Read All About*News I have read yesterday and today*

One thing I like about the internet is the news I can get. I'll share some that might be important in fixing the world.

• Uganda: Rivers Run Dry as Tree Cutting, Encroachment Intensify,

  Kampala — Times are tough for Sarah Amana, 33, a fish monger at Laropi landing site in Adjumani district, northern Uganda. The fishermen no longer bring in the bountiful catches. Amana has had to settle for smaller fish.

  She attributes her misery to the dwindling waters of the River Nile. "I do not agree with people who claim that the small nets have depleted the fish stocks in the river. The river has retreated more than 100 meters, meaning the habitat of the fish has also tremendously reduced," says Amana.(more)

• Why do rural children starve amidst plenty?,

  Kambasa Salimu is severely malnourished. At five years old, he has a body mass index of a four months old child. Weighing only 8.4 kg and 85 cm in height, he is emaciated with a protruding stomach and has powdery patches all over his skin. Salimu has been suffering from malnutrition for a year but was only brought to Nyahuka Health Centre in Bundibugyo when he fell seriously ill for two weeks. “Chronic hunger is a problem throughout south-western Uganda,” says World Food Programme Country Director, Stanlake Samkange, “Despite the large amounts and varieties of food that the people grow, research shows that they generally lack adequate knowledge on appropriate nutrition for pregnant women and young children.”(more).

• Farm Workers Gripped By Hunger,

  Hundreds of thousands of farm workers and their families face starvation and unemployment this month, as the farmers who employ them abide by the Section 8 Order to completely shut down their operations and vacate their farms in 45 days time.

  Workers in the Doma, Mhangura and Umboe Valley areas will be the worst affected since 90% of farms there have been listed for seizure. Some farm workers have for long felt the effects of the crisis since self-styled war veterans began occupying some farms two years ago.(more)

• Congo-Kinshasa: Guinea Pigs Bred As Micro-Livestock.,

  Guinea pigs are being studied as a viable solution to food insecurity issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The small and easy to conceal guinea pigs are a livestock option that is well suited for the DRC's conflict zones, according to Brigitte Maass, forage scientist for the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (known by its French acronym as CIAT).Breeding guinea pigs as a source of food is the focus of a new three-year CIAT project funded by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. CIAT is discovering that guinea pigs have the potential to combat malnutrition with their low-fat high-protein meat. Maass told MediaGlobal that CIAT hopes to "raise attention of a livestock species that nobody cared for before."(more) (Food for thought note: Guinea Pigs was considered food back 400 years ago many ancient cultures ate Guinea Pig)

• South Africa:Sacci Concerned at Farm Attacks and Murders, The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) has expressed concern at the number of farm attacks within the country costing the economy a lot of money. By making use of the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figure of R2.4 trillion of 2009, a 3.22 percent contribution of agriculture to GDP and an estimated 39 982 farms in the country, the cost of farm attacks to the economy is R1 932 869 a year.(more)

• Somalia: Galgadud Villages Abandoned as Water Shortage Bites,

  Nairobi — An acute water shortage after a prolonged drought in central Galgadud region of Somalia has forced thousands of people to abandon their villages, say officials. "A prolonged drought, coupled with a drying-up of wells and barkads [water pans], is forcing many people to leave their homes," said Abdirahman Mohamed Adawe, the district commissioner of Adado, one of the areas hardest hit.(more)

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• Fears of further food price rises in east Africa,

  Agricultural economists have warned that east Africa could see another sharp rise in the cost of staple crops. Although the price of maize, sorghum and wheat have been falling globally since prices spiked last year, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has said people in east Africa are still paying more for staple crops than they were two years ago. Cereal prices were now between 40% and 100% higher.(more)

• U.S. food prices seen up 4-5 percent, (Reuters) - U.S. consumers can expect to pay 4 to 5 percent more for food by late this year than at the end of 2009 largely because of higher costs for such staples as beef, dairy, and pork, a Nebraska-based economist said. "We have beef, pork, and dairy prices all increasing substantially since December, in the area of roughly 10 percent," Bill Lapp, economist and president of Advanced Economic Solutions, told the Reuters Food and Agriculture Summit on Tuesday. "Because food manufacturers and restaurants tend not to be philanthropic organizations, they are going to pass those costs on to their consumers."(more)

• Food shortage 'the next global challenge', Climate change, rising fuel costs, water shortages: now experts are warning Australia's food producers have a new crisis to consider: Food Insecurity. When the FAO Cereal Price Index doubled in the year to April 2008, food security became a global crisis, sparking riots in 30 countries, including many tottering on the brink of severe shortages or widespread hunger.(more)

• GLOBAL: Trying to make food cheaper , JOHANNESBURG, 16 March 2010 (IRIN) - The price of maize, sorghum, wheat and other staple grains is likely to climb again in many food-importing east African countries, agricultural economists warn. In the third of a four-part series on food security - "Are we heading for another crisis?" - IRIN looks at a region where 20 million people are in need of food aid, and what could be done to avoid another food-price crisis. Globally, the price of most staples like maize and wheat have been falling, but people in east Africa are still paying up to double the 2007 price, said the new food security update by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).(more)