africa, IFAD focused on enhancing poor rural people’s access of to: land and water, agricultural markets and value chains; financial services; and agricultural technologies and information systems; as well as strengthening management of these resources. By year-end, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 36 programmes and projects in 15 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$546.7 million.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

The rate of economic growth in the Asia and the Pacific region rose to over 7 per cent in 2006, higher than any other region in the world. However, low performance in the areas of infant mortality, HIV prevalence, and access to basic sanitation in urban areas are cause for concern. In 2006, in the Asia and the Pacific region, IFAD continued to focus on: developing less-favoured areas; enhancing women’s capabilities; enhancing the capabilities of indigenous peoples and other marginalized minorities; and building coalitions of poor rural people. At year-end, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 45 programmes and projects in 16 countries, with a total IFAD investment of US$886.8 million.

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

In 2006, Latin America and the Caribbean showed positive economic performance yet 60 per cent of the rural population live below the poverty line. The region as a whole is highly vulnerable to external factors such as the performance of the global economy and natural disasters, and continues to show one of the most unequal income distributions in the world. The main objectives of IFAD’s regional strategy are to: empower poor rural people and promote demand-driven participatory approaches; enable poor rural people to take advantage of market opportunities at the local, regional and international levels; promote policy dialogue, engaging direct stakeholders, governments and the donor community; develop partnerships and coalitions; and harness and disseminate knowledge. At year-end, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio consisted of 31 programmes and projects in 16 countries. Total IFAD investment in the ongoing portfolio is US$522.2 million.

NEAR EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE AND THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES

In 2006, the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region continued to face major political and socio-economic challenges, including issues regarding decentralization and governance. Tackling rural unemployment is one of the most pressing challenges. Countries in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEN) sub-region are attempting to catch up with market-oriented Western European economies. In the more advanced countries, the prospect of accession to the European Union is the prime driver of reform. IFAD’s current strategies for the NENA region focus on: empowering poor rural people and their organizations; promoting gender equality; enabling poor rural people to diversify their incomes; and ensuring sustainable management of natural resources. For the CEN region, they are: empowering poor rural people and their organizations; promoting gender equality; supporting the transition process and the move towards market-based economies; and facilitating market linkages in the agricultural sector. At year-end, IFAD’s ongoing regional portfolio for both NENA and CEN countries consisted of 31 programmes and projects in 17 countries and Gaza and the West Bank, for a total IFAD investment of US$431.3 million. Rome – 12 February 2007 (Source IFAD)

New IFAD-supported project in Niger to bolster poor rural people’s ability to cope with natural disasters and fight poverty

A US$36 million development project in Niger will enable villagers in the Maradi region to develop financial and human resources to cope with periodic natural disasters, combat malnutrition, increase their income and improve the productivity of their crops and livestock. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a loan of US$15.25 million and a grant of US$400,000 to help finance the Agricultural and Rural Rehabilitation and Development Initiative Project. The agreements for the loan and grant were signed at IFAD’s headquarters today by the Ambassador of the Republic of Niger, Ausseil Mireille Fatouma, and IFAD’s Assistant President for External Affairs, Matthew Wyatt. The Government of Niger will contribute US$4.15 million to the project. Additional funding will be provided by the World Food Programme (US$2.10 million), the Belgian Survival Fund (US$5.71 million) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (US$6.36 million). The project aims to increase the incomes of poor rural households, improve basic services like water and education, establish food facilities at schools, and strengthen rural communities’ and the government’s ability to prevent or address crises such as crop infestations and drought. About 340,000 poor people will be reached by this project. Villages that are especially vulnerable to poverty and food insecurity will appoint a team of local people to be trained to conduct a census and assess the impact of poverty on individuals, households and communities. This census will generate plans for activities that will improve livelihoods. Niger is one of the world’s poorest country and Maradi province has the largest concentration of poor rural people. It comprises three per cent of the country’s land area but 20 per cent of the population lives there. Half of the children under the age of five suffer from malnutrition. Locust attacks in 2004 and poor rains in 2005 resulted in an eight-month dry season that saw little economic activity and disinvestment that increased poverty. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has provided financing for seven projects and programmes in Niger, with loans and grants totalling US$94.79 million. Release number IFAD/04/07, Rome, 9 February 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD President to visit the UAE and Kuwait to enhance Arab collaboration in eradicating rural poverty worldwide

Lennart Båge, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will attend the annual high-level meeting of the Heads of the Arab Funds Coordination Group, convening the eight most important aid agencies of the Arab world in Kuwait on 4 February. Båge will be accompanied by Matthew Wyatt, Assistant President for External Affairs, and Mona Bishay, Director of the Near East and North Africa Division of IFAD. On his way to Kuwait, the IFAD delegation will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where they will visit the headquarters of a number of research centres, foundations and academic institutions and also call on senior government officials. The visit is part of IFAD’s efforts to enhance and broaden its strong partnership and cooperation with the UAE and Kuwait, two founding member states of IFAD. Meetings with top leaders in the two countries are expected to focus on a range of issues of mutual interest, among them IFAD’s on-going operations in the Near East and North Africa region and opportunities for joint funding of new projects in the region, including Yemen, the Sudan, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza and the West Bank. In the Sudan, poverty and lack of development have been major causes of armed conflict. In 2000, IFAD approved a US$17.9 million loan to fund the South Kordofan Rural Development Programme. It supports the Sudanese peace process in one of the country’s most affected regions through post-crisis rehabilitation and development. IFAD has recently been invited by the Sudanese Ministry of Finance to develop a project on natural resource management in the war-torn Darfur region. In Iraq, despite the current situation, IFAD is developing a grant project to support agriculture training and the production of fertilizers in three areas: around Baghdad, Basra and Erbil, in the north. The project will be reviewed by IFAD’s Executive Board at the end of 2007. It has been 30 years since Member States of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) set off the chain of events that led to the establishment of IFAD and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID). Created in response to the world food crisis that devastated many developing countries in the mid-1970s, IFAD represents the recognition by the international community that a global alliance with shared goals is needed to eradicate poverty and hunger. IFAD became the first multilateral institution dedicated to the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world: poor rural people. As the UN specialized agency dedicated to the fight against rural poverty, IFAD is supporting local people to sustainably manage the natural resources on which their livelihoods depend. In one of the driest regions in the world, IFAD has been involved in successful land reclamation and water conservation programmes in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, the Sudan, Syria and Tunisia. IFAD is also addressing youth unemployment as an integral part of rural poverty reduction programmes in the region. Supporting the recent introduction of rural microfinance and linking smallholder farmers with international markets are two additional priorities for IFAD’s Near East and North African division in the coming years. Since its establishment, IFAD has maintained a strong presence in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. As of December 2006, total IFAD loan commitments in the region amounted to US$1.3 billion invested in 105 projects and programmes in 15 countries. The ongoing loan portfolio amounts to US$500 million and supports 31 agricultural and rural development operations to reduce rural poverty. The ongoing grant portfolio consists of 38 regional and country-specific research grants for a total of US$26 million. IFAD also works closely to design, finance, implement and monitor its rural development projects with many other Arab development institutions and funds, such as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the Islamic Development Bank, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Saudi Fund for Development, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Arab Bank for the Economic Development of Africa. 31 January 2007 (Source IFAD)

New IFAD-supported programme to modernize agricultural sector in Mozambique

Approximately 140,000 rural households in Mozambique will participate in a new country-wide development programme to improve the efficiency of agricultural production. Over the next eight years, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will work with the country’s public and private sector, including non-governmental organizations and farmers’ groups, to increase rural incomes and to help make poor families in Mozambique more food secure. The US$50.82 million Agricultural Support Programme (ASP) will be partly financed by a US$20 million loan from IFAD. The agreement for the loan was signed via correspondence last month by Mozambique’s Vice Minister of Finançe, Pedro Conceição Couto, and IFAD President, Lennart Båge. The Government of the Republic of Mozambique will contribute US$30.07 million to finance the programme. The rest of the funding will be made available by programme participants. “Despite Mozambique’s impressive economic growth rates in recent years, poverty continues to be severe and widespread,” said IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Mozambique, Alessandro Marini. “It is particularly striking in rural areas. This loan will contribute to the government’s efforts to modernize the structure of the agricultural sector. It will help this country of massive potential to consolidate its economy and succeed in its fight against poverty.” ASP will constitute a core part of the second phase of the Government of Mozambique’s own National Programme for Agricultural Development (ProAgri) – one of the first programmes in Eastern and Southern Africa to take a sector-wide approach in agriculture. ASP will be implemented mostly at the district level and encourage the direct involvement of poor rural households. ASP will support the development of extension services to farmers, including technical and agri-business training. The programme will particularly target poor rural families that are headed by women or affected by HIV/AIDS. The number of Mozambicans living in poverty has dropped to 54 per cent from 70 per cent in 1999. Still, the vast majority of the country’s rural population continues to live on less than US$1 a day and lack access to basic sanitation, health services and schools. Other IFAD-supported programmes currently operational in Mozambique include interventions to improve crop production, fisheries and livestock development, as well as market linkages and rural financial services. With this loan, IFAD will have provided funds for nine programmes in Mozambique since 1983, totalling US$143.93 million. Release number IFAD/03/07, Rome, 29 January 2007 (Source IFAD)

A US$22.2 million IFAD-supported project to help develop small rural businesses in El Salvador

A US$22.2 million development project will assist over 70,000 poor rural people in El Salvador’s eastern region to develop and transform small-scale farming activities into rural businesses. The Rural Development and Modernization Project for the Eastern Region will be partly financed by a US$15 million loan and a US$1 million grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development. An agreement was signed today by El Salvador’s Ambassador to Italy, José Roberto Andino Salazar, and IFAD President Lennart Båge, at IFAD headquarters. The Government of El Salvador will provide the balance of the total funds for the project. Poor rural families in the La Unión, Morazán, San Miguel and Usulatán municipalities usually grow fruit, vegetables and nuts, and raise pigs, poultry and cattle. Most of the produce is used for their household consumption. The project will help these families access the rural financial services they need to develop their farms into income-generating businesses. Project participants will mainly be small farmers but microentrepreneurs, artisans and young people will also be included. Technical assistance will provide farmers’ organisations and informal interest groups with a range of training programmes, including leadership, skills and management training. Members of these organizations will also be able to identify new opportunities for business development and evaluate the potential of certain products in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. Remittances from Salvadoreans working abroad are the country’s biggest source of foreign exchange and an important resource for poor rural people. Through the IFAD/Inter-Development Bank Multilateral Investment Fund programme, remittances in this region may be used more productively to finance investments such as small irrigation schemes, equipment and infrastructure, including the repair of rural roads. The project also has a strong focus on the rehabilitation of natural resources and their management. Soil erosion, loss of water quantity and quality, and desertification are problems to be addressed by plans to increase the vegetative cover, improve soil and water management, encourage the appropriate use of crop residues, and conserve bio-diversity. El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It is also one of the poorest countries in the region with more than half of the rural population living in poverty. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has provided financing for seven projects and programmes in El Salvador, with loans and grants totalling US$94 million. Release number IFAD/02/07, Rome, 22 January 2007 (Source IFAD)

