Land is holy, sacred. But, land is a scarce resource [HERE]. Fertile land should be used to grow crops so that human beings and animals can eat, not for growing crops for our cars and bikes (i.e. biomass, biofuel etc) or else, we may have to resort to mud cakes for dinner.
Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach
"With little cash and import prices rocketing half the population faces starvation
At first sight the business resembles a thriving pottery. In a dusty courtyard women mould clay and water into hundreds of little platters and lay them out to harden under the Caribbean sun.
The craftsmanship is rough and the finished products are uneven. But customers do not object. This is Cité Soleil, Haiti's most notorious slum, and these platters are not to hold food. They are food (www.guardian.co.uk)."
Malaysians have to pay close attention to what is happening in Haiti. If we didn't do anything or didn't question our act of just buying imports, we will soon also be in trouble. Please read the following excerpt:
"Domestic agriculture is a disaster. The slashing and burning of forests for farming and charcoal has degraded the soil and chronic under-investment has rendered rural infrastructure at best rickety, at worst non-existent.
The woes were compounded by a decision in the 1980s to lift tariffs, when international prices were lower, and flood the country with cheap imported rice and vegetables. Consumers gained and the IMF applauded but domestic farmers went bankrupt and the Artibonite valley, the country's breadbasket, atrophied.
Now that imports are rocketing in price the government has vowed to rebuild the withered agriculture but that is a herculean task given scant resources, degraded soil and land ownership disputes.
There is a hopeful precedent. A growing franchise of localised dairies known as Let Agogo (Creole for Unlimited Milk) has organised small farmers to transport and market milk, generating jobs and income and cutting Haiti's £20m annual milk import bill (www.guardian.co.uk).
Please read more by clicking at the link below
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/29/food.internationalaidanddevelopment [online]
(Last Accessed June 1, 2009)
For Photo Gallery:
[HERE]
Hunger in Haiti
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/jul/22/haiti?picture=335890168 [online]
(Last Accessed June 1, 2009)
This is another very interesting article on the food crisis, EATEN UP.
"His analysis shows how communities around the planet have been disempowered by a system that appears to offer an abundance of cheap food, but in reality dictates unhealthy and limited choices to an overworked and underpaid workforce that cannot afford any better (www.guardian.co.uk)."
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/29/food.climatechange [online]
Last Accessed June 1, 2009
Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach
"With little cash and import prices rocketing half the population faces starvation
At first sight the business resembles a thriving pottery. In a dusty courtyard women mould clay and water into hundreds of little platters and lay them out to harden under the Caribbean sun.
The craftsmanship is rough and the finished products are uneven. But customers do not object. This is Cité Soleil, Haiti's most notorious slum, and these platters are not to hold food. They are food (www.guardian.co.uk)."
Malaysians have to pay close attention to what is happening in Haiti. If we didn't do anything or didn't question our act of just buying imports, we will soon also be in trouble. Please read the following excerpt:
"Domestic agriculture is a disaster. The slashing and burning of forests for farming and charcoal has degraded the soil and chronic under-investment has rendered rural infrastructure at best rickety, at worst non-existent.
The woes were compounded by a decision in the 1980s to lift tariffs, when international prices were lower, and flood the country with cheap imported rice and vegetables. Consumers gained and the IMF applauded but domestic farmers went bankrupt and the Artibonite valley, the country's breadbasket, atrophied.
Now that imports are rocketing in price the government has vowed to rebuild the withered agriculture but that is a herculean task given scant resources, degraded soil and land ownership disputes.
There is a hopeful precedent. A growing franchise of localised dairies known as Let Agogo (Creole for Unlimited Milk) has organised small farmers to transport and market milk, generating jobs and income and cutting Haiti's £20m annual milk import bill (www.guardian.co.uk).
Please read more by clicking at the link below
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/29/food.internationalaidanddevelopment [online]
(Last Accessed June 1, 2009)
For Photo Gallery:
[HERE]
Hunger in Haiti
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/jul/22/haiti?picture=335890168 [online]
(Last Accessed June 1, 2009)
This is another very interesting article on the food crisis, EATEN UP.
"His analysis shows how communities around the planet have been disempowered by a system that appears to offer an abundance of cheap food, but in reality dictates unhealthy and limited choices to an overworked and underpaid workforce that cannot afford any better (www.guardian.co.uk)."
Source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/29/food.climatechange [online]
Last Accessed June 1, 2009
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