Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful, sharp and thoughtful analyses and make it one of the largest and most innovative and influential web forums for social justice in Africa. 
agriculture
Monsanto in Haiti
Beverly Bell
2011-07-06, Issue 538
cc WikimediaLast spring, Haiti’s minister of agriculture gave agribusiness giant Monsanto permission to ‘donate’ 505 tonnes of seeds to Haiti ‘to support the reconstruction effort’. A year later, Beverly Bell asks what has become of the seeds that Monsanto gave, and ‘how real was the fear of Haitian farmer organizations that the donation was a Trojan horse?’
Land 'investment' deals in Africa: Say ‘no way!’
Anuradha Mittal, Jeff Furman, Frederic Mousseau
Oakland Institute
2011-06-30, Issue 537
cc T RFood insecurity, loss of food sovereignty, the displacement of small farmers, conflict, environmental devastation, water loss, and the further impoverishment and political instability of African nations – these are among the consequences of large-scale investments in land in Africa, a special investigation by the Oakland Institute has revealed. Pambazuka News spoke to Anuradha Mittal, Jeff Furman and Frederic Mousseau about what prompted their research and what they discovered.
Challenging Western distortions about Zimbabwe's land reform
Gregory Elich
2011-03-02, Issue 519
cc S 1Faced with Western sanctions, meddling and distorted media reports berating the cronyism and inefficiency underpinning Zimbabwe’s land reform, ‘resettled farmers are succeeding in spite of the obstacles thrown in their way’, argues Gregory Elich.
The hidden gold in intellectual property
Khadija Sharife
2011-02-02, Issue 515
cc CIATPrivatised seed corporations are grabbing the market in basic food staples. Khadija Sharife explains how they pay nothing for the market dominance.
Regulating land grabbing?
Saturnino Borras Jr and Jennifer Franco
2010-12-16, Issue 510
cc M f BPreviously reviled as ‘land grabs’, international institutions increasingly paint the global land rush as ‘large-scale land investments’, providing fertile ground for ‘win-win’ development schemes. But, caution Saturnino Borras Jr and Jennifer Franco, ‘any scheme that guarantees only winners and no losers deserves our scepticism and a closer look.’
EPAs: New trade deals, old agendas
The dangers of economic partnership agreements
Yash Tandon
2010-10-27, Issue 502
© S 1In November the European Union expects East African countries to sign a ‘comprehensive’ trade agreement. But Yash Tandon warns that the deal is not in Africa’s favour.
Food sovereignty: The wisdom of the uncivilised crowds
Suraj Kumar
2010-02-11, Issue 469
cc S T HAgriculture as it was practiced in India over centuries relied and depended on nature’s forces, writes Suraj Kumar. But with the advent of colonialism and a surge in the country’s population, the adoption of new methods of farming have lead to widespread soil degradation across the country. As multinational companies offer genetically modified seeds as the solution to hunger, Kumar calls on his fellow countrymen to use locally produced food and native seeds and help preserve Indian wisdom.
Land grabs: Another scramble for Africa
Ama Biney
2009-09-17, Issue 448
cc JamsAma Biney writes for Pambazuka News on the rush to acquire land in Africa by foreign governments and private investors, fuelled by fears for global food security in the face of climate change and volatile food prices on the international market. Warning that the ‘political and economic risks of these land purchases are colossal and outweigh any gains,’ Biney argues that ‘African governments must make food security and sufficiency for their own people paramount.’
Africa and the end of hunger
Eric Holt-Giménez and Raj Patel
2009-07-16, Issue 442
'Africa and the end of hunger' is an extract from Pambazuka Press's groundbreaking new book Food Rebellions! Crisis and the Hunger for Justice by Eric Holt-Giménez and Raj Patel. Recommended by figures like Walden Bello and Wangari Maathai, the book is available to Pambazuka News readers at 20% off the recommended retail price of £16.95 and comes with a free ebook copy. Simply enter 56784813 as the discount code when ordering online. The Food Rebellions! ebook is also available on its own for only £5.
