Saturday 20 June 2009 The number of people in the world without enough food has reached a historic high. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says that one person out of six, or just over one billion people, lack sufficient food and the UN body predicts that the number will increase by 11 per cent this year as a result of the world economic crisis. Food shortages in the Asia-Pacific region affect some 640 million people, while in sub-Saharan Africa, about 265 million people go hungry.
Tuesday 12 May 2009 HALIFAX: LOBSTER FISHERY IN CRISIS
There appears to be a crisis in Canada's lobster industry as a result of declining prices and a drop in demand. The Canadian government is considering how best to help fishermen who have been hard hit by the low prices. A group that represents east coast lobster fishermen says they need short-term financial help to make loan payments on their boats and a buyback of licences to reduce the number of fishermen. The Gulf Nova Scotia Fishermen's Coalition says that without federal help, many small fishing operations involved in the multi-million-dollar industry could face collapse. Last week, dozens of fishermen in the province of Prince Edward Island kept their boats tied up at the wharf, saying it was not worth going out.
Tuesday 21 April 2009 WINNIPEG: FLOOD RELIEF DOUBLED
The Manitoba government says it has doubled the financial relief available for flood victims. Emergency Measures Minister Steve Ashton says homeowners will be able to claim a maximum of $200,000 for damaged homes. However, the minister says the payments aren't a substitute for insurance and that homeowners should file insurance claims first. The minister says at least 300 homes so far have suffered damaged for the annual spring flooding of the Red River. One-hundred of them are on the Peguis native reserve, 250 kilometres north of Winnipeg. About 1,300 of the 2,000 Manitobans forced from their homes by flooding are from First Nations' communities. Manitoba's top native leader, Ron Evans, says aboriginals in the province are being ignored by both the federal and provincial governments. Mr. Evans noted that reserves are already plagued by housing shortages. Mr. Ashton says reserves are a federal responsibility but that the province will look into ways of flood prevention at
Saturday 21 March 2009 Argentine farmers in food strike
Farmers in Argentina are halting grain, oilseeds and cattle sales for seven days in protest at agricultural policies.
Saturday 21 March 2009 Agriculture minister demands S.Korea accept Canadian beef SASKATOON — Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz has given South Korea an ultimatum to agree on a timeline for resuming acceptance of Canadian beef or face a WTO trade challenge. South Korea is one of two countries, along with mainland China, that has refused to reopen its borders to Canadian beef since the 2003 discovery of a case of mad cow disease in Western Canada.
Friday 20 March 2009 SWITZERLAND
The United Nations will shut down its humanitarian air services in much of West Africa because of shortage of funds. The World Food Program says chartered aircraft used to ferry aid workers and supplies to remote parts of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Ivory coast will stop this Friday. The WFP says aid workers will not be able to reach vulnerable people with medical care, food and water. The suspension follows the halting of air deliveries to Niger in February and temporary shutdowns of flights to the Central African Republic, Niger and Sudan last year. The shutdowns were due to a smaller budget. Donor funds from European Union, United States, Britain, Canada, Spain and the Netherlands amounted to $115 million last year instead of $193 million. Aid workers in Western Africa say they will have difficulty working without helicopters and aircraft to reach places where roads and bridges are impassable or where security problems make road journeys unsafe.
Thursday 19 March 2009 Global crisis 'to strike by 2030'
The world's growing population will create a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages, the UK's chief science adviser says.
Monday 29 December 2008 Food needs 'fundamental rethink'
A sustainable global food system in the 21st Century needs to be built on a series of "new fundamentals", a leading food expert says.
Wednesday 26 November 2008 OTTAWA: MORE WORKERS EATING FROM FOOD BANKS
Food Banks Canada says that more working people than ever are obtaining food from food banks. The charity says in its 12th annual survey of emergency food programs that 704,414 people, one-third of them children, used food banks when it took its yearly survey in March. However, the survey found that 14.5 per cent of recipients are classified as "working poor," up from under 12 per cent six years ago. Food Banks Canada attributes the rise to the huge loss of jobs in the auto and forestry industries, jobs which have been replaced by low-paying retail jobs that often don't come with benefits. The charity has responded to its own statistics by calling on the federal government to approve a Canada Child Tax Benefit of $5,000, up from the current $3,300. Federal Human Resources Minister Diane Finley cited a range of tax benefits and credits which the Conservative government has approved, citing a payment of $1,200 for each child under age six, claiming this has taken 55,000 children out of the low-income bracket.
