THIẾU THỰC PHẨM

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Black Sea drought now poses threat to crops through 2011 - 16 Aug 2010

Extremely dry weather aggravated by recent wildfires has adversely affected growing conditions in the normally flourishing Black Sea region, also known as the “bread basket” of the area.

As a result, both Russia and Ukraine, the world’s fourth and sixth largest wheat exporters, respectively, have announced export bans to conserve national food supplies.

With the drought in Russia being the worst in a century, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin stated that the effects may be so severe that the export ban will need to extend beyond the year’s end.

He went on to state that the grain crop forecast could fall to as low as 60 million tons, down from the previous week’s 75 million ton forecast. The affected growing regions are currently not planning to sow seeds for the winter 2010 crops this autumn, which normally amounts to 40% of the country’s grain harvest, and will focus on spring 2011 crops later instead.

Winter grain sowing is also being delayed in Ukraine, where high temperatures and absence of rain have parched the soil’s sowing layer. Officials have also stated that grain surpluses from prior years may need to be used to help to avoid internal food shortages.

Our appreciation, Your Excellency and governments of Russia and Ukraine for your efforts to cope with this serious situation affecting not only Russia but global food supplies.

Let us all act in more sustaining ways to protect food security worldwide, including a foremost shift to the environmentally restoring organic vegan diet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often expressed concern about climate change impacts on global food production, as discussed in a 2009 videoconference in Togo.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Zimbabwe, Somalia, Mauritius, Mozambique, and Sudan – just to name a few – are experiencing worsened droughts that make it difficult to plant crops, thus adding to food shortages and prices rising.

Add to this, desertification and deforestation that further degrade the land. Increased temperatures mean erratic rainfall – either too little or too much at a time – so we have ravaging floods that drown the crops and fires that burn the forest.

These impacts of climate change increase food insecurity and the food crisis. It is best if government leaders can be part of the solution. They can assist in helping people to understand why it is so important to make the change to the veg diet.

So let us try our best to help remind and encourage our leaders to do something.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/18fbaae2-a...44feabdc0.html

http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article....942539&rf=true

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2...hreaten-crops/

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1690&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Russian grain export ban affects Egypt and other regions - 18 Aug 2010

With recent record heat waves, prolonged drought and wildfires damaging 25% of Russia’s crops, the government’s decision to ban 2010 exports in order to ensure adequate grain supplies is in turn likely to cause hardship in the Middle East and Northern Africa, where Russia’s largest exports are made.

Many of these countries, such as Egypt, where 40% of the people live on less than US$2 per day, rely on provisions of subsidized bread to maintain social peace.

The loss of Russia’s wheat this year will inevitably result in rising grain prices, which could have obvious adverse effects. Egypt, which in 2009 imported a third of Russia’s overseas wheat supplies and relied on Russia for 59% of her wheat imports, currently has a four month supply of the grain, and has issued requests to obtain wheat from other countries.

However, the government states that it expects the higher grain prices will cost up to US$705 million, an amount that will hinder its ability to begin reducing debt.

Meanwhile, with Russia’s heat wave being labeled the most extreme in a millennium by the country’s Meteorological Center, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told the nation’s Security Council that a change in approach is needed to address the more and more obvious effects of global warming.

He stated, “Frankly, what is going on with the world’s climate at the moment should incite us all (I mean world leaders and heads of public organizations) to make a more strenuous effort to fight global climate change.”

We are relieved to learn Egypt has enough supply for the next few months, and pray for adequate sustenance for all in need. Let us all act to conserve our precious grain supplies and stabilize the climate by adopting sustainable lifestyles such as the plant-based diet.

During a July 2008 telephone interview with Mr. James Bean, host of the US-based Spiritual Awakening Radio station, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the connection between global warming, food insecurity and our dietary choices.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: So, it is meat diet that really causes the shortage of food. The grain that we feed the livestock alone is enough for 2 billion people.

And it’s not just about food shortage; it breeds war, because when people are hungry and insecure about food, and famine everywhere, they might just do anything. And that’s why we have war. So, I think a vegetarian diet, it is truly necessary for us to survive.

http://www.zawya.com/story.cfm/sidZA...heat%20worries

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5912105,00.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1691&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Thiếu Thực Phẩm

Adapting agriculture to mitigate climate change - 20 Aug 2010

Adapting agriculture to mitigate climate change.

From droughts in Mexico to floods in Pakistan and deadly heat in the US, extreme weather events are increasing due to global warming. Experts have stated concern that these could lead to instability in global agriculture markets and even conflicts over food, similar to those seen in 2007 and 2008.

In a recent report, the World Bank studied the impacts of climate change in-depth for the countries Mozambique, Ethiopia, Ghana, Bangladesh, Âu Lạc (Vietnam), Samoa, and Bolivia, and estimated that the cost for all the most vulnerable countries to adapt to climate change will be US$70-100 billion per year until 2050.