“First of its kind” agriculture and rural development evaluation approved by AfDB and IFAD Executive Boards

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) are set to begin an independent joint evaluation this month that will review the agricultural and rural development policies and operations of AfDB and IFAD in Africa between 1996 and 2005. “IFAD and AfDB share the need to understand better what works in fighting rural poverty and what doesn’t,” said IFAD President Lennart Båge, after the evaluation was approved by each of the organizations’ Executive Boards in December 2006. “This evaluation will help both institutions to internalize this knowledge and build upon it, as well as to disseminate it to other rural development partners,” said AfDB President Donald Kaberuka. The joint evaluation will release a final report toward the end of 2008. Initial findings are expected to be available as early as the end of 2007. There will be many opportunities for various stakeholders, including African governments and poor rural people themselves, to share their feedback and suggestions on the evaluation as well as to learn about its ongoing findings. The evaluation will be governed by both AfDB and IFAD’s evaluation policies and share the same framework, criteria and methods. There will be a single team of evaluators. According to the heads of both AfDB and IFAD, this evaluation will be the first of its kind for both institutions, and if accomplished successfully, will contribute substantially to the harmonization of agricultural development policy and programs in Africa as well as evaluation practices. Africa is the only region in the world where agricultural productivity has declined over the last 20 years. While there are some success stories, yields of many important food crops in Africa, such as maize, millet, sorghum, yams and groundnuts, are no higher today than in 1980. Access to domestic, regional and world markets is still limited for most small farmers in Africa, particularly among the large group of African women farmers. The evaluation will also assess how to improve the contribution of agriculture and rural development to growth and poverty reduction, the sectors’ international competitiveness and policy environment, and investment potential in vital sub-sectors, such as water, rural infrastructure and microfinance. The evaluation will focus on the results of AfDB- and IFAD-supported operations by drawing upon three sources of information: internal and external documents and databases, interviews with governmental officials, farmers, members of the donor community and other experts, and direct observation in at least 10 borrower countries. AfDB and IFAD signed a formal partnership agreement in 1978 to facilitate joint rural development initiatives. The two institutions have since invested a combined total of more than US$10 billion in loans and grants to support agricultural and rural development in Africa. This investment climbs to US$17 billion when co-financing and borrower contributions are included. Release number IFAD/01/07, Tunis and Rome, 10 January 2007 (Source IFAD)

New US$37.3 million programme to create rural jobs and enhance market access in Viet Nam

Approximately 50,000 poor rural households in Viet Nam’s Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh provinces will participate in a new development programme designed to help smallholder farmers add value to their products and become more involved in regional and national markets, and to create new jobs in poor rural areas. The US$37.3 million Programme for Improving Market Participation of the Poor in Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh Provinces will be partly financed by a US$26.0 million loan and a US$400,000 grant from the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The financing agreement was signed today at IFAD headquarters by Van Nam Nguyen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to IFAD, and IFAD President Lennart Båge. The Government of Viet Nam will contribute US$4.1 million to the programme. The remaining funds will be provided by the German development agency, GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (VBARD) and the local governments in the programme area. In these largely rural provinces, agriculture is the dominant economic sector. There have been efforts to diversify agricultural production by introducing higher value crops, such as vegetables and fruit trees, and livestock. But the level of rural poverty remains high in both provinces. Average family land parcels in Viet Nam are some of the smallest in the world, so off-farm employment opportunities are critical to fighting poverty. The five-year programme will provide support for capacity-building and business development activities to ensure that poor rural people are able to participate in all levels of the supply chain, from production to marketing. It will also provide access to credit and other financial services to poor rural people who want to start their own microenterprises and local entrepreneurs interested in investing in employment-creating small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas. The programme is due to begin during a period of vast change for the country’s economy, as Viet Nam prepares to become the newest member of the World Trade Organisation in January 2007. ''These are very exciting and challenging times for the country,'' says Atsuko Toda, IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Viet Nam. ''What we are trying to achieve here is to create better links between poor rural people and markets. Farmers will be able to prioritise and plan their production according to the demands of the market, thereby ensuring a better return on their investment.'' With this loan and grant, IFAD will have provided funds for seven programmes in the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam since 1993, totalling US$132.79 million. Release number IFAD/50/06, Rome, 21 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD and the Group of 77 combine efforts to promote south-south technical and economic cooperation

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has approved a US$200,000 grant to support the activities of the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for the improvement of technical and economic cooperation among G77 countries. The grant will provide additional resources to the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF) to support its projects in the areas of agriculture and natural resources management. These projects will provide innovative pro-poor research and capacity building, and will facilitate trade and the exchange of information across the borders of developing countries. IFAD President Lennart Båge and Ambassador Dumisani S. Kumalo, Permanent Representative of South Africa at the United Nations and the Chairman of the Group of 77, attended a signing ceremony for the grant agreement in New York on 9 November. The grant agreement was countersigned this week by Eduardo Praselj, Chairman of the PGTF. ''This grant is further testimony of the common objective shared by IFAD and the G77 to fight extreme poverty by reinforcing not just South-South cooperation but also the solidarity between developing countries,'' said Båge. The Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund was established by the United Nations to support technical and economic cooperation of critical importance to developing countries members of the G77. Among its many G77-related projects, IFAD supports a network of 15 international research centres that promote sustainable agriculture for food security within a South-South collaboration framework. Release number IFAD/49/06, Rome, 18 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

New IFAD-financed programme to support post-conflict recovery in Eritrea

Over 200,000 Eritrean families affected by recent border wars and long periods of drought will participate in a new agricultural and livestock development programme designed to raise productivity and boost rural incomes. The US$23.12 million Post-crisis Rural Recovery and Development Programme will be partly financed by a US$12.24 million loan and a US$343,000 grant from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). The financing agreement for the loan and grant was signed today by Zemede Tekle Woldetatios, Ambassador of Eritrea to Italy, and IFAD President Lennart Båge at IFAD’s headquarters. The Government of Eritrea will contribute US$1.04 million to finance the programme. The Global Environment Facility will provide US$7.28 million to finance the natural resource management component of the programme while the rest of the funding will be made available by programme participants. ''The programme will work closely with farmers’ groups to promote the development of conservation-based agriculture,'' said IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Eritrea, Abla Benhammouche. “The goal is to increase productivity and reconstruct rural livelihoods while safeguarding the environment.” A significant portion of the programme’s resources will be dedicated to improving the capacity of local communities to plan and implement development activities themselves – in other words, to take charge of their own development. Technical support will be given to farmers working over 200,000 hectares of dry land, while tens of thousands of hectares of rangeland and degraded watersheds will be improved or rehabilitated. The programme will also work to enhance local breeding of livestock, such as cows, goats and sheep, and distribute beekeeping equipment to farmers. Programme activities will take place in Dedub and Gash Barka — the country’s hardest hit regions during armed conflicts with Ethiopia in the late 1990s. Over 80 per cent of the population in these regions is poor and food insecure. Thousands of households cultivate plots of no more than one hectare and have no livestock. The programme will reach out to the communities’ most vulnerable families, including those headed by women, returnees and internally displaced people. ''The populations of these two regions have paid a massive price to wars and droughts,'' said Benhammouche. “Many have been displaced; many have lost their belongings and family members. Armed conflict is one of the single greatest obstacles to achieving sustainable development – and not just in Eritrea.” In recent years, IFAD has increased its presence in war-torn countries. “We believe that by working in areas hit by conflict, IFAD can make a valuable contribution to building trust and to laying the foundations for lasting peace,” says Båge. Since 1995, IFAD has financed 188 programmes and projects in conflict-affected countries around the world for a total investment of about US$2.8 billion. These programmes and projects contributed significantly to enhancing the resilience of poorer households and communities and enabling them to rebuild their dignity, livelihoods and economies. With this loan and grant, IFAD will have helped finance three programmes in Eritrea since 1995, totalling US$35.26 million. Release number IFAD/48/06, Rome, 15 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD hosts its new Governor for the Republic of Italy

Italy’s Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and newly appointed Governor to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Pier Paolo Cento, visited IFAD headquarters today and met with IFAD President, Lennart Båge, and other members of the organization’s senior management team. As the host to three United Nations agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and IFAD – Rome has become the focal point for international efforts to rid the world of poverty and hunger. ''We are honoured to have this opportunity to discuss how Italy and IFAD can continue to combine our resources, skills and experiences to improve the lives of poor rural people throughout the developing world,'' Båge said as he welcomed Cento. During his visit, Cento was briefed on IFAD operations by representatives from the agency’s regional and technical divisions and later met with Italian staff members. A third of IFAD staff is comprised of Italian nationals. Reducing rural poverty and hunger have long been priorities of Italian development cooperation. Italy’s strong commitment to these goals stems from its own agricultural tradition and the support it has historically given to developing its rural areas. Undersecretary Cento indicated “sub-Saharan Africa as a geographical priority for Italian development cooperation, highlighting post-conflict assistance and reconstruction, migrant remittances, market-related reform and rural microenterprise as areas of focus”. Nearly half of all of IFAD’s programmes and projects have taken place in Africa since IFAD was established, reaching an estimated 170 million poor rural women, men and children. At present, there are 96 ongoing programmes and projects in Africa (86 in sub-Saharan Africa). Italy has been a contributing Member State of IFAD since it helped found the agency in 1977. Among IFAD’s 165 Member States, Italy is IFAD’s eighth largest financial contributor, pledging more than US$305 million. In the most recent replenishment of IFAD’s resources, Italy was the second largest contributor, following the United States of America, pledging over US$51 million. In addition to regular replenishment contributions, Italy has also provided US$37.4 million in voluntary and extra-budgetary contributions to IFAD since 1994. Italy is one of the top 10 donor countries to the United Nations system. Båge was invited to address the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Italian Chamber of Deputies last week, where he spoke about the important role agricultural and rural development needs to play in combating global hunger and poverty. A new publication, “IFAD and Italy: A partnership to eradicate rural poverty,” was presented at the event. Release number IFAD/46/06, Rome, 15 December2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD Executive Board approves nearly US$ 300 million in loans and grants to fight rural poverty in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Near East

