Global News Post: Food Prices

UN Alarmed Over Sharp Rise in Grain Prices

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<div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b><i>By VOA News</i></b></span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A 20-percent spike in maize and wheat prices in just the past three weeks is raising concerns with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)</span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">FAO economist Shukri Ahmed said the increase in price was sharp and sudden. He said that until May, experts were hoping for a huge increase in worldwide maize production</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The FAO Global Information and Early Warning System issued a bulletin Friday saying that drought in the United States is helping push up prices, while hot, dry weather in the Black Sea region is affecting wheat</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ahmed says the price increase will put pressure on national budgets in countries that depend on imports for their domestic food needs</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>"</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Northern African countries, Middle Eastern countries, some countries even in Asia and Africa, who actually depend for more than 30 to 70 percent of their consumption needs on imports," said Ahmed</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Add the threat of rising food prices to the list of troubles in Syria</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>"</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Near Eastern countries, whether it is Iraq or Syria or others, actually import from the international market. So, if these prices persist as they are, it will have implications on the countries that import much," said Ahmed</span><span dir="RTL"></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span dir="RTL"></span>.</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="direction: ltr; text-align: justify; unicode-bidi: embed;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ahmed said that price increases will strain national budgets in countries that depend on imported grain, forcing them to make difficult choices.<o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

UN Alarmed Over Sharp Rise in Grain Prices

By VOA News A 20-percent spike in maize and wheat prices in just the past three weeks is raising concerns with the United Nations Food and...

India: Food Inflation Turns Negative; RBI May Cut Interest Rates

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<div style="border-bottom: double windowtext 2.25pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;">  <div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI) -- Food inflation turned negative in late December for the first time in many years as prices of vegetables like onion and potato declined, a development that may prompt the Reserve Bank of India to go for rate cuts at its next monetary policy review later this month.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Food inflation, measured by the wholesale price index (WPI), plunged to (-) 3.36 per cent as on Dec 24. This is the first time in almost six years, for which data with base year 2004-05 is available, that food inflation has shown a decline on an annual basis.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Encouraged by the development, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "There has been substantial improvement. Food inflation has turned negative for the first time in the recent memory."<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Food inflation stood at 0.42 per cent in the previous week. It was 21 per cent in the corresponding week of 2010.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">According to official data released Thursday, onion became cheaper by 73.74 per cent year-on-year during the week, while potato prices were down by 34.01 per cent. Prices of wheat fell by 3.41 per cent. Overall, vegetables became 50.22 per cent cheaper during the week ended December 24.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">The fall food price has been substantial since the first week of November, when food inflation stood at double-digit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">"The environment appears to be in favour of the Reserve Bank reversing its monetary policy stance," Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council chairman C Rangarajan said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: double windowtext 2.25pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in; text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">RBI, which has raised interest rates 13 times since March, 2010 to contain inflation, has already paused rate hike in its December mid-quarter policy review. The central bank is scheduled to announce next policy review on Jan 24. -- NNN-PTI</span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></div></div> <br />
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India: Food Inflation Turns Negative; RBI May Cut Interest Rates

NEW DELHI (NNN-PTI) -- Food inflation turned negative in late December for the first time in many years as prices of vegetables like oni...

