Environmental News Archive

NTUC FairPrice accelerates payment to suppliers

2009-03-04T21:04:00.000+08:00

By Channel NewsAsia 04 March 2009

SINGAPORE: Supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice has set aside S$30 million to speed up payment to its suppliers. It will pay suppliers on a 30-day term instead of 60 days.

This will help to ease the cash flow of some 500 local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) identified under the FairPrice SME Assistance Programme.

So far, 283 SMEs have taken up the early payment offer, and more suppliers are expected to tap on this programme in the next few months.

The assistance programme, which expires in December, is part of a holistic package initiated by NTUC FairPrice in January to help all stakeholders cope with the downturn.

Ng Ser Miang, Chairman of NTUC FairPrice, said: "Many of our suppliers are our long-standing business partners. During good times, our suppliers have supported us by keeping prices low so that essential goods are available to our customers at affordable prices.

"We are glad to be able to help our partners in this downturn so that we can continue our good working relations."

Suppliers welcomed the assistance scheme.

Joey Ho, general manager of electric supplies firm T H International said: "The scheme will help to improve our cash flow and see us through this global economic crisis. That means more jobs will be saved."

Randy Goh, director of food importer Sinhua Hock Kee Trading, said with the scheme in place, the company can make fuller use of its working capital and help it tide over times of tight credit.

- AFP/yb

Farm wildlife cash 'could return'

2009-02-17T00:51:00.000+08:00

16 February 2009 (BBC)

Farmers in England could once again receive payments for leaving uncultivated land to wildlife, the government has said.

The European Commission effectively abandoned the compulsory "set-aside" scheme last year for farmers receiving the Single Payment Scheme.

This followed widespread flooding and concerns about high global food prices.

But Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said he was looking at replacing set-aside with a voluntary scheme.

'Very proud'

Environmental groups have raised concern that the lack of uncultivated land deprives birds and other wild creatures of food and refuge.

Introduced in the early 1990s, the system of paying farmers to set aside land from production was designed to discourage over-production after years in which Europe produced mountains of surplus food and drink, threatening commodity prices.

Mr Benn secured agreement last year from fellow EU ministers that individual countries could pay farmers to restore some set-aside land.

In a speech to the National Farmers' Union in Birmingham, he said: "I'm very proud of what British farming does for our country. Farmers do so much for the environment out of love of the land.

"And we're working together to see how we can best retain the advantages of set-aside, while settling on a better approach for farmers.

"Set-aside delivered important environmental benefits and over time these benefits will be vital to maintaining levels of production."

The European Commission introduced the set-aside scheme in 1992, stipulating that at least 15% of farmers' land which was not used for growing crops had to be left for wildlife.

But it announced in July 2007 that it wanted to reduce the requirement to 0% - effectively abolishing the programme. This move was intended to deal with shortages in the EU cereals market.

Organic growers call for more fertilizer oversight

2009-02-05T21:23:00.000+08:00

By JACOB ADELMAN
Associated Press
Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Organic grower Phil McGrath plays by the rules to keep his Ventura County strawberry and vegetable farm certified organic.

So suspicions that at least two fertilizer companies have been peddling synthetic fertilizer as the natural stuff makes him fear they may cheapen the "organic" label he grows under.

"It brings the term and the industry down a couple notches," he said.

The state's major organic certifier, the California Certified Organic Farmers, said it won't penalize farmers or revoke their endorsements because it recognizes none had knowingly used the spiked fertilizer.

But the situation has resulted in a blow to the integrity of the organic market, prompting new industrywide efforts to test and verify fertilizers.

"The oversight of the organic industry from a fertilizer perspective is kind of like the wild West," said Dean Florez, D-Shafter, chairman of the state Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture.

As the organic produce market expands from a cadre of small conscientious growers to a massive industry, some farmers are turning to low-cost and highly potent organic fertilizers to make up for shrinking margins.

That demand has resulted in allegations of products being marketed that are too good to be truly organic. Their use threatens a market based on consumers' willingness to pay a premium for products seen as better for their health and the environment.

The two products implicated had been popular fertilizers among organic growers, though information on the amount produced is not publicly available, said Michael Jarvis, spokesman for the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

"This is a great example of a gross violation of the rules in which case consumers aren't getting what they expected," said Urvasi Rangan, a senior environmental health scientist with Consumers Union.

The most recent allegations surround Port Organic Products Inc., near Bakersfield, where county environmental health experts found thousands of gallons of aqueous ammonia, an ingredient used in synthetic fertilizers, in 2005 and 2007.

Kern County environmental health director Matthew Constantine said his staff informed the state agriculture department and California Certified Organic Farmers about the finds in September 2007.

The Port Organic factory was the target of a Jan. 22 search by FBI and U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, said U.S. attorney's office spokeswoman Lauren Horwood.

Horwood said she could not discuss allegations contained in the search warrant because of an ongoing USDA investigation that may involve other companies. A phone message left with Port Organic was not returned.

The California Certified Organic Farmers quickly banned the growers it endorses from using Port Organic fertilizers.

Growers earn an organic label from the CCOF or other certifying agents by showing that they manage their farms without synthetic pesticides, fertilizers or other chemicals.

Allegations surrounding Port Organic followed revelations that another manufacturer, the now-defunct California Liquid Fertilizer, sold fertilizer spiked with the synthetic ingredient ammonium sulfate for years before the California Food and Agriculture secured its removal.

Produce giant Natural Selection Foods LLC, which had used the California Liquid Fertilizer product, has developed a new test to evaluate the fertilizers used on the roughly 33,000 acres where its Earthbound Farm organic products are grown and has started making on-site visits to manufacturers, spokeswoman Samantha Cabaluna said.

California Certified Organic Farmers also is stepping up its inspections. The certifiers were compiling a list of makers of some liquid fertilizers with high levels of nitrogen - which are expensive to achieve using organic ingredients - and would require those producers to submit to on-site inspections that have not been previously required.

Judith Redmond, whose Full Belly Farms is outside Sacramento, said she hopes those steps keep synthetic ingredients out of the fertilizer she uses sparingly during seasons when her heirloom tomatoes and other organic vegetables need an extra kick.

She said she's spent up to $2,000 on fertilizer that she's no longer permitted to use. But even worse, she believes she's hurt the soil that she nurtures.

"We were sold a product that wasn't what they said and the CDFA was asleep at the wheel," she said.

---

On the Net:

California Certified Organic Farmers: http://www.ccof.org

Organic farming 'no better for the environment'

2009-02-01T18:23:00.001+08:00

By Cahal Milmo (The Independent)
Monday, 19 February 2007

Organic food may be no better for the environment than conventional produce and in some cases is contributing more to global warming than intensive agriculture, according to a government report.

The first comprehensive study of the environmental impact of food production found there was "insufficient evidence" to say organic produce has fewer ecological side-effects than other farming methods.

The 200-page document will reignite the debate surrounding Britain's £1.6bn organic food industry which experienced a 30 per cent growth in sales last year.

David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, drew a furious response from growers last month when he suggested organic food was a "lifestyle choice" with no conclusive evidence it was nutritionally superior.

Sir David King, the Government's chief scientist, also told The Independent he agreed that organic food was no safer than chemically-treated food.

The report for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs found "many" organic products had lower ecological impacts than conventional methods using fertilisers and pesticides. But academics at the Manchester Business School (MBS), who conducted the study, said that was counterbalanced by other organic foods - such as milk, tomatoes and chicken - which are significantly less energy efficient and can be more polluting than intensively-farmed equivalents.

Ken Green, professor of environmental management at MBS, who co-wrote the report, said: "You cannot say that all organic food is better for the environment than all food grown conventionally. If you look carefully at the amount of energy required to produce these foods you get a complicated picture. In some cases, the carbon footprint for organics is larger."

The study did not take into account factors such as the increased biodiversity created by organic farming or the improved landscape.

The report said: "There is certainly insufficient evidence available to state that organic agriculture overall would have less of an environmental impact than conventional agriculture.

"In particular, organic agriculture poses its own environmental problems in the production of some foods, either in terms of nutrient release to water or in terms of climate change burdens."

