Archive for May, 2008
Kenyan Student’s Suicide Reveals Gaps in HIV Education
 Photo: Kristy Siegfried/IRIN  |
| Only nine out of 16 HIV testing centres in North Eastern Province are functioning |
GARISSA, 28 May 2008 (PlusNews) – The recent suicide of a secondary school student in Kenya’s North Eastern Province after he was diagnosed as HIV positive has highlighted the shortage of qualified counsellors in the region, and the urgent need to address the misinformation and stigma attached to the virus.
“Serious awareness-raising and counselling of students on HIV is non-existent in schools here; the little information they have is either gathered from public meetings, dramas or media,” said one of the boy’s teachers, who preferred not to be named.
In April the student had reportedly visited a voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) centre, manned solely by a junior laboratory technician, and received his results without any counselling. Shortly afterwards, he ingested a lethal pesticide and died.
“The results sheet was a death sentence passed to him; he was not counselled or offered words of hope, hence his belief that testing positive was the end of life,” said the teacher. “It is possible he also feared isolation by the community.”
Responses by the student’s peers revealed attitudes to HIV that may have contributed to the decision to take his life: “I sympathise with his family but not the deceased,” said one. “He died because he committed a serious sin [sex outside of marriage] and made the second worst sin in committing suicide. He has a direct ticket to hell.”
 He died because he committed a serious sin…He has a direct ticket to hell |
Dr Hassan Adan, the provincial HIV programme coordinator, said stigma and a shortage of adequate counsellors were hurting efforts to control HIV in the province, which was the only one in the country to record a rise in HIV prevalence in 2007.
Although HIV infection rates are still among the lowest in the country – 1.4 percent compared to the national average of 5.1 percent, according to Kenya’s National AIDS Control Council – the region also has the lowest uptake of condoms by its population of more than one million.
“We have 16 VCT centres in North Eastern Province, but only nine are working; we have requested the government to help us hire counsellors and increase the facilities,” Adan told IRIN/PlusNews.
The government, in collaboration with local non-governmental organisations, has started providing special vehicles equipped to offer HIV testing and counselling services in rural communities. At present such services are only available at district and sub-district hospitals.
Local health workers said expanding the testing service would not necessarily persuade more people to be tested. The combination of an extremely conservative culture with the country’s lowest literacy rate – just eight percent – has made HIV education in North Eastern Province extremely difficult.
“A majority of locals still believe that HIV only affects those who are cursed; [that it is] a form of punishment and an end of life for any person who has tested positive,” said a nurse and part-time counsellor at Bulla Iftin VCT centre in the provincial capital, Garissa.
The nurse, who preferred not to be named, said VCT centres were still shunned by most of Garissa’s residents because they feared being branded as immoral if they were seen visiting them.
“We have very few VCT centres in North Eastern [Province] but we never experience any congestion,” he said. “Most of the time we fail to get even a single person to counsel or test in a whole week.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Kenyan reconciliation Jeopardized Without Bolstered Efforts, warns UN Envoy
DPs at a shelter in the Rift Valley Province (file photo)
27 May 2008 – Stepped-up measures are crucial to ensure the sustainable return of those forced to flee their homes by post-electoral violence that swept through Kenya earlier this year, a United Nations envoy cautioned today.“In the absence of substantially increased efforts, we will jeopardize the fragile process of building and restoring peace in displacement affected countries,” said Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, at the end of his 19-23 May visit to Kenya.
He commended the Government, the Kenyan Red Cross, international aid organizations and the people of Kenya for their assistance to those internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps.
But the Government faces challenges in its efforts to return the displaced to their homes, including ensuring that the repatriations are safe and voluntary and providing humanitarian assistance in areas of return, the Representative noted.
“While reconciliation efforts are under way and there is an increased police presence in affected areas, more robust reconciliation measures involving returning IDPs and the local communities must be undertaken to address the underlying causes of the displacement,” he said.
Mr. Kälin said that “without true reconciliation and fair transition measures, the risk of renewed violence against returnees remains high.”
While in Kenya, he visited transit sites in the Molo and Uasin Gishu districts, noting that the speed of the repatriations have left some without adequate humanitarian assistance, clean water and sanitation, access to education and basic health services.
“Returns must be better planned and coordinated if we want to avoid regression into a new emergency,” the Representative observed. “We run the risk now that the displaced persons will return to camps and urban areas in increasing numbers because life at transit sites may become unbearable.”
He said he recognizes that converting from an emergency phase to one in which IDPs can resume their lives is difficult, but warned that if this transition is not handled appropriately, there is a chance that a new round of violence could break out.
Mr. Kälin – who during his visit met with Government officials, UN agencies, the Kenyan Red Cross, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and stopped at IDP camps – voiced concern that the lack of funds is impeding the ability of aid agencies in assisting returnees, and called on the Government and donors to provide the necessary support.
He also appealed to authorities to adopt a comprehensive IDP strategy and the laws needed to implant such a plan.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Kenya’s IDPs in Central Reluctant to Return to Rift Valley
 Photo: Waweru Mugo/IRIN |
| Samuel Ngumo Kamau and wife, Teresia Muthoni, and their three-week old baby |
RURING’U, 23 May 2008 (IRIN) – Samuel Ngumo Kamau cannot dispel the images of burning houses and Kenyans killing each other from his mind – a key factor in his decision not to return to his home of nearly four decades in Burnt Forest area in Rift Valley Province.
Kamau, a father of 10, who hails from Kamuyu Farm in Burnt Forest, has little trust in the government, which he accuses of “watching and doing nothing” while armed gangs violently ejected him and thousands more from their rich agricultural lands soon after presidential election results were announced in December 2007.
Having experienced the same tortuous treatment every election year since 1992 when the region repeatedly bore the brunt of tribal violence, he feels “enough is enough”.
“In 1992, they [tribal warriors] burnt down mine and my neighbours’ houses, killed and injured many people and stole our livestock and property,” Kamau told IRIN. “We fled and later returned but the same community was at it again in 1997 and 2002.”
If he had his way, Kamau says, he would rather the government compensate him with an alternative piece of land away from the violence-prone area. In early May, the government launched an ambitious programme to resettle up to 158,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who had been living in camps since the violence erupted.
Kamau lives at an IDP camp in Ruring’u Stadium in Nyeri, the main town in Central Province. He is one of thousands of IDPs who have sought refuge in their so-called ancestral homeland in Central.
Claims of partiality
Security personnel, including regular and administration police and the local chief, Kamau says, failed to offer his community protection, siding with the aggressors instead. Without any options, thousands set off on a long journey to nowhere.
“We sought shelter in the school compound following an orgy of killings and plunder the night the [election] results were announced,” he said. “The following day, hundreds of youths armed with bows, arrows and machetes, and I think guns, followed us there … the police who turned up said they could do little for us. Indeed, some openly told us to leave as the mob shared livestock and other property we had salvaged.”
Asked whether he would return home now since the government’s launch of Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Operation Return Home), Kamau said: “Go back where? I do not feel like going back to Burnt Forest. Only death awaits us there.”
 Photo: Waweru Mugo/IRIN  |
| Relief food being distributed at the Ruring’u stadium in Nyeri |
His view was shared by many IDPs at the Ruring’u camp. With reports of violence and even deaths among returnees, many, like Kamau, are digging in, urging the government to resolve their security concerns and resettle them elsewhere.
