African famine blamed on Chinese land grab

This is an interesting view.

Germany's Africa policy coordinator on Thursday blamed China's practice of buying up land in the Horn of Africa for contributing to the devastating famine ravaging the region.

Günter Nooke told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau it was clear that "this catastrophe is also man-made."
"In the case of Ethiopia there is a suspicion that the large-scale land purchases by foreign companies, or states such as China which want to carry out industrial agriculture there, are very attractive for a small (African) elite," he said.
"It would be of more use to the broader population if the government focused its efforts on building up its own farming system."
He said that the Chinese investments were focused on farming for export which he said can lead to "major social conflicts in Africa when small farmers have their land und thus their livelihoods taken away."
"Not everything the Chinese are doing in Africa is bad," Nooke said. "Chinese investment has perhaps an advantage: it will show how industrial farming in Africa can be carried out effectively."
He said that Germany supported a gradual phase-out of European agriculture subsidies so African farmers could have a shot at exporting their produce but admitted that there was still strong resistance.
Somalia is the Horn of Africa country worst affected by a prolonged drought - the region's worst in 60 years - that has put some 12 million people in danger of starvation and spurred a global fund-raising campaign.
The catastrophe has also hit parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda.

I am not sure this argument holds. The famine in the horn is a very complex beast and for somebody like Gunter to say that this is a problem due to chinese land holdings is very strange.

Economic Incentives at play

Indonesia recently banned the recruitment of women from Indonesia to go to Saudi Arabia to work as maids. This was after an Indonesian maid killed her employer after he abused her thoroughly. Welcome to Saudi Justice. Anyway, so what happens after the ban? Read on MacDuff.

JEDDAH: Illegal housemaids in Jeddah have begun asking for huge salary increases following the decision to suspend recruitment of housemaids from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Many families are reporting that the maids have threatened to walk out if their demands are not met, especially that Ramadan is one month away when demand for extra domestic help spikes

Gosh, Saudi Society will collapse without maids, eh? So what do you do?

Following the decision to stop maids from Indonesia and the Philippines, recruitment from countries like Ethiopia or Kenya and other countries came as an alternative choice to fill the demand for domestic labor in Saudi Arabia. Spokesman of the Ministry of Labor Hattab Al-Anzi hinted that the Kingdom would start allowing recruitment for domestic workers, including maids, from different countries. Several recruitment offices have begun shifting their focus toward African countries. “However, I personally doubt whether one or two nations will be able to cover the gap in the domestic house labor market ruled by Indonesia for some time now,” he added.

Most domestic workers are recruited from Indonesia, the Philippines (which was recently barred due to a dispute over minimum wage) and Sri Lanka. Egypt doesn’t allow women to travel to the Kingdom to work as maids. Pakistani and Indian maids in Saudi Arabia are uncommon.

“In light of these new regulations, recruitment from other nations, such as Ethiopia and Kenya, could work,,” said Ahmad, an employee at a recruitment office.

Change the sources of maids. That’s interesting, eh? But here’s the interesting thing. The basic problem of Saudi’s mistreating their maids has not gone away. So very soon there will be another incident and then these other countries will also not allow their women to go to Saudi Arabia to do maid jobs. Egypt is out, Philippines is out, Pakistani and Indians don't do maid jobs (why???). So pick up people from Ethiopia and Kenya? Given that racism is so heavy in Saudi, I wont be surprised that these girls from Ethiopia and Kenya get it worse. For some reason I cannot generate any sympathy towards these muppets. In the meantime, be prepared to pay through the nose matey.

Their views on women are like Neanderthal as well. See this story about how they blame rape victims. It was shocking. Divorce rates in Saudi Arabia are one of the highest in the world. 62% of marriages in the western region in Saudi end in divorce. Overall, its about 60%. Ok, i wont go off into tangents, but basically economic incentives are showing their predictable response. Mistreat your women and the women react by either divorcing you or raising their prices.

Religious Restrictions in the 25 Most Populous Countries

Bloody shameful, if you ask me. What on earth are these countries doing? Think about India, not only does it have high government restrictions but the people themselves are actively hostile to other religions. Disgusting.

For that matter, the UK correspondingly has room for improvement as well. It has to reduce the amount of government restrictions and also further educate its population on being more liberal to other religions. Not good.

