Eleven Million in Sahel Face Severe Food Insecurity

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A U.N. agency says 11 million people in Africas Sahel region still face severe food insecurity. At the same time, an emergency appeal for 113 million dollars has gone largely unmet.

De Capua report on Sahel food insecurity
The Food and Agriculture Organization says the Sahel has faced food insecurity crises in 2005, 2008 and again in 2012. Those crises, it says, have eroded the capacity of the poor to maintain or restore their livelihoods.

In Dakar, Patrick David, FAOs deputy coordinator for food security analysis for West Africa and the Sahel, said, There is still a lot of people in food insecurity. The people more and more find some difficulty to recover from the past crisis even if there is a good harvest because there have been pretty good harvests in 2012.

David said many people in the Sahel depend on a few cattle and a small piece of land for survival. So, its hard for them to stock up any reserve food or agricultural supplies in the event of drought, conflict or bad harvest.

While before it would take one or two years to recover, now its longer for those people to recover. Its difficult to restock cattle, for example. Its difficult for them to access agricultural credit to have good input[s] and to have fertilizer. And in some places in the Sahel, like in Burkina Faso and Niger, there [are] some dense populated area[s] where there is degradation of land and the loss of soil fertility. That means their agricultural
yield[s] are decreasing year by year, he said.

That compounds the problems they already face as the price for grains, such as sorghum, millet and maize, continues to rise.

David said, The poor and the very poor households, as soon as theyve exhausted their little harvest, totally depend [on] the market. So they have to buy the grain at higher and higher prices. So their purchasing power is decreasing every year.

Insecurity, such as the recent conflict in northern Mali, can also boost prices because agricultural products cannot get to market.

The FAO has appealed for $113 million for its programs in the Sahel. However, its only received less that $19.5 million so far.

The intervention of FAO strengthens the resilience of the affected households. But when the affected households cannot receive the good seeds and the good fertilizer or cannot recapitalize their livestock, they stay very vulnerable and its a problem for the next year. So we definitely need additional support for the farmers and agriculture in order to decrease the impact of the forthcoming crisis, he said.

Building resilience includes improving the storage, processing and transportation of goods as well as livestock food supplements, animal health campaigns and herd restocking. The Food and Agriculture Organization programs also include fixing irrigation systems.

The FAO said it would like these programs to be in place and making a difference during the next growing season which runs from October through April

e-Services – Governance -Part 5

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Adhd Symptoms And Magnesium Deficiency

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Magnesium deficiency may bring about ADD and ADHDsymptoms. The reasons for this involve understanding what Magnesium is and how it works in our bodies.

Magnesium is a mineral. It is the 4th most abundant element in your body. ADHD studies have shown that Inadequacies in magnesium can bring on a host of problems and symptoms are among the symptoms that have been linked to nutritional Inadequacies of this mineral.

The majority of teen age children in this country have, according to Scientific studies performed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Unites State Department of Agriculture, significant magnesium Inadequacies.

Magnesium is necessary for hundreds of chemical reactions in the body. Our muscle and nerve function depends on magnesium as do our skeletal system and our immune system. Magnesium is needed to maintain normal blood sugar levels and a normal blood pressure. Perhaps the most significant role that magnesium plays is in protein synthesis and energy metabolism.

Magnesium works with calcium to power the cells in our body but according to the 2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and published in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, What We Eat in America, 2006-2007 Report, most of our kids have magnesium Inadequacies. Many younger young kids and adults do as well but the statistics are most alarming for teens. Eighty-nine percent of boys and seventy percent of girls aged 14-18 have inadequate dietary intake of Magnesium.

Research Studies have found that magnesium can be used to improve a host of conditions including anxiety and depression. There is some scientific evidence that magnesium may be able to regulate neurotransmitter function. Deficiencies in magnesium, which can caused by excess perspiration or by decreased diet intake will worsen these conditions.

