Weather, politics affect food markets: FAO
Weather conditions in various countries and political tensions in the Black Sea region have made food markets more volatile, FAO reports in the new Food Outlook.
In its first major forecast for 2014, FAO puts cereal production at 2 458 million tonnes (including milled rice), down some 2.4 percent from the 2013 record, though global output is still expected to be the second largest ever.
The decline is likely to be more pronounced for coarse grains. Still, inventory levels remain fairly good. Analysts say there is no cause for concern at this early stage before the main 2014/2015 seasons get underway, according to a FAO press release.
Corn crops increasingly vulnerable to hot, dry weather
US farmers can grow more corn than ever before thanks to genetic modifications and improved planting techniques, but the crops are also increasingly vulnerable to drought, researchers said Thursday.
The study in the journal Science found that “densely planted corn appears to be unexpectedly more sensitive to water scarcity,” raising concerns about future food supply as the planet warms.
The United States is the largest exporter of corn in the world, shipping about 40 percent of the world’s corn.
In recent years, most commercia...
The United States is the largest exporter of corn in the world, shipping about 40 percent of the world’s corn.
In recent years, most commercia...
Discover a unique experience in Bangladesh
During the yearly south Asian monsoon, almost all the water collected by the Himalayas in Nepal, north/northeast India and Bhutan transits through Bangladesh on its journey to the Bay of Bengal, depositing life-giving minerals to the soil all along the Ganges Delta, the largest river delta in the world. It is here that the mountains literally crumble to the sea.
This has resulted in Bangladesh’s flatland alluvial topography, which is the defining characteristic of the country except in the hilly regions of the southeast and northeast. The mighty Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers are called the Padma and the Jamuna in Bangladesh, and both of these massive rivers join several other smaller tributaries to eventually become the Lower Meghna, forming the great Gangetic Delta. At its widest po...
Bangladesh urges SAARC secretariat to pursue issues of common rivers
Bangladesh has urged the SAARC secretariat to pursue issues of common rivers in the region as new secretary general of the eight-nation grouping Arjun Bahadur Thapa called on State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam, a foreign office statement said here on Monday.
"He (Alam) requested the Secretary General to pursue the regional cooperation on the issue of common rivers, since Bangladesh suffers badly for insufficient water during the dry season," a statement said referring to their meeting late yesterday.
The state minister, it said, also insisted on regional cooperation in the hydropower sector among Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Bhutan, BSS reports.
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New-concept flood insurance could help poor
A new insurance scheme in which pre-determined flood thresholds trigger speedy compensation offers hope for poor people in flood-prone Bangladesh, experts say.
“Floods adversely impact the ability of the poor to earn a livelihood both by destroying assets and limiting opportunities for labour,” said Snehal Soneji, Oxfam International’s Bangladesh country director.
“This [insurance] product is index-based and operates at the meso-level, which means that payout is triggered on the basis of a certain threshold being reached resulting in immediate payout without the long process of surveying and then payout,” he explained, referring to traditional insurance schemes that rely on time-consuming damage assessment surveys to determ...
Bangladesh needs more support to fight climate change
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Ambassadors of the Kingdoms of the Netherlands and Norway this week reviewed programmes aimed at improving resilience to natural disasters and agreed that Bangladesh needed more support in this key area.
Worldwide, Bangladesh is recognized as the country most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, and frequent natural calamities are among the main threats to food security and nutrition.
On a five-day visit from Rome, WFP Assista...
On a five-day visit from Rome, WFP Assista...