Samuel Mugoya, chairman of the Ruring’u IDP camp, said: “When I tried going back to my farm in Solai [Nakuru District] in March, a gang of six armed men invaded my home and I was lucky to escape. I do not think there will be much change in the hostilities. I can forfeit my one acre in Solai in exchange for government land elsewhere so that my wife and children will not risk death at the hands of tribal militias.”
With at least 350,000 displaced at the height of the post-election violence, and more than 1,200 killed, Mugoya is urging the government to give all IDPs start-up capital and construction material, seeds and farm implements, besides compensation for losses incurred in the chaos.
His biggest fear is that the worst is not yet over and people who return home, especially in the Rift Valley, risk tribal-related attacks from “host” communities.
Compensation
The deputy Central Provincial Commissioner, Wenslas Ong’ayo, however, ruled out any government acquisition of IDP land in exchange for alternative land in “safe havens”.
Speaking in Nyeri, Ong’ayo said: “We haven’t reached that level; we do not want to Balkanise this country by resettling particular communities only in certain places. IDPs must beware of conmen going round purporting to represent government and registering people for alternative resettlement in Laikipia District.”
The Kenya Red Cross Central region’s relief field officer, Martin Muteru, said as at 13 May, the region was hosting at least 83,000 IDPs, most of whom were living with friends and relatives. Others are in camps in Ruring’u, Ol Kalou, Ndunyu Njeru, Nyaituga, Ndundori and Kirathimo.
Muteru said the resettlement programme was voluntary. However, there have been claims of forced returns. “A majority of IDPs in the region are not ready to go back at all to their farms in the Rift Valley. They wish to dispose of their land and suggest the government acquires their property [land] and in turn settles them elsewhere,” he said.
 Photo: Waweru Mugo/IRIN |
| Sharing distributed food at the Ruring’u IDP camp |
Muteru also called for dialogue between the various communities to reassure IDPs returning home of their security. However, said Kamau: “I don’t think it will be possible for us to forgive one another … how do I react when I come across someone herding my goats or milking my cows?”
Faced with a looming food crisis, the government is keen to have the IDPs return home and resume nation-building, especially in the Rift Valley, the country’s bread basket. A large number of IDPs across the country lived in the Rift Valley, the largest province.
Voluntary resettlement
Ong’ayo said the government wanted IDPs to return home “and live a fruitful life; however, we are not forcing people to go back”.
The government is helping those returning home by providing food and non-food items.
While saying that those keen to return would get help, Ong’ayo was non-committal regarding full compensation for victims of violence.
However, reactions to the government’s position have been mixed. Some IDPs feel that once they leave the camps for their homes, they may not receive any compensation; hence many are reluctant to leave.
“Compensation will be a token, something to start you off … the government will also provide shelter, items like utensils, but not necessarily equivalent to what was lost,” Ong’ayo told IRIN.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Plastic Not Fantastic? – Bag Bans Around the World
(Reuters) — China will become the latest country to outlaw ultra-thin plastic bags, when a ban takes effect on Sunday, in a bid to cut pollution and save resources.
The ban, announced by the State Council in January, halts the production of bags that are thinner than 0.025 mm and forbids their use in supermarkets and shops.
It also requires retailers to charge customers for thicker plastic bags not covered by the ban.
Environmentalists say plastic bags can take up to 1,000 years to disintegrate and pose threats to marine life, birds and other animals.
Here is a list of some of the countries that already restrict plastic shopping bags or plan to do so.
* AFRICA — Rwanda and Eritrea banned the bags outright, as has Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia. South Africa, Uganda and Kenya have minimum thickness rules, and Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho and Tanzania are considering similar measures.
* AUSTRALIA — Coles Bay in Tasmania became “Australia’s First Plastic Bag-Free Town” in April 2003. Dozens of others followed suit. In January 2008, the environment minister called for supermarkets to phase out use of the bags nationwide by the end of the year.
* BANGLADESH — The first large country to ban bags in 2002. Bangladesh blamed millions of discarded bags for blocking drains and contributing to floods that submerged much of the country in 1988.
* BHUTAN — The isolated Himalayan country banned plastic shopping bags, street advertising and tobacco in 2007, as part of its policy to foster “Gross National Happiness”.
* CHINA — The ban on ultra-thin bags that goes into force on June 1 will cut pollution and save valuable oil resources, the State Council, or cabinet, says. In May 2007 Hong Kong proposed a 50 cent “polluter pays” levy on plastic shopping bags.
* ENGLAND — In May 2007 the village of Modbury in south Devon became Europe’s first plastic bag-free town, selling reusable and biodegradable bags instead. London’s 33 councils plan to ban ultra-thin bags from 2009 and tax others.
* FRANCE — In 2005, French lawmakers voted to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags by 2010. The French island of Corsica became the first to ban plastic bags in large stores in 1999.
* INDIA — The western state of Maharashtra banned the manufacture, sale and use of plastic bags in August 2005, after claims that they choked drains during monsoon rains. Other states banned ultra-thin bags to cut pollution and deaths of cattle, sacred to Hindus, which eat them.
* IRELAND — A plastic bag tax was passed in 2002. The tax created an initial 90 percent drop in bag use, according to the Environment Ministry, though usage gradually rebounded.
* ITALY — Outright ban to be introduced from 2010.
* TAIWAN — A partial ban in 2003 phased out free bags in department stores and supermarkets and disposable plastic plates, cups and cutlery from fast food outlets. Most stores charge people who don’t bring their own T$1 ($0.03).
* UNITED STATES — San Francisco became the first and only U.S. city to outlaw plastic grocery bags in April 2008. The ban is limited to large supermarkets.
The state of New Jersey is mulling phasing them out by 2010.
In January 2008 New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a bill forcing large retailers to set up plastic bag recycling programs and to make recycled bags available.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )HIV/AIDS: The Little Kenyan Village That Could
 Photo: Keishamaza Rukikaire/IRIN |
| Two-and-a-half year old Tito, the Nyumbani village’s youngest resident, with his grandmother outside their home. |
KITUI , 22 May 2008 (PlusNews) – The word ‘nyumbani’ means home in Swahili, and that is exactly what a pilot village in the eastern Kenyan district of Kitui is trying to provide for two generations devastated by the AIDS pandemic.
More than 250 orphans and 29 elderly people, all of whom have lost parents and children to AIDS-related illnesses live in the village. The children are placed under the guardianship of a grandparent – not necessarily their own – who is responsible for creating an atmosphere as close to a normal home environment as possible.
Most non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dealing with orphans and vulnerable children believe that placing children in extended family units in the communities they have lived in since birth is preferable to placing them in the unnatural environment of an institution, but many families are unable to cope with the additional mouths to feed and the orphans often end up homeless.
“Many of the children here were destitute, roaming the villages, begging or scavenging for food once their parents died,” said Sister Mary Owens, co-founder of Nyumbani Village.
“The village is halfway between an institution and the community. We try as much as possible to simulate normal village life, with grandparents and the children forming blended families.”
The village also tries to ensure that the children are brought up in the local Kamba tradition, and there is a separate house to accommodate older boys who have gone through the circumcision ritual.
The village was opened in 2005 on 1,000 acres of land donated by the government of Kenya to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kitui. Its youngest resident is two-and-a-half year old Tito, and its oldest is Monica, who is well into her nineties.