The Executive Board of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has approved US$284.1 million in loans and US$2.5 million in grants to improve the living conditions of poor rural people in 16 countries. The 89th session of the Board, which met 12-14 December at IFAD’s headquarters in Rome, approved loans and grants to support rural development projects and programmes in Argentina, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Haiti, India, Laos, Mali, the Niger, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, Tanzania, Turkey and Uganda. The Board approved the provision of more than US$9.4 million in grant money to eight international centres that promote agricultural research, training and technical assistance. IFAD loans to countries in Western and Central Africa amount to US$40.4 million. There is also a grant of US$400,000 to this region. In Burkina Faso, IFAD will provide a loan of US$13.8 million to strengthen the supply chain of five commodities: cowpea, sesame, goats/sheep, poultry and onions. About 20,000 rural households will improve their livelihoods through this project. In the Kidal region of Mali, a programme designed to boost rural incomes for livestock farmers will be backed by a loan of US$11.3 million from IFAD. About 20,000 small livestock farmers will benefit from improved basic services and infrastructure, including water and fodder supplies. IFAD will help fight rural poverty in the Niger, the world’s poorest country, with a loan of US$15.3 million and a grant of US$400,000. These will fund a project in the Maradi region to develop better ways to cope with natural crises, bolster child nutrition, increase income-generating activities, particularly crop and livestock production, and access to basic social services. IFAD loans approved for countries in Eastern and Southern Africa amount to US$59.2 million and approved grants to this region total US$1.2 million. In Eritrea, conflict, drought and unsuitable agricultural practices have led to severe environmental degradation and poverty in the rural regions of Debub and Gash Barka. An IFAD loan of US$12.2 million and a grant of US$343,000 will finance a programme to address these issues. An IFAD loan of US$27.4 million and a grant of US$400,000 to fund a programme in Uganda will strengthen decentralisation and local governance to promote an environment for enhanced income generation by poor rural farmers in 13 districts. Rural business people in six regions of Tanzania will improve the skills, knowledge and market access they need to increase their incomes through a small- and micro-enterprises support programme partly funded by a US$19.5 million loan and a US$450,000 grant from IFAD. For Asia and the Pacific region, IFAD has approved loans totalling US$80.8 million. In China, while poverty is declining in the eastern part of the country, innovative approaches are needed in some western provinces where rural poverty persists. An IFAD loan of US$25.1 million will help finance a US$55.0 million programme in the Xinjiang Uygur region to pilot and upscale new successful ideas, particularly with regards to technology, organic farming and marketing, and microfinancing. An IFAD loan of US$30.2 million will finance a programme in India’s Mid-Gangetic Plains area for women and young girls to attain sustainable and improved livelihoods and to achieve social and economic empowerment. Grassroots institutions will be established in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, enabling rural women and girls to access productive resources, microfinance and business development services. In Laos, an IFAD loan of US$3.0 million will contribute to a project to improve incomes through livestock development for about 17,000 households in the northern part of the country, where smallholders have limited access to land and forests to produce and gather food. The productivity of Sri Lanka’s old tea plantations in the mid-country region, where many resettled and landless people live, will be improved through a programme backed by an IFAD loan of US$22.5 million. The programme will also support new and diversified rubber cultivation by smallholders in the Moneragala district. IFAD loans of US$39.5 in the Latin America and Caribbean region will provide finance for projects and programmes in three countries. An IFAD loan of US$19.3 million will help fund a development programme in Argentina to strengthen economic organizations working with rural poor people in 10 provinces. These organizations will enhance people’s social and economic conditions and improve interactions with local, provincial and national institutions. Bolivia’s millions of llamas, alpacas and undomesticated vicuñas present poor rural families with the opportunity to market meat, hides, wool-based handicrafts and eco-tourism. A project to realize this potential will be backed by a loan of US$7.2 million from IFAD. A project in Haiti, the poorest country in Latin America and the Caribbean, will use a US$13.0 million loan from IFAD to develop small-scale irrigation where cultivation is possible. The project will focus on new technologies, land security and natural resource management in remote, rural areas. Loans totalling US$64.0 million and a grant of US$950,000 were approved for projects and programmes in the Near East and North Africa region. In Egypt, IFAD will provide a US$15.1 million loan and a US$950,000 grant to help fund the Upper Egypt Rural Development Project. The project will increase employment and rural household incomes by developing community groups, such as farmers’ and craftworkers’ marketing associations, to launch small businesses and access microfinance. A project in the Butana region of the Sudan will be financed by an IFAD loan of US$24.8 million to improve poor rural people’s livelihoods and resilience during drought. More specifically, the project will enhance rural access to livestock and dairy markets, empower rural women by turning decision-making responsibilities of water and range management over to them and their organizations and improve agricultural practices to increase crop yields. An IFAD loan of US$24.1 million will fund a programme to reduce rural poverty in the south-eastern provinces of Turkey, where people living in the poorest mountain villages will be able to expand both farm and non-farm-related employment opportunities. The Executive Board approved two grants to international centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR):

- US$1.5 million to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT)

- US$1.4 million to Bioversity International (IPGRI)

Six additional grants were approved to give to other non-CGIAR international centres:

- US$800,000 to the Centro Internacional para el Desarrollo Humano (CIDH)

- US$1.2 million to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP)

- US$609,000 to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

- US$952,000 to the Microfinance Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States (MFC)

- US$1.55 million to the Netherlands-based International Development Organization (SNV)

- US$1.4 million to the West Africa Rural Foundation (WARF)

Two additional grants were also approved. A grant of US$300,000 will assist Viet Nam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in its formulation of a new rural development strategy in light of the country’s rapidly growing economy and upcoming World Trade Organization accession. A grant of US$1.7 million was approved to support the International Land Coalition in its 2007-2008 programme strategy and to strengthen future performance. The Executive Board approved IFAD’s new strategic framework for the 2007-2010 period, as well as a new policy on supervision and implementation support. IFAD’s Executive Board consists of 18 elected members and 18 alternate members. The Board meets three times a year, in the months of April, September and December. Release number IFAD/47/06, Rome, 15 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

New US$23 million IFAD loan to boost thousands of rural enterprises in North-Eastern Brazil

Approximately 20,000 poor people will participate in a new IFAD-supported development project to create and consolidate family-owned rural enterprises in Brazil’s semi-arid North-East region. More than 100,000 people are expected to benefit from the project as a result of increased incomes, improved living conditions and multiplying effects within the regional economy. The US$47 million North-East Rural Family Enterprise Development Support Project will be partly financed by a US$23 million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development. The project loan agreement was signed today by Ms Liana do Rego Motta Veloso, Deputy Attorney General, Ministry of Finance and IFAD’s President Lennart Båge, at IFAD headquarters. Brazil’s Ministry of Agrarian Development will contribute US$22 million to the programme while US$2 million is to be invested directly by project participants. The North-East region is home to the largest concentration of poor rural people in Brazil. The project will initially be implemented in the Xingó area, where rural poverty is prevalent, and help poor families involved with the development of small agro-industries and other rural enterprises to enhance their business skills and increase their incomes. “This project is offering an alternative to many poor rural people who do not have access to enough land or have lost their farming jobs because of mechanization or diversification in production,” said IFAD’s Country Programme Manager for Brazil, Jean-Jacques Gariglio. “Some have already moved on and started their own small rural business. But in many cases they need technical assistance or access to credit to strengthen their enterprises or to create new ones that could lift them out of poverty. This is where we are coming in.” The project will work to strengthen organizations of rural entrepreneurs and help them to identify and promote new business opportunities. It will establish a rural financial service system and ensure that participants have access to technical support services and credit as well as markets to sell their products. The project will also create mechanisms to guarantee equitable and continued access of women and youth to project services and resources. There are already some 600,000 rural small enterprises and microenterprises, both formal and informal, in Brazil’s North-East region. Most of these enterprises, which include food products and textile handicrafts, are the result of initiatives of poor rural women. With this loan, IFAD will have provided funds for six projects in Brazil since 1980, totalling about US$141 million. Release number IFAD/44/06, Rome, 8 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

New development project to improve rural financial services in the Gambia

About 180,000 poor people in rural areas of the Gambia will have better access to savings plans, credit, insurance services and business advice, thanks to a new development project working with the country’s key microfinance institutions. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will largely finance the US$8.73 million Rural Finance Project with a loan of US$6.12 million and a grant of US$400,000. The agreement for the loan and grant were signed today by Ms Ada Gaye, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs for the Republic of The Gambia, and IFAD President Lennart Båge at IFAD’s headquarters. The project will provide skills and technical training to local microfinance institutions in six rural divisions in the Gambia. The training will help project participants identify and develop new financial products, such as business development services for rural clients, as well as improve their information management systems and expand the reach of their services. Rural finance institutions will plan, carry out and evaluate the project and its impact on clients. There will also be an annual evaluation by village men and women to generate recommendations for further activities. By the end of the six-year project, participating finance institutions are expected to reach over 70,000 new rural customers. The Gambia is one of the most densely populated countries in Africa. Agricultural production is decreasing due to erratic weather, land degradation and inefficient markets and storage. Almost half the population now lives in urban areas. Rural families are forced to rely on livelihoods that require little or no land but few poor rural people can access credit to finance other activities. Since starting operations in 1978, IFAD has provided loans totalling more than US$45.57 million for eight programmes and projects in the Gambia. Release number IFAD/45/06, Rome, 8 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

FAO, IFAD and WFP Executive heads in joint visit to Northern Ghana

Joint Ghana visit highlights field level cooperation by Rome food-based agencies

Amid growing calls for reform and coherence among United Nations partners, the heads of the three Rome-based food and agriculture agencies demonstrated their determination to strengthen joint efforts to reduce hunger and poverty at the grassroots level by visiting Ghana’s food insecure northern region this week. While in Ghana, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme reviewed joint initiatives in support of the Government’s efforts to attain food security for the country’s entire population. “These initiatives include the Special Programme for Food Security, to be upscaled to a National programme, and farmers’ field schools, with strategies and programmes to ensure that investment is targeted towards the food and agriculture sectors,” said FAO Director-General, Dr. Jacques Diouf, during the joint visit to development projects in the Northern Region. “With the right political will, there will be many success stories in Africa. I think that we have to learn from this success story of Ghana,” Dr. Diouf said. Ghana, with a population of 21 million people, is among the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to have reached and even surpassed the 1996 World Food Summit goal of reducing by half the number of undernourished people by 2015. Between 1990-92 and 2001-2003, the number of hungry people fell from 5.8 to 2.4 million - a 59 percent reduction. However, pockets of food insecurity remain in certain areas, including the northern region around Tamale, visited by the three UN leaders. FAO, IFAD and WFP share the vision of building a food-secure country through a twin track approach: provision in the short term of assistance to hungry households to meet their education, health, and nutrition needs and building medium and long term sustainable livelihoods through agricultural and rural development. The news is less positive for many other countries in the sub-region home to about one third of the world’s chronically hungry. “The impact of hunger and malnutrition takes its most severe toll on children,'' said WFP Executive Director, James Morris. ''The greatest nutritional impact can be achieved by integrating school feeding programmes with early child survival and development interventions. We commend Ghana's commitment to launch a national school feeding programme and to sustain the WFP-supported early childhood nutrition and education programmes, using local production, which stimulate local production and markets for Ghana's farmers, many of whom are food insecure.” Three quarters of the world’s 1.1 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their survival. “Investing in agriculture and rural development can not only boost the standard of living for poor rural women, children and men, but can spur economic growth for an entire region,” said Lennart Båge, President of IFAD. “Rural poverty programmes can also contribute to the effectiveness of other organizations that support education, health, governance and other services.”