Warren Evans – Director of Environment Department at World Bank (M): The reality is that climate change is a development issue. The poorest of the poor tend to be the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, whether it’s sea level rise, drought, flooding. They also are the least resilient because of their impoverished state.

VOICE: The World Bank’s new study was presented by Environment Department Director Warren Evans, who explained that economic development is the most cost-effective method of climate change adaptation. In particular, developing sustainable agriculture would make both adaptation and mitigation of climate change efficient, a point confirmed by a 2009 Dutch study which found that a global shift to an organic vegan diet

would save world governments 80% of climate mitigation costs by 2050, or a savings of US$32 trillion.

Mr. Evans (M): Agriculture is one of the opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. There is a tremendous amount of carbon stored in soils and in grasses and so on. Right now, that is not a part of the equation in terms of getting financing to developing countries for reducing their emissions, but there’s a tremendous opportunity to shift agricultural practices, so that carbon is stored.

Supreme Master TV (F): And what kind of practices are you talking about?

Mr. Evans (M): Well, a simple one is no-till farming, where you reduce the amount of exposure of the soils to the air, to the atmosphere. You retain a higher level of organic composition and of vegetative growth on top of the soils, proven over and over again to be a highly effective system for production.

Other systems involve changing the way the water’s managed, and in some cases it’s a matter of changing crops.

VOICE: Our appreciation Director Evans and World Bank for indicating ways to support the most impacted countries in mitigating global warming. May all nations help to make rapid and effective changes to stop further climate change.

During a May 2009 videoconference in Togo, Supreme Master Ching Hai discussed organic vegan farming practices and their benefits for the planet at this crucial time.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Organic farming preserves topsoil and keeps water bodies clean, and if used worldwide, would have the potential to absorb and store approximately 40% of all present-day CO2 emissions each year.

The other aspects of vegan organic farming that are beneficial including things like crop rotation, mulching, and natural fertilizers. Other methods such as mulching and even a new method called no-till organic farming help retain moisture and reduce soil erosion considerably.

So, in general, vegan organic farming follows a philosophy of living in harmony with nature and protection for the planet and all beings. I highly encourage you to pursue vegan organic farming methods, if at all possible. Of course, it is possible.

It has to be possible for our own survival. The vegan diet is the real key and is the essence of the change that is needed for saving our planet.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE67B3XT20100812

http://beta.worldbank.org/content/ec...study-homepage

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1753&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Accounting for nitrogen in food sustainability - 26 Aug 2010

Accounting for nitrogen in food sustainability.

In a recent study, University of Pittsburg environmental scientists Dr. Xue Xiaobo and Professor Amy Landis in Pennsylvania, USA calculated the “nitrogen footprints” of various foods.

They then compared this measure of environmental impact with the same foods’ carbon footprint. Nitrogen pollution is created from nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizer runoff as well as nitrogen contained in livestock manure, both of which are washed by rain into rivers and out to bays and the ocean, where they spur the growth of algae, which dies and is then consumed by bacteria.

The oxygen-depriving effects of the bacteria create the often-massive dead zones such as the 8,000-square-mile area near the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

Of all the foods measured by the scientists, meat and dairy products topped the list as the most nitrogen-damaging to the ecosystem, while plant-based foods had the lowest impact.

Our appreciation, Drs. Landis and Xue for helping us to understand the environmental damage caused by nitrogen and its primary source in animal products.

May such insights motivate us all to adopt the truly eco-friendly plant-based lifestyle. During a November 2009 videoconference in Washington, DC, USA, Supreme Master Ching Hai explained the harms of livestock waste to both the environment and lives while suggesting the simplest way to reverse the problem.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Livestock produces 130 times as much waste as the human population in the US. Can you imagine that? In Virginia State, even the poultry farms are producing 1.5 times polluting nitrogen, more than all the people living in the same area. We are killing ourselves.

One time, an 8-acre large,such pig manure lagoon burst in North Carolina, spilling 25 million gallons of this poisonous waste, twice the volume of the notorious Exxon-Valdez oil spill.

Hundreds of millions of fish in the state’s New River were killed instantly due to the nitrates in the waste, with further harmful effects once the contamination reached the ocean.

Not only that, we have the enormous dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, the size of New Jersey, which suffocates all marine life there. And this is overwhelmingly due to the nitrogen runoff from the Midwest, from the animal wastes and the fertilizers for the animal feed crops. This waste is toxic.
It contains antibiotics, hormones and pesticides, and 10 to 100 times the concentration of deadly pathogens like E. coli and salmonella compared to human waste.

There is a very good reason to abolish meat, fish, eggs and dairy – all the animal products al together. We must stop animal production now and at all cost if we want to keep this planet.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/88/i32/...Latest+News%29

https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/0...ulfs-dead-zone

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1755&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Global plant growth in decline due to climate change-induced drought - 6 Sep 2010

Although it was once observed that global warming-induced temperature rises and longer growing seasons benefited plant growth, a new study from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has found that the droughts caused by warming result in overall decline.