Using data from previous studies, the researchers singled out milk as a particular example of the environmental challenges presented by organic farming. Organic milk requires 80 per cent more land and creates almost double the amount of substances that could lead to acidic soil and "eutrophication" - the pollution of water courses with excess nutrients.

The study found that producing organic milk, which has higher levels of nutrients and lower levels of pesticides, also generates more carbon dioxide than conventional methods - 1.23kg per litre compared to 1.06kg per litre. It concluded: "Organic milk production appears to require less energy input but much more land than conventional production. While eliminating pesticide use, it also gives rise to higher emissions of greenhouse gases and eutrophying substances."

Similar findings were recorded with organic chickens, where the longer growing time means it has a higher impact on all levels, including producing nearly double the amount of potentially polluting by-products and consuming 25 per cent more energy.

Vegetable production was also highlighted as a source of increased use of resources. Organic vine tomatoes require almost 10 times the amount of land needed for conventional tomatoes and nearly double the amount of energy.

Advocates of organic farming said its environmental benefits had long been established, not least by Mr Miliband who has written it is "better for biodiversity than intensive farming". The Soil Association said it recognised that in some areas, such as poultry and growing vegetables out of season, organic was less energy efficient.

But it said that was vastly outweighed by factors which the Defra study had not taken into consideration such as animal welfare, soil condition and water use.

The pitfalls

Tomatoes

* 122sq m of land is needed to produce a tonne of organic vine tomatoes. The figure for conventionally-grown loose tomatoes is 19sq m.

* Energy needed to grow organic tomatoes is 1.9 times that of conventional methods.

* Organic tomatoes grown in heated greenhouses in Britain generate one hundred times the amount of CO2 per kilogram produced by tomatoes in unheated greenhouses in southern Spain.

Milk

* Requires 80 per cent more land to produce per unit than conventional milk.

* Produces nearly 20 per cent more carbon dioxide and almost double the amount of other by-products that can lead to acidification of soil and pollution of water courses.

Chickens

* Organic birds require 25 per cent more energy to rear and grow than conventional methods.

* The amount of CO2 generated per bird is 6.7kg for organic compared to 4.6kg for conventional battery or barn hens.

* Eutrophication, the potential for nutrient-rich by-products to pollute water courses, is measured at 86 for organic compared to 49 for conventional.

* The depletion of natural resources is measured at 99 for organic birds compared to 29 for battery or barn hens.

Wal-Mart promises to accelerate sustainability effort

2009-02-01T12:14:00.001+08:00

From: World Business Council for Sustainable Development (ENN)
January 30, 2009

The incoming CEO of US retail giant Wal-Mart has reiterated the firm's commitment to sustainability, pledging to reduce packaging and environmentally-damaging detergents — but many of its critics remain to be convinced.

Mike Duke, who takes over from Lee Scott on 1 February, said at the firm's sustainability meeting on Monday: “We want to accelerate our efforts in sustainability. We want to broaden our efforts.”�

Two targets were announced at the meeting — a 70% reduction in the use of phosphates in detergents by 2011 and a 5% reduction in packaging by 2013. Both apply to the Americas region, although already in the US it only sells phosphate-free detergents.

In a message to the firm's 2 million workers, Duke said: “The leaders that get ahead in Wal-Mart will be ones that demonstrate their commitment to sustainability. You won't be able, in the future, to really be viewed in the same way if you put this on the back burner.”�

Outgoing CEO Scott had a Damascene conversion to the sustainability cause after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which affected more than 100 of the firm's stores. Scott committed the firm to source 100% of its power from renewables, to create zero waste and to sell products that sustain resources and the environment.

Progress has been made in several areas; for example, 360 of its 2,000 stores are now supplied with wind energy.

However, the company is still heavily criticised, according to Antoine Mach at ethical ratings consultancy Covalence, based in Geneva, which tracks how multinationals are perceived in the social and environmental fields.

Wal-Mart has performed better in recent years, but is currently ranked 14th out of 35 retailers, Mach said. “They are in the first half of the group and, on certain topics, they have become a leader. But on others, such as labour rights, they need to improve.”�

Wal-Mart's sustainability performance has largely failed to convince investment analysts. It has, for example, never appeared in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, a leading index series compiled by researchers at Zurich-based SAM Group and widely used by sustainable asset managers.

Meanwhile, Wal-Mart has not made a formal report on progress towards its sustainability goals since late 2007.

Wal-Mart has set comprehensive and ambitious environmental targets, said Linda-Eling Lee, a New York-based senior analyst covering the global retail sector for Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, a specialist environmental, social, and governance research company.

She said she had only just begun to delve into their performance against the targets, but noted: “They are so big that anything they do, from a world resources point-of-view, adds up to a lot.”�

Crackdown ordered on food label loopholes

2009-01-30T15:32:00.000+08:00

Supermarkets must stop suggesting cheaper foreign meat comes from Britain

By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Friday, 30 January 2009

Supermarkets have been told by ministers to stop selling processed food containing cheaper foreign meat with labels suggesting it is British. The Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, said retailers were undermining the Government's drive to persuade shoppers to buy British and putting at risk the Government's policies on food security and animal welfare.

A labelling loophole allows grocery chains to mark products as "Produced in the UK" if the last significant change to it took place in Britain, even if the main ingredient comes from abroad.

As such, they can legally label chicken sandwiches as "Produced in the UK", even if the chicken has come from intensive poultry sheds in Thailand, because they have placed the chicken between bread and, similarly, sell ready meals containing cheap foreign pork.

In a selection of "Produced in the UK" goods on sale yesterday, Tesco was selling chicken sandwiches with imported poultry, Somerfield "Wiltshire cured bacon" from Denmark, and Asda Cornish pasties with beef from Ireland.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Benn said that Britain was lobbying for new European laws that would outlaw the practice – which he described as "hard to justify".

At a meeting at Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last week, he and the Farming minister Jane Kennedy urged stores to stamp out misleading labelling before the new legislation comes into force in several years.

Tesco and Sainsbury failed to turn up to the meeting, which was attended by Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and the British Retail Consortium, which represents all big stores.

Mr Benn suggested to the Food and Drink Federation this week that manufacturers should state the percentage of British ingredients in ready meals, pies and other products.

He told The Independent that labelling of fresh meat was generally good but he suggested some products were giving a false impression to consumers.

He said: "If you buy something that has on the package 'Wiltshire cured bacon', I think most people would assume the bacon came from Wiltshire, but under the current European rules that is not necessarily the case. You may turn it over and discover that actually it came from Denmark. Or if you buy, for example, Cumberland sausage you might assume that that is where the pork came from, but then you discover it's not from there – it's from somewhere else.

"So, we are pressing strongly in Europe... because consumers are not getting clear information. "

"We know a great deal about the origin of our car or the house we buy," he added. "I think we should have better information about where our food comes from."

Farmers' representatives welcomed the minister's "excellent" contribution, which it hoped would raise pressure on the stores to increase their backing for Britain's 152,000 farmers. Helen Ferrier, chief scientific adviser for the National Farmers' Union, said: "If people do want to buy British, we want them to be able to go into a shop and easily find those products – and at the moment they can't. The extra element of advantage our members might have over Dutch or Brazilian producers is not there."

Supermarkets defended their labelling, saying that they could not always source British meat or were supplying "value" products that consumers would not expect to have come from within the UK.

Tesco said: "'Produced in the UK'... will be in small writing on the back of pack and is intended only to indicate where the food has been produced. It is not used in a way that suggests any of the ingredients are British and is not used to market the food as a 'British' product."

Somerfield said of its Wiltshire cured bacon: "The suggestion that customers automatically think the pigs are reared in Wiltshire is questionable. But we will revisit how we label country of origin in that product."

Confusion about country of origin labelling was raised by the TV chef Jamie Oliver last night in his show, Jamie Saves Our Bacon, in which he criticised grocery stores for their labelling of pork.

Setting out the Government's stance, Mr Benn said that he wanted to ensure the UK had a thriving farming sector at a time when the rapidly rising global population might reduce the willingness of other countries to export food to the United Kingdom.

He has been working on improving labelling for a month, having warned that government policy could only be allowed to take place if shoppers were informed of the origin of their food.