40% of Somali & Ethiopian Women in Netherlands Genitally Mutilated

This was indeed shocking news. I quote:

THE HAGUE, 30/05/09 - Four out of ten Somali and Ethiopian women who give birth in the Netherlands have been genitally mutilated. This is relatively few, Health State Secretary Jet Bussemaker wrote to the Lower House on Friday.

The figures were recorded by research organisation TNO after questioning midwives. The number of cases of female circumcision is fairly low, since nine out of ten women in the countries of origin have been circumcised, Bussemaker reasoned.

To obtain a better picture of female circumcision, the state secretary previously announced that midwives would be registering this form of mutilation. They will also be trained in how to discuss circumcision with families.

I realise that the populace concerned is small, but the percentages are shocking. Criminal. And dont  think this is just Islam. Ethiopia is a Christian nation. Christ, what a mess. But there is hope over to the south of Europe. I quote:

Italy plans to launch a campaign to focus attention on Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in a bid to stem its practice in the country, Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna said on Wednesday. Some 150 million women are victims of the practice world-wide, with an estimated 35-40 thousand cases in Italy by foreigners living in the country, said Carfagna who called FGM "torture, a barbaric action".

The government plans to run a series of ads on state-run television in a bid to convince parents to end the practice.It is also setting up a committee to deal with the problem, which Carfagna said is "an underestimated phenomenon". "I plan to use my ministry's funds to combat and prevent a practice which violates human rights," she told a news conference. The government has already earmarked some 3.5 million euros and plans to add another four million to back 21 projects set up to deal with FGM.

FGM, which is also known as female circumcision, covers a number of different practices, usually involving either removing the clitoris or sewing up the vagina. The most severe form, infibulation, entails both, and accounts for around 15% of all procedures. An estimated 150 million women around the world have undergone genital mutilation, while some 6,000 girls are mutilated every day, according to the London-based human rights organization Amnesty International.

It is practiced in at least 28 African countries, and is also common in some Middle Eastern states, including Egypt, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Italy passed a law in January 2006 outlawing FGM. IT lays down jail terms of up to 12 years for those who carry out the procedure on adult women and up to 16 years if it is carried out on a minor or in exchange for money. Doctors caught carrying out FGM are banned from their profession for up to ten years. The law is applicable even if the woman is operated on abroad.

Why would you mistreat a donkey?

Poor chaps are so nice and cute and cuddly? Look what they are doing in Ethiopia.

"Owners were once oblivious to their animals’ welfare – they realised that their animals would go faster if their wounds were hit," The Brooke vetinerary assistant Belay said.

 

Donkey's most common suffering is stress and they dont like to be separated from their friends. Here's a nice little charity for them in case you are interested.

Look at the cute face, how can you not like them?

Technorati Tags: animals,Ethiopia

Better management of foodstocks will lead to less famine!

Ethiopia is a country which is in the news for all the wrong reasons. If it is not war then its famine. But now the country is embarking on a remarkable exercise, to implement a commodities exchange which will allow for better price formation, manage the wild swings of prices, better hedging, better knowledge of inventories, better foodgrain production and management of buffer stocks. Some quotes:

The government of Ethiopia, which has one of Africa’s most state-dominated economies, is stepping into uncharted territory by launching a commodity exchange to help alleviate food shortages and encourage the commercialisation of agriculture.
The exchange will create a pool of liquidity and reference prices that reflect the amalgamation of demand from across the country, thereby reducing the price volatility caused by the existence of multiple fragmented markets.
Price tickers at 200 rural sites will give farmers independent access to price information from Addis Ababa, enabling them to negotiate a fairer deal with middle-men and giving them incentives to produce.
Traders, meanwhile, will be able to profit from arbitrage opportunities by buying cheap grain in areas of surplus and selling it at higher prices closer to areas where
there are shortages, which will itself facilitate food distribution.

I know, I know, delivery and execution risks are huge, corruption is always present, but given the fact that these chaps are starting from negative territory, even this government driven initiative is welcome news for me!
Perhaps sometime in the next century, they will actually take the step which will remove famines permanently, and that's the Amartya Sen's prescription: DEMOCRACY. Its not the lack of food which causes famine, its the lack of governance which does it.

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!