Tuesday 04 November 2008 OTTAWA: UNION DEMANDS GOVT. FOOD INSPECTION
A labour union representing 55,000 public servants has demanded that the federal government freeze the privatization of food inspection. The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada says allowing the food industry to inspect itself is putting the population at risk. The union also wants an independent judicial inquiry into the lethal outbreak of listeriosis at a Maple Leaf Foods Inc. meat packing plant in Toronto last August. Twenty people died from the epidemic traced back to the plant. The union wants the law changed to allow inspectors the power to recall unsafe products.
Yes We Have No Bananas: A Critique of the 'Food Miles' Perspective
Saturday 25 October 2008 UN head seeks crisis aid for poor
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calls for drastic measures to protect developing countries from the financial crisis.
Wednesday 22 October 2008 TORONTO: PLANT PRODUCTS LINKED TO EPIDEMIC APPROVED
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it has approved meat products made at a Maple Leaf Foods Inc. plant have been approved for consumption. The plant was the source of the listeriosis epidemic that erupted in August, killing at least 20 people. The plant was shut on Aug. 20 and production resumed only on Sept. 17. Maple Leaf says that 60 product samples have been taken daily from each production line to check for safety.
Tuesday 21 October 2008 OTTAWA: CHEESE MAKERS TRY TO BLOCK REGULATIONS
Canada's three biggest cheese makers have asked Federal Court of Canada to block new federal regulations that are to come into effect on Dec. 4. The regulations will require them to use more full-fat milk and fewer milk solids ingredients. Kraft Canada Inc., Parmalat Canada Inc. and Saputo Inc. argue that the regulations are a maneuvre to provide extra revenue for dairy farmers and will cause higher prices for consumers. The producers predict that any gains for the farmers would be short-lived because the higher prices will discourage consumption. The rule changes are supported by the dairy farmers.
Friday 17 October 2008 IRELAND
Experts on world hunger from the U.S., Africa and Asia will start a conference on world hunger in Dublin on Thursday. Some of the experts already there say that a global economy that can commit hundreds of billion of dollars to prop up banks should be able to come up with a fraction of that to fight hunger. The UN estimates that 970 million people will go hungry in 2009, compared with 920 million last year.
Thursday 11 September 2008 WALKERTON: DION DECRIES GOVT. DEREGULATION, CUTS
The Liberal candidate, Mr. Dion, took his campaign to the southernwestern Ontario town where one of Canada's worst public health disasters occurred in 2000. Seven people died and 2,000 fell ill after deadly E.-coli bacteria contaminated Walkerton's drinking water supply. A subsequent inquiry attributed the disaster in part to cuts in water testing by the provincial government. Mr. Dion told an audience of students that the health catastrophe illustrates the dangers of government deregulation and cutbacks. The Liberal leader says a Liberal government would spend an extra $50 million to strengthen Canada's food protection network, mentioning as well the current listeriosis outbreak, promising as well to hire 100 more federal food inspectors.
TORONTO: TAINTED FOOD KILLS AGAIN
Federal health officials report a 15th death caused by the listeriosis epidemic which erupted last month. The sources say the death occurred in Ontario without providing any other details. Thirteen of the victims have been Ontario residents, with one each in Alberta and British Columbia. There have been 42 cases altogether, of which five deaths are still under investigation. The epidemic has been traced to a Maple Leaf Foods Inc. meat packing plant in Toronto.
