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This is an updated version of the first booklet "Rice lands: Fields of Agony and Fields of Hope". It describes the grabbing of rice lands all over Asia by corporations and governments and the destruction this wreaks on poor rice farming communities. Land is becoming more and more a critical (...)

RAM KARUTURI, the world’s largest rose grower, calls it a situation that needs immediate intervention. Else, he is sure the rush of Indians to Africa will ebb to a trickle, which, in turn, could have serious implications as ethnic tensions with the locals are slowly, but steadily, rising in some (...)

Women in rural areas play a central role in the agricultural economy of their region, which means that they often work long hours, leaving little time for learning how to use new technologies. Yet, access to new technologies affect both men and women in remote areas. In a new publication, (...)

They say you are what you eat. But do we know what we are eating? Do we know who is cooking and serving us the food we take to our kitchens and then into our bodies?
The more I dig into this issue it becomes clear that our world of food is spinning in directions we know nothing about.
Take (...)

Time is running out for Israel. And the Israeli government knows it. The Jewish Diaspora, especially the young, has a waning emotional and ideological investment in Israel. The demographic boom means that Palestinians in Israel and the occupied territories will soon outnumber Jews. And Israel’s (...)

A new study by Pesticide Action Network International (PAN) documents that hazardous pesticides are commonly used in unsafe situations around the world, and calls for assertive action by corporations, governments and international bodies to address pesticide hazards. The report release (...)

Ignored orphan crops from the developing world may be the White Knight that rescues the Green Revolution from the Red Queen. Read more

Has Big Food already run out of customers in cities and other locales that are more readily accessible by land? Nestle Stoops to New Low, Launches Barge to Peddle Junk Food on the Amazon River to Brazil’s Poor. Read more

François Houtart argues that the green potential of agrofuels has been wasted by businesses that put profits above environmental protection. This has led to an absurd situation where an energy source that should be sustainable actually increases human and ecological damage, simply due to the (...)

In a State where more than two-thirds of rural families live below the poverty line and other social indicators are as dismal, the process of industrialisation that began at the turn of the century ought to have been a cause for optimism. But, of late, people have been fighting tooth and nail (...)

Financing Food focuses on how derivative markets work and on speculation in food and agricultural products. This study demonstrates how the futures market for agricultural products, in particular, has changed and is being disrupted by new speculators, growing index funds and commodities funds. (...)

Revival of millet cultivation in Medak of Andhra shows how a variety of millets can fight hunger even during drought, keep farmers debt-free, and provide the much-needed nutrition without using pesticides. The seeds of this silent revolution were sown 16 years ago by 32 women farmers who formed (...)

Scientists are calling for the long-term risks of GM crops to be reassessed after field studies revealed an explosion in pest numbers around farms growing modified strains of cotton.
The unexpected surge of infestations "highlights a critical need" for better ways of predicting the impact of (...)

There is growing recognition that water is the "key medium through which climate change impacts will be felt." Climate impacts on water will directly affect agriculture. And, of course, agricultural practices can both impact and mitigate climate change. Yet, all three—climate, agriculture and (...)

With piracy raging in the Indian Ocean, international disputes over undersea oil and gas, and chronic overfishing, the oceans have rarely been subject to such varied and environmentally damaging conflict outside a world war. In Who Rules the Waves? Denise Russell gives us a rare insight into (...)

With the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) deciding in favour of Kenya’s Endorois people, Korir Sing’Oei Abraham hails an unprecedented court victory. The Endorois were forcibly evicted by the Kenyan government in the period 1974–79, and their victory suggests positive (...)

Kenya suffers from recurring drought. The situation during the past three years, however, has reached levels unparalleled in living memory.
"Kenya’s Hunger Crisis - the Result of Right to Food Violations" is the title of a report launched today by FIAN International and RAPDA. These words also (...)

African pastoralism has been dismissed as outdated and inefficient. But awareness of its social and environmental benefits is growing. Read more here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

‘Towards Food Sovereignty’ is an online book with full color photo illustrations and linked video and audio files. It describes the ecological basis of food and agriculture, the social and environmental costs of modern food systems, and the policy reversals needed to democratize food systems. The (...)

In 2006-08, Maharashtra (India) saw 12, 493 farm suicides. That is 85 per cent higher than the 6,745 suicides it recorded during 1997-1999. And the worst three-year period for any State, any time. The dismal truth is that very high numbers of farm suicides still occur within a fast decreasing (...)