So while plants in some northern latitudes may continue to grow, their southern latitude counterparts are decreasing, with an overall loss effect that impacts crops and thus food security as well.

Study co-author Dr. Steven Running of the University of Montana, biologist and co-author of the report, stated, “This is a pretty serious warning that warmer temperatures are not going to endlessly improve plant growth.”

Many thanks, Dr. Running and National Aeronautics and Space Administration study scientists for revealing this potentially disastrous decline of the world’s flora due to human-caused climate change.

Let us all speedily adopt effective measures to cool the planet and restore a verdant ecosphere. Foreseeing the increasing impact of global warming on all life, during a 2008 videoconference in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai pointed out the most crucial way to restore nature’s harmony and thus save the planet.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: Nature can help to absorb some of the carbon dioxide, but we overload nature, so we have a problem right now and we continue to have problem if we are not doing anything to prevent further destruction of the planet.

It’s just the meat industry that causes the most pollution for the planet, that the planet is overloaded, nature is overloaded. Everything warms up because of meat and animal products.

So, if we stop the meat production, if we stop eating meat and harming the animals, the good benevolent atmosphere will change everything into a beneficial planet for us.

Even before, our planet was good, but if we change into vegetarian diet, this planet will become a paradise, will be plentiful, will be very happy for everybody to live on.

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/...e-study-finds/

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010...t_Decline.html

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/fea...t-decline.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1757&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Unpredictable weather threatens stability of food supplies - 9 Sep 2010

On Tuesday, September 7, Sri Lankan-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) presented a report to an international gathering of scientists at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden.

Warning that climate change is bringing more erratic rainfall, the report stated that the unreliable timing and variable amounts of rain are having increasingly noticeable effects on food security and economic growth.

This is due in part to the fact that approximately 66% of crops in Asia are rain-fed only, rather than irrigated, while in Africa a full 94% are rain-fed. Highlighting the very recent examples of extremely dry conditions leading to this summer’s devastating Russian fires and the opposite in the calamitous Pakistani floods, Sunita Narain, head of the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) in India, stated, “We are getting to a point where we are getting more water, more rainy days, but it's more variable, so it leads to droughts and it leads to floods.”

The scientists recommended more investment in water storage options as well as water management.
We thank the International Water Management Institute, Ms. Narain and other international scientists for reminding of the connection between climate and water imbalances that affect urgent food supplies.

Let us all work to restore natural harmony through sustainable daily actions that ensure our planetary survival. During a September 2009 videoconference in Peru, Supreme Master Ching Hai expressed her concern for humanity in light of the growing global food crisis, while also emphasizing the most comprehensive solution.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: We can see everywhere reflections of a planet in trouble, with monsoons and flooding in one location and people losing their harvests and drinking water to drought in another.

One way that our world can be preserved and stabilized is through everyone’s change to a compassionate lifestyle, choosing organic vegan diet, which not only eliminates methane and other toxic, heat-trapping greenhouse gases emissions from the livestock industry, but the organic part takes care of harmful fertilizer chemicals and allows the soil to absorb a huge amount of atmospheric CO2.

http://www.france24.com/en/20100907-...-food-security

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1760&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

UN calls for governments to prepare for greater volatility in food supplies - 11 Sep 2010

Following recent devastating crop losses in Russia and Pakistan due to climate-related drought, fires and floods, public awareness of the global food supply’s vulnerability has driven food commodity prices up. This has created tension and conflict that in some cases has resulted in deadly violence, as in Mozambique where protests were sparked when bread prices suddenly increased by 30%.

Meanwhile, Europe’s wheat prices are now 60% higher than in 2009, and Russia just announced the extension of a ban on wheat exports for another year due to the nation’s severe drought, inadequate harvest, and economic inflation.

Farmers there, for example, have experienced the driest season in 130 years, with experts having observed cracks in the soil so dry that no moisture can be reached without digging an entire meter into the ground.

This year’s drought has in fact already threatened next year’s harvest as farmers must plant now to reap a fruitful crop, but cannot do so without rain. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has responded to these concerns by calling a September 24 meeting to discuss how to best address this and potential future instabilities in food supplies.

Speaking of the current food situation, UN FAO Assistant Director-General for Economic and Social Development, Hafez Ghanem, warned that even though grain production overall this year is the third highest on record despite the recent crop failures, future supplies could be jeopardized by extreme weather events or further export bans, causing more global price volatility. Grain prices have also been affected by demands for meat, with livestock consuming more than one-third of global grain supplies during the 2008/2009 season.

We thank the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization for your efforts to help stabilize global food markets through a better understanding of the current situation and effective planning for the future.

