Rising temperatures devastating Africa’s small farmers

Democratic, stable, fertile Senegal used to be a rare success story in Africa. It could feed its people and even export surplus food. But last year, almost one million people needed emergency food aid as the harvest failed across much of west Africa. (..) Only rapid intervention by international agencies averted a crisis. The EU stumped up more than €100 million for the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), which distributed aid and cash vouchers to the worst-affected communities across west Africa. However, the fear of a repeat this year is strong. So what happened to destroy its rich soil and beggar its farmers? (..) “The rains have become extremely erratic. They start early, finish late, and there are long spells without any rain,” explains Inge Breuer, country representative of the WFP. (..) Conscious of the challenge, agencies such as the WFP are adopting new approaches to tackle the effects of climate change.

Climate change: how a warming world is a threat to our food supplies

"We should expect much more political destabilisation of countries as it bites," says Richard Choularton, a policy officer in the UN's World Food Programme climate change office. "What is different now from 20 years ago is that far more people are living in places with a higher climatic risk; 650 million people now live in arid or semi-arid areas where floods and droughts and price shocks are expected to have the most impact. (..) The Mary Robinson climate justice foundation is hosting a major conference in Dublin this week. Research to be presented there will say that rising incomes and growth in the global population, expected to create 2 billion more mouths to feed by 2050, will drive food prices higher by 40-50%. Climate change may add a further 50% to maize prices and slightly less to wheat, rice and oil seeds.

UN says $81 million urgently needed for food relief to 3.5 million Syrians

The United Nations food relief agency today said it urgently needs $81 million to assist 2.5 hungry people inside Syria and one million refugees in neighbouring countries until June, and warned that without funding it would have to stop many of its current aid programmes. “Lack of funding would mean that WFP could resort to decreasing the number of people it currently supports and would halt plans to expand and increase the number of people it plans to feed, depriving hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in need of urgently needed food assistance,” the spokesperson for the World Food Programme (WFP) Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva. “With very limited alternatives to support themselves, this means refugees will face destitution or could resort to buying on credit adding a burden on their host communities,” she added.

Jordan Opens Second Camp for Syria Refugees

Jordan opened a second camp for Syrian refugees on Wednesday after the United Nations said the number seeking shelter in the kingdom is expected to triple by the end of the year. (..) The 13,000-acre (5,200-hectare) camp, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Amman, has 750 caravans, a hospital and a school and can take up to 5,500 people.