Thursday 11 September 2008 WASHINGTON: NORTH AMERICAN FISH IN JEOPARDY
American, Canadian and Mexican warn in a study that four of 10 freshwater fish species in North America are in danger. The study led by the U.S. Geological Survey researchers and published in the journal Fisheries is the first such survey in almost 20 years. The international team of researchers found that 457 fish species are in trouble or already extinct. Seven-hundred subspecies living in smaller, geographically localized habitats are vulnerable or endangered, almost twice as many as 19 years ago. While about 10 per cent of Canadian species swindled, the situation is described as much worse in Mexico. The scientists blame polluting and damming of freshwater habitats for the worsening situation
Monday 25 August 2008
IF IN DOUBT, THROW IT OUT
CBC News: Sunday Night, CTV News, the Globe, the Star, and La Presse lead, and the Post and the Citizen go inside with growing concern about the scope of a listeriosis outbreak that has killed four Canadians so far. Maple Leaf Foods has decided to recall 220 ready-to-eat meat products, all of them processed at its north-western Toronto plant, after they were deemed potentially contaminated by the sometimes-fatal bacteria Listeria monocytogenes. The embattled company has engaged in total damage control, producing a public-service announcement apologizing profusely for the unsafe meat and placing a full-page ad within most of the Big Seven papers relaying the same message. The sheer size of the recall is astounding. Maple Leaf Foods distributes several popular brands of meat, including Schneider’s and Shopsy’s, all around the country. The identification number of the factory involved can be found on the packaging as “97B.” It is located immediately beside the best-before date. Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain recommended returning the products for a full refund. Federal Health Minister Tony Clement went one step further, telling Canadians at a press conference, “If in doubt, throw it out.” Further complicating matters is uncertainty about the impact of the outbreak: Listeriosis has an incubation period that can last up to seventy days, before symptoms appear (according to the Globe, it can be as long as ninety days).
Maple Leaf estimates the recall will cost $20 million - ten times its initial guess. The Big Seven seem to be reacting to the news more than analyzing it, not asking questions as much as they are relaying information to the public about what the authorities are saying and how best to avoid the bacteria. It has meant less coverage has been devoted to future concerns - in English, anyway. La Presse provides the most foresight of the Big Seven, supplementing its basic story with another one sounding the alarm about food safety in Canada. According to that report, some observers believe there are simply not enough inspectors at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to adequately ensure a safe supply across the country. MediaScout expects that the rest of the Big Seven will ask similar questions as illnesses subside and the current outbreak calms down. For now, though, stories will likely continue to emphasize the number of dead (four), sick (twenty-one), and potentially sick (thirty) Canadians.
Monday 25 August 2008 OTTAWA: LISTERIOSIS OUTBREAK TRACED TO MEAT PLANT
The Public Health Agency of Canada says that DNA tests have confirmed that meat products from a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto are responsible for the outbreak of listeriosis. Twenty-one cases of listeriosis have been found across Canada. Most are in Ontario but others are in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Quebec. Four people have died from the outbreak. The plant has been closed and the company is recalling more of its products. Maple Leaf expects that the recall will cost about CDN$20 million, ten times more than the company originally estimated.
Wednesday Jul 30, 2008 Farmers fear poor crop year
All of Quebec's major commercial crops, which earned $1.1 billion for the province's farmers last year...
Thursday Jul 24, 2008 Food prices join gasoline in fuelling inflation
Just as Canadian consumers are starting to get some price relief at the gas pump, they are being hit... Food prices - padded by hikes of 44 per cent for flour, 36 per cent for pasta and 12.3 per cent for baked goods - rose three per cent in June from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said yesterday, while gasoline prices, which were 26.9 per cent higher, remained the major inflation culprit.
In addition, a nine-per-cent increase in mortgage interest costs and 14.3-per-cent jump in air transportation prices also exerted strong upward pressure on the index
Saturday Jul 12, 2008 Canada quells local farmers' concerns
Canada's agriculture ministers have promised that their efforts to harmonize food standards will reflect... "Who produces olives in Canada?" Lessard asked his counterparts. The rules now say that olives not grown in Canada can be considered Canadian if they are canned in here. The same applies to other imported foods.
Monday 07 July 2008 Rising costs dominate G8 summit
World leaders are starting a key summit in Japan that is expected to focus on soaring global food and fuel prices.
Friday 04 July 2008 Fresh record for Indian inflation
Indian inflation reaches its latest record high as food, fuel, cement and steel prices continue to rise.