A common strategic approach

Areas of collaboration by the three agencies include:

- supporting local development and governance, and also women’s groups

- providing support to the Ghana School Feeding Programme to improve nutrition and education using food produced locally by school and family gardens and smallholder farmers

- ensuring sustainable food production, in particular of cereals, roots and tubers, that make a growing contribution to national food security

- improving agriculture and water related infrastructure for the development of small scale irrigation and pro-poor rural enterprise

- promoting, through the International Alliance against Hunger, an initiative of the three Rome-based organizations and their partners, a Ghanaian National Alliance against Hunger to raise awareness about poverty reduction and food security by different groups including the media, the private sector, civil society, academic and local organizations Release number IFAD/43/06, Accra/Rome, 5 December 2006 (Source IFAD)

New IFAD programme to boost farm production and build market links in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province

More than 200,000 poor rural people in five districts in eastern Indonesia will participate in a new US$28.33 million development programme designed to boost their farms’ production, improve their access to markets and enhance their participation in civic and local government activities. The Rural Empowerment and Agricultural Development Programme in Central Sulawesi will be partly financed by a loan of US$21.08 million and grant of US$500,000 from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Indonesia’s national government, the provincial government of Central Sulawesi and the five district governments will together contribute US$6.74 million. The agreement for the loan and grant was signed today by the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Italy, Susanto Sutoyo, and IFAD President Lennart Båge at IFAD’s headquarters. Local communities will work closely with project staff to plan, manage and monitor their own development priorities. Key activities will include improving roads and irrigation facilities, and building links between farmers’ groups and service providers, such as rural financial institutions. The programme will focus in particular on poor rural women and marginalised groups to ensure their needs are being addressed. Central Sulawesi is one of the poorest provinces in Indonesia, with 32 per cent of the population living on less than US$1 per day. The area boasts a bounty of natural resources, a favourable climate and active research and knowledge centres, yet poor infrastructure continues to hamper small farm production and marketing activities. With this loan IFAD will have provided funds for 12 projects and programmes in Indonesia, totalling more than US$251.01 million. Release number IFAD/42/06, Rome, 22 November 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD, EC and CGAP launch new initiative to promote remittance services for poor rural people

A new initiative to improve financial services that allow foreign workers to send money back to their families – most often in poor countries – was jointly launched today by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the European Commission AENEAS Programme and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP). The €4.2 million Financing Facility on Remittances will award individual grants of up to €200,000 to support innovative money transfer, or ''remittance''services in rural areas that are cost-effective, easily accessible and, when possible, linked to other financial services such as savings, insurance and lending. “Remittances can be a vital lifeline for rural families,” said Henri Dommel, a senior technical adviser on rural finance for IFAD. ''While the individual amounts are often small, remittances arrive directly into the hands of poor people, so they have a very direct impact on improving livelihoods.'' ''As a flow of capital into developing countries, remittances represent more than overseas development assistance – and are second just behind foreign direct investment,'' said Jennifer Isern Lead Microfinance Specialist for CGAP, a microfinance group housed at the World Bank. The World Bank estimates that remittances to developing countries from overseas workers totalled $167 billion last year. Including unrecorded informal transactions, the bank estimates that total remittance flows may be as much as US$ 250 billion a year. ''The scale is huge – one in every six people may receive some kind of support through remittances,'' said Isern. “Reducing the cost and increasing the accessibility of those services is urgent, and will have direct and dramatic benefits for poor people.” Competition has driven down the fees charged for wire transfers by roughly half since the late 1990s, allowing billions more to cross borders. But cost and accessibility still remain prohibitive for many poor people, particularly those in rural areas. Building on earlier remittance work, the Financing Facility on Remittances will promote access to remittances, especially in rural areas, by enabling local financial institutions to provide the service directly, or as an agent of commercial banks and remittance operators. The project places particular emphasis on linking remittances to other financial services where possible. ''The impact of remittance services goes up dramatically when they are linked to other financial services such as savings, insurance and lending,'' said Marlene Vermorken of EC-EuropeAid. ''When combined with other services, remittances offer a rare chance to accumulate savings, invest in schooling, housing or a small business. Ultimately, they can help poor people to chart their own paths out of poverty.'' Household surveys sponsored by the World Bank show that remittances have reduced the number of people who live below the poverty line in countries like Uganda, Bangladesh and Ghana. ''But remittances are only one part of development, and what is important is how that money is used once it arrives,'' said Isern. ''So we hope that recipients will harness the full power of their remittances by saving, investing, and using the funds to fuel the engines of local prosperity.'' The fund plans to select its first round of grant recipients in early 2007 after a call for proposals and a competitive review process. Release number IFAD/41/06, London, 13 November, 2006 (Source IFAD)

New campaign led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus pledges to provide micro loans to millions of poor rural people

More than 2000 delegates from over 100 countries are due to gather in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on Sunday, to launch the second phase of the Microcredit Summit Campaign, pledging to ensure that 175 million of the world’s poorest families are able to receive credit and other financial services by the end of 2015. “Basic financial services, like credit, savings, and insurance, can provide greater economic opportunities for poor people as well as reduce their vulnerability to external shocks, such as natural disasters or fluctuating market prices,” says IFAD President, Lennart Båge, who is scheduled to lead one of the summit’s panel discussions. ''This is particularly important in rural areas of the developing world, where 800 million extremely poor people live,'' says Båge. Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed Yunus is a key player in the campaign and also expected to attend the four-day global summit. As founder of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, Yunus has worked to provide small loans to millions of poor people since 1976. Microfinance has proved especially effective in empowering poor women, who often make up the majority of microfinance clients and have the best credit ratings. Research shows that women invest additional earnings in their children’s education and the family’s health and nutrition. IFAD feels privileged to have been one of the first United Nations agencies to support Yunus’ visionary initiative on behalf of poor rural people. IFAD provided funds to the Grameen Bank during its initial stage from 1981 to 1985. IFAD works with a range of institutions and organisations, including village banks and community groups, non-governmental organisations, financial cooperatives and formal banks, to make microfinance services more accessible to poor rural people. It also promotes a wide range of financial services and products, including savings, insurance and “remittances” or money transfers. Rural finance currently accounts for US$730 million of IFAD’s funding portfolio. Some of IFAD’s initiatives in rural finance include:

- Remittances. IFAD, the European Union and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor recently launched a US$5 million Funding Facility on Remittances to support innovative approaches that will make remittances more accessible in rural areas and boost the effectiveness of the billions of dollars sent home annually by migrant workers.

- Transparency and performance monitoring. IFAD is working on ways to enhance the transparency of performance reporting by microfinance institutions, including the area of social performance, which monitors whether and how microfinance institutions reach their social goals and ambitions.

- Microinsurance. In 2007, IFAD will be working with private insurers and microfinance institutions to design and test microinsurance products that will better serve poor rural people. Press release number: IFAD/40/06, Rome, 9 November 2006 (Source IFAD)

Media backgrounder

An early supporter of the Grameen bank, IFAD welcomes Yunus’ Nobel prize The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has welcomed the news of the awarding of a Nobel Peace Prize to Professor Mohammed Yunus and the Grameen Bank. Professor Yunus has been a pioneer of micro-credit lending schemes for the poor in Bangladesh. After 30 years, his bank has 6.6 million borrowers, of which 97% are women. IFAD president Lennart Båge, reacting to the announcement, said “Professor Yunus’ leadership has brought opportunities to millions of poor rural families worldwide.” “Professor Yunus challenged IFAD and other international financial and humanitarian institutions to question their approaches and to find better ways to serve poor people” said Båge. Yunus and Båge are champions of the nine year Microcredit Summit Campaign launched in 1997 to reach 100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, with credit for self employment and other financial and business services. Inspired by Professor Yunus’ role in enhancing access of the rural poor to credit - especially rural women - IFAD continues to build financial services in rural areas of developing countries. It has experimented with two major microfinance approaches – the Self Help Group Bank Linkage and the “Grameen type” microfinance institutions, among others. These combine the safety and reliability of formal approaches to finance with the convenience and flexibility of informal approaches, upon which poor rural people rely. This allows poor rural people without collateral to access the capital they need to improve their well being and productivity. IFAD was one of the first United Nations agencies to support Professor Yunus initiatives on behalf of poor rural people. From 1981 to 1995, IFAD provided capital to the Grameen bank through three projects. As the bank gained momentum and became an ever more successful and sustainable institution, donor financing was reduced. From its own field experience, IFAD has learned that micro-finance loans are usually repaid, even by the poorest people. Evidence also shows that access to micro-finance service helps women to attain more influence in domestic decision-making and a more participation in local public institutions. Rome, 13 October 2006 (Source IFAD)

Small farmers in Senegal to get better access to services through nationwide project

A US$47 million project in Senegal to improve small farmers’ ability to produce food and get better access to sustainable, diverse and demand-driven agricultural services is to be funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in partnership with producer organizations and the World Bank. IFAD will provide a loan of US$6 million and a grant of US$300,000 to support the Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Project – Phase 2. The Government of Senegal and producers’ organizations will contribute US$20.7 million, and the World Bank will provide US$20 million in cofinancing. The agreement for IFAD’s loan and grant was signed in Rome today by the Republic of Senegal’s Ambassador in Italy, Papa Cheikh Saadibou Fall, and the President of IFAD, Lennart Båge. Agriculture provides cash income for more than 60 per cent of Senegalese households. People depend almost exclusively on groundnuts and cotton but demand and prices for them are falling. Poor quality seeds, lack of credit, limited markets and low and erratic rainfall hamper all agricultural production. Natural resources are under pressure from population growth and extensive animal grazing. Three-quarters of Senegal’s rural people live in poverty. The project will focus on four main activities. It will enhance support for agricultural research through Senegal’s national agricultural research system. Agricultural advisory services will be extended to all 320 rural councils in Senegal to provide farmers with information on crops and products as well gather information that can help solve problems. Producer organizations will be strengthened to enable farmers across the country to network on local development issues and defend smallholder interests. Stronger organizations will also improve access to the technical and economic services needed to increase production, food security and income. Training, equipment and technical assistance will be provided for the government ministries responsible for agriculture to assist with policy development and co-ordination. Since it started operations in 1978, IFAD has provided loans totalling more than US$133 million for 13 projects and programmes in Senegal. Press release number: IFAD/39/06, Rome, 13 October 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD loans US$39.5 million for programme to empower women in India’s Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh States

