ZIMBABWE: Researchers Developing New Ways to Purify Water March 28th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Very happy research and other projects are in place and ongoing to provide clean and safe drinking water for Zimbabwe in particular and the SADC region and Africa in general. Perhaps, people in United States of America might benefit from the work underway at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo, and elsewhere.
U.S.: Washington Urged to Seek “Positive Engagement” With ICC March 28th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Thank you for this highly informative article. One of the problems in the U.S. is the almost total lack of information and awareness of the ICC. In the hope of rectifying this Skylight Pictures has released a documentary “The Reckoning - The Battle for the International Criminal Court”. Its world premiere at Sundance ‘09 marked the beginning of a three year campaign using the film to bring awareness and information about the Court to Americans. “The Reckoning” will be broadcast nationally on the PBS series POV on July
14th. The campaign is built around an internet hub http:// ijcentral.org/that helps newcomers to the issues of international justice learn, take action, or contact already existing organizations.
Peter Kinoy
Editor/ “The Reckoning”
Skylight Pictures
New York, NY, USA
POLITICS: Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq March 27th, 2009
Dear Editor,
RE: Gareth Porter’s article titled “Despite Obama’s vow, Combat brigades will stay in Iraq”
I resent Mr. Porter’s statement that “Obama’s decision to go along with the military proposal … represents a complete abandonment of his own original policy of combat troop withdrawal …” (emphasis added)
I’m certain that is not the case. President Obama is slightly altering his course based upon additional accurate information.
A change in direction is not a “complete abandonment of his own policy”. To make such a statement undermines confidence in our President. Mr. Obama has the strongest moral character we have had in the White House for decades.
Mr. Obama is implementing many significant changes. Change can be very uncomfortable. As far as I am concerned, I greatly prefer the discomfort of change compared to the despair and hopelessness I have
felt throughout the previous administration.
Mr. Obama is leading our country in the direction it needs to be going. He is Honest with us. He is ethical.
Learn to live with the discomfort of change and give these changes the opportunity to take hold.
Mr. Obama deserves far more respect than the previous administration that created this world-wide mess we are in today.
RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Apology, No Compensation For Lost Generations March 27th, 2009
Dear Editor,
They should compensate this lost generation. They were considered as slaves but that is exactly what they were, slaves to the whites that came and took them away from their families, slaves to their greed, their sickness, their sexual abuse, etc. Yes, they need compensation and all the other programs that have always been there for the whites only. It is so sad for another human being to treat another one so bad. Yes, Australia needs to pay. They are low-down dirty dogs. How can they live with themselves, knowing what they have done and still don’t want to admit to it. Oh, but one day, one day will come when my God will take revenge.
I am too upset to write more. It just hurts to think what those poor children and their families had to go through. The movie Australia really opens my eyes to this sickness. Praise God for this movie to show what has
been going on in “good ole Australia.”
LAOS: Film Reveals CIA’s ‘Most Secret Place on Earth’ March 26th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I know a person that flew in Laos. A better man I have never meet. They were there to protect the American soldiers in Vietnam and they risked their lives ever day. America should be forever grateful that men of this caliber have always answered the call to arms. I am sure that the US air men in Laos would have rather been stateside with their families. You should be ashamed of suggesting that the brave men that served in Laos were anything but patriots.
PS: By the way my friend flew an unmarked plane and didn’t wear anything that would have identified him as an American pilot. Had he been shot down or captured he would have been tortured and killed.
It is easy to be a critic when you have no clue about the facts and have a liberal slant to anything that doesn’t represent your point of view.
IPS Story POLITICS-JAPAN: On Trial 60 Years Later March 26th, 2009
Dear Editor,
It is with real great interest that I read your article. I am Mrs. Elizabeth van Kampen, next month 82 years of age and of Dutch nationality. I was almost 15 years old when the Japanese Military occupied the former Dutch East Indies, today called Indonesia.
I was 15 years old when I saw 5 trucks loaded with bamboo baskets wherein men were locked up and crying out for help in English and Dutch, passing us (my father and me) in the mountains above Malang, East-Java, This was in October 1942.
I was 17 years old when all over Java little boys as from 10 years old had been taken away from their mothers while all Europeans were “living” in concentration camps. The boys were brought to special camps far away from both parents!
Ten years old without mother or father in a war time, that was extremely cruel!!