Analysis: Six ways to take the bite out of Bangladesh food price hikes

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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfBwNgqNlJrTzUIU2Ioad2FYqp_Jasc-0MZwcRNjnf8xs-wMPNn9lOkzlVJccH4FtUyL9EmmlLHz2VkQ-sDNetZdlevxFRSj5XT51Bdfw8UlyChupr23uu8mR5Rjj4hD2IRN9ZudVlpk/s1600/foodpricebanglades.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBfBwNgqNlJrTzUIU2Ioad2FYqp_Jasc-0MZwcRNjnf8xs-wMPNn9lOkzlVJccH4FtUyL9EmmlLHz2VkQ-sDNetZdlevxFRSj5XT51Bdfw8UlyChupr23uu8mR5Rjj4hD2IRN9ZudVlpk/s1600/foodpricebanglades.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Photo: </span></i><i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/"><span style="color: #0a62a1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Mubashar Hasan/IRIN</span></a></span></i><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> Among the most vulnerable to <o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">price shocks are the elderly, urban poor, women and children<o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">DHAKA (IRIN) -<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Food price increases<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">have typically been followed by declining energy, vitamin and mineral intake and worsening malnutrition among <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s poorest. As food prices continue to climb, IRIN asked experts how to break this pattern.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Over the past year the price of rice in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> has increased by close to 30 percent, flour by 50 percent, lentils by 15 percent and chicken by 37 percent, according to a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">2011 study by Oxfam<span style="color: #333333;">.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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The poor are hit hardest during these price shocks as they spend more of their income on food, said Kenneth Brown, a professor of nutrition at the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype>  of <st1:placename w:st="on">California</st1:placename></st1:place> at Davis and adviser to NGO Helen Keller International (HKI).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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“The usual coping strategy is to purchase more of the lower cost staple food and less of the complementary sources of vitamins and minerals… It is the quality of the diet that suffers with increasing food prices,” said Brown.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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As a result, both chronic and acute malnutrition will worsen during rising food price increases, said Howarth Bouis, director of HarvestPlus, a food fortification project of the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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A 50 percent increase in food prices results in a decrease in energy intake of 5-15 percent and a drop in iron intake of 10-30 percent, based on a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">model Bouis and colleagues created<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #0a62a1;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">using data on food prices and consumption from rural <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> in the mid-1990s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">In a 2010 nutrition survey released on 13 December (not yet online) by HKI, the Dhaka-based BRAC University, and the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, an estimated 45 percent of children under five were too short for their age group (stunted), a sign of vitamin and mineral deficiency.</span><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Lack of micronutrients is a leading cause of preventable mental disability, according to health experts.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Six out of 10 households in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> - including some 10 million children - did not have access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food in 2010, according to the food security and nutrition survey by HKI and its Bangladeshi partners.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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Surveying 23,000 households (including 26,000 children) researchers found the rate of acute malnutrition doubled to 16 percent from the beginning to the end of the dry season (January-August).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Humanitarian agencies view any percentage above 15 as a nutrition emergency.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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Below are six ways experts identified to help people in Bangladesh not simply survive - but also thrive - during food price increases.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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<strong>Household food production<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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“In rural areas, homestead gardening and small animal production can help to make people less vulnerable to price shock,” said Damien Joud of Action Against Hunger (ACF).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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HKI trains farmers, mostly female, on agricultural methods that help boost their yield and income while saving water and soil resources. It also provides improved seeds and animal breeds.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Household food production is part of the organization’s response to global food price volatility, as laid out in a<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">position paper<span style="color: #333333;">updated in June 2011.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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<strong>Safety net programmes<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></strong><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</span></b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Activities should safeguard and improve the food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable groups, said Michael Dunford, acting country director of the World Food Programme in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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“Empowering women and improving their access to income-earning opportunities is one of the most effective means of strengthening the resilience of households to shocks. Women are more likely to ensure that infants and young children receive the food they need.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 6.0pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 6.0pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><img align="absMiddle" border="0" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\wisdom\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="13" /> <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94466"><b><span style="color: #0a62a1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">SAHEL: Act now   to avoid another crisis, say aid agencies</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 6.0pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 6.0pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><img align="absMiddle" border="0" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\wisdom\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1026" width="13" /> <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=81781"><b><span style="color: #0a62a1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">GLOBAL:   Avoiding another food price bubble</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 6.0pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 6.0pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><img align="absMiddle" border="0" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\wisdom\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1027" width="13" /> <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=77646"><b><span style="color: #0a62a1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">GLOBAL:   "Let them eat subsidies?"</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