Let us all work together to shift food policies in a wise and sustainable direction for the security of all people. During an August 2009 videoconference in Thailand, Supreme Master Ching Hai emphasized the most simple and effective remedy to this mounting global food shortage problem.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: The leaders of the nations must do something. The people of all nations must do something. Just because we can still sit here pretty and talk, just because in our area there is not yet water shortage or food prices going up, doesn’t mean it will not happen to us soon.

We have to do something to avoid the tragedy that is already happening to billions of other people. There are one billion people hungry already because of climate change, and short of water and food. Please take action now. Very simple. Just be veg. Just be veg is truly enough for now. And it will be enough for a long future to come.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...VRaIGKMobT8EwQ

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/45178/icode/

http://www.thedailymaverick.co.za/ar...serious-threat

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=1762&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Climate change affecting India's famed Assam tea - 8 Jan 2010

While the high hills and normally abundant rainfall in northeastern Assam state create an ideal environment for the region's distinctive tea, scientists have noted a 20% decrease in rainfall and a full one degree temperature rise over the past 60 years.

According to the Tea Board of India, tea yields have also decreased, from 512,000 tons in 2007 to just 445,000 in 2009. Furthermore, these decreases have occurred despite the addition of new areas for planting as well as entirely new tea gardens.

Dr. Mridul Hazarika, director of Tocklai Tea Research, the world's oldest tea research station, stated, “This is an indication of the seriousness of the threat.”

Dr. Hazarika, Tocklai Tea Research, Tea Board of India, and growers, we appreciate this alert to the disturbing changes experienced by Assam growers. May your insightful information help bring developments that assist the region while governments and individuals alike act urgently to reverse climate change.

Addressing the issue of unpredictable weather conditions and their effect on harvests during a May 2009 videoconference in Togo, Supreme Master Ching Hai highlighted the most sustainable practice needed to ensure the restoration of environmental stability.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : Increased temperatures mean erratic rainfall - either too little or too much at a time - so we have ravaging floods that drown the crops and fires that burn the forest.

If you're a farmer, you already can feel that the climate is in trouble. There are more frequent droughts, heat waves, floods, storms, frosts, freezes, and locusts than before.

If the world becomes vegan as a group, we can remedy the disasters that affect us globally.

The planet will begin repairing itself in astonishing ways that scientists would be surprised. For example, the ice will stop melting and return to the way it was, green life will appear again, the oceans will be healed as the rainfall and temperature begin to regulate themselves again, produce restored balance.

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/cl...228-199ci.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2340&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Global food prices reach all time high - 27 Jan 2011

Caused in part by crop failures linked to various climate-related natural disasters along with fuel price increases, a global food price index monitored by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has surpassed a 2008 record high, with global corn prices up 52%, wheat up 49% and soy up 28% relative to 2010.

Rising food costs have already led to recent rallies and unrest in Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Mozambique and Yemen. Officials caution that the situation is becoming dangerous, with climate change expected to decrease crop yields due to more extreme weather events. Following recent widespread and damaging floods in Australia, some food items have risen 20% in price in cities such as Sydney and Melbourne.

The FAO cautions that those who continue to be most at risk are in the developing world, where an average 70% of household income is spent on food.

Guriya Devi, Indian housewife: Lentils cost almost $1.5 a kilo, so do you think we can eat them? The price used to be 60 cents - we could buy them then, now we can't even think of it. What can we do with the income we have? Poor people like us are suffering.

Baiju, Indian taxi driver The price of lentils and rice has gone up so much that we've stopped eating lentils. Even potatoes have become expensive… Our family survives by eating just vegetables and rice.

In Kenya, the price of staples such as maize and beans have spiked, causing most of the northern Kenyan population to be at risk of starvation. The nation's Red Cross reported that these conditions come after crop failures in the three consecutive planting seasons, with young children, expectant mothers, and elderly suffering the worst impacts of malnutrition. International relief agencies have been trying to distribute emergency food supplies in the area.

Our thanks for the concerned alerts as well as the efforts of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the Kenyan Red Cross and others in addressing the challenging situation faced by people across the globe due to increasing food prices. May we step together in sustainable, climate-stabilizing actions to ensure worldwide sustenance, especially for the most vulnerable.

Supreme Master Ching Hai has often addressed concerns of high food prices and shortages while encouraging humanity's considerate participation toward alleviating these problems, as during an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia.

Supreme Master Ching Hai: There are 1.02 billion people with not enough food in the world. While we are sitting here in safety and comfort, and have sufficient food for ourselves and our family, our neighboring people, our world co-citizens, more than one billion of them, are living in poverty, in hunger, in thirst. No sufficient water, no clean water, no food to eat. Children are dying every few seconds. Statistically, every five seconds one child dies of hunger.

