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Plan of action against UG99

Despite reassuring words from the Indian Minister of Agriculture at the start of the meeting 1, FAO announced that delegates of the 31 countries represented at the “International Conference on Wheat Stem Rust Ug99 – A Threat to Food Security” in New Delhi have pledged to support prevention and control of UG99. They agreed:

  • to share surveillance information;
  • that a global early warning system should be immediately established;
  • that plant breeding research should be intensified; and
  • that rust resistant wheat varieties should be distributed to farmers.
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Hybrid rice going south

Hybrid rice has been the dominant form of rice seed in China for a while. It has also been spreading to Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other places. As you know, seed companies like hybrids because farmers who use them need to buy new seed every year. Farmers like the higher yields. It seems that multinational seed companies are increasing their investments in rice hybrids for Asia. Bayer just announced that is has opened up shop in Suphanburi, a rice growing region north of Bangkok. Thailand is a country hitherto better known for rice quality and exports, than for the use of high yielding varieties. Photo credit: Bayer

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Who Owns Nature?

There is a new report, “Who Owns Nature? Corporate Power and the Final Frontier in the Commodification of Life” from the ETC group.

It talks of corporate concentration in:

  • farm input (from thousands of seed companies and public breeding institutions three decades ago, 10 companies now control more than two-thirds of global proprietary seed sales);
  • food output (supermarkets);
  • pharmaceuticals; and
  • the New Post-Petroleum sugar industry (“the so-called ‘sugar economy’ will be the catalyst for a corporate grab on all plant matter –- and destruction of biodiversity on a massive scale”).

Their (not so new) bottom line on seeds:

So-called climate-ready genes are a false solution to climate change. Patented gene technologies will not help small farmers survive climate change, but they will concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit public sector research and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds.

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Climate Change Gabfest

Our colleagues at the Agrobiodiversity Platform will next week launch an intense debate on how communities make use of agricultural biodiversity to deal with changing climates. But, mindful of their duty not to exacerbate the problem, they’re doing the whole thing online, with a moderated discussion forum. The discussions will take place over about three weeks, with an initial focus on sharing knowledge about what communities are doing, followed by ideas on awareness raising and finally some wrap-up and the preparation of a first-draft position paper.

I know I don’t have time to participate, but I’m sure we’d be willing to host summary reports from the group here.

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Big cheer for the terraces

People work the Ifugao rice terraces. Photo PPDO Ifugao.Is this old news or not? The Global Environment Facility (GEF) in concert with FAO’s Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems, is funding the restoration and maintenance of the Ifugao rice terraces in the Philippines. My confusion arises because when I last nibbled Ifugao, 2 I don’t recall seeing anything about FAO’s involvement, and yet it seems to have been going since 2002. The “news” is announcing a second phase, which I think started in 2007. So perhaps my confusion is justified. In any case, it does seem important that these astonishing human impacts on the environment are used, rather than pickled, and that seems to be the goal of the project.

I’m rather hoping that someone in the Philippines, or who knows more about the project, will be along soon to enlighten me further.