“Being with the children keeps me feeling young,” said Malonza Malembwa, one of two resident grandfathers. He does not know his age, but believes he is well over eighty, having been born around the time of “the great famine” in 1920. Malembwa has eight boys in his care: four are his biological grandchildren and the other four were placed with him after he came to the village.
| Being with the children keeps me feeling young |
“When my daughter and son died, I couldn’t afford to feed the grandchildren, so the Catholic Church took them in and fed them; when the village opened we all came here,” he told IRIN/PlusNews. “Before we got here my grandsons and I were casual labourers on building sites, but now they are all in school.”
Pressing need
Although the HIV prevalence rate of 3.9 percent in Kitui is lower than the national average of 5 percent, the risk factors for HIV are high. Migratory labour is common in eastern Kenya’s arid climate, and men are often away from home for weeks at a time, during which they may have several sexual partners, heightening the risk of HIV transmission to their wives when they return. Poverty and food shortages also sometimes drive women into commercial sex work.
Competition for a place in the Nyumbani village is also high (the waiting list is currently 130), so the criteria for entry are strictly enforced.
“The children must be double orphans [they have lost both parents] with no extended family; they must be destitute and the grandparent must also be destitute,” Owens said. “We use a committee that includes a social worker, community leaders and religious leaders to help us make the choice and ensure only those who really have no other option are taken in.”
The younger children attend a primary school in the village, while older ones go to secondary boarding schools in the district. Extra-curricular activities in the village include HIV education and sessions on sexuality and relationships, and teenagers are trained in carpentry, dress-making and other trades.
A clinic in the village, which is also open to people from the neighbouring community, treats minor illnesses, but more serious cases are referred to Kitui District Hospital.
Towards sustainability
Nyumbani has livestock and grows its own food, using drip irrigation powered by solar panels. Solar electricity is also used to light the streets, and plans are underway to use solar power for lighting homes. The village uses water-saving eco-toilets and recycles bath water for watering the farm’s fruits and vegetables.
“We aim to be fully self-sustaining within 10 years,” Owens said. “We grow organic food that feeds the families; we sell the surplus to organic food shops in Nairobi.”
| I never thought I could sit around most of the day without really working hard, but now my job is caring for the children |
The village is also piloting the growth of 50 acres of jatropha oil – a vegetable oil used in the production of biofuel – as well as an agro-forestry scheme to produce timber and charcoal for cooking and selling. Most of the farm work is done by casual labourers from the neighbouring community.
“I never thought I could sit around most of the day without really working hard,” said Janet Kithika, one of the grandmothers. “But now my job is to care for the children, which is tiring but also rewarding.” She is raising 11 children, the largest number of any grandparent at Nyumbani.
A challenging start
Helping grandparents to discipline and manage sometimes rebellious adolescent children has been a particular challenge, Owens said. “Relocating from their homes is sometimes difficult, as is adapting to the new village setting.” At least three grandparents have voluntarily left the village since it started, unable to cope with the responsibility; a few of the older children have also left.
The village has an on-site counsellor and a several social workers to help people solve the up and downs of daily life. “We are experiencing some teething problems, but we are learning on the job; however hard you prepare, there are things you cannot anticipate,” Owens said.
New houses are being built and at least 150 new orphans and 15 grandparents are expected to move in during the next year. Future plans include building a voluntary counselling and HIV testing centre for the village and neighbouring community, as well as starting a community-based outreach programme to provide medical and social support to children in the community infected or affected by HIV.
Ultimately, Owens’ vision is to replicate Nyumbani village across Kenya, where more than one million Kenyan children have lost at least one parent to HIV.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Is Agricultural Biodiversity Another Way Out For Global Food Crisis?
Another possible way out for coping with the global food crisis is stressed here on Wednesday amid United Nation (UN) sets “Biodiversity and Agriculture” as theme of the International Day of Biological Diversity (IBD) this year.
“The protection of the world’s biodiversity is essential to the world’s food supply,” said Ahmed Djoghlaf, executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
The food prices have been rocketing for the past two years due to the tight supplies all over the world, and food costs are currently on average more than two and a half times higher compared to that in early 2002, with no signs of relief in sight.
“We chose this specific theme this year in order to stress the need to properly protect and manage the world’s biodiversity so as to ensure a secure supply of food for a growing world population,” said the CBD executive secretary.
His remarks are clearly supported by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who sent his message to IBD earlier, saying “of the 7,000 species of plants that have been domesticated over the 10,000-year history of agriculture, only 30 account for the vast majority of the food we eat every day. Relying on so few species for sustenance is a losing strategy.”
WHAT IS AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY
“From the perspective of facing the food crisis, developing agriculture biodiversity means understanding the diversity of highly nutritious traditional food system,” said Dr. Joseph Jojo Baidu-Forson, regional director of sub-Saharan Africa, Biodiversity International.
“In fact, we do have diversified sources of food, which could be excellent complementary food to the three major staples, namely, rice, wheat and maize,” said Baidu-Forson.
Economic and cultural changes have led to declining attention to the traditional food resources and knowledge, as urbanization, globalization and commercialization hastened the introduction of international “fast” food and cultures.
“Yet, the African food systems are very rich in diversity of traditional cereals, legumes, vegetables, indigenous fruits and animal-source foods, which are still well conserved in rural communities,” said Baidu-Forson.
“The neglect of our rich diversity of indigenous and traditional food systems have contributed to food insecurity in Africa,” he added.
The regional director also told Xinhua reporters that Africa, and the world at large, has not put adequate emphasis and investment in the research for developing the productivity or fully utilizing the traditional food sources.
“The understanding of its value and the development of agricultural biodiversity mean a lot to the food security, humanity, and even our survival,” Joseph said.
AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION NEEDED
The UN General Assembly has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. This provides an unprecedented opportunity to raise awareness of the role that agriculture biodiversity plays in the lives of people and to create a better popular understanding of the value of agricultural biodiversity resources for human well being.
“The goal of the initiative is to promote and support efforts to ensure that agricultural biodiversity meets its potential to contribute to human development, and to create a drumbeat of messages targeting at agents of change and end users of agricultural biodiversity around the world,” said William Ruto, Kenyan agriculture minister, who officially launched the Campaign on Diversity for Life in Kenya on IBD.
The campaign is expected to change attitudes and increase appreciation by schoolchildren and their communities, the media, and policymakers of the value of agrobiodiversity for health and nutrition, he added.
Baidu-Forson said, “We also hope that policymakers would integrate conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity into national plans to ensure that such diversity is able to play its part in attaining the Millennium Development Goals on poverty and hunger.”
The World Bank said on Tuesday the rising food prices have pushed some 100 million people back into poverty, living below two U.S. dollars per day, and the fallout from price rises have already sparked food riots in some countries.
Solutions, such as genetically modified crops, have been proposed to alleviate the global food crisis, but as World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub said, “there is no magic solution, though the modified crops could be considered as long as it doesn’t create further price distortion.”
“To increase the global food production is surely the long-term solution to the current crisis,” said CBD Executive Secretary Djoghlaf, “but the agriculture biodiversity is definitely another parallel way to ensure a secure food supply.”
“We do hope that more and more research institutes will join us in the research for further commercial utilization of traditional food system, and more and more private sectors will realize the value of implementing agricultural biodiversity,” added Baidu-Forson.
The Convention on Biological Diversity is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the equitable sharing of the benefits from utilization of genetic resources.