More than one million rural women in India will have better economic, social and political opportunities to improve their lives through a US$207.8 million empowerment programme partly funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). Poor women in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will participate in the Tejaswini Rural Women’s Empowerment Programme. The programme will support strong and sustainable self-help groups, develop access to microfinance services, promote improved livelihood opportunities and strengthen participation in local governance. The name Tejaswini means ‘a woman who is radiant’, an empowered woman, and was chosen by local participants. IFAD will provide a US$39.5 million loan for the eight-year programme. The loan agreement was signed in Rome today by the Ambassador of India and Permanent Representative to United Nations agencies in Rome, Rajiv Dogra, and the President of IFAD, Lennart Båge. Indian banks will contribute US$140.8 million; Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh state governments will contribute US$12.6 million; the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development will contribute US$1.5 million; and the Maharashtra Health Department will contribute US$160 000. Participants in the programme will contribute US$13.9 million. Cofinancing of US$270,000 will be provided by other international agencies. Although India has one of the world’s fastest growing economies, growth has been uneven. Agriculture’s contribution to GDP has declined, while the contribution of the service sector has increased and many women in the programme area live in extreme poverty. In some villages, women’s roles are strictly limited to domestic and agricultural work and there is opposition to any change. The programme will address these issues and provide legal training to deal with the crises that frequently occur concerning child marriages, domestic violence and demands for dowry. The self-help group movement has been very successful in India and some government development projects and rural banks work with the groups. Despite this, many women members are still living in poverty and the groups do not have access to bank finance on a sustainable basis. More than 74,000 self-help groups will be involved in this programme to support and enable women to organize themselves, and to network and access resources to enable them to reduce their poverty. Groups that already exist will be strengthened and some new groups will be formed. Numerous local NGOs will provide training and support, and federations of self-help groups are expected to develop. An important aim of the programme is to create new or improved livelihoods for women by addressing issues such as the needs of larger and more distant markets, links to these markets and ways to increase production. There will also be a focus on technology with the potential to reduce costs and improve the quality of the goods that the women produce. With this programme, IFAD will have invested more than US$500 million to help finance 21 programmes and projects in India. Press release number IFAD/38/06, Rome, 12 October 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD Executive Board approves US$96.7 million to combat rural poverty

The 88th session of the Executive Board of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has approved US$85.3 million in loans to support rural development programmes and projects and improve livelihoods in Colombia, Gambia, Nigeria, Senegal and Viet Nam. The Board also approved US$11.4 million in grants to support smallholder farmers, rural women, microfinance enterprises and ongoing efforts to combat desertification in a number of developing countries.

Western and Central Africa to receive US$39.3 million in loans and US$1.1 million in grants

Gambia: delivering financial services to the rural poor

The US$8.7 million Rural Finance Project in the Republic of the Gambia will be financed, in part, by a US$6.1 million loan and a US$400,000 grant from IFAD, with the remainder provided by the Government of Gambia and those participating in the project’s activities. The project will provide a broad range of carefully targeted support to strengthen and consolidate the ability of existing microfinance institutions to deliver financial services to economically active poor rural people. An apex body will be established to support village savings and credit associations, and provide funds for training at all levels, including ordinary members and members of management committees.

Nigeria: building rural financial institutions

A US$27.2 million loan and a US$400,000 grant from IFAD will help finance the US$40.0 million Rural Finance Institution-Building Programme in Nigeria. The Government of Nigeria will contribute US$6.2 million, with US$4.8 million provided by other participating institutions. The Ford Foundation is expected to provide US$500,000 and the participants US$985,100. The programme will strengthen microfinance institutions and establish linkages between these institutions and formal financial institutions in 12 states of Nigeria, in an effort to create a viable and sustainable rural financial system that reaches poor rural people. The goal is to expand and improve productivity in agriculture and rural micro- and small enterprises, and reduce poverty, particularly among poor rural people and especially women, youth and the physically challenged. An estimated 345,000 families will benefit directly, of which at least 138,000 will be households headed by women. The programme will complement a number of ongoing IFAD-supported agricultural and rural development programmes and projects, as well as other Nigeria partners’ rural poverty eradication programmes.

Senegal: supporting agricultural services and producer organizations

The Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Project – Phase II in Senegal will be partially funded by a US$6.0 million loan and a US$300,000 grant from IFAD. The four-year project is worth a total of US$47.0, including US$20.7 million from the Government of Senegal and US$20.0 million cofinancing from the World Bank. The project, as the second phase of a planned three phase programme, aims to reduce poverty in rural areas of Senegal by improving access by smallholder farmers to sustainable and diversified agricultural services and innovations. Diversifying and stabilizing agricultural production, increasing incomes of smallholder farmers and improving household food security are also key objectives. The project will strengthen the institutional framework put in place during the first phase, expand the coverage of agricultural advisory services nationwide, support the emergence of private service providers, strengthen research capacity, and focus and empower producer organizations, while increasing their social accountability and representation.

Asia and the Pacific to receive a US$26.0 million loan and US$400,000 grant

Viet Nam: enhancing market access for poor rural people

A US$26.0 million loan and a US$400,000 grant from IFAD will partly fund the US$37.3 million Programme for Improving Market Participation of the Poor in Ha Tinh and Tra Vinh Provinces. Other contributors include the Government of Viet Nam with a contribution of US$4.1 million. , US$3.9 million from a bilateral donor. US$600,000 from the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland., US$1.2 million from the Viet Nam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, and US$1.1 million from the participants. The programme will contribute to raising the incomes of poor rural people in 50 communes in Ha Tinh province and 30 communes in Tra Vinh province by facilitating their access to markets. The selected communes will be among those with the highest poverty rates, which have had little or no previous donor support. The programme will concentrate on improvement of key markets and market mechanisms, off-farm job creation and improvement of agricultural incomes. It will also seek to link market-based initiatives to the needs and priorities of poor communes within a better functioning market environment.

A US$20.0 million loan for Latin America and the Caribbean

Colombia: increasing the assets of small-scale entrepreneurs

The US$32.1 million Rural Microenterprise Assets Programme: Capitalization, Technical Assistance and Investment Support in Colombia will be financed partly by a US$20.0 million IFAD loan. The Government of Colombia will contribute US$10.0 million and the participants US$2.1 million. The programme will promote income-generating microenterprises and improved markets in poor rural areas of Colombia by increasing the social, human, financial, physical and natural assets of small-scale entrepreneurs, especially women and young people.

US$9.9 million in grants to increase productivity and food security, boost natural resources management, extend rural financial services, control pests and disease and combat desertification

The Executive Board approved two additional grants under the country-specific grants window. A US$552,000 grant over three years to the Anuradhapura Participatory Development Foundation will help fund the Microfinance and Institutional Capacity Development Project in Sri Lanka. The Anuradhapura Foundation was established under the IFAD-initiated North-Central Province Participatory Rural Development Project, which ended in December 2003. The aim of the new project is to improve the living conditions and incomes of poor households in the Anuradhapura district. It will achieve this through the development and expansion of sustainable microfinance and microenterprise activities for members of the foundation, and by building the foundation’s institutional capacity to ensure its members undertake effective income-generating and microenterprise promotion activities. The project will provide matching grants to the foundation to supplement the savings mobilized by village organizations and self-help groups. A US$1.0 million grant over three years to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) will help finance the Programme for Accelerating Agricultural Technology Adoption to Enhance Rural Livelihoods in Disadvantaged Districts of India. The programme will help farm families in poor districts improve their incomes and livelihoods. Agricultural technologies that enhance productivity and conserve resources will be more rapidly identified, validated and made available to smallholder and marginal farmers, landless people, women and the socially excluded. Activities will take place in selected disadvantaged districts of the country identified by the Planning Commission of India, and will include districts covered by other IFAD-financed projects. The Executive Board approved seven grants under IFAD’s global/regional grants window. An IFAD grant of US$1.25 million over two years to the Global Mechanism (GM) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). The grant is a second instalment from IFAD that will fund Support to Resource Mobilization for and Implementation of Action Programmes and Related Initiatives – Phase II. It will mobilize and broaden financial resources in affected countries to support implementation of the UNCCD. The grant will also cofinance the development and implementation of the GM’s communication strategy, which aims to provide the UNCCD constituencies with information and knowledge on effective strategies to implement the UNCCD as an integral part of sustainable development programmes. A US$1.5 million grant to the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to fund, in part, the US$2.7 million Programme to Support Smallholder Conservation Agriculture Promotion in Western and Central Africa. The centre is supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The four-year programme will help reduce rural poverty in Western and Central Africa by improving poor rural people’s access to technology and natural resources, including land and water. The programme will promote community and smallholder-driven natural resource management, knowledge-sharing, cropping and farming systems. A farmer-innovator network will be established to achieve the large-scale adaptation of Central Africa-based systems. A US$1.3 million grant to the CGIAR-supported International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) will partially fund the US$2.6 million Programme for the Integrated Protection of Cassava from Emerging Pests and Diseases that Threaten Rural Livelihoods. The three-year programme will increase and sustain cassava productivity and improve the livelihoods of farmers by reducing crop losses due to pests and diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. The programme will develop, test and implement sustainable integrated pest management (IPM) technologies in collaboration with various partners in five sub-Saharan African countries: Benin, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea and the United Republic of Tanzania. A US$1.2 million grant to the Asia-Pacific Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (APRACA) will partly fund the five-year Programme for Accelerating the Financial Empowerment of Poor Rural Communities in Asia and the Pacific through Rural Finance Innovations. The goal of the programme is to promote the financial empowerment of poor rural people in the region through policy dialogue, innovative pilot initiatives and knowledge sharing in the rural finance sector. A US$800,000 grant to the Participatory Microfinance Group for Africa (PAMIGA) will help fund the five-year Programme for the Promotion of Participatory Microfinance in Africa. The programme will use an innovative approach to strengthen the decision-making role of poor rural people and contribute to their empowerment as users and user-owners of local financial institutions. A US$1.3 million grant to Sasakawa-Global 2000 to finance, in part, the four-year US$1.9 million Market-Driven Initiative for Millet and Sorghum Development in West and Central Africa – Phase II. Building upon the achievements and lessons of the first phase, the initiative will improve food security in the semi-arid zones of Western and Central Africa, stimulating the consumption of traditional cereals, in particular millet and sorghum, and raising incomes in the traditional cereal sector. A US$990,000 grant to the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) will help finance the three-year Programme for Building Inclusive Financial Sectors in Western and Central Africa (BIFSA). The grant will support collaboration of the UNCDF and IFAD in implementing IFAD’s rural finance strategy in Western and Central Africa from 2006 to 2009 and closer cooperation by the two institutions on the BIFSA programme. The programme will improve access by poor rural people in the region to appropriate and sustainable financial services. Press release number: IFAD/37/06, Rome, 15 September 2006 (Source IFAD)