I was 17 years old when some girls and young women were taken out of our camp to be used as comfort woman in Semarang, Central Java.
After those 3½ horrible years, I learned that my father was killed by the Kempeitai in Malang, East-Java.
And that my uncle, father’s, brother, was killed by the Kempeitai in Batavia (Jakarta).
I have written it all down around 3½ years ago on my website, www.dutch-east-indies.com
I find it sad that the Japanese government refuses to acknowledge what the Military of Japan did overseas during World War Two. It was more than horrible!!
Thank you for reading me.
Friendly regards from the Netherlands,
Elizabeth van Kampen
MIDEAST: U.S. Jews Open to Palestinian Unity Govt March 25th, 2009
Dear Editor,
The treatment of Palestinians is Analogous to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. The suffering that Palestinians have endured in the last 40 years is almost unforgivable. I wonder exactly what the Concept of God is according to Zionism? How much land has to be conquered before Israel concedes that PEACE is the only way?
An American who wants peace and harmony in the Middle East-NOW!
Mary Schneider
POLITICS-US: Censorship Seen in Exclusion of Foreign Scholars March 25th, 2009
Dear Editor,
If the case in point is really an exclusion for ideological reasons, I agree with the human rights organizations that are fighting the case. But to name the “Barack Obama Justice Department” instead of the Justice Department in your article not only is malicious but also “yellow journalism.”
I’m not saying Obama is perfect or his policies are perfect in any way, but to compare the Bush administration policies with an administration that has been in power a little over 60 days and has shown at least good intentions with security issues and free speech is appalling to say the least.
Really, your type or journalism hurts the public more than helps understand that is going on.
Susana G. Baumann
Director
LCS Worldwide Language and Cultural Services
New Brunswick, NJ, USA
MIDEAST: U.S. Jews Open to Palestinian Unity Govt March 25th, 2009
Dear Editor,
It certainly will be wonderful for all, to be able to live in peace, especially the children. However, the Jews must remember, that the land they occupy, was the Palestinians, and not feel, they,-the Jews, are doing the Palestinians a favor, but the other way around. Jews are on land that was stolen.
RIGHTS: Death Penalty Losing Favour Around the World March 24th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Some positive news for a change. Sadly and disconcertingly, Mexico’s Green Party deputies are pushing legislation in their Congress to have a death penalty for kidnappers and drug-related homicides. It’s the ONLY Green Party in the world to be pro-death penalty.
AFRICA: Pope on Condoms - Out in the Cold March 24th, 2009
Dear Editor,
While I knew this one was coming, (gee, even TheNation.com isn’t so sanguine about it), I didn’t expect so much editorializing.
We know that condoms can help prevent, but how much? There is no way to get a “percentage” on this. Additionally we know that condoms–and it may depend where they are manufactured–are not 100% proof. It would be ridiculous to argue that they are.
That said, I see no empirical proof of late. Only last year, IPS Press reported that Mexico was now in the NUMBER TWO spot as far HIV/AIDS cases in all of Latin America. Now here’s a country where for many years have sold condoms at any drug store and there are drug stores at almost every street corner in the larger cities–particularly in the northern border towns. Also, in 2007-2008, SESALUD, the Mexican health ministry, ran a series of TV spots promoting the use of condoms–not to mention regular condom TV commercials. I ask you, in all your of dogmatic thinking and indignation, has any of this helped prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Mexico?
National Public Radio, March 24, 2009. Well well well. Today we find out that HIV/AIDS cases have been on the rise in our nation’s capital–and all without Pope Benedict telling his flock not to use condoms! Again, how do you explain that one since condoms and sex education are both so widely disseminated (no pun intended) in our society?
It is very easy to pick a target, because you are ideologically opposed it, then go after it. The problem here is that you do not consider the contradictions of your own stance on a particular issue.
HEALTH: Privatised Care More Placebo than Panacea March 24th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Phil Hay, World Bank spokesman said Oxfam’s report “is more idealism and ideology than science”.
“We are glad they started the conversation, but we don’t accept their view that it’s either public or private, and you have to make a choice,” he told IPS. “Countries all around world have made the choice and it’s both.”
Dr. Peter Berman, a World Bank Lead Economist, said, “The key thing is that Oxfam has a strong point of view that primarily-government provision of health services is the way to advance health in poor countries.” He added that the World Bank supports government provisions, but does not want to “impose a monolithic approach”.
