The Human Imprint

Schmallenberg Virus detected in the UK

Schmallenberg Virus has been detected in the UK. Follow the link to find out more about this animal disease.

Stamping out H5N1 avian influenza could take decades

Eliminating the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus from poultry in the six countries where it remains endemic will take ten or more years, according to a new FAO report.

The report makes specific recommendations for each country regarding measures that should be taken over the next five years to move them towards virus elimination, and calls for a sustained commitment to eradication efforts both by governments where the disease remains endemic and by international donors.

At its peak in 2006, the H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 HPAI) was reported in 60 countries. Today most have managed to stamp it out — but the virus remains firmly entrenched in Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Vietnam due to a combination of three factors, according to the report.

The first relates to the structure of their national poultry sectors ....  The second factor is the quality of public and private veterinary and animal production services  ... and ....  The final factor relates to the level of commitment to dealing vigorously with H5N1.  

Source FAO Media Centre

Holding back the sand - stopping desertification

The FAO marked World Day to Combat Desertificationon June 17th with the publication of a manual that shows how a project in Mauritania successfully fixed dunes and stopped sand encroachment.

"It will serve as a useful blueprint for similar projects in Africa. Sand encroachment is what happens when grains of sand are carried by winds and collect in dunes on the coast, along watercourses and on cultivated or uncultivated land.  As the dunes move, they bury villages, roads, oases, crops and irrigation channels and dams, causing major economic damage and increasing poverty and food insecurity".   Click here to find out more.

Why do spider's webs glisten?

On a walk I love to see glistening spider's webs and so I was fascinated to read the Nature article on the science behind the beauty. Check out the article for more.

FAO calls for $23 million to step-up farming in Haiti

I first wrote about food security in Haiti nearly eighteen months ago. Then this week there is the indescribable devastation of the eathquake .. The  FAO has called for $23 million from international donors for agriculture in Haiti as part of the United Nations $562 million appeal following the earthquake.  The FAO Media Centre states that: "The money is needed to support to food production in fields and backyards, not just in and around the area hit but in rural areas."

Soil quality - key to UK food production

There has been much debate in the last few days about the quality of UK soils and the long term impact on food production. This is a critical issue - check out our sister blog - Poultry Discussion

The Guardian reports that over two million tonnes of topsoil from farms and forests is being eroded by wind and rain each year in the UK. These needs to be addressed if we want to produce food at our current levels or increase production. We take soil for granted at our peril.

Helping farmers in Zimbabwe

The FAO Newsroom reports that the FAO has started a major operation in support of small scale farmers in Zimbabwe as part of its joint efforts with the European Union (EU) to fight hunger this year. The organization has procured 26 000 tons of seeds and fertilizers for distribution to 17 6000 vulnerable farmers – representing between 10 and 15 percent of communal farmers in the country. Check out the full article

Primary producers - price makers or takers

There has been an ongoing discussion in the agricultural sector about whether primary producers (farmers) are price makers or price takers. Due to the dynamics of the food supply chain farmers are very often price takers i.e. they are given a price and they can take it or leave it. 

Many economists would suggest that farmers look at becoming price makers i.e. look to, or create, markets where they can demand a premium price or get a higher profit on what they sell. These so-called "niche" markets. The problem is that the premium price is only in place whilst there is a shortfall of supply against demand. The minute that demand equals or exceeds demand the suppliers become price takers again.  The brake factor with primary production is that there is often such a huge lag phase between when a farmer decides to change their production methods (e.g. move to organic practices); move to free range from intensive production or vice versa and when they are then physically able to supply the market. This lag phase can vary from months to several years and by this time the market dynamics may have changed completely. There is also the "lemming" phenomenon in a market in that potential suppliers may move to an area where there are deemed to be better financial returns only to see those returns demininished or negated because the market is then oversupplied.

The other brake factor with agriculture is that working capital i.e. the money to buy the inputs such as livestock, feed, seeds, fertilisers, is very often borrowed in the hope that when the final crop is harvested there will be sufficient difference (margin) between the growing costs and the final crop price to pay back the loan and the interest and provide a living for the farmer.

The problems in the UK and indeed Europe with low bulk milk prices (liquid milk direct from the farm) and the viability of farming businesses has been in the news for some time. The EU is actually building up a "butter mountain" by so called intervention. There is currently 83 million kilogrammes of butter that is in storage because it has literally been taken off the market in an effort to maintain current prices. Market intervention is a tool that governments or trading groups can use to influence food prices, but it goes against the principles of "free" global food markets.

There have been many other examples in recent weeks of the weakness at primary production level of the global food supply chain. The US hog (pig) industry has been hit as described by Sox First and the chocolate supply in Ghana. The US government has also being buying pork meat to limit the drop in price to the tune of $151 million and the UK pig industry faced similar problems about eighteen months ago but there was no intervention in the UK market.  I wrote quite recently about sugar shortages too. This is a difficult time where the market economics of the food supply chain are really under scruitiny.

Organoponicos- the vegetable gardeners of Havana

BBC News reports on the vegetable gardeners of Havana and how they are supporting food security in the country. This was featured in the George Alagiah series of programmes on food security and the organoponicos are worth investigating. Check it out especially the video.

Second person dies from bird flu in Vietnam

BBC News reports that a Vietnamese  man in Vietnam has died from bird flu on 25th February. It is the second death this year in the country. The report states that "Vietnam has the world's second-highest bird flu death toll after Indonesia".

I wrote back in January about the three people from China who have died from bird flu this year. The man from Vietnam became ill after slaughtering and eating ducks his family raised in Ninh Binh, about 100 km (60 miles) south of Hanoi. BBC News states that "Bird flu outbreaks among poultry have spread to 13 provinces in Vietnam this year, killing or forcing the cull of more than 50,000 birds, the Department of Animal Health has said. Bird flu has killed 54 people in Vietnam, including five last year, since it began sweeping through Asian poultry stocks in late 2003". Click on the links to read more.