"I think the public and I have the opportunity to raise that and change it because it is clearly wrong that something should be labelled in a way that makes people believe that the meat product came from somewhere it didn't come from.

"It seems to me that is wrong. It needs to change," Mr Benn said.

Take shorter showers, eat less meat: Singapore’s mantra to fight slump

2009-01-23T16:07:00.001+08:00

Bloomberg
17 Jan 2009

Until a few months ago, Amit Singh dreamed of buying a car. Now, with S$75,000 ($50,100) in the bank, the lawyer is holding back, saying he’ll continue to make the one-hour commute to work on the Singapore subway.

“In these bad times, the buzzword is save, not spend,” says Singh, 34. “It’s not the right economic climate to be lavish or to have a luxurious lifestyle.”

Singapore is asking its citizens, the world’s third- wealthiest adjusted for purchasing power, to be prudent as analysts predict the worst economic slump in the nation’s 43- year history. In speeches, pamphlets and ads, the government is advising people to switch to cheaper frozen meats, take shorter showers and skip the top-of-the-line mobile phone.

The island’s strategy contrasts with that of other countries such as Japan and Taiwan, which are trying to boost consumer spending to spur economic growth as exports falter. Singapore, whose 4.8 million population is one of Asia’s smallest, doesn’t have a big enough home market to make up for falling sales overseas, so officials “are not even going to try” to tell people to spend more, says Vishnu Varathan, an economist at Forecast Singapore Pte.

“There’s no way the domestic economy can make up for the slack in the external sector,” he says. The message “is to bear with pay cuts and live frugally.”

The government is preparing people for dwindling incomes as the nation’s fourth recession in a decade forces companies including lender DBS Group Holdings Ltd., manufacturer Stats Chippac Ltd. and state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. to fire workers or trim salaries.

Singapore last year unveiled more than S$5.4 billion in cash payouts, utility rebates and special funds, or S$1,700 for each of the nation’s 3.2 million citizens, to help the poor cope with rising food and energy prices.

Officials say people also need to help themselves during the economic crisis. If everyone depends on the government, “we’ll weaken ourselves as a society,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Jan. 11, according to the island’s main English newspaper, the Straits Times. “We’ll cultivate a sense of reliance.”

The World Bank predicts Singapore’s $161 billion economy will be East Asia’s worst performer this year. The government forecasts it may shrink as much as 2%, after expanding 1.5% in 2008 and 7.7% in 2007.

Kit Wei Zheng, an economist at Citigroup Inc. in Singapore, says the contraction might be as much as 2.8%—the most severe since Singapore gained independence in 1965.

The unemployment rate may more than double to 5% from 2.2% in September 2008, says Leong Wai Ho, a regional economist at Barclays Capital in Singapore. More than 30,000 jobs may be lost, he says, after about 400,000 new positions were created in the past two years.

That could boost the default rate on mortgages for government-built apartments, which house 84% of Singaporeans. The rate has risen to 8% from 5% in 2003.

Governments elsewhere in Asia are encouraging their more- sizeable populations to spend to counter the deepening global recession. Taiwan extended the New Year’s holiday an extra day and is scheduled to distribute NT$3,600 ($108) shopping vouchers to citizens on Jan. 18. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has pledged to give households 2 trillion yen ($23 billion) in handouts.

That may not work for Singapore, where private consumption accounted for 38 percent of gross domestic product in 2006, compared with more than half in Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, according to the World Bank.

Singapore’s leaders have traditionally preached restraint amid economic difficulties. In 2001, when the economy contracted 2.2%, the government refused to cap electricity prices and instead gave utility rebates to help the poor and encourage people to “save and not over-consume,” then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in an August 2001 speech.

The government’s latest campaign began last year when prices of food essentials including rice and cooking oil surged. As inflation soared to a 26-year high of 7.5%, Prime Minister Lee urged people to switch to frozen meats and in-house brands of supermarket products, which are typically cheaper.

Singapore to toughen protest laws ahead of APEC meet

2009-01-23T16:05:00.000+08:00

17 Jan 2009
Reuters

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore will toughen its protest laws ahead of this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit to reduce the number of civil disobedience acts, state media reported on Saturday.

Wong Kan Seng, Singapore's interior minister, told the pro-government Straits Times newspaper the city-state will look to enact regulations in the coming months giving police greater power to prevent protesters from gathering.

Singapore will host an APEC ministerial meeting in July and the annual summit in mid-November.

It hopes to avoid a controversy like the one in 2006 when an opposition politician was prevented from holding a march during the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings, resulting in a long standoff with police and criticism from the meeting organisers.

APEC's 21 members include the United States, China and Japan.

"For cause-related or ideologically-related activities, including those pertaining to race and religion, we should address them squarely as higher risk," Wong told the newspaper.

"We must empower the police to deal with public-order problems more effectively, especially when mega-events are held," he said.

Protests in tightly-controlled Singapore were only made legal last year in a designated zone, "Speakers' Corner", modelled after the one in London's Hyde park.

Any public gathering of five or more people is illegal in Singapore without a police permit.

Singapore defends the need for tough protest laws, citing concerns over public safety and order. But several international human right groups such as Amnesty International have said Singapore uses these laws to stifle dissent.

No maggots in oranges

2009-01-23T16:02:00.000+08:00

Jan 6, 2009
By JUDITH TAN (Straits Times)

AN E-MAIL warning Singaporeans that mandarin oranges from China should be avoided as they contain maggots is creating a stir among netizens.

But a Straits Times check showed that it stretches the truth.

According to the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA), oranges from only one plantation in China are affected by an outbreak of fruit fly maggots - and Singapore does not import oranges from there.

The AVA said the problem was isolated to a plantation in Wangcang county in Sichuan province.

Singapore's sources of Chinese mandarin oranges are Guangdong, Fujian and Shantou provinces.

The viral e-mail has been making the rounds of inboxes in Singapore over the past week. Pictures of maggots in the oranges were tacked along with the e-mail, which warned that although the infected oranges looked normal, they had maggots inside.

'These worms are very similar in texture to the pulp and, therefore, can be observed only if you look at them carefully. A long-sighted person may not notice them,' it said.

Wildlife Reserves S'pore optimistic about visitor numbers in 2009

2009-01-23T16:01:00.001+08:00

By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia
07 January 2009

SINGAPORE: Tourist arrivals to Singapore may have been hit by the global economic downturn, but the company that oversees three local tourist attractions – Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and Jurong BirdPark – is not too worried.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore is banking on new attractions, such as the Bird Discovery Centre that is due to open later this month, to bring in the crowds.

At the discovery centre, visitors can learn why birds need feathers and find out how they reproduce.

The BirdPark spent about S$5 million last year on its exhibits, including giving its waterfall aviary an African theme, complete with 1,500 birds from 80 African species.

Despite fewer tourists in Singapore in the last quarter, Wildlife Reserves said visitor numbers to its three parks last year remained steady at 3.6 million.

Fanny Lai, group CEO, Wildlife Reserves Singapore, said: "We are optimistic that in 2009 we will be able to serve this number of visitors by getting more local visitors from schools, families, as well as attracting tourists from different segments – primarily from Indonesia and Malaysia."

REACH website hit 1.5 million page views in 2008

2009-01-23T16:00:00.000+08:00

07 January 2009 (CNA)

SINGAPORE: Singapore government's feedback-gathering website hit 1.5 million page views in 2008. There was also a 30 per cent increase in number of postings to 12,000 on the REACH discussion forum in 2008.

Speaking at an appreciation lunch for REACH contributors on Wednesday, REACH chairman Amy Khor, who is also Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Environment and Water Resources, named and thanked a few active participants who sent in feedback, even from overseas.

She said that all the views sent in have been channelled to relevant agencies and the process has led to several policy changes.

Some of the hot-button topics were the Marriage and Parenthood Package, and means testing in public hospitals. Government policies on these issues have been reshaped by feedback sent to REACH.

Five new feedback facilitators have also been appointed at the appreciation lunch. They will work towards engaging heartlanders, not just through online and digital means, but also with face-to-face dialogues.