The Bank supports a “pragmatic approach,” he added. “We want to work with our clients (governments) to strengthen their capacity to deliver services.”
The above quote from your article highlights several of my objections to the present and recent administration of the World Bank.
Firstly, they are ideologues, for the market.
Secondly, what does monolithic mean in the context of paragraph 3? Which monolith is the government of Sri Lanka supposed to remind us of? Aventis looks more monolithic to me. Which monolith is called to mind by a small rural health outpost with one or two local workers?
Thirdly, if the findings reported in the body of the article are correct, namely that private companies deliver worse outcomes than public bodies, then the Banks pragmatic approach seems to be to train their private
protégés at the expense of the public purse and to the detriment of the patients. Why is this allowed?
I would make many similar arguments against privatisation of water supply anywhere, but especially in developing countries.
BALKANS: Fallout of Bombing ‘Continues to Kill’ March 24th, 2009
Dear Editor,
Thank you for Vesna’s report about rising cancer cancers in Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia. These are a serious cause for concern.
However there are some important facts to consider:
1) There was evidence of airborne uranium dust contamination in the Balkans in April-June 1999 in Macedonia and Hungary. I located the reports for these in August last year.
2) For uranium dust contamination to travel 100+ km it must have come from large explosions - from bombs or missiles - NOT from DU ammunition.
3) The uranium contamination reported in Hungary was undepleted, NOT Depleted uranium. Other researchers have located undepleted uranium contamination after bombing in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon.
4) The UNEP investigations in the Balkans were looking in the wrong locations (tank targets instead of bomb craters) for the wrong kind of uranium (depleted, not undepleted). For this reason they did not discover or prove the use of large uranium weapons in the Balkans. A completely new, independent survey of post-conflict uranium contamination is needed. But this also needs independent laboratories with the sensitive equipment needed to test for uranium dust.
5) Last November UNIDIR published reports about new Uranium weapons in Issue 3, 2008 of their journal Disarmament Forum. I attach my report “Under the Radar” which describes these suspected new generation of uranium warheads in bombs and missiles. I also attach my colleague Chris Busby’s paper which explains the some of the health science and hazards of uranium weapons. I have copied this paper to Prof Busby.
6) There are problems in the UN and IAEA about researching these new weapons. The use of uranium in large bombs and missiles would be a primary violation of the Geneva Conventions. UNEP had evidence of undepleted Uranium contamination in bomb craters in Lebanon but did not publish their results. The IAEA have discovered undepleted uranium contamination near the Israeli bomb target in Syria (sept 2007) but have denied that this could come from the Israeli bombs. Be careful: we are asking very serious questions about illegal weapons that the USA does not want discussed in the world media and that Eurpoean countries do not want to discuss.
7) The Ria 24 TV organisation has produced 2 documentaries about these new uranium weapons - on their website in English and Italian. Links from the references in my UNIDIR paper attached.
8) There has been some more scientific research about uranium contamination in the Balkans. This was discussed at a conference in Rome on 17 December 2008.
Dai Williams
Independent Researcher
Eos, Surrey, UK
MIDEAST: Disputes Coming to a Head March 23rd, 2009
Dear Editor,
Kessel and Klochendler write today that “Egypt is engaged in a major push to convince the U.S. and the EU to adopt a more pragmatic approach towards Hamas to encourage a positive outcome of the Hamas-Fatah unity talks.”
This was what had been reported in other mainstream news media sources prior to last week’s visit by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, but insider reports over the weekend suggested differently. (See: Laura Rozen’s blog, The Cable .)
I would be interested in having IPS get to the bottom of the story. Thanks.
POLITICS: Near Miss Renews U.N. Interest in Asteroid Defence March 19th, 2009
Dear Editor,
The size of our world in comparison to other planets makes our earth and we look puny. Not included in the picture though is the many asteroids and comets that float around the universe of such size that can strike mother earth to smatterings.
The Near Earth Asteroid (NEO) is of the 300 meter (1,000 feet) diameter Apollo asteroid 4581 Asclepius that missed the earth by 700,000 km (400,000 miles) on March 23, 1989. One might think that 400,000 miles is a big gap and earthlings had nothing to worry about. However, when you come to think of it, the asteroid passed through the same position that the earth was only six hours before. Given the speed at which earth and the asteroid traveled, the gap was only six hours. If the asteroid had impacted earth it would have created the largest explosion in recorded history.