G8 and Africa: Some give, plenty of take
Why we shouldn't hitch our wagon to the G8 engine
Yash Tandon
2009-07-16, Issue 442
cc H D SThe media has presented the G8’s L’Alqila summit promise of US$20 billion for food security and agricultural development in Africa as good news, but a closer look at the figures shows that G8 countries actually take much more out than they put into the continent, writes Yash Tandon.
Safeguarding women’s rights will boost food security
Mary Wandia
2009-06-25, Issue 439
cc Find Your FeetAfrican women play a critical role in ensuring the food security of the continent, writes Mary Wandia in the run-up to the 2009 African Union Summit (24 June-3 July), which has its official theme ‘Investing in agriculture for economic growth and development’. Highlighting that women contribute 60-80 per cent of the labour used to produce food both for household consumption and for sale, Wandia writes that improved women’s ‘access, control and ownership of land and productive resources are key factors in eradicating hunger and rural poverty’. Yet while land is ‘critical for improving women’s, social security, livelihoods and their social status’, culturally embedded discrimination continues to weaken their land rights and livelihood options, Wandia cautions. It is therefore essential, Wandia argues, for governments to ensure that women’s rights are comprehensively addressed in the AU ‘Africa land policy framework and guidelines’, scheduled for adoption at this year’s summit.
The global food price crisis
A critique of orthodox perspectives
Walden Bello
2009-06-25, Issue 439
cc joespakeIn an extract from his forthcoming book Food Wars, Walden Bello critiques the orthodox views of economist Paul Collier on the global food price crisis. Collier argues that not enough food was produced to meet increased demand from Asia, thanks to a failure to promote commercial farming in Africa, the European Union ban against GMOs and the diversion of American grain to biofuels production. Bello counters that a globalised system of production has 'created severe strains on the environment', 'marginalised large numbers of people from the market, and contributed to greater poverty and greater income disparities within countries and globally'. Defenders of peasant agriculture, says Bello, blame 'capitalist industrial agriculture, with its wrenching destabilisation and transformation of land, nature, and social relations' for today’s food crises, with 'rates of profit determining where investment will be allocated' rather than the desire to satisfy 'the real needs of the global majority'.
Biofuels and neo-colonialism
Seif Madoffe, Salim Maliondo, Faustin Maganga, Elifuraha Mtalo, Fred Midtgaard and Ian Bryceson
2009-06-04, Issue 436
cc C MunsterAs climate change forces economies around the world to cap carbon emissions, investors are pouring cash into the development of biofuels, as a replacement for fossil fuels. Seif Madoffe writes that this has led to ‘climate colonialism’ – ‘a massive land-grabbing scramble in Africa’, as European companies – some with foreign aid money support – rapidly establish enormous carbon monoculture fields in tropical countries. With reference to the Saadani National Park in Tanzania, Madoffe asks whether it is ethical for rich countries in the North to make ‘renewable’ carbon in places where it has serious negative impacts on poor people and tropical forests that will be cut down to create space for ‘carbon fields’ in monoculture plantations.
Climate justice: Turning up the heat
Collins Cheruiyot
2009-06-04, Issue 436
cc OxfamIn anticipation of Denmark's hosting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference – the COP15 – in December this year, Collins Cheruiyot says that now is the time for Africa to be proactive in asserting its right to be heard. Calling upon its leaders to seize the opportunity to represent their continent in Copenhagen, Cheruiyot stresses that Africa must not allow itself to be short-changed on so crucial a challenge.
Lessons in Liberation: Remembering Tajudeen
The Pambazuka News team highlights 15 of our favourite Pan-African Postcards
Pambazuka News Editors
2009-05-28, Issue 435
Pambazuka News has published Tajudeen’s weekly Pan-African Postcard regularly since 2004. While we joke that Tajudeen’s writing was ‘an editor’s nightmare’, it was first and foremost a source of penetrating, incisive insight into pan-African affairs, expressed with humour and an underlying sense of optimism and belief that, however great the challenges the continent faces, by uniting and organising, we can build Africa into a great place for all its citizens.