Besides, we are facing a food shortage with high food prices. The most important first step is to stop buying and eating meat, fish, eggs, dairy, and any animal products for you and for your family's sake,

for the natural resources' sake, and to plant the seeds for a better agricultural system for everyone. In this way, not only can all the farmers prosper - we help them in this way - but everyone will prosper and enjoy a long and thriving life.

http://www.spa.gov.sa/English/details.php?id=852906c

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/...r=rss&emc=rssd

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...un-2177220.htm

http://www.straitstimes.com/PrimeNew...ry_621350.html

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIM...6/070111p1.pdf

http://www.theage.com.au/national/fr...107-19iwe.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2418&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

World food prices increase 3.4%, reaching record highs.- 10 Feb 2011

Announcing this December 2010 rise in food prices, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that it was the steepest since records began in 1990. Rice prices shot up to a 27-month high in countries such as Bangladesh and Indonesia, two of the largest rice importers in Asia, with Bangladesh doubling imports due to panicked buying.

In Sri Lanka, where floods have just displaced over a million people, rice prices were also up amidst grave concerns over the fate of the staple crop after tens of thousands of acres of agricultural land were destroyed. Floods in Victoria, Australia have also devastated potential harvests of fruit and vegetable growers, while heavy rains and floods damaged swaths across southern Africa, with Lesotho having already lost 60% of her crops.

China’s food producing regions are also suffering from the worst drought in 60 years, decreasing yields across 4 million hectares. In an effort to address both the food shortages and the escalation of tensions that could result in conflict, the FAO along with France, current leader of the G20 group, have called for more regulations to help stabilize prices and food supplies.

During a joint press conference, FAO head Jacques Diouf noted the unrest that has already been seen in some parts of the world, as French Farm Minister Bruno Le Maire stated, “We share the same view that today, the real risk of a global food crisis exists.” South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak similarly highlighted the need to address this emerging issue as he stated, “The likelihood of a global food crisis is rising due to climate change. We need to set up national strategies and research to tackle the issue.”

We appreciate the concern of the United Nations, South Korea and governments worldwide seeking ways to stabilize this grave situation on which lives and livelihoods depend.

May humane and constructive food production policies be swiftly implemented to ensure the nourishing sustenance of people. Speaking about rising food costs and those who suffer from hunger, Supreme Master Ching Hai during an October 2009 videoconference in Germany expressed deep concern while offering a solution that would address all needs.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : According to a recent announcement by the United Nations, the number of people going hungry across the world in 2009, this year, has now officially exceeded 1 billion.

This is due in part to the steeply rising food costs that are part of our global economic crisis. However, this is directly related to meat consumption. Because if all the grains fed to livestock animals were grown for human consumption instead, then the amounts of food harvested for humans would be higher and prices lower.

Moreover, global warming has resulted in many instances of documented extreme weather, leading to devastating crop losses and also drive food prices sky high. So, if everyone turns to the plant-based diet, we have more food immediately and an easing of conditions like drought and flooding, with abundant harvests and food supplies quickly restored.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-0...asan-says.html

http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/busin...-prices/421210

http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/ns...747912938.html

http://westernfarmpress.com/manageme...-border-states

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...289257927.html

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2434&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Global food prices rise to dangerous levels - 18 Feb 2011

Stating that prices are 29% higher than one year ago, with increases of 15% over the past four months alone, the World Bank has issued an alarm as it notes that food costs currently are only 3% lower than the peak prices of June 2008, when food riots had erupted across the developing world.

The largest recent increases have been seen in global wheat prices, which doubled from June 2010 to January 2011, while the price of maize jumped a sharp 73%, and higher prices placed on sugar and cooking oils, as well as vegetables in China and India, and beans in some African nations.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - Managing Director, World Bank Group (M): According to our research at the World Bank, the recent food price hikes have thrown another 44 million people into extreme poverty. I feel we've now entered a danger zone.

VOICE: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has indicated that the recent upward direction in prices has come from a combination of factors, including increased consumption of meat and dairy products, speculative trading, soil erosion, food crops used for biofuels, and decreased or failed harvests due to climate change effects such as water scarcity.

Prolonged widespread drought in northern China, for instance, caused wheat crop failures that recently sparked concerns about the impact on global food prices. If China were ever to have to import a large amount of wheat, global prices for the grain would surge and add to the strain already being felt worldwide.

Shanghai-based agriculture analyst Lief Chiang of Rabobank noted that not only China's drought, but also other disasters in late 2010 have driven up global wheat prices, such as floods in Australia, drought in Russia and an unusually early frost in Canada.

Our thanks, World Bank and United Nations for these reports alerting us to the potential crisis of escalating food prices and global food security. Let us work together to implement solutions that ensure sustainable food supplies for all who are in need.

During an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the interrelated issues of food production and climate change, explaining the cost-saving solution for both areas. A lot of the news today is not very good due to the effects of global warming. We hear about glaciers melting, water becoming more scarce, rising food shortages, rising food prices with over one billion people going hungry every day, and so forth. The food prices are getting higher and higher nowadays.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : As it has already been mentioned, recent research shows that more than 50% of emissions, which heat up our planet, which put our lives in danger, are from the livestock industry.