A new website that is aptly dubbed "Youth Vibes" was also launched to encourage greater youth participation in shaping policies.

Soh Yi Da, a REACH contributor, said: "I think the cost of transport takes up a significant portion of my monthly allowance and I believe it's the same for many other Singaporeans.

"If the government can do something about it – come up with some subsidies and stop increasing fares, it could help many Singaporeans tide over this recent economic downturn."

Dr Khor said: "Even if you come with feedback that may not be what the government might want to hear, we still want to hear them because this valuable feedback will help us refine policies."

Passenger numbers drop for taxis, but rise for MRT trains

2009-01-23T15:57:00.002+08:00

By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia
07 January 2009

SINGAPORE: People in Singapore seem to be choosing cheaper ways to travel in these tough economic times. Latest figures from the Land Transport Authority showed that taxis are picking up fewer passengers while MRT trains are carrying more.

Passenger numbers for taxis started falling from September when news of a recession first broke. October saw the biggest fall by over 50,000 passengers.

December figures are not available yet, but November statistics showed that business picked up slightly with 898,975 passengers. But the number pales in comparison to that of 2007, when taxi ridership hit 941,709.

Still, SMRT Taxis said the increase could be due to the school holidays and the festive period.

Drivers said that overall, business took a turn for the worse, dropping by about 20 per cent in the last four months.

Said one cabbie: "In one day, I could earn 80 to 90 dollars. Sometimes, I could even earn 110 dollars. But now I can only earn about 50 to 60 dollars."

Most cabbies Channel NewsAsia spoke to are not very positive about business even during the upcoming Lunar New Year season when many families are expected to be out and about.

Drivers said they hope companies can consider lowering taxi rentals and bring down operation costs to help them tide over the difficult period.

Both ComfortDelGro and SMRT Taxis said drivers' income have not dipped for September and October 2008.

SMRT Taxis said records from previous years showed that taxi ridership generally increase in the December and January periods.

While taxis may find the road ahead challenging, MRT train rides got more crowded since September, with passenger numbers surging by about 10 per cent this year compared to last year. - CNA/vm

Tax waiver extended to enhance Singapore port's attractiveness

2009-01-23T15:48:00.001+08:00

By Desmond Wong, Channel NewsAsia
08 January 2009

SINGAPORE: The government is extending a waiver on tax for the purchase of Singapore-flagged vessels.

The waiver of withholding tax on overseas interest payments to finance the vessel purchase will be extended for another five years.

Previously, the waiver applied only if two ships were purchased. But now, a single vessel of 40,000 net tons or more will qualify for the waiver.

The waiver extension is aimed at increasing Singapore's attractiveness as a base for ship owners.

This and other measures were announced by Transport Minister Raymond Lim at a cocktail reception organised by the Singapore Maritime Foundation on Thursday.

Industry players welcomed the tax waiver extension, saying it will make Singapore a popular choice for ship owners once the global economy recovers.

S S Teo, chairman of Singapore Maritime Foundation, said: "Things are difficult and ship financing is not so easy to find, but eventually, ship financing will come back, and trade will resume. It's good that we announce such a scheme so that when shipping eventually recovers, we can capture the opportunities."

Singapore, one of the busiest ports in the region, has also reported an 11.1 per cent improvement in shipping tonnage to a record 1.6 billion gross tons in 2008.

The transport minister said this reflects the long-term strength of the fundamentals in the maritime industry.

"The long-term fundamentals of the maritime industry remain strong. There is no substitute for shipping as more than 90 per cent of world trade is transported by sea. Once the global economy improves, we can expect the maritime sector to resume its steady growth," he said.

And it looks like it is still full steam ahead for Singapore's maritime industry, with a slew of activities like the Singapore Maritime Week lined up for the year ahead.

- CNA/ir

Slowing global demand, excess capacity hit dry bulk shipping firms

2009-01-23T15:46:00.001+08:00

By Desmond Wong, Channel NewsAsia
09 January 2009

SINGAPORE : Slowing global demand and overcapacity are sinking dry bulk shipping firms, with several seeking bankruptcy protection in the past three months.

Experts expect this trend to continue into 2009 as major economies like China slow consumption and financing becomes harder to secure in the industry.

The key Baltic Dry Bulk shipping index has dropped 92 per cent in the past year alone.

Falling demand for trade and difficulty in obtaining financing have led to an increase in the number of dry bulk ship operators and owners seeking bankruptcy protection.

Hiring rates have also plunged, with vessels which could have been hired out for US$200,000 a day in the past now going for between US$2,000 and US$9,000 a day.

And flagging demand is not the only stumbling block the industry is facing. An oversupply of ships in the dry bulk sector have kept rates down, and this could worsen next year.

Divay Goel, director, Drewry Maritime Services, said: "We would expect that even if demand were to pick up to historical levels which we saw in 2006 and 2007, we have a huge order book overhang in 2009 and 2010."

With the sector facing increasing financial difficulties, cancellations of ship orders and scrappings of half built vessels have increased.

While bad for shipbuilders, this could help the dry bulk sector in general to recover more quickly by trimming the number of excess vessels.

Christopher A Jones, director, Sale & Purchase, Island Shipbrokers, said: "With scrapping increasing and with cancellations in the new building order book, we expect that we will reach a more balanced fleet sooner than we expected."

Market watchers said the current correction is expected to bring dry bulk rates back to levels seen in 2004 before the boom seen in the past three years.

At that time, Cape-sized vessels were going for between US$60,000 and US$70,000 per day. - CNA/ms

Survey shows Singaporeans stepping back from personal luxuries

2009-01-23T15:43:00.000+08:00

By Zhang Tingjun, Channel NewsAsia
09 January 2009

SINGAPORE: A survey by OCBC Bank has shown that Singaporeans are starting to step back from personal luxuries and ambitions.

Instead, they are now more concerned about the basics of home, relationship and family.

The survey of 400 Singaporeans aged between 18 and 64 was conducted in the fourth quarter of last year.

It found that travel has dropped from Singaporeans' top priority last year to sixth position now.

Four in 10 respondents said they would cut down on spending.

According to the survey, there are clear indications that luxuries and non-appreciating assets have now taken a back seat.

- CNA/ir

CHEMICAL IN BABY BOTTLES - Is AVA up to date?

2009-01-23T15:37:00.002+08:00

Jan 10, 2009 (Straits Times Forum)
Letter from Sai Siew Min (Ms)

I REFER to the stance taken by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) reflected in its replies in the past two years on the safety of milk bottles and other polycarbonate plastic products used by infants, babies and children.

At issue here is the presence of Bisphenol-A (BPA), a chemical widely used in polycarbonate products that poses substantial health risks to foetuses, babies and children.

I am concerned that AVA's replies, as well as its official website, do not provide updated and sufficient information to Singapore parents on the gravity and complexity of this issue.

Last year, the Canadian government banned the use of BPA in baby milk bottles.

Only recently, an advisory board set up by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) itself took the agency to task for ignoring a significant body of scientific literature on the negative health effects of BPA, in particular low-dosage exposure.

According to a New York Times article on Dec 24, the FDA's current position on the safety levels of BPA exposure in food-packaging materials is based on research funded by the American Plastics Council.

The AVA letters cite reports from 2006, whereas the health risks of BPA to children are an evolving issue and the subject of much public debate, especially in North America.

As a young mother-to-be, I am naturally surprised that this issue has not been highlighted to the public.

The AVA website does not offer useful and updated information. An advisory on BPA posted on the website contains a short and vague four-point statement cautioning parents not to subject plastic milk bottles to high heat because high heat is known to cause BPA to leach from the bottles.

If the AVA is concerned about BPA leaching under high heat, does that mean it agrees that the chemical is harmful to babies?

The advisory also notes that 'baby bottles can be sterilised according to instructions on infant formula label and should be allowed to cool before placing infant formula into them'.

One of the most popular methods of sterilising milk bottles is by boiling them. In parentcraft classes conducted by experienced nurses in local hospitals, new parents are told to boil the bottles for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

What will this do to the stability of the chemical BPA in the bottles? Are the bottles safe for use at room temperature after intense and daily boiling for a long period? Is there a proven and scientific basis for AVA's advisory?