In celebration of Tajudeen’s commitment and contribution to Pan-Africanism – and to the Pambazuka community – we have picked a few of our favourite postcards to share with you. These postcards, listed in chronological order, demonstrate Tajudeen’s uncanny ability to see to the heart of the matter, to understand the workings of the human heart, to clarify complex and controversial issues and to inspire people to work for change.
Imperial projects and the food crisis in the periphery
Ng’wanza Kamata
2009-05-21, Issue 433
cc flickr.comConsidering Tanzania's position in relation to food crises around the world, Ng’wanza Kamata laments the inability of Jakaya Kikwete's government to develop the 'agricultural revolution' it once promised. Highlighting that food production difficulties have over the years invariably been attributed to drought and peasant farmers' supposed laziness and poor agricultural methods, Kamata argues that the government should now begin to look in the mirror and acknowledge its own shortcomings. With the budget for agriculture consistently low despite the sector's support for around 80 per cent of Tanzania's total population, the author contends that the country's producers essentially remain subject to the same exploitative relations first imposed during the colonial period. In the face of contemporary political elites' willingness to embrace biofuel production methods, Kamata stresses that the touted agricultural revolution should prioritise the needs and role of the country's poor agricultural majority and not simply bend to the will of foreign corporations.
Full speed in the wrong direction
Has the world made real progress since the 1992 Rio Earth Summit?
Nnimmo Bassey
2009-05-14, Issue 432
cc CodaCSD-17 presents a unique opportunity for global governance to rise above the selfish interests of individual countries and regional blocks to work towards sustainable development worldwide, writes Nnimmo Bassey. But, he warns, a complicated negotiation text lacking in ideas to galvanise nations into acting in solidarity, is likely to maintain the status quo. Bassey expresses dismay at G-77 references to ‘national laws and cultural contexts’ when the Commission for Sustainable Development ‘should be raising the bar, not subjecting universal ideals to parochial local regimes’. Bassey suggests that restoring confidence in global governance and democracy is an important part of tackling the food, climate and economic crises on every delegates’ mind. What is even more problematic to the negotiations, however, is the lack of unanimity in defining what ‘sustainability’ actually is.
Food sovereignty: A new model for a human right
Vía Campesina and Friends of the Earth International
2009-05-14, Issue 432
cc OxfamFollowing UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier De Schutter's comments at the 17th session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), Vía Campesina and Friends of the Earth International give their response to the special rapporteur's comments. While highlighting the recommendations and broad understanding that they share with De Schutter, the authors' statement emphasises the centrality of 'food sovereignty', namely, the right of different communities and peoples to control their own territories. This the authors contend is a process that goes beyond producers' mere 'participation' in high-level decision-making; it is one which actively positions farmers and peasants at the centre of agricultural production and control.
Riven with divisions: Kenya’s singular tragedy
Kwamchetsi Makokha
2009-05-07, Issue 431
cc Humanitarian CoalitionDisillusionment with the failure of the 2008 peace deal is the only point of consensus in Kenya, writes Kwamchetsi Makokha, with Kenyans using their shared sense of despondency to hide their frustrations with the decision to force two ideologically parallel political systems to work together for five years. Outlining the demise of the country’s institutions from the judiciary to parliament, Makokha argues that ‘unless the international community forcefully reengages with Kenya and progressive civil society finds a way to engage the middle class to reflect more on their role in rescuing the country, the future looks bleak’. While those who wish to ‘provide leadership face innumerable risks and palpable threats’, the absence of individuals with ‘unquestionable moral authority in the public sphere… feeds the despondency that has come to characterise Kenya’, Makokha concludes.