UN agency IFAD receives largest funding increase in two decades

The Member States of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have set the target level for its Seventh Replenishment of Resources at US$720 million. This represents an increase in contributions of almost 30 per cent over the previous replenishment. It is the largest replenishment for IFAD since the First Replenishment in 1981. “This increase shows that our members recognize the crucial importance of rural development to achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said the President of IFAD, Lennart Båge. Seventy-five per cent of the world’s poorest people, 800 million men, women and children, live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and related activities for their livelihoods. “If we are to achieve our commitment to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2015, we must focus on the rural areas of developing countries, where most poor people live,” Båge said. Funding for the Seventh Replenishment, which covers the three-year period from 2007 to 2009, will allow IFAD to significantly increase its programme of work in developing countries. Member State contributions will enable IFAD to take more innovative approaches to rural development. A specialized agency of the United Nations, IFAD is dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing countries, especially low-income, food-deficit countries. It works with governments to develop and finance programmes and projects that enable poor rural people to improve their livelihoods sustainably and overcome poverty themselves. IFAD is financed through periodic replenishments. Every three years, Member States take part in negotiations to determine the organization’s policy direction, consult with its management and replenish its resources. Both developed and developing countries pledged significant increases to the Seventh Replenishment. The United Kingdom pledged to increase its contribution by 25 per cent. The United States announced a 20 per cent increase. Spain will contribute US$7.4 million, a three-fold increase over its previous contribution. Italy has announced a contribution of US$51.0 million, and Ireland has pledged to contribute almost US$7.4 million, a more than five-fold increase over the Sixth Replenishment. Several OPEC countries significantly raised their contributions from the previous replenishment. Qatar increased from US$1.0 million to US$10.0 million and Venezuela moved from US$5.6 million to US$15.0 million. Other OPEC countries will maintain their contributions at Sixth Replenishment levels, including Kuwait, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. “A great vote of support comes from developing countries themselves,” Båge said. China has announced a contribution of US$16.0 million, representing a 50 per cent increase over its previous contribution. India will contribute US$17.0 million, and Pakistan has pledged US$4.0 million. Egypt, Mexico and the Republic of Korea each pledged US$3.0 million to the Seventh Replenishment. Press release number: IFAD/36/06, Rome, 12 September 2006 (Source IFAD)

IFAD to provide an additional US$2.1 million loan to Maldivian fishing and farming communities to help recover from the tsunami by building back better

Fishing families and small farmers in remote islands of the Maldives whose livelihoods were devastated by the December 2004 tsunami, will benefit from additional financing for a development programme. The programme focuses on asset recovery and rehabilitation, and on strengthening the country’s fishing and agriculture sectors. The first financial contribution towards the US$5 million Post-Tsunami Agricultural and Fisheries Rehabilitation Programme was approved by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in April 2005 in the form of a US$2.1 million highly concessionary loan and a grant of US$200,000. The new US$2.1 million loan will add to this. The remaining programme costs will be covered by the Government of the Maldives. The loan agreement was signed by Maldives’ Minister for Finance and Treasury, Qasim Ibrahim, and the IFAD Country Programme Manager, Sana Foday Kebba Jatta, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance and Treasury in the Maldivian capital, Male’ on 28 June. The devastation caused in the Maldives by the December 2004 tsunami was greater than in any other country in proportional terms. Over a third of the population were directly affected and nearly 10 per cent were displaced in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. The IFAD-supported recovery, rehabilitation and development programme will help restore the country’s fisheries and agricultural sector. Using the principle of building back better, it will provide fishing communities with new boats and cold storage facilities and build new receiving stations for cleaning and processing fish. Small farmers who lost their harvests will be assisted with sustainable farming techniques to help improve their crops and make them less vulnerable to natural disasters. New farming tools and equipment will replace those damaged by the tsunami and a new agricultural produce market will be built in Male’ to help establish marketing channels for producers on remote islands. With this loan, IFAD will have committed a total of US$12.4 million to the Maldives for four projects, three of which are completed. Press release number: IFAD 35/06, Rome, 30 June 2006 (Source IFAD)

New project to help smallholders and indigenous people in Paraguay improve their livelihoods

Organizations of small-scale producers in Paraguay, many of whom have been badly affected by ten years of decline in the traditional cotton industry, will be helped to identify possible new business ventures through a project backed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The Empowerment of Rural Poor Organizations and Harmonization of Investments Project will also assist small-scale farmers with low productivity and limited potential, indigenous groups, rural families headed solely by women and young people. About 120,000 people in eastern Paraguay will benefit. At least one third of them will be women. The project is partly financed by a loan of US$12 million from IFAD. The loan agreement was signed at the organization’s headquarters in Rome today by the Vice President of IFAD, Cyril Enweze and Paraguay’s Ambassador to Italy, Jorge Figueredo Fratta. Small farmers and their families are generally involved in cooperatives or economic groups, but a link has been established between poverty in the region and the weakness of these organizations. The project will work with group members to identify problems and create plans for the future based on their own needs. Stronger organizations will be able to take advantage of training and technical assistance, as well as the services and credit funds of the public banking system. Paraguay has good financial and productive resources, but it is difficult for rural poor people to get access to them. This project will improve their ability to do so and in this way will draw rural poor people into the national development process. Young people, indigenous people and women are expected to benefit from project activities. About 72 per cent of Paraguay’s indigenous people are under the age of 30 and they have very limited employment opportunities. Women are largely excluded from social and economic development and many rural women are slipping into deeper poverty. The project will include both groups in activities to strengthen local organizations and in the preparation of business plans. “In the past, there has been little attention to strengthening subsistence agriculture in Paraguay”, says Paolo Silveri, IFAD’s country programme manager for Paraguay. “This project will support organizations to enable them to manage their own resources and improve their access to existing national resources.” Sustainable business opportunities based on modernization and diverse activities, such as producing honey or raising pigs and chickens, will be adopted through this project, which will also draw together investments and project initiatives already underway in Paraguay. Many features of the project design are based on the successful IFAD-funded Management of Natural Resources in the Southern Highlands Project (MARENASS) in Peru. To date, IFAD has invested US$52.6 million in six programmes and projects in Paraguay. Press release number: IFAD 34/06, Rome, 22 June 2006 (Source IFAD)

Corporate social responsibility

It was my intention to end the series on corporate social responsibility last week, but a short trip to the ancient city of Ibadan over two days in this last week has provoked this one last piece on the subject. My mission to Ibadan was to facilitate a team-building event for a group of about 40 workers and we had settled for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) as venue. This was my second visit to the foremost agricultural research institute, except that it is almost ten years ago that I first visited. 30 June 2008 (source IITA)

Experts plan 10-year strategy to enhance Africa's banana trade

The best and the brightest minds in banana research and industry from all over Africa are set to develop a 10-year strategic roadmap that would harmonize and guide efforts to promote the marketing and trade of the crop in the continent. 27 June 2008 (source IITA)

IITA announces Gates Foundation grant to support Pan-Africa banana conference

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) today announced a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to sponsor the Banana Conference 2008 (www.banana2008.com). The Pan-African conference, the first of its kind to link state-of-the-art research to new markets, aims to develop a 10-year research-for-development strategy that will stimulate trade and boost the growth of the banana industry across Africa. Banana researchers, major industry players and farmers’ groups will be participating in the conference. 27 June 2008 (source IITA)

IITA to boost banana industry in Africa

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has announced a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to sponsor the Banana Conference 2008 (www.banana2008.com). 26 June 2008 (source IITA)

Gates boosts banana meet

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture has announced a $74,000 (sh116m) grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to sponsor the Banana Conference 2008. The meet, to be held from October 5 to 9 in Mombasa, Kenya will be opened by Anna Tibaijuka, the UN undersecretary-general and director of UN-HABITAT. 26 June 2008 (source IITA)

Cameroon: Paula Bramel "IITA will continue to develop new food crop varieties"

Paula Bramel, the Deputy Director General of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) explains her organisation's contribution to food security. 17 June 2008 (source IITA)

Panic over delayed rainfall grips northern Nigeria

Farmers and agronomists in northern Nigeria said Tuesday they fear this year's late rainfall may hurt harvests and worsen the food shortage in the region. 17 June 2008 (source IITA)

Enugu plans to monitor 'Okada' operators

The Enugu State government... approves the payment of N76.6 million counterpart contributions to the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan , for cassava mosaic disease project. 16 June 2008 (source IITA)

AFP - New technique could treble Africa's rice output: institute

A Nigerian-based regional agricultural research outfit has come up with a new yield-enhancing system of rice production to help the continent battle rising food shortages and prices, an official told AFP. 13 June 2008 (source IITA)

African rice paddies could result in a massive boost to production

A NIGERIAN-based regional agricultural research outfit has come up with a new yield-enhancing system of rice production to help the continent battle rising food shortages – and prices. 13 June 2008 (source IITA)

New technique could treble Africa's rice output -- institute

Africasia - New technique could treble Africa's rice output: institute

Institute: Smallholders crucial in stabilising global food prices

There is a possibility for small-scale farmers in the world, Tanzania included, to stabilise rising global food prices, a statement by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Tanzania office said yesterday. 04 June 2008 (source IITA)

International banana conference in Kenya is looking for sponsors and speakers

A consortium of organisations and companies is organising the international conference BANANA2008 in Mombasa, Kenya from 5 to 9 October 2008. In short the goal of the conference is the commercialisation of bananas in Africa and is high-profile as the numbers two of the European Commission and of the United Nations together with the Ministers of Agriculture of Rwanda and Kenya will be present. 04 June 2008 (source IITA)

The Dilemma over Food

The current global food crisis removes the veil over Nigeria’s grave food situation. How prepared is the nation, even as the crisis grows into a full-blown disaster 02 June 2008 (source IITA)

A year of surprises

How much of what is being done at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) have we accessed to address the food question? Maize feeds more than 300 million people in Africa and it is the continent’s most important cereal crop. Our own potato is cassava and Nigeria is the world’s greatest producer of it. Hundreds of millions of people depend on it in Africa. Yams are the staple for more than 100 million people in West Africa alone. 02 June 2008 (source IITA)