The head of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization, Jacques Diouf, says the world's farmers need help immediately to prepare for the next growing so as to alleviate the ongoing international food crisis. Speaking in Frankfurt, he said that while people need food aid to stave off starvation, farmers in developing nations need immediate access to more seeds, fertilizers and animal feed for the 2008 growing season in September, October and November. Mr. Diouf says that in the absence of such aid, the situation will worsen. In London, the World Food Program's executive director, Josette Sheeran, compared the situation to a silent tsunami. The World Bank has estimated that food prices have risen by 83 per cent in three years.
“I will leave with the next boat going to Miami because I can no longer resist this hunger,” says Marcel Jonassaint, a Haitian mother of four. The Star reports that Haitians, starving due to the scarcity and rising cost of food, are talking about taking to the sea to escape worsening food-shortage conditions in Port-au-Prince. Anxious westerners, beginning to comprehend the scale of the crisis, have been stocking their cupboards. In response, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has placed a restriction on the amount of rice per customer in many of its Sam’s Club warehouse-style grocery stores in the US. Meanwhile, World Vision has just announced that, this year, it will not be able to feed 1.5 million of the 7.5 million people it aided last year. Surveying these various and related stories in the Big Seven today, things look grim.
More than one hundred million people are being driven deeper into poverty as a result of surging food costs, warned Josette Sheeran, executive director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP). This came after Monday’s summit in London, England, where experts gathered to develop a plan to deal with the problem. World Vision, which gets most of its food from WFP, has called upon governments to collectively contribute $500 million to cover the shortfall. Dave Toycen, president of World Vision Canada, says Canada has been “reasonably generous” in donating food aid to WFP, but expresses that Canada ought to shoot higher than its target of just less than half a million tonnes of food. Toycen also weighs in on the confluence of factors that have led to World Vision’s cutbacks. The cost of oil (once again soaring nationwide) drives up the price of fertilizer, a major factor. Additionally, the crops normally used to feed people are feeding the production of biofuels instead. Finally, to bring it all back home, a Harris/Decima poll asked some ten thousand Canadians how they felt about the world’s environmental problems. The survey found that Canadians, in general, blame themselves for the wasteful consumption that is now coming back to bite the world, in the form of environmental degradation and food shortages.
Tuesday 24 June 2008 OTTAWA: MAD-COW CASE DETECTED
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is reporting another case of mad-cow disease, this time in British Columbia. There's no word on where the cow was located, but an investigation is underway to find its birthplace. It's the third case of BSE or Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in the province in the last three years and the 13th across the country. A ban on using animal materials in feed products has practically eliminated BSE but a small number of cases are still expected to surface. BSE is a fatal, neurodegenerative disease in cattle that causes degeneration in the brain and spinal cord.
Tuesday 17 June 2008 UNITED STATES
Corn prices hit a record high on Monday, as huge floods in the U.S. Middle West caused fears of a smaller crop and higher prices. Corn futures for July rose as high as US$7.60 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, before closing at US$7.40 a bushel. The floods have engulfed soybean fields as well, pushing prices to near all-time highs.
Corn prices have hit new highs after the US Department of Agriculture forecast that output would fall because of poor weather.
Corn hit a record price of $6.672 a bushel for July delivery on the Chicago Board of Trade after the government cut its forecasts for the 2008 yield by 3%.
Wednesday Jun 11, 2008 Food crisis comes home for summer
The world food crisis is as close as your corner, if you live at the corner of St. Urbain and Rachel... "We used to get enough to sustain us until September," Sun Youth co-founder and executive director Sid Stevens said.
03 June 2008 Nationalistic capitalism and the food crisis, Cleo Paskal Different countries have divergent approaches to international trade, and these are changing the way food is bought and sold. As world leaders meet in Rome this week to discuss soaring prices, C Paskal considers China’s approach.ChinaDialogue.net
Thursday 05 June 2008 OTTAWA: GOVT. CRITICIZED FOR NOT ATTENDING UN FOOD CONFERENCE
The opposition in the House of Commons on Wednesday attacked the Conservative government for not sending the agriculture minister, Gerry Ritz, to the Food and Agriculture conference in Rome. Liberal Member of Parliament Maria Minna asked the minister why he wasn't in Rome defending Canada's interests when Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is generally thought to have destroyed his country's agricultural sector, is defending his nation's. Mr. Ritz responded that Mr. Mugabe's presence precisely defines the credibility of the event, a remark which Mrs. Minna called "totally inappropriate and totally irresponsible." Canada is represented at the FAO meeting by the ambassador to Italy. The conference is being held as world food prices have skyrocketed and several poor countries have experienced food riots. The minister noted that Canada does take the crisis serious and that when the World Food Program asked for emergency contributions in April, Canada responded with an additional $50 million.