The Biodiversity International is the world’s largest international organization dedicated solely to research on making the most of agricultural resources and their diversity for human well-being.
See also UNEP: The International Day For Biological Diversity 22 May 2008
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )WAJIBU: Redifining Ourselves
If we really wish never again to see a repetition of the traumatic events that we experienced after the 2007 elections, we CANNOT AND WE MUST NOT bury the memory of what happened in the early months of 2008.
WAJIBU, in this first double first issue of the year brings you not simply the events of that period as lived by many Kenyans but also the reflections of thoughtful writers (many of them young but established) on the underlying reasons for this outbreak of violence. At the same time, we give you the thoughts of religious leaders as well as of social activists on the paths we must choose if we wish to live in “unity, peace and liberty” in the Kenya we love.
Some of the well-known writers and leaders who have contributed to this issue are: Sheikh Said Athman, Muthoni Garland, Shalini Gidoomal, Fr. Patrick Kanja, Mukoma wa Ngugi, Yvonne Owuor, Stephen Partington, Binyavanga Wainaina and Rasna Warah.
WAJIBU can be obtained for Ksh. 100/= at the following outlets: Stanley Kiosk, Simply Books, University of Nairobi Bookshop, Catholic Bookshop, LISS library at the Rahimtulla Trust Building on Mfangano Street, Books First (Yaya Centre) and Monty’s (Sarit Centre).
Or contact Editors: Dipesh Pabari (dpinkenya (at) yahoo.co.uk or Wakuraya Wanjohi (wakurayag (at) yahoo.com)
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )UN to Help Kenya’s Maasai People to Preserve Their Heritage
20 May 2008 –Two people from the Maasai community of Laikipia in Kenya are to be given training in documenting and archiving their cultural heritage through a new project launched today by the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).The two people from the Maasai community will travel with an expert from the National Museums of Kenya to the United States for intensive, hands-on training in documentary techniques and archival skills at the American Folklife Center and the Center for Documentary Studies, which are collaborating on the project with WIPO.
“Our goal is to empower tradition-bearers to preserve and pass on their own traditional cultures if they wish to do so while safeguarding their intellectual property rights and interests,” Francis Gurry, Deputy Director General of WIPO, said today.
New technologies provide communities with fresh opportunities to document and digitize expressions of their traditional culture, but these can be vulnerable to unwanted exploitation, according to a statement released by WIPO.
WIPO will also provide the Maasai people with a basic kit of field equipment, computers and software for their own use when they return to Kenya.
The pilot programme announced today stems from a request made directly to WIPO by the Maasai community, and is aimed to empower indigenous communities to manage their intellectual property in a way that corresponds with their development goals.
- Kenya’s Maasai Ogiek Communities to Gain From UN Declaration
- UN Votes on Indigenous Peoples Declaration
Kenya’s Mt. Elgon: Guns recovered, SLDF Militiamen Surrender After Leader’s Killing
 Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN |
| A joint operation with army and police officers has been deployed in Mt Elgon since March |
NAIROBI, 19 May 2008 (IRIN) – Kenyan security officers have recovered more guns and witnessed “several” militiamen surrendering after the killing of a militia leader in the western Mt Elgon district, a police official told IRIN on 19 May.
“The killing of the militia leader was unfortunate; we would have been pleased to arrest him and have him face the due process of the law – prosecution and sentencing – but as a result of the death we have had many of his supporters surrendering and we have recovered several guns,” Eric Kiraithe, police spokesman, said from Mt Elgon, where he is leading a team of senior security officers to assess the situation.
Security officers – comprising the army and police – were deployed in the district in March, under “Operation Okoa Maisha” (Operation Save Lives), to quell an insurgency by the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF), a militia group claiming to be fighting for the land rights of the Sabaot community.
SLDF was formed in 2006 to seek redress for alleged injustices during land distribution in a settlement scheme known as Chebyuk, with the conflict pitting two main clans of the Sabaot – Mosop (also known as Ndorobo) and Soy – against each other. The SLDF has been blamed for the deaths of at least 600 civilians since the start of its insurgency.
SLDF leader Wycliffe Komon Matakwei was reportedly killed with 12 other militiamen on 16 May during an ambush by security officers in Kopsiro division of Mt Elgon.
“From my observation, most of the members of the public are happy with the progress we have made so far; the death of the militia leader comes as a relief to the people he has been terrorising,” Kiraithe said.
Kiraithe dismissed claims of mis-identification, saying the security officers had gone through due process and all indications were that Matakwei had been positively identified.
“What is left is a forensic examination, which we are planning to conduct; otherwise the identification process carried out so far indicates that the body is Matakwei,” Kiraithe said.
Allegations of rights violations
Matakwei’s death occurred two days after the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) released a report accusing the military of committing serious human rights violations during their operation in Mt Elgon. The police denied the allegations.
In the report, The Mountain of Terror, the commission called for an investigation into allegations of torture committed by security forces in Mt Elgon district, saying the military should stop the excesses of the security forces deployed in the area.
The commission said it had written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, urging her to recommend to the UN Security Council the suspension of Kenya’s armed forces in any ongoing or future UN peacekeeping missions “on account of the violations”.
Denying the commission’s allegations, Kiraithe said the police had evidence of acts of torture committed by SLDF militiamen.
“So far, since the military operation started in the district, there has been only one case of murder reported,” Kiraithe told IRIN. “The operation will continue because we are determined to rid the district of this criminal gang.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Claims of Torture by Army & Militia, as Food Shortages Grip Mt Elgon
 Photo: Ann Weru/IRIN |
| Displaced people from Mt Elgon area receiving food aid in Bungoma |
NAIROBI, 16 May 2008 (IRIN) – The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) has called for an investigation into allegations of torture committed by security forces deployed in the clash-torn Mt Elgon district in western Kenya.
“In seeking to return sanity to the area as a result of the atrocities being committed in the area, the military should stop the excesses of the security forces deployed therein,” the commission said on 15 May when it launched a report, The Mountain of Terror, which highlights some of the atrocities allegedly committed by the security forces and a militia group that has been active in the area since 2006.
The commission said it had written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, urging her to recommend to the UN Security Council the suspension of Kenya’s armed forces in any ongoing or future UN peacekeeping missions “on account of the violations”.
However, the police denied the commission’s allegations of torture by security officials. Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said the police, instead, had evidence of acts of torture committed by Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) militiamen but these would only be released once the investigations were complete.
“We have details of the atrocities committed by this criminal gang but, for the security of the victims, we cannot release them to the press because the security operation is ongoing and investigations are not complete,” Kiraithe said.
“So far, since the military operation started in the district, there has been only one case of murder reported,” Kiraithe told IRIN. “The operation will continue because we are determined to rid the district of this criminal gang.”
Land rights
The government deployed security forces – comprising the army and police – to Mt Elgon in March to quell an insurgency by the SLDF, which claims to be defending the land rights of the dominant Sabaot community in the district.
SLDF was formed to seek redress for alleged injustices during land distribution in the Chebyuk settlement scheme, with the conflict pitting two main clans of the Sabaot – Mosop (also known as Ndorobo) and Soy – against each other.
“The army intervention is proving to be counterproductive since it has actually participated in gross human rights violations in the area,” KNCHR said. “Sources told the commission that the military torture members of the Sabaot community to death and those who survive are taken to the police station. Those who die are taken to Kamarang hill in Mt Elgon where it is alleged that they are buried en masse.”