Can the AVA provide further clarification?

PSA records rise in container volumes for 2008

2009-01-23T15:34:00.002+08:00

12 January 2009 (CNA)

SINGAPORE: Singapore port operator PSA International on Monday reported handling record container volumes in 2008 despite the global economic crisis, but warned that this year was likely to be tough.

PSA said container volumes handled by its global terminals last year rose 7.3 per cent to 63.2 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), from the record of 58.9 million set in 2007.

Eddie Teh, group chief executive officer of PSA International, said: "2008 started strongly amidst the gathering storm clouds over the financial services industry and the major economies.

"By the end of the year, though, any lingering confidence that the major economic powerhouses would be able to stay out of a recession had been dashed and global trade worldwide had slowed to a crawl.

"Unless global economies are able to recover in the course of 2009 with the help of huge amounts of proposed spending by governments around the world, our industry will likely experience an extremely difficult year."

Teh said in a statement the port operator was preparing for the tougher months ahead, but gave no further details.

PSA International is owned by investment firm Temasek Holdings. It is one of the world's leading port operators with facilities in 16 countries across Asia, Europe and the Americas, with a total capacity of 111 million TEUs.

- AFP/so

Rescued dugong at Underwater World celebrates 12th birthday

2009-01-23T15:31:00.001+08:00

By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia
13 January 2009

SINGAPORE: Twelve years after Gracie the sea cow was rescued off the shores of Singapore, she is now thriving at Underwater World Sentosa (UWS) and ushering in the new Chinese Zodiac Year of the Ox.

For the first time, visitors will be able to interact with Gracie in a meet-and-greet session to celebrate her birthday and the Lunar New Year.

The series of month-long activities include cake parties and dive sessions with Gracie.

Gracie was found in 1998 beside her drowned mother and was relocated to Underwater World Sentosa with the approval of Singapore authorities.

The sea cow, also known as the dugong, is a highly-endangered species similar in shape and size to the dolphin.

Strictly herbivorous, dugongs forage along coastal waters of the tropical Indo-Pacific region and feed by grazing on the beds of sea grass.

Dr Jeffrey Mahon, curatorial director, UWS, said: "Dugongs are a highly endangered species and instances of successful rehabilitation of orphaned dugongs are pretty rare worldwide.

"We are one of a handful of aquariums in the world to showcase a dugong and we worked really hard over the years to make sure Gracie is healthy and feels at home here. We want to share that joy with everyone on her birthday." - CNA/vm

Fujitsu opens S$15m Green Data Centre in Singapore

2009-01-23T15:28:00.001+08:00

By Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia
13 January 2009

SINGAPORE: The Japanese electronics company Fujitsu has invested S$15 million into its third data centre in Singapore.

The centre will provide energy efficient data services throughout ASEAN.

The facility, in Changi in eastern Singapore, currently spans over 7,400 square feet. But it has the potential to expand to some 18,000 square feet by the end of the year.

Fujitsu will be using energy efficient initiatives such as temperature control and ambient lighting to save energy and cut energy costs by 10 to 30 per cent.

The data centre is expected to create around 150 jobs this year. - CNA/vm

Asian economies expected to grow 5.5% in 2009

2009-01-23T15:26:00.001+08:00

By Ng Baoying, Channel NewsAsia
13 January 2009 1927 hrs

SINGAPORE: Asian economies, excluding Japan, are expected to grow a weighted 5.5 per cent this year – down from the 7 per cent growth seen in 2008.

HSBC said this slide will be led by Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, while countries like China and India will be the main supports of growth.

Falling demand from most developed nations in the wake of the global downturn has hit economic growth in Asia. But observers said domestic factors are also contributing to the slowdown.

Robert Prior-Wandesforde, senior Asian economist, HSBC, said: "The other factor is domestic demand, in particular consumer spending and investment. Actually, the domestic demand in Singapore and rest of Asia slowed before exports. Over here, initially at least, it was due to the huge commodity price shock that we had a few months ago."

HSBC said it sees little upside in the near future, but it is taking comfort in the massively synchronised and powerful fiscal and monetary policies Asian economies are adopting, and also in falling commodity prices which are seeing the largest declines in 50 years.

Of all Asian countries, Singapore's open, export-dependent economy is expected to fare the worst. But it is also expected to bounce back the fastest and strongest.

"After a fall of nearly 3 per cent on average this year, I think that GDP could rise more than 5 per cent in 2010. That's the kind of recoveries Singapore often gets. Sharp downturns followed by sharp upturns," said Mr Prior-Wandesforde.

Speaking at a media conference on the bank's outlook for Asia on Tuesday, he said he expects Singapore's economy to bottom out in the first quarter, with a GDP contraction of 7 per cent on-year – the largest since the mid-1970s.

Overall, he expects Singapore to round up the year with a 2.8 per cent contraction.

FairPrice extends discounts

2009-01-23T15:21:00.002+08:00

Jan 14, 2009
By Jessica Lim (Straits Times)

NTUC FairPrice will keep its markdowns on hundreds of items till December, and double the number of budget buys on its shelves by March.

This is the longest extension on discounts since they were started in December 2007 to bring relief to shoppers from the soaring food prices then.

Yesterday, FairPrice also had relief for more than 6,000 staff members.

No one will be retrenched this year.

Instead, 500 more employees will be hired to fill the ranks at three new supermarkets to open this year in undisclosed locations.

It will also put 5,000 front-line employees through customer service training programmes at a cost of half a million dollars.

Not forgotten were some 100 small and medium-sized suppliers, who can expect payments twice as quickly this year from the supermarket giant.

Add to this increased funding to its trade union parent and more money from its charitable foundation to the community, and FairPrice is looking at commitments of $15 million this year, said chairman Ng Ser Miang.

In its stores, consumers will find reductions on 500 house brand items.

Soon they will have more of even cheaper goods to choose from, as the supermarket's buyers scour the world for 100 more items to expand its lowest- priced range.

These include Aro Soya Bean Oil at $2.95 a litre, and Care Goat's Milk Whitening Shower Cream at $2.95 for 1.2l.

This range of the supermarket's most affordable goods - named the yellow dot range for its distinguishing sticker on the shelf display price - will be extended to include other frequently used essentials.

They have been met by 'overwhelming response', said its director of integrated purchasing Tng Ah Yiam.

He noted that sales of Aro Soya Bean Oil have tripled since October last year when the range was launched, and that of Goat's Milk Whitening Shower Cream have doubled.

'This is an indication that during the downturn, people are looking for cheaper alternatives. We want to cater to this sector of the population,' he added.

The cooperative is also helping its smaller suppliers by cutting payment times from 60 to 30 days to ease cash flow and reduce dependence on loans.

Said Mr Ng: 'The crisis became bad in the last few months of last year, and discussions with suppliers started in September. We could see problems building up for them so we decided to come up with a way to help them.'

FairPrice will also increase its funding to NTUC, amounting to more than the $4.3 million last year, by at least half. Most of it will be used to help low-wage workers.

The FairPrice Foundation, the chain's new charity arm, will contribute at least 20 per cent more to the community this year. It gave $6.7 million last year.

In the meantime, consumers are looking forward to a wider range of budget items.

'This is great. It means I am not limited to just a few budget items when I want to save money,' said Mrs Stella Lim, 47, a mother of three.

Consumers have three tiers of lower-priced items to choose from.

First, 400 national brands - belonging to the Everyday Low Priced range - that are sold at the same price or lower than other retailers.

Second, 500 house brand products - including staples like bread, rice and cooking oil - tagged at 10 to 15 per cent lower than national brand equivalents.

Third, yellow dot items, which are about 25 per cent cheaper than national brands.

Ms Louisa Chua, 41, who now buys the cheapest brand of floor cleaner, is happy for the help.

She said: 'For some items, like floor cleaner, it does not matter if you buy the cheapest type. If I see a lower- priced version, I will buy it instead.'

FairPrice extends ahelping hand
January 14, 2009
Loh Chee Kong (TODAY)
cheekong@mediacorp.com.sg

A TOUGH year lies ahead but the island’s largest supermarket chain is bringing some cheer not just to budget-conscious shoppers but also for the first time, suppliers who are equally short on cash.