Tuesday Jun 3, 2008 Canadians want more inspectors
Canadians don't think the federal government has enough health inspectors to make sure the food for ... Health Canada conducted a series of focus groups in February in Toronto and Montreal to determine the level of concern about food and consumer product safety in Canada.
Agricultural protectionism fuels food crisis
The world has enormous reserve capacity in food production to deal with the current food crisis. But this potential has been held back too long by agricultural protectionism in developed economies and, more recently, by export restrictions imposed in some less developed countries.
Monday 02 June 2008
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FOOD PRICES RISE, CANADIAN CREDIBILITY FALLS
CBC News: Sunday Night opened last night’s show with a look ahead to Tuesday’s meeting of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome to discuss what the group has called “the worst food crisis in forty years” and an “invisible emergency” that demands the attention of the world’s richest nations. In the face of rising food prices around the globe, critics have slammed the apparent inability of world leaders to address the needs of people who are starving, malnourished, and dying every day. The current crisis has been spurred by a perfect storm of high commodity prices—oil, of course—around the world, bad harvests and weather, increased bio-fuel production, and slanted trade policies that have left millions hungry—more than 850 million, according to the UN—in less developed nations. UN World Food Program spokeswoman Brenda Barton said that budgets are tight and money is drastically needed to meet the basic needs of the poorest people in the world. Meanwhile, the Globe’s editorial board laments the hypocrisy of the Canadian position on the global food trade. While Ottawa “has laudably earmarked short-term funding to buy food for the hungry,” the editorial reads, the feds have no long-term vision to help the crisis. The government is telling the World Trade Organization it wants to protect Canadian farmers from low prices (by exerting control over those prices), all the while using more and more crops for bio-fuel production, a policy that may be seen as frivolous in light of the food crisis. The Star wades into the debate, saying that the current food crisis “reflects the world’s failure to respect, protect and fulfill the human right to adequate food.” Writers Stuart Clark and Cathleen Kneen, both involved in Canadian food-security NGOs, call for a moratorium on bio-fuel development, more support for farmers in the developing world, and a renewed trade regime that treats those farmers fairly.
Nick Taylor-Vaiseyis an Ottawa-based MediaScout writer for Maisonneuve Magazine.
Thursday 29 May 2008 UN warns about higher food costs
Expect higher food prices and volatile commodity markets, says a report by the UN's food organisation.
Causes of Food Borne Illness Many people have had foodborne illness and not even known it. It’s sometimes called food poisoning, and it can feel like the flu. Symptoms may include the following: stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fever.
Friday 23 May 2008 Has “a dollar a day” had its day?
Clean-energy research firm New Energy Finance has waded into the "food versus fuel" debate and finds that oil is a bigger factor in rising food prices than biofuels.
New Energy Finance, which will release its report Tuesday, also finds that changing food patterns around the world, growing population, and rising input costs, such as fertilizers, are contributing to upward pressure on food prices.
Wednesday 21 May 2008 New Trend in Biofuels Has New Risks
Many crops that could be used to make biofuels without driving up food prices are invasive species, scientists say.
ROME — In the past year, as the diversion of food crops like corn and palm to make biofuels has helped to drive up food prices, investors and politicians have begun promoting newer, so-called second-generation biofuels as the next wave of green energy. These, made from non-food crops like reeds and wild grasses, would offer fuel without the risk of taking food off the table, they said.
The price of wheat and corn crops have escalated to record highs
Global food prices may have shown some signs of stabilising, according to the United Nations.
But it has not stopped large numbers of investors from piling into food commodities and options traded in the City of London and other financial centres around the world.
So much so that some farmers and foreign governments are putting the blame firmly on speculators for at least some of the 40% year on year price gain for staples like wheat, soya and maize.