Kenyan maize scandal causes ODM rift
Joachim Omolo Ouko
2009-05-07, Issue 431
cc E PenceFollowing the Kenyan Orange Democratic Movement's (ODM) allegations of Agricultural Minister William Ruto's role in a maize scandal, Joachim Omolo Ouko discusses the internal mudslinging and internecine feuding within Prime Minister Raila Odinga's party. Ruto's problems with the party stem from his criticisms of Raila last year, Ouko notes, compelling the prime minister to seek a means of fixing the rift developing with the ODM, particularly as his own son is instead now alleged to be involved in the scandal.
European Development Fund: The illusion of assistance
Mouhamet Lamine Ndiaye
2008-09-03, Issue 394
Equitable and sustainable structural transformation of African economies is a prerequisite for improving livelihoods across the continent. Despite decades of reform often led under structural adjustment programmes, and a very high level of openness, ...
The destruction of African agriculture
Walden Bello
2008-08-05, Issue 392
Biofuel production is certainly one of the culprits in the current global food crisis. But while the diversion of corn from food to biofuel feedstock has been a factor in food prices shooting up, the more primordial problem has been the conversion of economies that are largely food-self-sufficient into chronic food importers. Here the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) figure as much more important villains....
Food shortages: stories of strife across the globe
Azad Essa
2008-08-05, Issue 392
The current food crisis has been heralded as the worst since the 1970s. Ordinary people, from South Africa to Egypt, India to Turkey, have been forced to make severe adjustments to their lives to deal with food hikes that continue to rise exponential...
Food crisis: Where is the African strategy?
Mammo Muchie
2008-08-05, Issue 392
“The elevation of an agricultural people to the condition of countries at once agricultural, manufacturing and commercial, can only be accompanied under the law of free trade, when the various nations engaged at the time of manufacturing industry shall be in the same degree of progress and civilization; when they shall place no obstacle in the way of the economical development of each other, and not impede their respective progress by war or adverse commercial legislation.” - Friedrich List, in the National System of Political Economy...
Friends of the Earth Africa on the food crisis
Friends of the Earth Africa
2008-07-16, Issue 390
Members of FoE Africa from Ghana, Togo, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Tunisia and Swaziland met for five days in Accra, Ghana reviewing issues that confront the African environment. A particular focus was placed on the current food crisis and agrofuels on the continent.
Africa’s Unnatural Disaster
Sameer Dossani
2008-07-23, Issue 390
While the mainstream media doesn’t always ignore the pressing issue of hunger in Africa, it rarely explores the root causes of this problem. Behind most news on the issue, there’s an assumption that casts hunger as a natural result of unfortunate weather conditions, coupled with bureaucratic inefficiency and bad economic planning.
The principles of food sovereignty
Yash Tandon
2008-06-18, Issue 383
A proper analysis of the food crisis is a matter that cannot be left with trade negotiators, investment experts, or agricultural engineers, writes Yash Tandon. It is essentially a matter of political economy. A crisis for some is an opportunity for others. Any analysis of the present food crisis carries with it its own prescription, and these prescriptions have the potential to bring benefits for some and losses for others.
FAO’s Food Crisis Summit versus the People’s State of Emergency
Eric Holt-Gimenez
2008-06-18, Issue 383
Eric Holt-Gimenez looks at the FAO Food Security Summit in contrast to the parallel “Terra Preta” meeting organized by social movements, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and civil society organizations to discuss issues of food sovereignty.
Burundi: Access to water is a human right
Concilie Gahungere
2008-06-10, Issue 379
If women had control over water as resource "they would be better placed to manage its use, especially in agriculture, which is the principal economic activity in Burundi, and is controlled by women." Concilie Gahungere looks at access to water in relation to gender using Burundi as a case study.
Libya and nuclear energy
Mustafa Adam-Noble
2008-05-27, Issue 375
Libya is getting the backing of Ukraine to build nuclear reactors. Mustafa Adam-Noble looks at the implications of an oil-rich country going nuclear and the possible impact on Libyan people.
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