There are 26 known asteroids larger than 200 km in diameter but there are also over 500 million undiscovered asteroids that can be greater than the size of earth (7,926 miles in diameter) - (http://www.planetpals.com/planetsize.html).
The asteroids floating around the universe could completely destroy mother earth if there is a collision. It will rock the oceans splitting the crust of earth causing massive explosions, fires and tidal waves all at once. The heat emanated from such a clash of these titans can dissolve all metal and flesh to indistinguishable ash. The dust cloud can block the sun for hundreds to a million years or so and make earth so cold that it could end up as one big ice cube. Of course, the probability of these events happening are very small (every few hundred thousand years), but when and if it happens the disaster is catastrophic. Other possible future global catastrophes are ejection of earth from its orbit sending it spinning uncontrollably in outer-space - towards the sun and the earth will just burn up and further away from the sun and all life on earth will be frozen to death - (http://humanknowledge.net/SocialScience/Futurology/Catastrophes.html).
Nature’s fury of earthquakes, tidal waves and tsunamis, cyclones, hurricanes, drought, asteroid impacts, etc, are sufficient enough to cause parcels (or total) destruction to infrastructure and human life, so why must we ask for more by adding so much of nuclear proliferation to destroy each other even before nature’s fury strikes.
Reference: Catastrophe: Risk and Response by Richard A. Posner, Oxford University Press, 2004
AGRICULTURE-AFRICA: ‘Bring Back a Culture of Sharing’ March 18th, 2009
Dear Editor,
This was an excellent interview. Your interviewer and Gathuru Mburu were able to express key issues which are often hard to articulate or understand. Thank you very much for taking the time to show the perspectives of the small scale farmers and women, and getting to the key concerns about the threat of the push for a new Green Revolution in Africa.
EL SALVADOR: ‘Many Swapped Farming for (Shrinking) Remittances’ March 17th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I led an evaluation of a European organization last year during which I interviewed a Costa Rican who had just returned from El Salvador. He reported being in a town with many new houses built with remittances, a
number of which had no kitchens because the residences ate mostly in restaurants. A frightening distortion of a local economy by remittances.
It is also hard to talk about the problem of remittances without also talking about the role of the banks which transfer these payments. The Transnational Institute for Grassroots Research & Action in California has found that Western Union and other banks take 13% on average and as much as 20% off the top of transfers, causing losses to migrants of US$25-30 Billion in 2005.
ECONOMY: Microlenders and Swazi Government: Untidy Divorce March 17th, 2009
Dear Editor,
In response to recent speculation following Government’s decision to cancel deductions from Civil Servants’ salaries Blue Financial Services (Blue) reiterates its commitment to Swaziland. There are no plans to pull out of Swaziland and it is business as usual for Blue.
“We have received inquiries regarding our intentions to stay in Swaziland following this decision regarding the deduction codes. We have every intention of remaining in Swaziland and we have no intention of leaving. We have every confidence in the growth potential of our business in the Kingdom” says Johan Senekal, Country Manager of Blue Swaziland.
What the declaration means for micro finance institutions (MFIs) is that Government will collect repayments on behalf of micro financiers until the 1st of July 2009. The salary deduction method assisted Blue in collecting its loans from civil servants; however the company has always run a parallel collection system through debit orders. Swaziland’s sophisticated banking environment allows for this and thus the product offering will not change and civil servants will still be able to pay back their loans and acquire new products.
In addition to serving Swaziland’s civil servant’s market, Blue has extended its services to more than 14 private companies, and this sector is growing rapidly. “The development of new products aimed at individual clients where payroll deductions don’t play a role is creating mass interest” commented Senekal.
One of the initiatives to be taken by Government is the introduction of a credit bureau and the proposed Financial Services Authority Act. Blue welcomes the introduction of stricter regulations of the industry and will work with Government in implementing these. The company has stringent policies in place when processing applications, however because of the lack of regulation currently; borrowers are not required by law to disclose their debt. Thus despite the company’s best intentions, it cannot force open disclosure of credit information. Following ethical lending processes is a core pillar of Blue’s business across it operations on the continent. Senekal hopes that the regulation will force others in the industry to adhere to the same ethical practices as this will be enforced by law.