World Hunger
There is much talk but seemingly little action on world hunger. In addition to the effect of government policies favouring supply control marketing and international trade of farm produce, there is the issue of domestic animal feed. Cattle are naturally herbivores, but are fed grain because it is less expensive than sending them to pasture. Thirty -seven percent of grain produced is said to go to feed livestock with indifference to their natural biological needs, in order to provide relatively inexpensive meat. Ultimately, our patterns of consumption are unsustainable without further adversely further affecting the survival of the population of have-not nations.
In less than two weeks the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity will meet in Bonn. One of the principal topics is Biodiversity & Agriculture, with biofuels a key agenda item, reflecting the change in international views on what was not long ago considered a viable solution to the world’s dependence on oil. Since that early euphoria, intense criticism of some biofuel production has been followed by even harsher denunciation of the changes brought to agriculture - and thus to the world’s food supply. [Editor’s note: A vivid example is the story by AFP that Myanmar is struggling to feed its people in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis — in part because the regime has been forcing some farmers to stop growing rice in a plan to produce biofuel instead.]
Top U.N. human rights forum to examine food crisis
By Stephanie Nebehay
GENEVA, May 9 (Reuters) - The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold a special session on May 23 to examine how the world’s food crisis is undermining the right to food for millions of people, officials said on Friday.
Myanmar News Agency, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An aerial view of a town in the southern Irrawaddy Delta region of Myanmar that was devastated by the cyclone More Photos >
May 10
Wednesday 07 May 2008
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GHRELIN GETS WHAT IT WANTS
CTV News fronts, while The National and the Star go inside with a hormone, produced by the stomach, that tricks you into eating more by making food look especially delectable. A new study, published in the May issue of Cell Metabolism, suggests that ghrelin, a hormone that triggers hunger in humans, causes the brain to react to images of food in much the same way as it does when drug addicts look forward to their next fix. McGill University researchers found that ghrelin not only regulates appetite, as previously thought, but also triggers the brain’s pleasure centres, indicating that high-calorie food has addictive potential. According to CTV News, the evolutionary purpose of the hormone was to guide humans in choosing food based on appearance when options were scarce. However, ghrelin was not meant for the age of twenty-four-hour convenience stores and abundant, tantalizing food images in the media, the combination of which seems to be encouraging people to eat more than they should, which leads to obesity and other health problems. The study suggests possible treatments for obesity (blocking the hormone) and anorexia (increasing it), but researchers warn that mood disorders can be serious and unpredictable when messing with the brain’s pleasure centres.
Jordan Himelfarb is a Quebec City-based MediaScout writer for Maisonneuve Magazine.
Friday 02 May 2008
Bush offers $770m for food crisis
George W Bush offers $770m (£390m) in new international food aid to help ease the effects of surging food prices.
Friday 02 May 2008 OTTAWA: COMMONS VOTES FOR BIOFUEL
Members of Parliament have voted in second reading for a bill that would empower the government to impose mandatory amounts of biofuel in gasoline and diesel fuel. The governing Conservative and the Liberals and Bloc Québécois voted for the measure. The legislation will now go to third and final reading in the House of Commons. If the bill becomes law, the Conservatives would be enabled to fulfil a campaign promise to require that all fuel contain five per cent biofuel. Biofuel supporters says it's environmentally friendly and a partial solution to global warming. Critics blame biofuel for the global rise in food prices.
Thursday May 1, 2008 Canada boosts food aid by $50 million
Canada will bump its international food aid by $50 million this year in response to a "silent tsunami...With the extra $50 million, Canada's total food aid contribution for this year will be $231 million. This includes $160 million directed to Africa, as part of Canada's G8 commitment to double aid to the continent.
Wednesday 30 April 2008 On the brink?
Wheat price crisis threatens to further destabilise Afghanistan
Afghans struggle as food prices soar
A severe food crisis in Afghanistan - caused by rising wheat prices - threatens to further destabilise an already deeply troubled country, writes the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul.
Qamair says prices were not this bad even during the war
Inside a small mud house in the communal garden of a block of flats, Qamair Gul is hunched over a bread oven, her eyes streaming from the thick smoke bellowing out from the scrap-wood fire she uses to cook.