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<tr>   <td style="border: none; padding: 6.0pt 3.75pt 3.75pt 6.0pt;">   <div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-element-anchor-horizontal: column; mso-element-anchor-vertical: paragraph; mso-element-frame-hspace: 8.25pt; mso-element-frame-vspace: 1.5pt; mso-element-left: right; mso-element-top: middle; mso-element-wrap: around; mso-element: frame; mso-height-rule: exactly; text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #006699; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><img align="absMiddle" border="0" height="13" src="file:///C:\Users\wisdom\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtml1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="_x0000_i1029" width="13" /> <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94082"><b><span style="color: #0a62a1; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">WEST AFRICA:   Building resilience in the Sahel</span></b></a><o:p></o:p></span></div></td>  </tr>
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</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">In September 2008, the government launched a 100-day employment generation programme to help poor families affected by high food prices; it has become the largest safety net programme in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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Now known as the Employment Generation Programme for the Poorest, it targets rural areas during two lean seasons when families are awaiting harvests: March-May (40 days) and October-December (40 days).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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There are more than 60 government-led safety net programmes nationwide, according to Akhter Ahmed, chief of party for IFPRI’s <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> office. “However, most of these programmes have limited coverage, are uncoordinated and are not adequately funded.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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<strong>Wage increases<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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“If wages of the poorest section of the population increase with the food price hikes, the negative impact of the price hikes can be mitigated,” said Ahmed.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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“The extent of such mitigation will depend on the time [it takes for the wages to increase] and the magnitude of the wage increase. It is encouraging that wages of the poor have been increasing in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> since the 2008 food price surge. The government should monitor changes in wages relative to food price changes,” he added.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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The<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">average monthly income<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #0a62a1;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">rose from US$94 in 2005 to $150 in 2010. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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<strong>School feeding<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Ahmed emphasized school feeding programmes for their ability to “ensure nutrition and education at the same time” and called for a targeted expansion in places like urban slums.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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“To achieve maximum benefit for the cost, the programme should cover those areas where undernutrition is a serious problem, school enrolment and attendance rates are low and dropout rates are high… The programme should also cover secondary schools in target areas to improve education and nutrition of adolescent girls,” he added.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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As of December 2011, 2.7 million primary school students nationwide receive food at school, according to Bablu Kumar Saha, director of the government’s national school feeding programme.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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There are 16.5 million primary school-aged children in the country.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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<strong>Subsidized food<o:p></o:p></strong></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5EG8w8Duj6gtlDBZSmnPbRiblMLyb0k_xST6HAuDF136FtiOsQ6s81MYzs6PQHn8e1m_RmsjtpN9ymxCMhDZHZten95bckwIIWQPYaL86aeZMqw6pZ7z99PP2jf-YN-4x7NH33BX5FE/s1600/Open+market+sale+in+Dhaka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh5EG8w8Duj6gtlDBZSmnPbRiblMLyb0k_xST6HAuDF136FtiOsQ6s81MYzs6PQHn8e1m_RmsjtpN9ymxCMhDZHZten95bckwIIWQPYaL86aeZMqw6pZ7z99PP2jf-YN-4x7NH33BX5FE/s1600/Open+market+sale+in+Dhaka.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Photo: <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/photo/" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Contributor/IRIN</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 8.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Open market sale in <st1:place w:st="on">Dhaka</st1:place><o:p></o:p></span></i></div></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">An effective<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">public food distribution system<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #0a62a1;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">can make people less vulnerable to price shocks, said Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, chairman of the local research group, Unnayan Onneshan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Leaving the market to set food prices has in some cases led to predatory price-fixing, while the government’s long-running open market sales - when it releases its stocks directly to poor populations to prevent any sharp increases in market prices - is limited in its reach and efficacy, said Titumir as well as authors of the 2010 nutrition survey.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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Other national subsidy programmes in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region> have included rations for vulnerable groups and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">food-for-work<span style="color: #333333;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Crop breeding<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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</span></b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Bio-fortification<span style="color: #333333;">, or selectively breeding crops high in nutrients, can buttress against shocks by creating more mineral and vitamin dense food staples, said HarvestPlus’s Bouis.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
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“The time is long overdue to bring agricultural interventions to bear to reduce micronutrient malnutrition,” he wrote in Food and Nutrition Bulletin.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br />
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</span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">A recent study<span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #0a62a1;"> </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">of zinc-fortified rice in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:country-region></st1:place> (supported by HarvestPlus) concluded that while it has the potential to increase children’s intake of zinc, the zinc-fortified rice examined did not increase children’s levels of total absorbed zinc.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> </span></span></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;"><br />
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HarvestPlus aims to release in 2013 top performing seeds of high-zinc rice currently under testing in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bangladesh</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";"><o:p></o:p></span></div></div>

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