 Photo: Julius Mwelu/IRIN |
| The army and police were deployed to Mt Elgon area in March to quell an insurgency |
Torture
The commission said the nature of the injuries inflicted on suspected militiamen included sexual violence to genitals; being forced to torture each other (pulling each others’ genitals and whipping each other); forced to witness torture by the military; food and sleep deprivation; broken arms and legs; submerging in sewage; hanging upside down from a moving helicopter; forced to crawl in razor wire; deep lacerations resulting from whip lashes; bullet wounds; forced to swallow sand; and powdered pepper inserted into women’s vaginas.
The commission said it was of the view that the use of force in the district had not elicited positive results and might have served to worsen the security situation.
“KNCHR further proposes that the government seeks to reach out to the militia in an effort to stop further bloodshed in the area,” the commission said. “However, KNCHR believes there should be no amnesty for perpetrators of gross violations of human rights.”
It also proposed that the government should come up with an acceptable formula of sharing out land between the Mosop (Ndorobo) and Soy, the two dominant clans of the Sabaot, “as opposed to an imposed formula that leads to fresh clashes”.
The SLDF was formed in 2005 in a bid to resist government efforts to evict squatters from the Chebyuk settlement scheme in the district. KNCHR said the militia had, since 2006, been accused of killing at least 600 people and terrorising the community through physical assaults, threats and atrocities such as murder, torture, rape, theft and destruction of property. An estimated 66,000 people have been displaced over an 18-month period.
Food shortages
Meanwhile, many residents of the district are facing food shortages because of the military operation.
“Food availability, for many residents, is a problem given the ongoing military operation, which has an impact on the flow of food in markets as well as access to markets by both the locals and the traders,” Anthony Mwangi, the public relations manager of the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS), told IRIN.
However, Mwangi said food distribution by KRCS was ongoing, targeting thousands of people. The society was distributing maize, beans, cooking oil and soap, he said.
“Both the displaced and those still in their homes are facing food shortages; but we are trying our best to intervene by distributing food, especially to the vulnerable,” Col Yulu, the regional disaster preparedness and response officer for the KRCS, said.
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Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )Tax Evasion Costs the Lives of 1,000 Children a Day
The lives of 1,000 young children a day are being lost to disease and poverty in poor countries because of illegal trade-related tax evasion, says a new report from Christian Aid.
It has calculated that this evasion costs the developing world at least US$160bn in lost revenue annually. The culprits are companies using false accounting to reduce their tax liability.
If that money was allocated according to current spending patterns, the lives of 350,000 children under the age of five, 250,000 of them infants, could be saved every year.
The sum is almost one and a half times the amount given as aid to the developing world every year. If the amount that is also lost through legal tax avoidance dodges were added, it would be many times greater.
Christian Aid’s report, Death and taxes: the true toll of tax dodging, looks at the impact of tax dodging, both legal and illegal, on the developing world. It blames the secrecy offered by more than 70 tax havens for widespread abuses, and highlights the role of facilitators, including the big accountancy firms, in promoting their use.
‘We predict that illegal, trade-related tax evasion alone will be responsible for the deaths of some 5.6m children under the age of five between 2000 and 2015,’ says director of Christian Aid Dr Daleep Mukarji. ‘That’s almost 1,000 a day.’
These children, along with millions of other people, are victims of a financial system in which poor countries are routinely denied the tax that is rightly theirs by transnational corporations and other businesses using methods both licit and illicit to lower their tax liability. This revenue would enable governments of developing countries to work their own way out of poverty rather than just relying on aid and debt relief.
‘The abuse is so widespread and damaging that it is tantamount to a new slavery,’ said Dr Mukarji. ‘The rich are getting richer on the backs of some of the most impoverished and vulnerable communities in the world.’
Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week called on global businesses to do more to help developing countries because the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, which are intended to halve poverty by 2015, show no sign of being met.
‘The US$160bn lost tax revenues every year is several times greater than the US$40-60bn that the World Bank has estimated will be needed to meet the goals if policies and institutions in the developing world are improved,’ added Dr Mukarji.
Christian Aid says that the British government has a particular responsibility for what is happening as nearly half the world’s tax havens are UK overseas territories, Crown dependencies and Commonwealth countries.
It is calling on the UK government to take an international lead in pressing for reform through the removal of the secrecy that tax havens offer. Companies should also be compelled to publish their accounts on a country-by-country basis, which will mean that abusive practices can be quickly spotted.
Read the full report here.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )KENYA: Muslim Clerics Declare War on Condoms
 Photo: Neil Thomas/IRIN |
| Muslim leaders have promised to preach against the use and distribution of condoms in northeastern Kenya |
GARISSA, 12 May 2008 (PlusNews) – Muslim leaders in Kenya’s North Eastern Province have resolved to campaign against the promotion of condoms as a means of preventing HIV.
The decision was made after a recent meeting on the theme of “Islam and Health”, attended by more than 60 Muslim scholars and teachers in the provincial capital of Garissa.
“A lot of money is being wasted to poison our community … a huge amount of money is spent on buying condoms, buying immorality,” Sheikh Mohamud Ali, of Garissa district, told IRIN/PlusNews.
The leaders agreed to actively preach against the use and public promotion of condoms as a strategy to contain the pandemic and prevent pregnancy. They also agreed to oppose the distribution of condoms in villages and educational institutions across the northeast.
“We are not opposed to the Ministry of Health’s campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS, but we are concerned that they are using the wrong way, which is not acceptable to our tradition and religion,” Ali said. “We cannot use the same means to fight these problems all over the country, and we must be involved in the campaigns and our suggestions accepted.”
The clerics further demanded the closure of bars in the northeast and asked the government to suspend the licensing of any new bars. According to the clerics, local bars and “video dens” screened pornographic movies that were contributing to sexually transmitted infections. The widespread abuse of drugs was another factor: a locally grown mild stimulant, “khat”, is popular in the region.
The leaders expressed their view that the best way for the youth to avoid HIV was through the observance of Islamic teachings such as fasting, regular prayer and shunning extramarital affairs. They advised men to avoid looking at women, who should dress modestly.
Misconceptions abound
Abdi Welli, a taxi driver in Garissa, told IRIN/PlusNews he agreed with the clerics that condoms should be banned. He believed the widespread myth that condoms and contraceptives were laced with the HI virus. “We know the condoms are not safe … if you want to contract the virus that causes AIDS, then use [a condom],” he said. “After all, we have heard in the past that the Western world is using the condom to eliminate Africans, and Muslims in particular.”
Discussing sexual issues is traditionally taboo, which has led to widespread ignorance about HIV and AIDS in the northeast. Although HIV prevalence rates are still among the lowest in the country – 1.4 percent compared to the national average of 5.1 percent, according to Kenya’s National AIDS Control Council – the region also has the lowest uptake of condoms, and health workers say this is contributing to new HIV infections. Many traders refuse to stock condoms on the grounds that they promote immorality, so their availability is limited.
Health workers have expressed concern that the decision by the Muslim leaders will damage anti-AIDS efforts in the region. Provincial Medical Officer Dr Osman Warfa, who attended the meeting, said condoms were critical to the fight against the pandemic.
“It will certainly give some youths an excuse to avoid the use of condoms, and this will endanger many of them,” he told IRIN/PlusNews.