Two women in blue burkas sit inside watching as she kneads the dough and slaps and stretches it into the characteristic shape of Afghan bread before sticking it to the side of the oven to bake.
Qamair is a war widow - there are tens of thousands of women like her in Kabul - who make a few pence cooking bread for the poor.
In the last few weeks her workload has halved as the price of wheat has doubled.
Tuesday 29 April 2008 OTTAWA: FOOD CRISIS SEEN ARRIVING IN CANADA
The Bank of Nova Scotia predicts that high food prices will soon be prevalent in Canada as they are elsewhere in the world. Until now, the country has been spared the food crisis that has raged in much of the developing world because of the strong Canadian currency which shields Canada because commodities like grain, fuel and fertilizer are priced in U.S. dollars. Consumers also have benefited from competition among grocery chain. But Derek Holt, the vice-president at Scotia Capital Economic and the author of the report, says the country won't be able to escape an international trend indefinitely and that some key categories of food have already begun to rise in price. Mr. Holt says Canadians' spending habits will change when they have to spend dozens or hundreds of dollars a month on "basic groceries, home heating and gasoline costs." The economist predicts that the result will not be inflation but rather lower prices for everything except food and energy.
Rising food prices are worrying governments across the world
Key United Nations development agencies are meeting in Switzerland to try to develop solutions to ease the escalating global food crisis.
Led by secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, officials want to mitigate the impact of the steep rise in staple food prices and prevent food shortages worsening.
The World Food Programme (WFP) says an extra 100 million people cannot afford enough food because of higher prices.
Monday Apr 28, 2008 Higher prices for food, fuel raise D-word
Professional economy watchers say there's "a material risk" the federal government could find itself...
"It wouldn't take much to put them back into deficit," said Don Drummond, chief economist at TD Bank. "But I think you've got to keep it in perspective. We're not talking like 1992 or 1993 all over again. It would be fairly small."
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has vowed that Ottawa will not go into deficit and will continue to be able to balance its books.
Saturday 26 April 2008 UNITED NATIONS
The secretary general of the United Nations says rising food prices have become a global crisis. Ban Ki-moon is urging immediate action to curb the steeply-rising cost of food. The World Food Program says the UN agency faces a 40 per cent increase in the cost of food. THE WFP has issued an appeal for food aid to help countries deal with the increase. Meanwhile, Cameroun has launched an emergency plan to raise food production. Several West African and neighbouring states including Gabon, Senegal, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Mauritania have taken steps aimed at combating rising food prices.
Saturday 26 April 2008 OTTAWA: CANADA TO RESPOND TO WORLD FOOD CRISIS
The Canadian Press reports that Canada could double the aid that it contributes to the UN World Food Program in response to the worsening international crisis caused by soaring food prices. An unnamed federal official has told the agency that Bev Oda, the minister responsible for the Canadian International Development Agency, will make a "significant" announcement early next week in reaction to an appeal by the UN for help. The source said that the announcement will place Canada's food aid contribution for 2008 beyond what was given in the previous year. The UN has set a deadline of May 1 for receiving $755 million in emergency food aid pledges. Canada is pledged to provide the WFP with the dollar equivalent of 420,000 metric tonnes of wheat annually. The country has failed to live up to the promise in four of the past eight years but exceeded its commitment in the last two years.
Students from Charlotin Marcadieu school have lunch near Port-au Prince. France provides support for school food programs in Haiti.
THONY BELIZAIRE, AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Acute hunger and the rising cost of living could send a new wave of boat people from Haiti, where rising...
World hunger pangs
Pictures of hunger usually show passive eyes and swollen bellies. The harvest fails because of war or strife; the onset of crisis is sudden and localized. Its burden falls on those already at the margin.
Tuesday 22 April 2008 Leaders warn on biofuels and food
Two Latin American leaders speak out against biofuels, as a London meeting prepares to assess EU policy on the issue.
In Arid Egypt, a Struggle to Grow Enough Food Monday 21 July 2008 
Andy Nulman 
BBC
TV
Food
Food needs 'fundamental rethink'
Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water Monday 21 July 2008