“We have always supported and promoted stricter regulations. These protect both the service provider and the client. It is in the best interests of all parties that clients are not over exposed. We support government in its endeavours to regulate our industry” says Senekal.
Blue’s Swaziland business has continued to grow from strength to strength and is a priority for the company.
“With the recent introduction of our SMME product in to the market, we will be able to serve more people and contribute to the growth of the economy” concludes Senekal.
Reatile Tekateka - Group Public Relations Manager
Blue Financial Services Limited
EAST TIMOR: ‘Presidential Pardon May Hurt Legal System’ March 16th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I just finished reading your interesting story.
However, the story fails to mention in its final paragraph that Ana Pessao, the future chief public prosecutor in the case, is the ex-wife of Ramos Horta.
What a bizarre situation …I would say it’s a clear conflict of interest.
Best wishes,
Harald Bruning
Director
The Macau Post Daily
HAITI: Exhausted School System Gets a Second Chance March 14th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I just read this article and have no idea how long ago it was written. While I recognize that the failure to attend school in numbers is terrible, has anyone talked about the recognized textbooks in Haitian schools - the ones that are utilized by many of the students who are able to attend?
The readers that are available and widely used in my town (St. Marc) are absolutely bizarre. The very first “story” that a Haitian child learns to read (memorizes, actually) deals with an old-fashioned tobacco pipe, a metal file or rasp from a toolbox, and a D-sized battery.
“Daddy has the pipe. Emile has the file. Grandma has Mimi (a cat). Grandpa has the pipe. Lola has the battery. Emile has the pipe.”
Story number two becomes even more interesting:
The sick person has Pola’s battery. Lili has grandpa’s pipe. Lili demolished daddy’s pipe. (You read it right. there is a picture of her with a hammer, working on the pipe.) Lola has Madame Emile’s Mimi (I think this might be the cat unless it is some object I don’t know). The lady has Grandma’s thimble. Emile Pedaled.
There is no “See spot run” anywhere in these books. It is all arcane, oddly arranged stuff that has very little to do with their lives. Worse, it is in French. So if a child is lucky enough to come to school at all, he begins to read a second language– and it is about batteries and rasps and demolishing pipes.
I tried to look up the history, the provenance, if you will, of these bizarre texts, but could find nothing so far. I strongly suspect that a relative of the Duvaliers or someone like that was charged with their writing. It does not seem to follow any educational theory at all, not even theories 50 years ago when they were written.
If you must teach in a second language, it is imperative that the topics and vocabulary you introduce, at least at the beginning, have some connection with what the student already knows. If there is no articulation between previous knowledge and new, there is very little chance of it “taking.” So even though parents have scraped together the money for the uniform, books and tuition, and they think that all will now be well- just because their child is attending school does not necessarily mean he is really learning. A lot of what passes for learning in Haiti is rote memorization, and the things that are memorized are often not very useful or very well understood.
LABOUR-SRI LANKA: ‘Ban on Young Mothers Working Abroad Hasty’ March 14th, 2009
Dear Editor,
I applaud the Sri Lankan government for taking this stance with regard to young mothers leaving our shores to take up appointments as house maids in foreign countries. Ms Nimalka Fernando should have been the first person to encourage this move; all the government is trying to do is safeguard the mothers as well as their children who are the future wealth of our nation.
As a nation of a high literacy rating, we should be ashamed that our biggest foreign exchange earner is the poor housemaid, who puts herself and her family at risk.
POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Long March - A Long View March 13th, 2009
Dear Editors,
I disagree with the analysis of our dear friend Beena Sarwar. The reinstatement of the deposed chief justice is not just a question of “one person”. It is a question of opposing the measures taken by a military dictator General Musharaf.
Pakistan Peoples Party is no more a left wing force, so no question of a right wing takes over by this long march. PPP and Muslim League Nawaz both are right wing political parties. A very significant part of civil society organisations and all the Left wing political parties including Labour Party Pakistan are demanding the reinstatement of the top judges and are taking part in the long march.
The political parties that boycotted the February general elections played an important role in exerting pressure on Musharaf dictatorship for fair elections.
President Zardari has become more like a civilian dictatorship. Banning GEO television, arresting political activists in hundreds, closing all the roads to Islamabad and resorting to all sort of dictatorial measures is no tasks of civilian presidents.
I personally was jailed several times by Musharaf dictatorship and was in underground several times. I am again in underground to avoid an arrest for the only crime to support the lawyers movement.