These Inadequacies may result in faulty neurotransmission as well as anxiety, depression, migraine headaches, mood disorders, hyperactivity and decreased concentration. Low magnesium has also been linked to sudden cardiac death, mitral valve prolapsed, diabetes and hypertension.

Several Research Studies have shown that supplementation with 80 mg to 200 mg of magnesium daily improves anxiety, depression and ADD and ADHD symptoms.

Most multivitamins have between 20mg to 50 mg of magnesium. This may be plenty of supplementation if you, or your children, are eating foods that are rich in magnesium such as green leafy vegetables, lot of whole grains, walnuts, cashews, and peanuts, beans, fish, pumpkin, bananas, avocados, raisins, milk products and tomato paste but is likely not enough if you are not and if this is the case then supplementation is required.

Magnesium is an essential nutritional element that may be deficient in the diet of most Americans. High schoolers in particular, are likely to have magnesium Inadequacies. Magnesium is lost through respiration and sweating and active people are more at risk for having borderline low magnesium levels than people who are sedentary. Eating foods high in magnesium or supplementing your diet with a magnesium vitamin is essential to avoid the poor health outcomes that result from low magnesium levels.

Check your multivitamin to insure that you and your children are getting enough magnesium. Those of us, who like hot chocolate and coffee, have yet another reason to drink more of these beverages. It turns out that cocoa and caffeine both contain a fair amount of magnesium. Some of the mood lifting effects of chocolate and coffee could be attributed to these magnesium levels.

The Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disordercommunity has been quick to recommend fatty acid supplementation to improve the behavioral symptoms that bring on problems in people with Attention Deficit Disorder. The research community is only now learning that nutritional substances such as calcium, magnesium and zinc also play a role in moderating our mood and our behavior.

By supplementing our diets with magnesium we may avoid worsening the symptoms of ADHD and may, in the process not only improve our overall health but also diminish the incidence of developing conditions such as depression and anxiety that often accompany a diagnosis of ADHD.

Whole Body Cleanse – The Antidote for Modern Agriculture and Modern Medicine

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You’ve been deceived, you’ve been lied to, and you are being poisoned . . . little by little . . . every day. Between the food-production practices of big agribusiness and the pill pushing of big pharma and the medical establishment, your body is, right now, most likely full of toxins. But even if you can’t grow your own natural vegetables and fruit and raise your own grass-fed beef and free-range chickens, there is still something you can do. And that is to use the right product for a safe, successful whole body cleanse-one that will replenish depleted nutrients, restore energy, balance hormones, help you lose weight, and promote better sleep.

Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canadian microbiologist, food-production watchdog, and author of Corrupt to the Core, maintains that we are being poisoned every day by the foods we eat. He even goes so far as to say, “Food in America and Canada is the absolute most toxic, unsafe food on the planet.” And the corollary, according to Chopra, because they don’t use all the harmful food-production methods we do, is that “Food imported from third-world countries is safer than food produced here.

The reasons our food is so deleterious are as follows: use of growth hormones, promiscuous use of antibiotics, rendered slaughterhouse waste turned into animal feed, damaging application of many pesticides, and corporate-driven genetically modified organisms (GMOs) driving out natural crops. Every time we eat commercially produced supermarket foods, we are consuming damaging toxins-accumulating poisons making our bodies cry out for a body cleanse.

Moreover, big pharma and the medical establishment are foisting on us, whether intentional or not, the idea that we need to take drugs to treat only the symptoms of our ailments, with no regard for the nutrient-depleting consequences. Statins, for example, the standardly prescribed drug for high cholesterol, rob your body of CoQ10 and co-enzyme Q10, the very nutrients that help protect your heart. The current medical establishment is interested only in lengthening your life-regardless of the quality.

So what we have is, basically, agribusiness, big pharma, and the medical establishment pumping us full of hormones and chemicals with no concern for the long-term result. In fact, flounder (the fish) DNA has been introduced to a certain strain of tomatoes to make them firmer. And this is completely contrary to the workings of nature. The vegetable might look good on the outside, and your body might appear healthy from the outside, but what’s really going on on the inside?

