Access to food halved in Djibouti

Source: IRIN
Assignment Global is not responsible for the content of this article. The information and reporting are those of the author and news organization alone.
NAIROBI, 14 August 2008 (IRIN) – Access to food in Djibouti has been cut by more than 50 percent because of reduced availability and rising prices, according to a humanitarian official.
“The [...]

China to increase investment in African agriculture

The China Development Bank announced Friday that it plans to increase investment in African agriculture, just as the continent has been trying to increase production and curb rising food prices and shortages.
This is good news for Africa’s poor. Soaring food prices and shortages have made life more difficult for hundreds of millions people living [...]

World trade talks collapse

The seven-year world trade talks being held in Geneva collapsed this afternoon when the United States, China and India failed to reach an agreement on agriculture imports.
See reports from the Associated Press, The Daily Telegraph, The Hindu, and China View.

“Last ditch” trade talks could produce deal

According to news reports, marathon negotiations this weekend might finally produce a deal on the so-called Doha round of world trade talks, after seven years.
The talks, begun in 2001 in Doha, Qatar, are supposed to help the world’s poorest countries to compete in global markets. The talks at the World Trade Organization in Geneva had [...]

Microfinance continues to grow

According to the latest Vital Signs Update released by the Worldwatch Institute, the number of poor people worldwide receiving micro-loans increased 17 percent in 2006. The 2006 (latest data year) increase continued a double-digit growth rate that averaged about 29 percent annually between 2001 and 2006.
Microfinance has become an very effective tool for fighting poverty [...]

Food crisis threatens political stability

National leaders speaking Monday at the two-day U.N. General assembly debate on the global food and energy crisis warned that international investment in agriculture is critical for hard-hit countries to deal with food shortages and avoid political unrest.
United Nations General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim told the Assembly on Friday that, according to research by the [...]

USAID: Global food crisis unlike any in 50 years

Testifying before Congress Wednesday, the Acting Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development James R. Kunder said the global food crisis is unlike any other food crisis we have faced in 50 years:
We are in the midst of a global food crisis unlike other food crises we have faced in the past half [...]