West African farmers switching to biopesticides

The problems caused by the misuse of chemical insecticides have driven scientists, policy makers including donors and development institutions to promote the production of biological cotton in northern Benin. 24 May 2008 (source IITA)

The story of Nigerian Agriculture

The question in the mind of Nigerians is just how the nation can evade the impending food crisis resulting form global shortages of grain supplies. 23 May 2008 (source IITA)

Banana 2008 Conference: Charting the future of banana in Africa

The brightest minds in banana research and industry from all over Africa will converge in Kenya later this year to develop a 10-year strategic roadmap that would harmonize efforts to promote the marketing and trade of the crop in the continent. 21 May 2008 (source IITA)

Towards production of bread from cassava

Nigeria has continued to pay a high price for the economy's dependence on foreign nations for the supply of major food commodities. In the case of bread, ELAIGWU AMEH writes that there is a need to develop hybrid cassava flour as a means of avoiding the difficulties occasioned by the recent global hike in the price of wheat. 20 May 2008 (source IITA)

Ghana: ECOWAS to meet organisations on soaring food prices

Representatives of eight international organizations involved in agricultural development and water resource management have been invited to a one-day extraordinary meeting on Monday of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Ministers of Trade, Agriculture and Finance to discuss the soaring cost of basic food items in West Africa. 19 May 2008 (source IITA)

Nigeria: Toxic Grain Threatens Food Security

The hospitalisation of 116 girls after consuming beans sprayed with harmful pesticides at a secondary school in northern Nigeria's Gombe State on 18 April has raised concerns about how dry foods are stored all around the country. 16 May 2008 (source IITA)

Cure for ‘bewitched’ plants found

A bio-control agent to control witchweed, a parasitic plant that destroys cereal crops has been developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and its partners. 12 May 2008 (source IITA)

Climate change hinders progress on MDGs

If developing countries don’t adapt to climate change they could face serious setbacks to achieving poverty elimination goals. “Developed countries are much better prepared for climate change even if they have less risk of being impacted by climate change. In developing countries, the needs for adaptation are overwhelming,” Cecilia Ugaz of the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme, told an audience at the UN Secretariat today. 11 May 2008 (source IITA)

Africa: Though Making 'Very Good Progress,' Africa Still Faces Challenges, Says UN Official

Africa is making "very good progress," but must tackle challenges in areas including transportation, infrastructure and water, a senior United Nations said today, as the annual Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) is under way in New York. 10 May 2008 (source IITA)

New FAO Deputy Director-General appointed

FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf names James G. Butler as the Organization's Deputy Director-General. 19/06/2007 (source FAO)

Granny power for development

FAO sees a greater role for grandmothers in development. 18/06/2007 (source FAO)

Farm animal diversity under threat

The rapid spread of large-scale industrial livestock production focussed on a narrow range of breeds is the biggest threat to the world’s farm animal diversity. 14/06/2007 (source FAO)

Lesotho faces deep food crisis after one of its worst droughts in 30 years

Lesotho needs urgent international assistance to avert a major food crisis because of high cereal prices after this year’s main cereal harvest was ravaged by one of the worst droughts in 30 years. 13/06/2007 (source FAO)

Giving children back their youth

This year's UN World Day against Child Labour focuses on eliminating the worst and most hazardous forms of child labour in agriculture. According to FAO, the root of the problem is rural poverty. 12/06/2007 (source FAO)

The next frontier in genetic research: under water

In a global first, over 150 governments are today discussing the status of the world's aquatic genetic resources and looking at ways to better understand and manage the genetic diversity of the planet's oceans, lakes and rivers in order to safeguard their contributions to food production. 11/06/2007 (source FAO)

Launch of a major project to tackle drought in Morocco

A project designed to support Morocco’s National Water Economy Plan was launched today in an effort to combat the country’s water shortage problem. 11/06/2007 (source FAO)

Georgia severely hit by African Swine Fever

Georgia has been hit by the devastating pig disease African Swine Fever, which could also threaten neighbouring countries. 08/06/2007 (source FAO)

Pioneering UN atlas of oceans turns five

FAO and a group of 14 partner organizations are celebrating World Ocean day by marking the fifth anniversary of the launch of the UN atlas of the Oceans. 07/06/2007 (source FAO)

Food import bills reach a record high

Global food import bills are increasing, partly due to soaring demand for biofuels, according to FAO’s latest Food Outlook report. 07/06/2007 (source FAO)

Yemen is facing worst locust outbreak in nearly 15 years

Yemen is facing its worst Desert Locust outbreak since 1993. 06/06/2007 (source FAO)

More than one-third of Zimbabweans face food shortages

A poor harvest coupled with a worsening economic crisis will leave more than 4 million people in Zimbabwe in need of food assistance by early next year, according to a new FAO/WFP report. 05/06/2007 (source FAO)

More rural families earning money from non-farm work

A growing proportion of rural family income is coming from non-farm activities,but earnings from agriculture remain a fundamental source of livelihood for 90 percent of rural households, says a report released today by FAO. 05/06/2007 (source FAO)

Wildfire management, a burning issue for livelihoods and land-use

Forest fires are increasing as a result of climate change, and they are affecting larger areas and becoming more severe in several regions of the world, FAO said today, calling upon countries to invest more in fire preparedness and prevention. 31/05/2007 (source FAO)

FAO panel supports trade restrictions to protect sawfish and eels

A panel of experts convened by FAO supports inclusion by the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of sawfish and the European eel on its list of animal species subject to trade restrictions in order to protect stocks in the wild. 30/05/2007 (source FAO)

Fish feed scare highlights challenges of aquaculture boom

The recent discovery that feed used on some U.S. fish farms contained the toxin melamine highlights the challenges facing the booming aquaculture sector, which today supplies some 44% of all fish consumed worldwide, according to FAO. 28/05/2007 (source FAO)

Swaziland's worst harvest ever

Swaziland's record low annual maize harvest has left more than a third of the population in need of food assistance, according to a new FAO/WFP report. 23/05/2007 (source FAO)

Bird flu outbreaks in Bangladesh require long-term strategic response

Bangladesh will have to engage in a long-term strategic campaign against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in order to get the spreading H5N1 virus under control. 21/05/2007 (source FAO)

Record cereal production forecast in 2007 but supply/demand situation to remain tight

World cereal production in 2007 is on track to reach a record level of 2 095 million tonnes, but with stocks at their lowest level in over two decades, total supplies would still be barely adequate to meet the increased demand from the fast-growing biofuels industry. 16/05/2007 (source FAO)

American Red Cross and FAO team up to restore fisheries and aquaculture in tsunami-affected communities

The American Red Cross and FAO have announced the launch of a new partnership to support the recovery of fishing communities in Indonesia's Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Province affected by the 2004 tsunami. 10/05/2007 (source FAO)

FAO Director honored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences

Prabhu Pingali, Director of FAO’s Agricultural Development Economics Division honored by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. 10/05/2007 (source FAO)

Global Bioenergy Partnership web site launched today

The Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP) today unveiled its web site at the GBEP’s 3rd Steering Committee meeting in New York. 09/05/2007 (source FAO)

EC, FAO release new e-learning course

As representatives of 137 countries gathered in Rome this week to assess progress in reducing world hunger, FAO announced the release of an e-learning course aimed at improving the analysis of food security information. 09/05/2007 (source FAO)

UN weighs impact of bioenergy

A comprehensive report from UN-Energy, a group of 20 UN Agencies and Organizations, assesses the likely impact of the fast-growing bioenergy market. 08/05/2007 (source FAO)

What about the Right to Food?

On the eve of the 60 year anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, some rights, like the Right to Food, are overshadowed by those that have received more political and public support, yet severe food insecurity affects at least one-seventh of the world’s human population. 07/05/2007 (source FAO)

Meeting the food security challenge through organic agriculture

FAO has just issued a paper on organic agriculture and its contribution to food security. 03/05/2007 (source FAO)

Poverty in fishing communities poses serious risks

The rights of poor fishermen to harvest and manage local fish stocks need to be strengthened in order to fight poverty and reduce overexploitation of threatened coastal and inland fisheries. 27/04/2007 (source FAO)

Agriculture key player to stop degradation of vital ecosystems

Agriculture offers important solutions for many of today’s environmental problems. 25/04/2007 (source FAO)

FAO Committee on Commodities to review impact of oil prices and biofuels

FAO's Committee on Commodity Problems opened a three-day meeting today to review recent agricultural commodity market developments and policy issues. 23/04/2007 (source FAO)

Bioenergy could drive rural development

International experts in Rome agree that governments could use bioenergy as a force for rural development. 23/04/2007 (source FAO)

Shrimp scampi without the guilt

FAO is working with partners around the world to come up with a common understanding of how certification of farm-raised fish should be conducted in order to ensure food safety, protect the environment, and help fish farmers. 20/04/2007 (source FAO)

Top experts to weigh impact of bioenergy

Top international experts meet at FAO headquarters today to review present knowledge of bioenergy and suggest a road map for the way ahead. 16/04/2007 (source FAO)

New project helps South Africa build capacity in development assistance

South African development professionals will gain experience in aid delivery and management and in organizing and assisting small-scale farmers, under an agreement signed today between the Government of South Africa and FAO. 16/04/2007 (source FAO)

Wheat killer spreads from East Africa to Yemen

A new and virulent fungus that attacks a wide range of wheat varieties has spread from East Africa to Yemen. 12/04/2007 (source FAO)

New trade rules expected to benefit some developing countries

Multilateral agricultural trade policy reform is expected to stimulate trade and economic growth, says FAO, but any new trade rules need to be compatible with the first Millennium Development Goal. 11/04/2007 (source FAO)

Limited danger of new Foot-and-Mouth Disease outbreaks in North Korea

The recent outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease in North Korea was probably a single case and appears to be under control. 04/04/2007 (source FAO)

FAO forecasts record cereal crop for 2007

World cereal production in 2007 is forecast to increase 4.3 percent to a record 2 082 million tonnes, FAO said today. But despite improved supply, food crises persist in many countries. 03/04/2007 (source FAO)

Fewer bird flu outbreaks this year - sign of progress, FAO says

Despite substantial progress in global efforts to bring the deadly H5N1 avian influenza virus under control the disease continues to threaten the lives of people living and working around poultry, while hurting farm incomes and reducing the availability of nutritious food. 02/04/2007 (source FAO)

Latvian President awarded Ceres Medal

Latvia's President was today awarded FAO's Ceres Medal at a ceremony in Rome. 30/03/2007 (source FAO)

New offensive against Desert locust

In a new offensive against the desert locust, FAO today called on countries in northeast Africa to intensify surveys and control operations, particularly on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea and Sudan and in northwest Somalia. 28/03/2007 (source FAO)

Two more pesticides recommended for trade "watch list"

