Doha-ha

Hola Gente,
We have already seen the signs of protectionism around the world as the preferred response to the food crisis. Yet, these signs have been coming from governments responding to their concerned constituencies that see their daily life threatened and demand immediate actions.

Now, the hope that a global platform, such as Doha, would counterweight all these nonsense policies has been scattered precisely under the argument of protectionism. The irony is that the countries that have precisely benefited the most from trade (China and India) were the ones that staunchly opposed any concession that would exposed their consumers to new exports.These actions left developed countries with little incentives to reform their own protectionist agricultural agendas.
Left my Cristal ball at home to predict what's next....See bellow a compilation of articles in the subject;
The Economist: The Doha round...and round...and round

IPS: BRAZIL: Doha Failure a ‘Triumph of Protectionism’, Say Trade Sources

Center for Global Development: Doha Collapse No Surprise But Extremely Unfortunate -- Especially for Developing Countries AND Food Security Fears Undermine Doha Trade Talk

World Bank- IFC blog: The collapse of Doha

go ahead and eat those kiwis

From a interesting article in the NYT that list "10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List" here is number 3:

3. Forbidden fruits from afar. Do you dare to eat a kiwi? Sure, because more “food miles” do not equal more greenhouse emissions. Food from other countries is often produced and shipped much more efficiently than domestic food, particularly if the local producers are hauling their wares around in small trucks. One study showed that apples shipped from New Zealand to Britain had a smaller carbon footprint than apples grown and sold in Britain.

It's a shame they don't provide a link or source for the apple study. Yet, the article does give you hint about how the whole local vs. imported debate is not as straight forward as some may think.

Harvest

Nothing like spending an afternoon picking tomatoes, corn, and beans, fruits of months of hard
work. Get a plot in you local community garden!



More picture to come soon. Older pics here

Lessons from the food crisis: patchwork will not mend our vulnerable system

From the South Centre Bulletin, It concludes that:

• sustainable agriculture for domestic food security, meeting the needs of local markets and supporting local farmers must be prioritised
• the limits of the industry-led agri-food market must be recognised and more than short-term buffers for the poor must be put in place
• seed aid and provision of fertiliser is rightly being advocated as an immediate answer to the current food crisis but in the medium-long term it is not a solution for seed security and may create more problems than it solves, such as distorting farmers local seed systems

News and Links

• International food aid locally purchased in the new Farm Bill. Pros and cons
• Mozambique, an example of how food aid should be done
  
• In Lesotho, a landlock country with very low food production, the food crisis is making things even worse
• From IFPRI Helping Women Respond to the Global Food Crisis and Physical and Virtual Global Food Reserves to Protect the Poor and Prevent Market Failure
• An unpopular French president criticizes a much needed yet unpopular reform of the EU's farm sector
  

the wrong response to the food crisis

Also, here is an paper from professor Sumit Roy Visiting Senior Research Fellow Jadavpur University on the food crisis a what countries are and should be doing.
On the same subject here is another interesting perspective of the food crisis published by Oxfam "The Time is Now: how world leaders should respond to the food price crisis"

Best,

New bloggers

Hi there,
I've added two new links to the blogger side bar. The first one is Chris Blattman's Blog, an Assistant Professor of Political Science & Economics at Yale University, Chris blogs about international development and economic growth. Check out his post on the Kennedy School's MPA/ID, one of the programs listed under "Career Programs in Development". Since we're taking about the Kennedy school, here are the links to professor Rodrik and Mankiw, both teach at the school and have great, readble blogs.

I also added the link to the Bayesian Herey. This blog also has a comprehensive list of post on advice for people interested in careers in International Development. Although more directed to economist, check his post on skills needed to work on international development agencies.

Hope this helps those of you considering careers in Int Dev.