Yesterday, NTUC FairPrice announced a broad range of initiatives — which will cost $15 million — to “help Singapore ride through this recession”, in the words of FairPrice chairman Ng Ser Miang.

Said Mr Ng: “2009 will be a challenging year ... Amid this challenging landscape, NTUC FairPrice as a social enterprise is all the more committed to doing more.”

Apart from pledging $8 million to the community through the FairPrice Foundation, the measures include expanding its three-month-old programme to bring in and help customers identify the cheapest products in its supermarkets.

Such items, which are between 20 and 25 per cent cheaper than rival brands, will be tagged with bright yellow stickers. Their number will also be doubledto 200 by the end of March.

FairPrice is also extending its 5-per-cent discount scheme on 500 selected housebrands, initially due to end in March, until the end of the year.

As for its 100 or so suppliers, they can look forward to an assistance programme in which the supermarket chain will pay these small and medium enterprises (SMEs) earlier, reduce the listing and advertising fees it charges them and help to promote made-in-Singapore products.

Mr Ng said suppliers will also be paid much faster — with the waiting time for payment cut by about half. Currently, FairPrice has between 60 and 75 days — depending on agreed trading terms — to pay itssuppliers.

“We know that in various crises, the most critical part is really cashflow,” said Mr Ng, adding that the programme will cost FairPrice some $2 million in terms of the opportunity cost based on a monthly interest rate of between 1 and 2 per cent.

Suppliers and distributors — especially the smaller ones — are naturally pleased, given the economic slowdown made worse by a general shortage of credit in the global marketplace.

“With less business, cashflow would naturally be a problem,” said one distributor.

Noting that FairPrice has always paid up promptly,Mr Kenneth Goh, the purchasing manager of food importer Goh Joon Hin, said while the situation is not dire, “early payments are always welcomed”.

A representative from a fast-moving consumer goods distributor told Today that it received its payment early from FairPrice last month.

He added: “We thought it was a one-off ... the fact that they will be paying us early for the year ahead is good news. Ours is a business based on cash and everyone is experiencing a tighter cashflow.”

When contacted, other supermarket chains said they have no plans to follow FairPrice’s move to ease suppliers’ cashflow worries. But a Sheng Siong spokesperson reiterated that it is constantly on the look out for opportunities to lower the prices of its products to benefit customers.

Mr Ng added that in spite of the economic gloom, FairPrice, which has some 6,000 employees on its payroll, will continue its expansion plans this year by opening three new outlets and hiring another 500 staff.

Promising not to retrench any staff for the next two years, Mr Ng said the supermarket chain will also be doing some astute shopping of its own — in terms of looking out for new management staff.

“We will also take advantage of the downturn to look out for new talent for succession planning,” said Mr Ng.

CapitaLand lowers electricity and water consumption, saves some S$1.5m

2009-01-23T15:18:00.002+08:00

By May Wong, Channel NewsAsia
14 January 2009

SINGAPORE : Real estate giant CapitaLand saved some S$1.5 million last year by reducing its electricity and water consumption.

The green efforts were carried out across 23 properties such as its retail malls and office buildings.

The amount of electricity saved can power about 13,000 five-room HDB flats for one month, while the amount of water saved can fill 24 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Last year, CapitaLand achieved its target of lowering its utilities consumption by two per cent compared to 2007.

This year, the company wants to reduce the use of water and electricity in about 150 local and overseas properties by three per cent.

That will help save up to S$4 million in utility costs. - CNA/ms

AVA says dried white fungus sold in S'pore safe for consumption

2009-01-23T10:32:00.000+08:00

By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia
15 January 2009

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said on Thursday that all the samples of dried white fungus sold in Singapore have been tested and are deemed safe to eat.

It was responding to queries from Channel NewsAsia following media reports that six kinds of dried snow fungus sold in Taiwan were found to contain pesticide residue.

The China Post said Taiwan's Consumer Foundation recently completed random tests on dried foods sold for the Lunar New Year festival - such as red dates and snow fungus - at Chinese herbal medicine stores, hyper marts and supermarkets.

The examination results showed all six kinds of dried snow fungus contained one to four kinds of pesticide, including Methamidophos, Fenpropathrin, Acephate and Perethrin.

Nature Society of Singapore adopts Kranji Reservoir

2009-01-23T10:29:00.001+08:00

By Esther Ng, TODAY
16 January 2009

SINGAPORE: First it was Chek Jawa, then Pulau Semakau - now soon, another strip of nature little known to Singaporeans, the Kranji Bund Marshes, will be made more accessible to the public.

The Nature Society of Singapore (NSS) adopted the Kranji Reservoir and the surrounding marshes in November, under the PUB's waterways adoption programme.

The wetlands are the island's last remaining chunk of freshwater marshes, and are home to threatened bird species. Measuring 90 hectares, the Kranji marshes have fallen victim to neglect, urbanisation and poachers over the years.

Now, the NSS hopes to get Singaporeans to treasure the area's rich biodiversity, and is launching its first tour for the public on January 31. The three-hour tour will be held every last Saturday of the month, and will involve a 4-kilometre trek.

The society will conduct a survey of the plant and wildlife in the marshlands. It also plans to rehabilitate an overgrown pond located at the end of Neo Tiew Lane 2.

Said the chairman of the conservation committee, Dr Ho Hua Chew: "The pond is clogged with aquatic vegetation. It's conducive for some birds, like the Purple Swamphen, but not others.

"By removing some of the vegetation and opening up the water surface, we hope to attract the pond's original inhabitants - the Lesser Whistling Duck and the Common Moorhen - and other species of birds and dragonflies to forage or visit here."

Much of the wildlife has been threatened by poaching, which seems to have increased in recent years. "We've encountered illegal angling. We've found monitor lizards, terrapins, the Baya Weavers caught in traps and nets. We try to educate these poachers when we meet them," said Dr Ho.

As there are not enough perching areas for birds, the NSS is considering placing a platform in the middle of the pond or on the shore of the reservoir. Once this is done, the public can expect to see Ospreys, Kingfishers and Perns on these perches.

The management of a nature reserve marks a first in the NSS' 54-year history. "As a non-profit organisation, we are constrained by resources and our focus has been mainly on... conservation studies," said Dr Ho.

"However, the PUB has given us this opportunity to go 'hands-on' for the conservation of biodiversity and we've secured some funding from Bloomberg to help us carry out this project."

The PUB's adoption programme, which aims to transform our waterways and reservoirs into community and recreational spaces, enjoys wide patronage.

Senoko Power, Dunman High School and Waterways Watch Society are some groups that organise clean-ups and educational programmes.

To sign up for the Kranji Bund Marshes tour, email contact@nss.org.sg. - TODAY/fa

New Moon premium abalone broth recalled

2009-01-23T09:41:00.000+08:00

By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia
16 January 2009

SINGAPORE: The importer of New Moon Brand Premium Abalone Broth Concentrated (400g can) is recalling the product off Singapore shelves.

The company, Goh Joo Hin, is doing that as a precautionary measure following feedback that the product has a bad smell after the can is opened.

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) says it is investigating the cause of the problem.

It advises consumers who have bought the product not to consume it.

The abalone broth concentrate is a product of Thailand.

Singapore firms invest nearly S$1b in Iskandar Malaysia project

2009-01-23T09:40:00.000+08:00

By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
17 January 2009

SINGAPORE: Singapore-Malaysia ties will remain positive under Malaysia's next premier Najib Tun Razak – that is the view of Malaysia's new High Commissioner to Singapore, Hussin Nayan, who has described current ties as excellent.

An important sign is the nearly S$1 billion (RM2.5 billion) worth of projects that Singapore companies have invested in the mega Iskandar Malaysia project in Johor.

Mr Hussin said: "Najib is not unfamiliar with Singapore leaders. He knows most of the Cabinet ministers in Singapore. I could assume that whatever changes that will take place would be gradual in nature and very smooth.

"I would imagine that Malaysian leaders would continue to improve relations with Singapore because Singapore is a very important country for us."