So what can you do? What you need to counteract the effects of toxic food and medications is a quality whole body cleanse.

But keep in mind that not all body cleansers are the same. The 21 Day Body Makeover is designed specifically to counteract the effects of toxic foods, by flushing the toxins from your system, and to replenish depleted nutrients while restoring balance to you natural systems. And here are the additional benefits:

No more cravings for junk food, soda, and caffeine

Enhanced fat loss

Improved energy levels

Balanced hormonal levels

Better sleep

Improved mood and sense of well being

While it is true that your body can heal itself, with our modern diet and modern medications, your body needs a little help. And the unique whole body cleanse offered by The 21 Day Body Makeover is just what your body needs today.

A program to take care of your entire body which includes body cleanse in fact, full body cleanse and removing toxins. Whole body cleanse will be assured. Visit us to know more.

Career Opportunities And Challenges In The Agriculture Biotechnology Industry

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Because of our ever-increasing population that is predicted to reach eight billion by 2020, the need for food will remain a top priority, transcending all socio and geo-political boundaries. The increased demand for food will call on agriculture, specifically, to act as the biggest source of industry. And with the increased demand for foodstuff, better-quality yield and huge agricultural output will be required. (Though there has been vast improvement in the sector thanks to the improved quality of seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers.)
This is where the agriculture biotechnologist steps in. Agricultural biotechnologists are professionals who provide a set of tools, which, if incorporated suitably with other technologies, can be used for the sustainable development of agriculture and the food industry as a whole.

Scope of the Agri-Biotech Industry

With increased R&D efforts in the agri-biotech industry, the scope of agriculture-based biotech work has become tremendous. Agriculture biotechnologists’ roles are multifarious. From being people with strong scientific expertise to being good administrators and good marketers with sharp business acumens and strong communication skills, the career options for an agri-biotechnologist are vast. Choosing the right avenue is the main priority.

Nature of the Job

Today, with modern technologies like micro propagation which allows for the multiplication of virus-free plants and tissue cultures, agriculturists have successfully combated natural hindrances to productivity such soil imbalances, crop diseases, and genetic breeding. Therefore, the agriculture-based biotech industry needs people who are qualified in the fields of molecular biology, plant transformation and tissue cultures, biochemistry, plant genetics, pathology, entomology, and agronomy for trait evaluation and integration.

Career Options for Agri-Biotechnologists

The field of agriculture-based biotechnology is evolving each day, offering numerous career options. Besides employing people for research and development, the industry also caters to various other agri-biotech-related fields including horticulture, floriculture, dairying, poultry farming, and fishery. Agri-based biotechnologists can also sharpen their academic skills by working with food processing or post-harvest technology, better known as genetically modified (GM) technology.

Career Challenges in the Agri-Biotech Industry

With growing consciousness of the ills of chemically treated foodstuff, changes in approaches to farming are taking place all over the globe. The stage has been set for the advent of bio-chemicals and bio-insecticides, biofertilizers, and biofuels. Agriculture-biotechnology careers are never short of challenges, both natural and man-made. For instance, in the next two-and-a-half decades alone, the world must produce the same amount of food or more than what it produced in the last 10,000 years.

For a biotechnologist, the challenge does not end with producing sufficient amounts of foodstuff. The challenge lies not only in meeting requirements within deadlines but, at the same time, causing minimal harm to the earth. Agriculture biotechnologists have to combat odds like the depletion of precious top-soil at the rate of seven percent in 10 years in order to fulfill the increasing water requirements which will have doubled by that time.

Other Career Options

Several other career openings are available for agri-business graduates. From the more general opportunities within the agricultural and land-based sectors such as equine management, animal science, and horticulture, to global buying and trading of agricultural produce, the opportunities are vast for agriculture biotechnologists.