Warm greetings to all!
Date Posted: October 13th, 2008
Our recent subscriber survey confirmed that food security is a top concern among our readers, and the listeners you serve. As many of you know, this week holds symbolic significance for this issue. October 16 has been designated by the United Nations as World Food Day. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will hold a Committee on World Hunger to seek policy solutions to current food security threats. At the same time, the international peasants’ movement known as La Via Campesina will bring small-scale farmers together for its international conference to discuss farmer-led solutions.
To read what the FAO is doing to mark World Food Day, visit: http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/. For information on La Via Campesina’s event, visit: http://www.viacampesina.org/main_en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=609&Itemid=. And to learn more about what community radio stations and civil society around the world are doing to mark the occasion, see the Upcoming Events section below.
This week’s FRW news stories focus on the everyday life of farmers who produce the world’s food. It’s harvest time in many African countries, a time when the seasonal harvest brings pride, joy, and reward to farmers. Our first story looks at a sampling of crop harvests, while our second reflects on how the growing trend of urban agriculture is changing the landscape of one of Africa’s largest cities. Finally, we have an update on the latest African outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza – a reminder that this disease remains a threat.
We would love to hear about any food security programs you broadcast to mark World Food Day, or as part of your regular schedule. Please share your radio organization’s approach to covering this issue by visiting the FRW website (http://weekly.farmradio.org/) and posting in the comments section. Or, you can write to FRW Editor Heather Miller at: hmiller@farmradio.org.
Happy reading!
-The Farm Radio Weekly Team