Now, the meat industry is not a very lucrative business, with very high production costs for electricity, water, and grains that have to be wasted to produce the same amount of so-called “food,” which is replaceable and better. We have better food than meat.

I don't know how difficult can it be to replace a piece of meat with a piece of tofu, or a piece of vegetable protein. It looks the same, it tastes even better, is cheaper any way, and good for your health.

The solution is at hand for each and every one of us, which is simply to forego animal products and become vegan - one small change; it's no big deal.

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTE...K:4607,00.html

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTE...K:4607,00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1hhQGc78Ws

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2442&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Scientists warn of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) dire consequences - 5 Mar 2011

Following several years of invited public opinion, which was consistently in favor of a continued moratorium, the United States Food and Agriculture Department recently approved the unregulated planting of Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RRA), a genetically modified alfalfa designed to survive the chemical herbicide Roundup, scientifically known as glyphosate.

However, in a new study scientists have discovered for the first time a very tiny organism within these genetically modified crops that is self-replicating and appears to be able to cause disease in both plants and animals.

With alfalfa being the fourth largest crop in the US, covering millions of acres of land, an independent group of scientists, farming, consumer, and food safety groups are now warning that the unregulated planting of genetically modified alfalfa is at particular risk of spreading disease because it also stands to contaminate natural crops.

Specifically, the diseases associated with the organism found in the GMO alfalfa include a lethal disorder that can afflict soy plants as well as one that appears to cause late miscarriages in farm animals. These findings were presented by Professor Emeritus Don M. Huber (NFT: PhD) of Purdue University in the USA, who coordinates the Emergent Diseases and Pathogens committee as part of the US Department of Agriculture's National Plant Disease Recovery System.

Warning that the cultivation of genetically modified alfalfa could cause irreparable damage to the food supply, Dr. Huber stated, “If indications hold true, we're set up for the greatest disaster that this country or the world has ever seen, that will dwarf any major famine or drought that has ever been recorded.” Previous studies have also linked the use of the herbicide glyphosate with damaging human health such as killing cells and causing infertility. Dr. Huber has called for more research on the effects of GMO crops before the irreversible decision about alfalfa goes into effect.

Dr. Huber and fellow scientists, our sincere thanks for this urgent warning about genetically modified crops. Let us choose beneficial organic vegan farming methods for a world in which human, animal and environmental health prevail. Speaking during an October 2009 videoconference in Hong Kong, Supreme Master Ching Hai mentioned the many hazards of genetically modified organisms along with the need to avoid their use to ensure human welfare.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : Nowadays, many people try to do this so-called genetically modified food, so sometimes we eat vegetarian food and we don't even know that there are animal substances in it.

Scientifically speaking, meat is being linked to diseases of all kind - with cholesterol, obesity, heart disease and strokes.

So, if we put meat or animal substance into vegetables, then we will also have similar effects, more or less. I think we should not mess up with nature and play God. Whatever nature has already offered to us, that is good enough.

There might be more incurable diseases that come from GMOs that we don't even know will happen yet. Right now, even if we just eat the normal meat and we have so many incurable diseases already; if we mix it with vegetables, maybe we will have more incurable diseases and more strange diseases that we don't even know how to deal with in the future. So, it's better to have organic vegan farming method.

http://www.sott.net/articles/show/22...anto-s-Roundup

http://www.motherearthnews.com/natur...ist-warns.aspx

http://www.gmwatch.org/index.php?opt...-of-the-cliffq

http://www.apsnet.org/members/apslea...ages/edpc.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0..._n_827135.html

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011...scarriages.php

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2459&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

World food prices at record high - 6 Mar 2011

On Thursday, March 3, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that continued unprecedented rises for eight consecutive months has resulted in February's levels being the highest since record-keeping began 20 years ago.

Reasons behind the steep increases are thought to include ongoing adverse weather conditions due to climate change, such as in Canada where rising temperatures have significantly reduced wheat production, in China following severe droughts, and Russia after the catastrophic heat wave and fires.

Other factors include higher oil prices, which affect food production and transportation and internal conflicts as well as disasters that spur governments and individuals to stockpile staples. With the FAO forecasting continued rises for the rest of the year, fears of an unfolding food shortage crisis are being raised.

Highlighting the seriousness of the situation and the need for actions such as curbing market speculation and food-based biofuels, Oxfam's food policy adviser Thierry Kesteloot stated, “Millions more people are sliding into poverty as they struggle to afford basic food supplies. A sit-and-wait attitude among governments in the hope that there will be good harvests over the next few months means gambling with people's lives.”

We are thankful for the concerned observations of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in raising awareness of this global issue.

