The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
The us demand for corn-based ethanol could cause nutrient-pollution in the Gulf of Mexico, expanding its dead zone, say scientists. The dead zone forms in the Gulf of Mexico every summer when oxygen levels in the water become too low to support marine life. The condition arises when the Mississippi …
Africa March 2008: Kenya faces acute food shortage. Global cereal crisis is likely to hit the country the hardest because farmers growing maize, the staple crop of Kenya, have been displaced following post-poll violence. Riots over rising food prices in Namibia and Zimbabwe and several west African countries, including Cameroon, …
France Says Food Should Take Priority Over Biofuels FRANCE: April 14, 2008 PARIS - Production of food must take precedence globally over biofuels as prices surge and the threat of famine grows, France's farm minister said on Friday, calling for a European Union initiative on world supplies. "Absolute priority must …
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged his Japanese counterpart to include the impact of biofuel production on food prices on the agenda of the G8 summit in July, Downing Street said Thursday. "There is growing consensus that we need urgently to examine the impact on food prices of different …
Advice for those trying to solve the global food crisis: do not start from here. As governments across the developing world impose export bans on staple foods, further worsening the shortages on inter
As Prices Rise, Farmers Spurn Conservation By DAVID STREITFELD Published: April 9, 2008 Paul Devlin works at a bakery in Tampa, Fla. The bakery's owner said the price he paid for flour had doubled since October. Thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government's biggest conservation program, …
Reuters Summit - US Seen Importing Ethanol, But Tariff Uncertain US: April 7, 2008 WASHINGTON - The United States will need to import more sugarcane-based ethanol to meet renewable energy mandates, a top US official said, but he stopped short of recommending that a controversial ethanol tariff be lifted. "If …
India has expressed concern over the increasing use of food grains for the production of bio fuels. Stating India's position at the "Third International Grain Summit-2008' at Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt, minister of state for food and public distribution Akhilesh Prasad Singh said this had resulted in an unprecedented increase in …
Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's recent visit to India with a 100-strong industry team should be seen against the need to contextualise south-south cooperation amidst the fait accompli of globalisation. That apart, the visit highlights the good fit between Brazil and India in the matter of economic cooperation. …
For years, anti-poverty campaigners railed against low commodity prices, which depressed farmers' incomes in developing countries. In recent months, the world price of virtually all staples has shot up, but the activists are still not cheering. They worry that this boom (intensified by "green' subsidies for biofuel crops) may worsen …
The City-based National Institute of Engineering (NIE), which is known for its research facility and talent, has organised a six-day workshop for rural folk, imparting knowledge on various energy-based technologies. The workshop was inaugurated by Director N Ramanuja here on Tuesday. The annual workshop will showcase simple instruments such as …
Responding enthusiastically to the world agrofuel frenzy, the Indian government has promised a flurry of initiatives to encourage the large-scale planting of agrofuel crops, particularly jatropha. Without waiting for the government support to be spelt out, corporations are already moving in, taking over resources that have traditionally been used by …
Food prices are soaring, a wealthier Asia is demanding better food and farmers cannot keep up. In short, the world faces a food crisis and in some places it is already boiling over. Around the globe, people are protesting and governments are responding with often counterproductive controls on prices and …
The structure, water use, fertiliser intake, sucrose content, and the very nature of sugar production in sugarcane are likely to undergo major changes with the modern tools of biotechnology and genetic modification. Field trials of GM sugarcane crops for these traits are being undertaken in Brazil and Australia. Cane Technology …
It's not only our carbon footprint we should worry about. Experts are looking for solutions to our growing water foot-print, as urban populations explode and the demand for bio fuels adds stress on water for farmland. The threat to climate change has drawn attention to carbon footprints, the amount of …
Could biofuels do more damage to the climate than the fossil fuels they replace? That's the fear casting doubt on the wisdom of a law that from next month will require a certain proportion of vehicle fuel to come from biological sources.
Inflation management has to remain centre stage in macroeconomic policymaking. The price of everything is likely to be determined by what the oil cartel can squeeze out of us today. THIS column last month had in its title
Brazil, the world's largest ethanol producer, has thrown open its doors to investment by Indian companies in sugarcane farming, extracting ethanol and exporting it back home for mixing in petrol. "Yes, yes sure. They can buy ethanol manufacturing companies, invest in cane farming and producing ethanol,' visiting Brazalian Minister of …
Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora on Wednesday announced that the percentage of ethanol blending in fuel would be raised to 10 per cent from the present 5 per cent even as the world's largest ethanol producer, Brazil, urged Indian companies to invest in sugarcane farming, extracting ethanol and …
Food scientists are meeting in Cusco, Peru, this week to find ways of boosting world potato production to ease the strain of surging cereal prices on the world's poorest countries. Potato production already reached a record high last year as cereal prices rose, partly as a consequence of grain producers …