That is why Mr Hussin feels it is important not to be distracted by the occasional hiccups.

"Ups and downs will always be there, just like a family. It depends on how best we resolve these issues. From my own perspective, the best way to resolve all these ups and downs is through common sense and willingness, goodwill and open-mindedness, rather than harping on the negatives all the time.

"If we harp on the negatives, we will never improve and this has not happened in Singapore-Malaysia relations because leaders from both sides are positive," he added.

Since the Iskandar Malaysia project kicked off in 2005, Singapore companies have been involved in some 220 projects there. But Mr Hussin wants to encourage them to venture to other development programmes in Malaysia.

"I would encourage Singaporeans to go beyond Iskandar Malaysia. As you know, there are other regional development programmes that are being implemented in other stages. We do not doubt that Singapore investors would come in because Malaysia is not a new area for them," Mr Hussin said.

He also assures Singapore businessmen a friendly experience when discussing investment proposals with their Malaysian counterparts.

Peanut butter products in Singapore not from suspected tainted US plant

2009-01-23T09:39:00.000+08:00

By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia
18 January 2009 1908 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) has said Singapore does not import any peanut butter products from the US processing facility suspected of salmonella contamination.

AVA also said it would have more checks on food items from the US containing peanut butter.

The company at the centre of the case is the Peanut Corporation of America, which manufactures peanut butter for private label food companies.

On Tuesday, it issued a recall of the product made at its Blakely, Georgia plant.

Six people are suspected to have died from salmonella poisoning in the US, after consuming products containing peanut butter.

As of Friday, 474 people across 43 states in the US have been reportedly affected by the outbreak. The very young and the elderly are among those most ill.

The AVA has advised consumers to discard the affected products if they had been bought outside of Singapore.

- CNA/ir

S'pore role in UAE eco-city?

2009-01-22T13:28:00.000+08:00

Jan 19, 2009
By Jessica Cheam, in Abu Dhabi (Straits Times)
ABU DHABI: Singapore's expertise in water technology and energy could give local companies a head start for contracts to help build an ambitious eco-city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Talks are already under way for Singapore firms to participate in the futuristic project - known as the Masdar Initiative - which is estimated to cost an astonishing US$22billion (S$33billion).

Some of the expertise that local firms, including those in the Keppel Group, have accumulated from their involvement in a similar project - the China-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city - should also stand them in good stead for the UAE development.

Mr Khaled Awad, director of property development for Masdar, an Abu Dhabi energy company, told The Straits Times yesterday that the firm held talks with national water agency PUB and Singapore Power recently.

Mr Awad also indicated that the Masdar City team will meet executives involved in the Tianjin project next month to explore further areas of cooperation.

Tianjin, a project across 30sqkm, broke ground last year and is said to involve at least $5.8billion worth of investment.

For the full story, read Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.

Singapore seen unveiling anti-recession budget

2009-01-22T13:20:00.000+08:00

20 January 2009 0948 hrs (CNA)

SINGAPORE: Singapore's budget to be unveiled on Thursday should contain tax cuts and a hefty financial package to help the country weather what could be its worst recession since independence, analysts said.

As the open, trade-driven economy takes a sharp turn for the worse, the spectre of rising bankruptcies and mass layoffs is striking fear in a country long used to near-full employment and bustling economic activity.

"The Singapore economy is probably headed for its deepest recession since independence" in 1965, said Citigroup economist Kit Wei Zheng.

Officials might even take the unprecedented step of dipping into the country's multi-billion-dollar national savings, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong was quoted as saying on Monday.

The government is announcing its budget one month early, underscoring the need to react quickly.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned at the weekend that forecasts for the economy to contract by as much as two per cent this year would be further scaled down.

Many analysts believe the economy could shrink by three per cent, while some said the contraction could be even more severe. That would leave the economy in its worse shape ever, after 2001 when growth fell by 2.4 per cent.

The city-state became the first Asian economy to enter recession last year after problems in the US subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage sector developed into the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"The weather is so bad and we've always said the reserves are for a rainy day," Goh was quoted as saying in The Straits Times. "If this is not a rainy day, I don't know what is a rainy day," he said.

Experts, business executives and trade unionists have said they want an aggressive budget to cushion the impact of a worsening economic situation.

Loans to small businesses have tightened, and companies have laid off workers or slashed wages.

Macquarie Research said that, in addition to cost-cutting measures, it expects the budget "to include sizeable infrastructure spending and transfer payments to middle/lower income Singaporeans". It also expects the budget to include incentives for new growth industries and programmes aimed at upgrading workers' skills.

During previous economic crises the government responded with financial muscle. In the 1985 economic downturn, it unveiled about 2.5 billion dollars in fiscal measures, or 6.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), while the 1998 Asian financial crisis saw fiscal programmes worth 12.5 billion dollars, or 9.1 per cent of GDP, Macquarie Research said.

The 2001 budget measures totalled 13.5 billion dollars or 8.8 per cent of GDP, Macquarie added.

Singapore's GDP in 2007 totalled 243.2 billion dollars (164 billion US).

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has said this year's "significantly expansionary" budget will emphasise help for businesses. Late last year, the government pledged 2.3 billion dollars in credit support for firms trying to survive the economic turmoil.

In a commentary published in The Straits Times, Citigroup's Kit said the budget should focus on easing financial stress on companies, improving cost-competitiveness, providing support for affected families and giving a modest demand stimulus to the economy.

This would translate into corporate and individual tax cuts, rebates on taxes and utility bills, financial doleouts and funding for the retraining of laid-off workers so they can find jobs in less-affected sectors, other analysts said.

Accounting firm KPMG suggested the government should reduce the corporate tax rate from 18 per cent to 17 per cent.

Kit proposed a wider two or three-percentage point cut that would "send a powerful signal of the government's commitment to maintain Singapore's competitive position and encourage companies to make longer-term investments in the country".

While the government should draw up a power-packed budget this year it should also reserve ammunition in case the recession gets worse and lasts longer, analysts said.

Singapore is Southeast Asia's wealthiest economy in terms of gross domestic product per capita, but its trade dependence makes it sensitive to problems in developed economies, particularly key export markets of the United States and Europe, which are also in recession.

- AFP/yt

House brands a hit

2009-01-22T13:19:00.001+08:00

Supermarkets report jump in sales as higher-income shoppers switch brands
Jan 20, 2009
By Jessica Lim (Straits Times)
HOUSE brands are flying off the shelves at record speed as the recession bites deep, and even better-off households are increasingly turning to them.

Though the most popular items include staples and necessities such as rice, bread, cooking oil and toilet paper, supermarkets are catering to increasing demand by packaging everything from wine to olive oil under their brand names.

The Straits Times' checks with major supermarkets here found that sales of house-brand items such as rice had as much as trebled in the June-December period last year, compared to the same time in 2007. Overall, they said, sales of house-brand goods rose 50 per cent during the same period.

And with the economic outlook for the next few months - at least - looking increasingly gloomy, they say such items will only grow in popularity.

The supermarkets said the bulk of the increase in sales is due to demand from higher-income shoppers.

A Sheng Siong spokesman said that marketing surveys and feedback have shown that 'higher-income levels are more receptive towards house brands'.

Cold Storage said it has also observed a change in shoppers' behaviour.

The supermarkets think the shift is due to the 'improved perception and acceptance of house brands', a wider range of products, and improved quality.

The results of a Nielsen survey of 1,000 households also pointed to a similar change in habits.

It showed that of the 280 households with a combined income of at least $6,000 a month, 71 reported buying house brands in the June-November period, compared with 60 for the preceding six months - an increase of about 19 per cent.

This group registered the largest jump in house-brand purchases in the survey period.

A retail management lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Ms Emiline Lee, said: 'In the past, those from the higher-income strata would not even look at house-brand products. But now, they are willing to switch. They realise they can save money, and that house brands are of higher quality as well.'

Buying such products can lead to big savings, she explained.

Going the generic route with staples such as rice, oil and toilet paper alone can shave as much as 20 per cent off a typical family's grocery bill.

On average, house-brand items are 15 per cent cheaper, but the difference can be much, much more. Ten rolls of FairPrice's brand of bathroom tissue, for example, costs $3.82. The price of 10 rolls of Kleenex is almost double that, at $7.50.