Our prayers for the enactment of sustainable measures that ensure plentiful sustenance for all. Speaking about the long-term rise in global food prices and shortages during an October 2009 videoconference in Indonesia, Supreme Master Ching Hai expressed concern while offering a comprehensive solution.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : There are 1.02 billion people with not enough food in the world. While we are sitting here in safety and comfort, and have sufficient food for ourselves and our family, our neighboring people, our world co-citizens, more than one billion of them, are living in poverty, in hunger, in thirst. No sufficient water, no clean water, no food to eat. Children are dying every few seconds. Statistically, every five seconds one child dies of hunger.

Besides, we are facing a food shortage with high food prices. The most important first step is to stop buying and eating meat, fish, eggs, dairy, and any animal products for you and for your family's sake,

for the natural resources' sake, and to plant the seeds for a better agricultural system for everyone. In this way, not only can all the farmers prosper - we help them in this way - but everyone will prosper and enjoy a long and thriving life.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110303/...un_food_prices ,

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-Ne...2941299220983/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddr...alll-year.html

http://www.france24.com/en/20110303-...un-food-agency

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2460&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Aulacese (Vietnamese) scientist finds cure to save crops from disease - 6 Mar 2011

With the viral affliction known as black streaked dwarf disease noted to be worsening as weather conditions change with global warming, thousands of hectares of rice, maize and even sorghum have been ruined in countries like Âu Lạc (Vietnam) and China.

However, Hứa Quyết Chiến, an agriculture engineer from Âu Lạc, recently devised a method for protecting crops from this disease. Moreover, his solution has been formulated to be effective without harming the carrier insect, the white back plant hopper.

Following years of research, Mr. Hứa realized that the more pesticides were used on crops, the more the insects became immune, and the more endangered the crops would become, therefore rendering the chemical approach futile in the long run.

While inspecting infected fields in the northern provinces of Hải Dương, Thái Bình, and Hưng Yên, Mr. Hứa subsequently discovered that by injecting plants with salicylic acid, a compound found in the pain reliever aspirin which helps them naturally resist disease, the plants were protected and the insects also not harmed.

His biological product, called Enxin 4.5, has in fact been shown to help prevent 11 harmful insect diseases in rice plants and vegetables and is already being sought after in Bulgaria following successful trials there. With Enxin 4.5 helping save the rice fields of many local farmers who would otherwise have to uproot entire paddies to be rid of disease, Âu Lạc's Science and Technology and Agriculture and Rural Development Ministries recently awarded Mr. Hứa more than US$200,000 to expand its application.

Our sincere accolades, Mr. Hứa Quyết Chiến, for your careful work in developing this safe and practical method to preserve valued food crops. May your endeavors inspire many more such benevolent products that protect the lives of other beings as well as our own health.

http://english.vietnamnet.vn/en/scie...scientist.html

http://ricehoppers.net/2010/06/new-r...ding-in-china/,

https://www.seedquest.com/news.php?t...ory=&id_crop=7

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2461&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

UN warns increasing drought and desertification threatens food insecurity - 7 Mar 2011

As climate change and land degradation are noted to cause increasing drought and aridity across the world, food and water shortages are also growing more severe, linked at times to both conflict and forced migration.

According to Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification Luc Gnacadja, nearly 2 billion hectares of land has been degraded since 1950, with 12 million hectares being lost annually, which is now increasing with global warming. These changes in turn have caused weather shifts including reduced crop harvests at a time when rising food demands are estimated to require a 70% boost in food production by 2050.

Moreover, 44% of the world's food is produced in arid dryland regions where resource allocation is already an issue. Executive Secretary Gnacadja said, “The drylands are the most conflict-prone zone of the world, and that is not by accident. Instability is fuelled by precisely the quest of people to have access to very scarce resources like productive land and water.”

While vulnerable countries such as Niger, China and India have in recent years been making valiant efforts to curb desertification through activities like large scale-tree plantings, Mr. Gnacadja warns that more direct support is necessary to help those living in the dryland areas maintain food supplies as well as their homes.

He also said that a new desertification monitoring system is being launched in an effort to track land degradation and try to protect against it. Our appreciation, Mr. Gnacadja, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification and all others working to raise awareness of our fragile planet's need for urgent care.

Let us join in more sustainable practices so that the Earth may be renewed to continue supporting the lives of all beings. In a video message presented at a June 2009 climate change conference in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai addressed the alarming consequences of drought and desertification, as well as the most effective way to stop them.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : We have to stop desertification. We can. Desertification is another climate change effect that is linked to livestock, again.

Overgrazing by livestock, which occupies nearly a third of our Earth's land surface worldwide, is a major cause of desertification and other damages, and is responsible for more than 50% of land erosion. Now, we must stop livestock grazing to protect our soil and protect our life.