Free condoms will remain available at government health centres in the region.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 3 so far )Billion Tree Campaign to Grow into the Seven Billion Tree Campaign
Grassroots Initiative Hits Two Billion Mark -Target Raised to Over One Tree Per Person by Crucial 2009 Climate Convention Meeting
Nairobi, 13 May 2008 – A unique worldwide tree planting initiative, aimed at empowering citizens to corporations and people up to presidents to embrace the climate change challenge, has now set its sights on planting seven billion trees.
It follows the news, also announced today, that the Billion Tree Campaign has in just 18 months catalyzed the planting of two billion trees, double its original target.
The campaign, spearheaded by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), was unveiled in 2006 as one response to the threat but also the opportunities of global warming, as well as to the wider sustainability challenges from water supplies to biodiversity loss.
To date the initiative, which is under the patronage of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Kenyan Green Belt Movement founder Professor Wangari Maathai and His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, has broken every target set and has catalyzed tree planting in close to 155 countries.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said today: “When the Billion Tree Campaign was launched at the Climate Convention meeting in Nairobi in 2006, no one could have imagined it could have flowered so fast and so far. But it has given expression to the frustrations but also the hopes of millions of people around the world”.
“Having exceeded every target that has been set for the campaign, we are now calling on individuals, communities, business and industry, civil society organizations and governments to evolve this initiative onto a new and even higher level by the crucial climate change conference in Copenhagen in late 2009,” he said.
“In 2006 we wondered if a billion tree target was too ambitious; it was not. The goal of two billion trees has also proven to be an underestimate. The goal of planting seven billion trees ? equivalent to just over a tree per person alive on the planet ?must therefore also be do-able given the campaign’s extraordinary track record and the self-evident worldwide support,” he added.
The Billion Tree Campaign has become a practical expression of private and public concern over global warming.
Heads of State including the presidents of Indonesia, the Maldives, Mexico, Turkey and Turkmenistan as well as businesses; cities; faith, youth and community groups have enthusiastically taken part. Individuals have accounted for over half of all participants.
In a single day in Uttar Pradesh, India, 10.5 million trees were planted.
35 million young people in Turkey have been mobilized to plant trees.
500,000 schoolchildren in sub-Saharan Africa and the United Kingdom have become engaged.
It has also attracted the support of multilateral organizations including the Convention on Biological Diversity whose new Green Wave initiative was launched in advance of its important conference being held in Bonn, Germany later this month, and which supports the Billion, now Seven Billion, Tree Campaign.
Tree planting remains one of the most cost-effective ways to address climate change. Trees and forests play a vital role in regulating the climate since they absorb carbon dioxide ? containing an estimated 50% more carbon than the atmosphere. Deforestation, in turn, accounts for over 20% of the carbon dioxide humans generate, rivaling the emissions from other sources.
Trees also play a crucial role in providing a range of products and services to rural and urban populations, including food, timber, fiber, medicines and energy as well as soil fertility, water and biodiversity conservation.
“The Billion Tree Campaign has not only helped to mobilize millions of people to respond to the challenges of climate change, it has also opened the door, especially for the rural poor, to benefit from the valuable products and services the trees provide,” said Dennis Garrity, Director General of the Nairobi-based World Agroforestry Centre. “Smallholder farmers could also benefit from the rapidly growing global carbon market by planting and nurturing trees,” he said.
The two billionth tree was put into the ground as part of an agroforestry project carried out by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP). It now planted 60 million trees in 35 countries to improve food security. This news comes as the United Nations calls for resolute action to end the global food crisis which affects an estimated 73 million people in 80 countries around the world.
In announcing the agency’s contribution to the Billion Tree Campaign, WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said: “WFP is concerned about rising costs of food and fuel which inevitably hit the ‘bottom billion’ hardest. More people will require WFP assistance at a time when WFP’s current programmes are reaching fewer due to the critical funding gap created by rising costs.”
In terms of geographic distribution, Africa is the leading region with over half of all tree plantings. Regional and national governments organized the most massive plantings, with Ethiopia leading the count at 700 million, followed by Turkey (400 million), Mexico (250 million), and Kenya (100 million).
The campaign has also generated significant appeal in post-conflict and post-disaster environments. In acting upon the words of the campaign’s patron Wangari Maathai “when we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope,” communities in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Liberia and Somalia contributed to the global effort with over 2 million trees.
Furthermore, mangrove plantings were organized by Planète Urgence in Banda Aceh and other Indonesian provinces recovering from the December 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, while Replant New Orleans initiative in the United States sponsored a planting of fruit-bearing trees to breathe new life into a community struggling in the aftermath of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina.
The private sector pitched in as well, accounting for almost 6% of all trees planted. Multinational corporations including Bayer, Toyota, Yves Rocher, Accor Group of Hotels and Tesco Lotus supported the campaign, as did hundreds of medium and small-sized enterprises the world over.
The Billion Tree Campaign has further highlighted the cultural and spiritual dimension of trees with groups as diverse as the International Olympic Committee, the World Scouting Movement, SOS Sahel Initiative or yet “Geiko and Maiko for Forests” ? Japanese geishas from the hometown of the Kyoto Protocol ? actively participating in the initiative.
The Billion Tree Campaign is UNEP’s call to the nearly 7 billion people sharing our planet today to take simple, positive steps to protect our climate. It is a defining issue of our era that can only be tackled through individual and collective action. I am convinced that the new target will be met ? one tree at a time,” concluded Executive Director Steiner.
Related: Prof. Wangari Maathai Global Billion Tree Initiative Exceeded
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Food Price Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for Food Sovereignty
Food prices have been increasing sharply. According to the World Bank, global food prices have climbed by 83% over the last three years. The real price of rice rose to a 19-year high in March 2008, an increase of 50% in two weeks alone while the real price of wheat hit a 28-year high, triggering an international crisis.
The increase in food prices is impacting the most vulnerable – the poor are particularly affected, as their diets rely on the very staples that are becoming too costly: cereal grains, cooking oil, and dairy. However, the crisis is being felt not only by the poor, but is also eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, while investors and speculators are busy moving financial capital into food commodity markets after the housing bubble burst in 2007. In the meanwhile International Financial Institutions are promoting further trade liberalization and technological fixes such as the Green Revolution to boost agricultural production.
This Policy Brief examines the impact and causes of the soaring food prices and explores the viability of solutions recommended by the World Bank, WTO and the IMF to deal with growing hunger. It then makes own recommendations on how to stave off the starvation.
The Oakland Institute is a progressive policy think tank working to increase public participation and promote fair debate on critical social, economic, environmental and foreign policy issues.
Read the original article at: Food Price Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for Food Sovereignty
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Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )An Answer to the Global Food Crisis: Peasants & Small Scale Farmers Can Feed the World
Prices on the world market for cereals are rising. Wheat prices increased by 130% in the period between March 2007-March 2008. Rice prices increased by almost 80% in the period up to 2008. Maize prices increased by 35% between March 2007 and March 2008 (1). In countries that depend heavily on food imports some prices have gone up dramatically. Poor families see their food bills go up and can no longer afford to buy the minimum needed.
In many countries cereal prices have doubled or tripled over the last year. Governments in these countries are under high pressure to make food available at reasonable prices. In Haiti the government already fell because of this issue and strong protests have taken place in other countries such as Cameroun, Egypt, and the Philippines…
The current crisis: a result of agricultural liberalization
Some analyst have been exclusively blaming agrofuels, the increasing world demand and global warming for the current food crisis. But actually, this crisis is also the result of many years of destructive policies that have undermined domestic food production. Trade liberalization has waged a virtual war against small producers. Farmers have been forced to produce cash crops for transnational corporations (TNCs) and buy their food on the world market.