Fraternally,
Farooq Tariq
Spokesperson Labour Party Pakistan
POLITICS: Near Miss Renews U.N. Interest in Asteroid Defence March 13th, 2009
Dear Editors,
I enjoyed reading your article on “Near Miss Renews U.N Interest in Asteroid Defense” (March 13, 2009) and I wish to respond.. I have also given two important links and reference to a book which I came across when studying probability theory for stock market gyrations.
POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Long March - A Long View March 13th, 2009
Dear Editors,
I disagree with the analysis of our dear friend Beena Sarwar. The reinstatement of the deposed chief justice is not just a question of “one person”. It is a question of opposing the measures taken by a military dictator General Musharaf.
Pakistan Peoples Party is no more a left wing force, so no question of a right wing takes over by this long march. PPP and Muslim League Nawaz both are right wing political parties. A very significant part of civil society organisations and all the Left wing political parties including Labour Party Pakistan are demanding the reinstatement of the top judges and are taking part in the long march.
The political parties that boycotted the February general elections played an important role in exerting pressure on Musharaf dictatorship for a fair elections.
President Zardari has become more like a civilian dictatorship. Banning GEO television, arresting political activists in hundreds, closing all the roads to Islamabad and resorting to all sort of dictatorial measures is no tasks of a civilian presidents.
I personally was jailed several times by Musharaf dictatorship and was in underground several times. I am again in underground to avoid an arrest for the only crime to support the lawyers movement.
Fraternally,
Farooq Tariq
Spokesperson Labour Party Pakistan
POLITICS-US: Freeman Withdrawal Marks Victory for Israel Lobby March 11th, 2009
Dear Editors,
If there’s ONE thing that needs to be changed in Washington, it is “our current policy toward Israel.”
We need to admit, at last, that Israel is the aggressor in the Middle East, not the victim it either still thinks it is or pretends it is. We need to stop supporting Israel’s violent attacks (whether or not there is a current truce) against the civilians of Gaza and its illegal settlements in the West Bank. We must stop providing Israel with the $3 billion a year in military aid that helps it keep well supplied with such illegal and immoral weapons as the white phosphorous bombs they used in residential neighborhoods in Gaza in late 2008 and the illegal cluster bombs in Beirut in 2006.
The BBC reported that Israel’s leaders blocked any TV coverage of its violent war against Gazan civilians, schools, and UN buildings and personnel. Israelis who did not seek out foreign coverage saw only the daily “rockets raining down” from Gaza. No wonder they voted for Netanyahu and Lieberman and believe that Gaza is responsible for the damage Israel did to it.
Both the Senate and the House are loaded with members whose first loyalty seems to be toward Israel instead of toward peace, thus guaranteeing that there will be no peace because there will be no justice. Somehow we the public (or they) must remove the blinders from their eyes.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Acid Oceans Altering Marine Life March 11th, 2009
Dear Editors,
This really is quite ridiculous. The oceans are not becoming acidic unless the PH scale has been re-invented. Oceans are at or around 8.1 pH, acidity occurs only when pH goes below 7, a considerable drop from current levels.
There has been a very slight drop of around 0.1 on the pH scale, which is really not significant and well within the bounds of natural variation. Not all oceans or all parts of the same ocean are at the same pH, it would be quite remarkable if they were.
This is another example of computer model mania leading to scary headlines.
DEVELOPMENT: High-Protein Pea Ideal for Drought-Hit Farmers March 9th, 2009
Dear Editors,
Thank you for your article (high-protein pea ideal….) but why isn’t it
patented yet?
I am studying to become a social researcher in development practice.
I am also interested in investing a small amount of money to start a crop or
even purchase a small acreage so a poor family can farm this land. They can
stay there if they farm it. Please forward me potential farms in need of
finance in these developing countries.
DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Seeks a Green Revolution in Food March 7th, 2009
Dear Editors,
It’s a pleasure to have a chance to read a news like “DEVELOPMENT:
U.N. Seeks a Green Revolution in Food” with focus on organic
agriculture.
We are university students from Sri Lankan agriculture universities that have organized to make a positive contribution towards a series of challenges that you also have been discussed in above article. We have formed an association, also have analysed those consequences in various ways and preparing ourselves to make a positive change on these consequences. We have stated out several alternatives regarding this issue, that is how to create a real green revolution.
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