A committee of worldwide experts have taken steps towards the listing of endosulfan and tributyl tin compounds in the Prior Informed Consent procedure under the Rotterdam Convention on hazardous chemicals. 27/03/2007 (source FAO)

FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia to open in Budapest

FAO and the Government of Hungary today agreed to open two new FAO offices in Budapest, Hungary. 27/03/2007 (source FAO)

Combining poultry vaccination with other disease control measures to combat H5N1

Poultry vaccination is an important tool in the global battle against H5N1 bird flu virus. 23/03/2007 (source FAO)

FAO urges action to cope with increasing water scarcity

As the number-one user of water worldwide, the agriculture sector must be in the lead in addressing the rising global demand for water and its potential drain on the earth’s natural resources. 22/03/2007 (source FAO)

Venezuela donates US$4.6 million for agricultural development in Mali and Burkina Faso

Venezuela has committed US$4.6 million to help FAO strengthen food security in Mali and Burkina Faso, making it the first Latin American country to fund FAO projects in other developing nations. 20/03/2007 (source FAO)

Floods and cyclones cause heavy crop losses in parts of southern Africa

Floods and cyclones have destroyed many thousands of hectares of crops and infrastructure in southern Africa, with the greatest damage in Mozambique, Madagascar and Zambia. 20/03/2007 (source FAO)

Portable lab could revolutionize bird flu detection

Animal health experts from 15 nations are meeting in Vienna today to discuss new mobile rapid-detection technology. 19/03/2007 (source FAO)

FAO and US Department of Agriculture sign agreement to strengthen collaboration

FAO and the US Department of Agriculture today signed an agreement to enhance their cooperation to promote and support the development of a viable, sustainable global agriculture system. 14/03/2007 (source FAO)

Global report cites progress in slowing forest losses

A number of regions of the world are reversing centuries of deforestation and are now showing an increase in forest area, according to FAO's State of the World’s Forests report, released today. 13/03/2007 (source FAO)

Countries agree to strengthen controls in ports to combat illegal fishing

A group of 131 countries attending a high level meeting on world fisheries in Rome have agreed to begin a process leading to the adoption of a binding international agreement establishing control measures in ports in order to combat illegal fishing. 12/03/2007 (source FAO)

Concern over situation of high-seas fish species

Although the proportion of the world’s marine fish stocks rated by FAO as overexploited or depleted has remained stable over the past 15 years, the status of certain highly migratory and high-seas species is cause for serious concern. 05/03/2007 (source FAO)

Finned aliens appearing on dinner tables worldwide

A newly updated database from FAO is helping fish farmers round the world make sound decisions when deciding whether or not to introduce exotic fish species into new habitats. 26/02/2007 (source FAO)

Desert locust outbreak in Eritrea

In Desert Locust early warning, vigilance is critical, particularly on the Red Sea coastal plains. 23/02/2007 (source FAO)

Boosting the commercialization of coconut water

FAO has published a training guide promoting a simple cold preservation process that could increase sales of bottled coconut water. 21/02/2007 (source FAO)

FAO urges Nigeria to increase bird flu control measures

FAO has urged Nigeria to increase control measures to prevent the spread of avian influenza and reduce the risk of further human cases. 20/02/2007 (source FAO)

New web site offers tools for implementation of right to food

FAO today announced the launch of an interactive web site providing practical information for policy-makers, legal practitioners and others on the right to food. 15/02/2007 (source FAO)

Making every drop count

By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two-thirds of the world’s population could be living under water stress conditions. 14/02/2007 (source FAO)

Favourable early outlook for world cereal production in 2007

Early prospects for 2007 world cereal crops are favourable, but food security problems persist in several countries due to localized losses of 2006 crops and civil conflict. 09/02/2007 (source FAO)

Avian influenza in cats should be closely monitored

Cats can become infected with the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus, but at present there is no scientific evidence to suggest that there has been sustained transmission of the virus in cats or from cats to humans. 08/02/2007 (source FAO)

FAO confident UK authorities can handle bird flu outbreak

FAO today expressed confidence in the capacity of authorities in the United Kingdom to adequately respond to the recent outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza there, but other countries struggling to control the virus need more support. 07/02/2007 (source FAO)

Queen Sofia of Spain visits post-tsunami fisheries rehabilitation project

Queen Sofia of Spain visited FAO fisheries rehabilitation projects in Indonesian province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam devastated by December 2004 tsunami. 06/02/2007 (source FAO)

Urban farming against hunger

FAO is promoting urban agriculture to help feed the growing populations of the world's cities. 01/02/2007 (source FAO)

Germany commits €2.8 million for projects in Afghanistan, Kenya and Tanzania

The Government of Germany has committed €2.8 million to support food security, sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in Afghanistan, Kenya and Tanzania, under two agreements signed today with FAO. 30/01/2007 (source FAO)

FAO urges food aid reform

Major changes in the way international food aid is organized and delivered are recommended by FAO. They include the "untying" of aid and the use of cash or food coupons instead of commodities. 24/01/2007 (source FAO)

IAEA Removes Seals from Plant in Yongbyon

As IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei reported to the Board on Monday, the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea (DPRK) asked the IAEA to remove seals and surveillance from the reprocessing plant in Yongbyon. 24 September 2008 (Source: iaea)

ICARDA-FAO collaboration in training of Afghan scientists

A total of 24 researchers from agricultural research stations across Afghanistan gathered together at the Dedadi Research Station in Balkh Province with their FAO and ICARDA colleagues for an intensive 2-day practical field workshop, 16 - 17 April. This workshop was part of a series of training programs organized by FAO under the aegis of the EU-funded Variety and Seed Industry Development Project in collaboration with specialists from the Seed Section of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), namely Mr Abdoul Aziz Niane and Mr Shamsuddin Siddiqi. The workshop was organized to train the scientists on collecting and analyzing data from field experiments designed to assess the Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) of wheat varieties, which are released for cultivation in the country. DUS characteristics are crucial requirements for releasing new varieties and are essential for preparing a variety catalogue. Professor M. Hassan Rashiq, Director General, Agricultural Research and Extension, was present throughout the training and his involvement provided great motivation to all participants. Following the workshop, all researchers were expected to return to their duty stations well equipped to collect and analyze data for their respective DUS experiments. For this purpose, 32 existing wheat varieties replicated in four trials, have been laid out in Balkh, Heart, Kabul, and Nangarhar provinces. The results from two consecutive trial seasons will form the basis of a national variety catalogue that will be prepared in English and the major Afghan languages. The catalogue will be subject to revision as and when new varieties become available and obsolete ones are withdrawn from cultivation. The establishment of a variety catalogue will not be confined to wheat alone but to other major crops in future as new varieties of such crops become available and are widely used by farmers. One key output of the FAO seed project is putting in place a functional and effective national variety evaluation and registration system with adequate facilities and trained staff. As a component of the registration system, the variety catalogue will be an important instrument for seed industry regulation within the framework of both the National Seeds Policy and Seed Law. 24 April 2008 (Source ICARDA)

Strengthening Partnership with Egypt

The Director General, Dr Mahmoud Solh, visited Egypt, 5-7 April to inaugurate the 10th International Barley Genetics Symposium (IBGS), held at Bibilotheca Alexandrina. During his visit Dr Solh met with H.E. Mr Amin Abaza, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt, and Dr Fadia Nosseir, Supervisor, Foreign Agricultural Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture. Dr Fawzi Karajeh, Regional Coordinator of ICARDA for Nile Valley and Sub-Saharan Africa Program, was also present at the meeting. The Director General briefed the Minister about ICARDA's Strategic Plan and the collaborative programs with ARC in Egypt. Dr Solh also sought support from the Minister for ICARDA's Water and Livelihood Initiative (WLI) and extended an invitation to H.E. Mr Abaza to visit ICARDA research facilities and research sites in Syria. H.E. Mr Abaza offered his government's support to ICARDA's plans and its active research role to assist the Red Sea and Nile Basin Countries to cope with emerging agriculture production issues, such as demand and supply market changes, resource efficiency, plant health protection and the development of new disease resistance varieties, particularly for yellow rust on wheat. He welcomed the invitation and expressed his interest to visit ICARDA facilities. Dr Solh also met Prof Dr Adel El-Beltagy, Advisor to the Minister of Agriculture and Land reclamation, and briefed him about the progress of the ICARDA - ARC research activities, the 10th International Barley Genetics Symposium and the planned visit of Dr Sanjaya Rajaram to conduct a study to assess wheat production and potential in Egypt. At Alexandria, the Director General met with Dr Ismail Serageldin, Director, Bilbiotheca Alexandrina, to thank him for cosponsoring the Symposium and discussed together arrangements for the upcoming Ninth International Conference on Dryland Development: Sustainable Development in the Drylands - Meeting the Challenge of Global Climate Change planned for 7-10 November 2008. Dr Serageldin welcomed Dr Solh's suggestion to develop a cooperation agreement between ICARDA and Bilbiotheca Alexandrina. During the visit Dr Solh was interviewed by Prof. Dr. Wagdy Sawahel, Editor of the Science Development Network, and by the Egypt Daily News. 16 April 2008 (Source ICARDA)

CGIAR “Visioning Workshop for Change”

As rural communities across the developing world feel the heat of climate change, sky rocketing food prices, and energy crises, the CGIAR's knowledge and technologies have never been more critical. Growth in middle income countries is increasing food demand, while natural resources are over-stressed and readily available arable land which could support increased food production is non-existent. Meanwhile, the world of agricultural research has shifted dramatically. But CGIAR Centers' funding is not increasing in proportion to client needs. If these trends continue, and the CGIAR does not adapt, then it will rapidly become irrelevant. It is for these reasons that the CGIAR has launched a major change initiative. The CGIAR leadership believes that it is time to address the System's multiple governance structures by reviewing challanges and make it more efficient, donor sovereignty and center autonomy and take bold and strategic steps designed to re-invigorate the CGIAR and re-claim its leadership in international agricultural research. To address the challenges, the CGIAR organized a "Visioning Workshop for Change" at the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2-4 April. Dr Scott Christiansen represented ICARDA at the workshop. Over 40 participants representing donor countries, NARS, the Science Council, the Secretariat and Centers attended the workshop. Observers participated only on the second day of the meeting to provide feedback that would allow the Change Steering Team and Working Group 1 (WG1) to revise the vision they presented. Suffice it to say there were significant inputs that will require changes to the proposed vision. There are four WGs: (1) Visioning and Development Challenges; (2) Partnerships; (3) Governance and (4) Funding Mechanisms. There is a timeline for each of the WGs and the results are expected to be presented at the next Annual General Meeting of the CGIAR at the end of 2008. 10 April 2008 (Source ICARDA)

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