Over the last 20-30 years the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and more recently the WTO have forced countries to decrease investment in food production and to reduce support for peasant and small farmers. However, small farmers are the key food producers in the world.
Major international donors have also shown a lack of interest in food production. Development cooperation from industrialized countries to developing countries went up from 20 billion USD in 1980 to 100 billion USD in 2007. However, support for agriculture went down from 17 billion dollar to 3 billion USD during the same time. And most of these funds probably did not go to peasant-based food production.
Under neo-liberal policies, state managed food reserves have been considered too expensive and governments have been forced to reduce and privatize them under structural adjustment regimes. For example, Bulog, the Indonesian state company founded to regulate buffer stocks was privatized in 1998 under the policy package of the International Monetary Fund. Under pressure from the WTO, state marketing boards have been dismantled because they go against the principle of “free” trade. Under WTO agreements, countries have also been forced to “liberalize” their agricultural markets: reduce import duties (which is an important income loss for the importing governments!) and accept imports for at least 5% of their internal consumption even if they did not need it. At the same time TNCs have kept on dumping surpluses into their markets, using all forms of direct and indirect export subsidies.. At the same time, national governments have failed to stabilize their markets and protect farmers and consumers against sudden price fluctuations.
Neo-liberal policies have destroyed the capacities of countries to feed themselves.
After 14 years of NAFTA (North America Free Trade Agreements) Mexico went through a major crisis often dubbed as the “tortilla crisis”. From an exporting country Mexico has become dependent on US maize imports and current imports 30 percent of its maize. Nowadays, while increased amounts of US maize have suddenly been diverted to agro-fuels production, quantities available for the Mexican markets have dropped, provoking price surges.
In 1992, Indonesian farmers produced enough soya to supply the domestic market. Soya-based tofu and ‘tempeh’ are an important part of the daily diet throughout the archipelago. Following the neo-liberal doctrine, the country opened its borders to food imports, allowing cheap US soy to flood the market. This destroyed national production. Today, 60% of the soy consumed in Indonesia is imported. Record prices for US soy last January led to a national crisis when the price of ‘tempeh’ and tofu (the « meat of the poor ») doubled in a few weeks.
According to the FAO the food deficit in West Africa increased by 81% between 1995 and 2004. During the same period cereal imports increased by 102%, sugar imports by 83%, dairy products by 152% and poultry by 500%. However, according to IFAD (2007) the region has the potential to produce sufficient amounts of food.
All around the world, even though it is increasing nation’s vulnerability, liberalization goes on: the European Union is forcing the ACP countries into so-called Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) to liberalize the agricultural sector with foreseeable adverse effects on food production.
The agrofuel boom: a sudden shock on the world markets
The emergence of agrofuels is another cause of food price rises. Over the past few years, TNCs and world economic powers such as the US and the EU have rapidely developed agrofuel production. Massive subsidies and investments are flowing into this “booming” sector. As a result, land is rapidely being converted from food into fuel production and an important part of the US maize suddenly “disappeared” as it was bought up for ethanol production. This uncontrolled explosion of the agrofuel sector created a shock in the already unstable international agricultural markets. Egypt, one of the largest cereal importers, has called upon the US and the EU to stop encouraging the growth of maize and other crops for agrofuels. In Egypt food prices, including subsidized bread, went up by nearly 30% last year (2). In the Philippines, the government is now looking at some 1.2 million hectares for jatropha production in the southern island of Mindanao operated by the Philippine National Oil Co.-Alternative Fuels Corporation, It is also identifying more than 400,000 hectares of land for private sector investments. (Jatropha curcas is a drought-tolerant non-edible shrub. It produces fruits the size of golf balls which contain oil that can be converted into agrofuels. Impacts on local food security are expected (5).
Speculators: betting on expected scarcity
Often eclipsed in the public debate, speculation is one of the main causes of the current food crisis. Production remains high, but speculators are betting on expected scarcity and artificially increasing prices.
World grain production in 2007/2008 is estimated at 2108 million tones (an increase by 4,7% compared to 2006/2007). This is well over the average growth in the last decade of 2%. Average consumption of cereals for food increased around 1% per year and will reach 1009 million tones in 2007/2008. The use for feed purposes increased by 2% to 756 million tones. And the use for other purposes will be around 364 million tones. An important part of it is maize (95 million tones), much of which is going into agrofuels. The USA is expected to use 81 million tons of maize for ethanol, 37% more than in 2006/2007.
The world cereal stocks are estimated to decrease by 21 million (5%) tons to 405 million tons at the end of the season in 2008. Stocks have been going down for several years, they are now at the lowest levels in 25 years.
Although it is true that over the last years demand has increased slightly more compared to production, a balanced international and national policy regarding domestic food production could easily address the situation and would secure stable prices for farmers and consumers.
TNCs and mainstream analysts expect that land will be increasingly used for agrofuels (maize but also palm oil, rape seed, sugarcane…). They predict that the growing Asian middle class will start buying meat which will increase cereal demand and they expect negative climate effects on food production such as severe droughts and floods. Meanwhile, TNCs aggressively obtain large areas of agricultural land around cities for speculative purposes, expelling small food producers . In India more than 700 so called “New Economic Zones” are being established, kicking farmers out of their land.
Based on those predictions, TNCs have been manipulating the markets. Traders have kept stocks away from the market in order to stimulate price increases and generate huge profits afterwards. In Indonesia, in the midst of the soya price hike in January 2008, the company PT Cargill Indonesia was still keeping 13,000 tons of soybeans in its warehouse in Surabaya, waiting for prices to reach record highs.
In many countries large supermarkets have gained a near monopoly power and they are increasing prices far more than is justified by the price increase of the agricultural product. For example in France the price of certain yoghurts increased by 40% although the cost of the milk accounts for only a third of the total price. A substantial increase of the milk price for farmers could never cause such a price increase. (3) In Germany, farmers have seen the farm-gate price of milk dropping by 20-30%, pushing them into bankruptcy because supermarkets use cheap dairy products as a marketing tool to attract consumers.
International financial speculation is playing a major role in food price increases since the summer of 2007. Due to the financial crisis in the USA, speculators started to move from financial products to raw materials, including agricultural products. This directly affects prices in the domestic markets as many countries are increasingly dependent on food imports.
This is happening while there is still enough food in the world to feed the global population. According to the FAO the world could even feed up to 12 billion people in the future.
Lessons learned from the crisis: the market will not solve the problem
Instability on the international food markets is one of the characteristics of agricultural markets: as production is seasonal and variable, and a increase of production cannot be realized very quickly as crops need time to grow. At the same time consumption does not increase very much if more food is available. So small differences in supply and demand, uncertainties regarding future harvests and speculation on international markets can create huge price effects. The volatility in the food markets is mainly due to deregulation, the lack of control on the big players and the lack of necessary state intervention at the international and the national level to stabilize markets. De-regulated markets are key part of the problem!
