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Agriculture holds the key to unlocking Africa’s vast economic potential | Letters
Only the final paragraph in your article on cocoa farming causing deforestation in Ivory Coast (Forests pay price for world’s taste for cocoa, 14 September) mentioned the most fundamental thing – the farmer’s livelihood, or lack of it. The low value of his (or more likely her) crop is undoubtedly the cause of this problem. But cocoa farming could also provide the solution.
Recently, I was in Ivory Coast for the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Abidjan. It united many different parties – governments, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), private sector agribusiness like Syngenta, Bayer and OCP, Rabobank and the World Bank, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They are united in one firm belief: that agriculture holds the key to unlocking Africa’s economic potential – 41 million smallholders on a fertile continent that grows every crop imaginable.
Continue reading...Press regulator censures Mail on Sunday for global warming claims
Mail on Sunday criticised by Ipso for article claiming global warming data had been exaggerated to win Paris climate change agreement
Claims in the Mail on Sunday that global warming data had been exaggerated in order to secure the Paris climate change agreement have been criticised by the UK’s press regulator.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation censured the newspaper for publishing a story in early February that was flawed in key aspects. The news story suggested that data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one of the world’s gold-standard sources of weather and climate research, had been treated in such a way as to suggest greater warming than had really occurred.
Continue reading...Nancy Hatch Dupree obituary
Nancy Hatch Dupree, who has died aged 89, was an American archivist, writer and champion of Afghanistan’s culture and its people, who defied communists, fundamentalists, warlords and foreign invaders over nearly five decades in Kabul.
Her most important legacy is an archive documenting some of the darkest periods of Afghan history: turbulent years of civil war and Taliban rule that many would happily have let slide into obscurity. The documents are housed in the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University, established in 2006 and one of the city’s most impressive post-Taliban buildings, inspired by traditional architecture and a reflection of Nancy and her husband Louis Dupree’s love of Afghan culture.
Continue reading...How killer flies have the fastest vision of any animal
The 'miracle pill': how cycling could save the NHS
Cycling can make people healthy and live longer, and cut public health costs, so why can’t it be prescribed to the nation?
Imagine if a team of scientists devised a drug which massively reduced people’s chances of developing cancer or heart disease, cutting their overall likelihood of dying early by 40%. This would be front page news worldwide, a Nobel prize as good as in the post.
That drug is already here, albeit administered in a slightly different way: it’s called cycling to work. One of the more puzzling political questions is why it is so rarely prescribed on a population-wide level.
Continue reading...The eco guide to ancient grains
Selective breeding gives the highest yield, but potentially at a price. It’s time to go back to our roots
If you find the whole business of organic too tame, there’s always landrace crops, which are positively subversive. Landrace crop varieties (sometimes known as folk crops) are ancient versions of the standardised crops we rely on today. Genetically variable, these biodiverse cultivars are allowed to grow at will and to cross pollinate. Farmers collect the seeds from successful crops and these become the parents of next year’s varieties. Simple.
If this sounds primitive (it is in fact Neolithic), it makes much more sense than modern agriculture, which is reliant on selective breeds that are addicted to fertilisers. The idea is that the selective breeds give the highest yield when conditions are good. This is a terrible strategy in an era of climate change when conditions are not ideal. Modern agriculture has wiped out almost all original genetic diversity. Ancient cultivars of wheat are used for straw or shoved into seed banks. Proponents of the Real Green Movement want them released into the soil.
Continue reading...Paris climate deal: US denies it will stay in accord
Fishing for better food solutions
Meet the latest recruit to the UK flood defence team: the beaver
Beavers could be put to work building dams to stop a village from flooding in the Forest of Dean, in what would be the first such scheme on government land.
The Forestry Commission has been an enthusiastic advocate for the release of a family of beavers into a large fenced area surrounding Greathough brook above the village of Lydbrook, on land owned by the commission.
Continue reading...Paws for thought: drivers warned to look out for animal stowaways
Warning comes after koala found clinging to axle of vehicle in Australia and three kittens survive 311-mile trip from Netherlands to UK under car bonnet
Motorists are being urged to be vigilant after two reports of animals becoming trapped under vehicles on opposite sides of the world.
In Australia, a koala survived a 16km (10 mile) trip clinging to the axle of a four-wheel drive vehicle before the driver stopped and heard the cries of the traumatised animal.
Continue reading...Koala 'hitches' ride under car wheel arch
Henry the hippo reunites with his baby Fiona
Chris Boardman: 'Energy gel? I'd rather have a sandwich'
The former cycling world champion and Manchester’s first walking and cycling commissioner on riding safely, favourite rides and why he won’t use Strava
So, you’re the first cycling and walking commissioner for Greater Manchester. How come?
Because Andy Burnham [the mayor of Greater Manchester] phoned and asked me. I was quite taken aback, because do I have any qualifications? No. But I was taken with his enthusiasm. From the first few seconds it was pretty scary because I have been on the other side of the fence campaigning and lobbying [as British Cycling’s policy advisor] and saying what should be done, and then someone else says “go on, then” – you’re in a difficult position if you don’t want to be a hypocrite.
Continue reading...Nine of the best bikes for all budgets
Whether you’re commuting, touring or competing we’ve sourced the perfect bikes, from entry-level through mid-range to high spec
6KU Detroit, £325
UK legal claims grow over exposure at work to toxic diesel fumes
Unions warn effects of exposure to diesel pollution is ticking time bomb for business, likening situation to ‘early days of asbestos’
Legal claims over exposure to diesel exhaust fumes at work are growing as unions warn toxic air in the workplace is a ticking time bomb on a par with asbestos.
Royal Mail and at least one local authority are among major employers who are being sued over their alleged failure to protect staff from the damaging health effects of diesel pollution from vehicles. More cases are lined up, according to lawyers and unions involved in supporting workers.
Continue reading...The Arctic - big changes, super-fast
New battery technology reduces recharge time
Gear up: 10 of the best pieces of cycle clothing and accessories for men – in pictures
From tops with sweat wicking, to jeans with extra stretch and shorts with reinforcement, we pick the best pieces for cyclists who don’t relish arriving to work crumpled, clammy – or in Lycra
• link here to gallery of women’s clothes
Continue reading...Ride in style: our pick of women's cycling fashion – in pictures
Increasingly, cycle brands are speeding beyond traditional performance wear into clothes that look everyday but have technical tweaks for riding. Tops are sweat wicking, jeans have extra stretch and shorts are reinforced around the inner thigh, and they look good too
• See our pick of men’s clothes and accessories
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