In short, simply saying no to meat will make us richer, healthier, and most importantly, it will make us a wiser person, and a great hero. Because it is the only timely way that we ensure the survival of our children and grandchildren.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/d...rity-un-expert

http://www.ifad.org/events/op/2010/qatar.htm

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2516&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Global warming endangers food safety - 12 Mar 2011

At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, USA, international scientists raised their concerns as they reported that global warming could lead to increased levels of food contamination from chemicals, pesticides and fungal pathogens in addition to fast-spreading diseases like cholera and shellfish poisoning.

Along with the illness they cause, such issues could fuel rises in food prices and cause unrest. In the US alone, 38.4 million cases of food poisoning cases are reported every year, with the leading cause of food-related deaths being Salmonella.

Moreover, the scientists stated a finding that for every degree of temperature increase above 6 degrees Celsius, the incidence of food-borne Salmonella poisoning rises by 12%. Climate change-related warming of ocean waters also causes a rise in the bacteria Vibriosis, from which one type of cholera is derived, while every degree Celsius increase in water temperature also lead to a 30-50% higher chance of mercury contamination in fish.

Our appreciation, scientists for raising the issue on how climate change is affecting food safety. We pray that the planet may quickly restore its original climatic balance as we turn to more health-protecting lifestyles.

During a November 2009 videoconference in Mexico, Supreme Master Ching Hai spoke about the common driver of global warming and many diseases to show that both threats can be simultaneously eased.

Supreme Master Ching Hai : These are just a few examples of how climate change is already taking its toll. It's real, madam, it's intensifying; it's not abstract. And please remember, the number 1 cause behind it all is animal agriculture.

Furthermore, the cruelty of the meat industry brings food-borne bacterial infections. Due to the extremely filthy, unhygienic conditions of the meat processing plants, the excrement of the animals is not cleaned and remains on the flesh through processing.

This results in potentially deadly diseases such as by E. coli, salmonella, and Campylobacter, as have been reported worldwide.

Therefore, it is the livestock industry that causes pandemics and, as we already said, is the major cause of global warming. The more pig and poultry farms that exist, the higher their numbers and concentration, the sooner the arrival of the next deadly pandemic.

However, the good news is that the way to end all this is truly even more real and quickly manifested than the problem itself, because each and every person can do something significant to stop global warming. And you know already what that is, right? Yes, the vegan diet.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-02-...dangerous.html

http://www.usnews.com/science/articl...-safety-linked

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2517&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

The World Food Programme (WFP) promotes vegetable cultivation in Ugandan villages - 7 Apr 2011

The WFP inaugurated a pilot project in November 2010, which uses a gravity flow system to access water from the surrounding hills of Mount Moroto. Presently, 62 families in the villages of Nacelle, Nakambi, Chokoria and Naligoi in Moroto District are benefitting, growing vegetables on four acres.

It is believed that those involved in this project will have enough food for their families during the dry season. They will also be able to gain income by selling the surplus.

Our warmest appreciation, World Food Programme, for your assistance to increase food security for the gentle citizens of Uganda. May all people be blessed with an abundance of plant-based fare and joyful lives on a sustainable Earth.

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/...Q?OpenDocument

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2518&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

United Nations reports on world’s wasted food - 14 May 2011

A new study commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that a full one-third of the world’s food is wasted, amounting to about 1.3 billion tons of lost or discarded food every year.

The report, compiled by the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology found that developed countries on average waste 222 million tons annually, or almost as much as the net food production of sub-Saharan Africa.

The report provides suggestions for reducing waste and calls for a shift in consumer attitude to purchase only what is needed.

Many thanks, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the Swedish Institute for Food and Biotechnology for this eye-opening study. May we all do our part in conserving food and the Earth’s resources to build a sustainable global community.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13364178 ,

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.as...44&Cr=fao&Cr1=

http://www.wastedfood.com/

http://www.business-standard.com/ind...-fao/135011/on

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-dev...-security-poor

http://www.kplctv.com/story/14632279...ted-every-year

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2560&page=1#v

[Nhím Hoàng Kim]

Chương trình canh tác tại Cộng hòa Dân chủ Congo giúp tăng gấp ba thu hoạch - 15 tháng 6, 2011

Chương trình Hỗ trợ và Hồi phục Lãnh vực Nông nghiệp, được gọi là PARSAR, cung cấp tiểu nông gia tại Tỉnh tây nam Bandundu, với hạt giống cải tiến, kỹ thuật nông nghiệp mới, và thiết bị. Ngoài ra, PARSAR cải thiện đường lộ để nâng cao tiếp cận đến các khu chợ.

Chúng tôi chân thành tri ân Cộng hòa Dân chủ Congo, về nỗ lực tuyệt vời này để bảo đảm an ninh thực phẩm. Cầu xin tất cả quốc gia phát triển mạnh với dồi dào thực phẩm thực vật bổ dưỡng.

http://www.ips.org/africa/2011/05/dr...y-in-bandundu/

http://www.globalissues.org/news/2011/05/09/9571

http://www.suprememastertv.com/au/fo...=2598&page=1#v