Peasants and small farmers do not benefit from higher prices
While speculators and large traders do benefit from the current crises, most peasants and farmers do not benefit from the higher prices. They grow food, but the benefits of the harvest often get out of their hands : it is already sold out to the money lender, to the agricultural inputs company, or directly to the trader or the processing unit. Although prices for farmers have gone up for some cereals, this is modest compared with increases on the world market and increases imposed upon consumers. If food on the market comes from domestic producers, usually benefits of higher prices are reaped by companies and other intermediaries that buy the products from the farmers and sell them at an high price. If the products come from the international market, this is even clearer: transnational companies control that market. They define at what prices products are bought in the original country and at what prices they are sold in the importing country. Although in certain cases prices did go up for producers, the biggest part of the increase is cashed in by others. In the dairy and meat sector, because of the increased production costs, farmers even see their prices going down while consumers prices are shooting up.
Despite some moderate price increases at the farm level, stock breeders are in a crisis due to the rise in feed prices and cereal producers are facing sharp rises in oil based fertilizer prices. Farmers sell their produce at an extremely low price compared to what consumers pay. In Europe the Spanish Coordination of Farmer Unions (COAG) calculated that consumers in Spain pay up to 600% more than what the food producer gets for his/her production. Similar figures also exist for other countries where the consumer price is mainly defined by costs for processing, transport and retailing.
Among the victims: agricultural workers, landless farmers and cash crop producers
Agricultural workers as well as many people in the rural areas also have to buy food as they do not have access to land to produce. Therefore, they are severely hit by the current crisis. Some peasants and small farmers may have land but they are forced to produce cash crops instead of food. The increase of the price of edible oil in Indonesia since 2007 has not benefited the Indonesian palm oil farmers at all. They received only a minor price increase from the large buyers and they do not understand why ordinary people and consumers have to suffer such high prices for edible oil. Many of them are working under contract farming with big agribusiness companies which process, refine and sell the product. A small number of big agribusiness companies increased domestic prices, following the international price hike. The contract farming model creates a situation in which farmers cannot produce food for their families as they have to produce cash crops as monocultures such as sugar cane, palm oil, coffee, tea and cacao. This means that even if the farmer receives a minor increase for his cash crop, she has to buy much more expensive food on the market. Therefore increasing food prices also cause more poverty in their families.
Urban consumers hit hard
The international policies of the last decades have expelled hundreds of millions of people to the urban areas where most of them landed in slums, having a very precarious life, forced to work for very low wages and buy food and other goods at a high price. They are the first victims of the current crisis as they have no way to produce their own food. Their number has increased dramatically and they spend a big part of their income on food. According to the FAO, food represents up to 60-80 percent of consumer’s spending in developing countries (including landless farmers and agricultural workers). Companies ruthlessly exploit the current situation, accepting that increasing numbers of people go hungry as they do not have the money to buy the available food. Governments are forced to import expensive food to meet consumer demand and do not have the means to support the poorest consumers.
More free trade will not solve the crisis
Institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF as well as some governments are now advocating more investment in agriculture, increased food aid for the low income food importing countries and further liberalization of markets so that countries can improve their income through export. Many argue that we need more intensive production patterns, which means for them more industrial high input agriculture. This includes the introduction of GMOs and the use of more fossil energy!
At the same time they promote a second TNC-led “green” revolution in Africa, they keep on pushing for more market access for their TNCs in the Doha round and tie up the extra financial support to political criteria to increase the dependency of these countries. Nothing is said about the need for increased market regulation and stabilization or whether the support that is called for will go to peasant-based food production. Such investments will go to the importing countries by offering their financial “help”, bring more investment in corporate-led food production and continue to impose the same recipe of deregulation and privatization.
In the WTO negotiations high prices are used to make governments accept further tariff cuts and more de-regulation of the agricultural markets. This will create the next crisis when price fluctuations go in the other direction.
A way out of the crisis: rebuilding national food economies
To address the current crisis, La Via Campesina believes that countries should give priority in their budget to support the poorest consumers so that they have access to sufficient food. Meanwhile, they should give priority to their domestic food production in order to become less dependent on the world market. This means increased investment in peasant and farmer-based food production for the domestic market.
We do need more intensive food production, but intensive in the use of labor and in the sustainable use of natural resources. Diverse production systems have to be developed, systems that are not exclusively focusing on the main crops such as corn, soya, rice and wheat but that integrate local foods that have been neglected since the onset of the “green” revolution.. Small-scale family farms can produce a large diversity of food that garantees a balanced diet and some surpluses for the markets. Small-scale family farming is a protection against hunger!
Internal market prices have to be stabilized at a reasonable level for farmers and consumers: for farmers so that they can receive prices that cover the cost of production and secure a decent income and for consumers so that they are protected against high food prices. Direct sales from peasants and small farmers to consumers has to be encouraged. Mr. Jacques Diouf, secretary General of FAO has stated that developing countries should be enabled to achieve food self sufficiency(6).
In every country an intervention system has to be put in place that can stabilize market prices. In order to achieve this, import controls with taxes and quotas are needed to regulate imports and avoid dumping or low price imports that undermine domestic production. National buffer stocks managed by the state have to be built up in order to stabilize domestic markets: in times of surplus, cereals can be taken from the market to build up the stock and in case of shortage, cereals can be released.
Therefore land should be distributed equally to the landless and peasant family through genuine agrarian reform and land reform. This should include the control over and access to water, seed, credits and appropriate technology. People should be enabled again to produce their own food and feed their own communities. Any land grabbing, land evictions and expansion of land allocation for the expansion of agribusiness-led agriculture has to be stopped. Immediate measures are needed to support small farmers and peasants to increase agro-ecological food production.
National governments should not repeat the mistake of promoting agribusiness corporations to invest in large food production units. According to the FAO, ex-Soviet countries plan to open their land to agribusiness companies to produce food on land that is currently not cultivated. This could turn out to be another mistake if this is presented as a solution for the food crisis.
Regulating international markets and implementing basic rights
At the international level stabilization measures have to be implemented. International buffer stocks have to be built up as well as an intervention mechanism to stabilize prices on the international markets at a reasonable level. Exporting countries have to accept international rules that control the quantities they can bring to the market.
Countries should have the freedom to control imports in order to protect domestic food production.
Production of cereals for agrofuels is unacceptable and has to be stopped as this competes with food production. As a first step we ask for an immediate moratorium on agrofuels as proposed by Jean Ziegler former UN rapporteur on the Right to Food.
The influence of transnational corporations has to be limited and the international trade in staple foods has to be brought to a necessary minimum level. As much as possible domestic production should fulfill internal demand. This is the only way to protect farmers and consumers against sudden price fluctuations from the international market.
A possible agreement in the Doha Round will mean another blow for peasant-based food production; therefore any agreement has to be rejected.
Peasants and small farmers are the main food producers
La Via Campesina is convinced that peasants and small farmers can feed the world. They therefore have to be considered as the key part of the solution. With sufficient political will and the implementation of adequate policies more peasants and small farmers will easily produce sufficient food to feed everyone at a reasonable price. The current situation shows that changes are needed!
The time for food sovereignty has come!
By La Via Campesina (Grassroots International)
References
- l (1) Crop Prospects and Food situation by FAO, 2008
- l (2) OECD (In Süddeutsche Zeitung 15-4-2008)
- l (3) LEMONDE.FR with AFP 24-02-2008
- l (4) Biofuel News 20-3-2008
- l (5) http://www.checkbiotech.org/green_News_Biofuels.aspx?infoId=17206
- l (6) Le Monde 17-4-2008
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