Consumers - both the less well-off as well as middle-income - who spoke to The Straits Times said they now actively seek out house brands.

'For me, it does not make a difference. Some items you use a lot very quickly so you don't need luxury versions,' said Ms Leena Sumukhan, 33, a working mother of two whose monthly household income is $8,500. Switching to house brands for items such as bread and pasta, she said, saves her about $30 every fortnight.

For housewife P.H. Ho, 33, saving money comes first.

The mother of two, whose husband takes home $9,000 a month, turned to generic washing powder and toilet paper last year. 'The priority now is to save money,' she said.

Meanwhile, because of surging popularity, supermarket chains are adding more products to their house-brand range.

FairPrice has plans to extend its range of housebrand products from the current 2,000 to 3,000 by 2012, and Cold Storage is going to introduce 20 per cent more products to its current 1,600 product range this year.

Sheng Siong, which now has about 20 house-brand items, will extend its range to include oil, frozen food and condiments.

limjess@sph.com.sg

Additional reporting by Cheryl Ong

Survey shows more high-income households turning to house brands
By Cheryl Frois, Channel NewsAsia
19 January 2009 2108 hrs

SINGAPORE : Amid the deepening recession, supermarket house brands or private labels are growing in popularity, with high-income households making the biggest switch among all income groups.

Such households, with a combined monthly income of over S$6,000, now make up over 28 per cent of all house brand buyers.

Together with middle-class households - which have a combined income of over S$4,000 - they account for 49 per cent of all house brand consumers.

A market survey by The Nielsen Company shows that staples such as rice, bread and cooking oil, and paper products like toilet rolls and facial tissue, are the most popular items.

Described as a never-before-seen phenomenon, the survey found that the penetration of house brand products now stands at 91 per cent, with over nine in 10 households having bought at least one of these items in the six months ending in November last year.

Nielsen also said overall spending and purchasing frequency of house brands also grew in the same period. - CNA/ms

Singapore opens border facility to reduce threat of chemical, biological attacks

2009-01-22T13:16:00.001+08:00

By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia
20 January 2009 1435 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore has opened the world's first border facility to weed out the threat of chemical and biological attacks.

Called the Protective and Analytical Facility, it is located at the Tuas Checkpoint in western Singapore.

About a million cargo vehicles pass through the Tuas Checkpoint every year. As the frequency in border crossings between Singapore and its neighbours increases, so too does the threat of a biological attack.

All hazardous cargoes and livestock entering Singapore must do so through the Tuas Checkpoint. This makes frontline customs officers at the checkpoint most at risk of exposure to chemical and biological hazards.

The new facility will strengthen Singapore's defence against these threats. An early warning system will detect the release of hazardous agents at the checkpoint cargo lanes.

If there is a chemical spill or deliberate attack, those affected can wash themselves at the decontamination facility. There is also a laboratory to identify and analyse the chemical.

Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, said: "Our checkpoints cannot be viewed simply as a mere crossing for efficient immigration and customs clearance procedures. It is the critical first line of defence of our national security."

Citing the SARS episode in 2003, Mr Wong also warned against biological agents that could cause an outbreak in the country.

Mr Wong said while they may not be terrorist acts, their potential consequences are no less devastating.

New border facility opens
Jan 20, 2009
By Teh Joo Lin (Straits Times)
A NEW $4 million laboratory and decontamination unit at Tuas Checkpoint, which can spot chemical, toxic and biological agents in consignments carried by trucks into Singapore, opened on Tuesday morning.

In the event of any accidental or deliberate spillage, checkpoints officers who come into contact with toxic substances can also decontaminate themselves in the unit within a few minutes of exposure.

The two-storey Protective and Analytical Facility, located next to the cargo checking area, was opened by Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng.

The building is touted to be the first of its kind at border controls around the world.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Wong said hazardous materials like chemical and biological agents could be smuggled into Singapore by terrorists, so the 'facility is a critical addition to our surveillance capabilities of security-sensitive materials and infectious diseases that could cross our borders'.

Pointing to a 2 per cent increase in the number of contraband smuggling cases at the checkpoints last year over 2007, he added that 'if one can smuggle cigarettes, one can smuggle terrorist operatives or explosives into the country'.

There were about 38,600 contraband seizures last year.

Average household income up across all income groups in 2008

2009-01-21T20:25:00.000+08:00

By Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia
20 January 2009 1700 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans of all income groups saw a real growth of 6 per cent in their family income last year.

The Department of Statistics attributed this to strong labour market conditions for the most part of 2008, leading to an increase in the number of working persons in a household.

The median monthly household income among all resident households grew 13 per cent from S$4,380 in 2007 to S$4,950 in 2008.

After adjusting for higher consumer price inflation, households enjoyed real growth of 6.2 per cent last year, compared to 7.2 per cent in 2007.

Families in smaller housing types enjoyed stronger income growth than those in bigger housing types.

Those in 3-room or smaller flats saw a 13 to 15 per cent jump in median household income, or 6 to 9 per cent in real terms, while income for those in bigger housing types grew by 9 to 12 per cent, or 2 to 6 per cent in real terms.

The average household income per household member also increased in real terms across all income groups. The increase was highest between the 21st and 90th percentile employed households, which saw a 5 to 5.4 per cent increase in 2008 in real terms.

The bottom 20 per cent employed households had an increase in real income per household member of 2 to 3 per cent, while the top 10 per cent employed household had growth of 0.9 per cent.

With faster income growth among the 21st to 90th percentile of employed households, income inequality narrowed – the Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, shrank from 0.489 in 2007 to 0.481 in 2008 for the first time in a decade.

The government's Surplus Sharing Package also helped to reduce the income disparity further in 2008. After adjusting for government benefits and taxes, the Gini coefficient among employed households was reduced to 0.462 in 2008, compared to 0.479 in 2007.

The Department of Statistics noted that the package gave a larger boost to the lower income groups. On average, it added S$1,670 per household member to Singaporean families in HDB 1- and 2-room flats, and S$1,320 each to those in 3-room flats.

This is more than the S$720 per household member for families in private flats and landed properties.

The statistics department's paper is available online at www.singstat.gov.sg.

Household incomes up

2009-01-21T20:24:00.000+08:00

Income gap here narrows.
By Aaron Low (Straits Times)
Jan 20, 2009

DESPITE the severe impact of inflation, Singaporeans were bettter off last year. Their family income rose across the board.

A key reason for the increase was the buoyant labour market, which saw more people with jobs and drawing higher salaries.

Latest official figures show the average monthly income for all Singapore households went up by about $700 in a year, from $6,300 in 2007 to $7,090 last year.

The group showing top gains is the middle-income household, with incomes of $6,730 a month. Even after inflation was taken into account, their annual income per family member rose the fastest at 5.4 per cent last year, according to an occasional paper released by the Department of Statistics on Tuesday.

The paper is Key Household Income Trends in 2008 .

Worst off are the bottom 20 per cent of household earners, according to the paper on Key Household Income Trends in 2008.

After working in inflation, the bottom 10 per cent earned just 1.9 per cent more last year, while the 10 per cent above it made 2.9 per cent more. But Government help in the form of GST (Goods and Services Tax) credits and Workfare Income supplement helped improve the lot of the lower income.

On average, a person living in one- and two-room HDB flats received about $1,670 from the Government last year. The sum is more than double the $720 given to residents of private property.

The result of the income improvements is a narrowing of the income gap in Singapore, said the Statistics Department.

As a result, the Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality, has dropped from 0.489 in 2007 to 0.481 last year. If Government aid is taken into account, the figure drops further - from 0.479 to 0.462.

The gap narrows

2009-01-21T20:22:00.001+08:00

But will this improvementfade as the recession deepens?

Wednesday • January 21, 2009 (TODAY)
Lin Yanqin
yanqin@mediacorp.com.sg

IT HAS been topmost of policy-makers’ list of worries in recent years, so it is ironic — and unexpected — that signs are showing of a long-awaited turnaround in the widening income gap, just as the most difficult downturn in decades is gripping Singapore.

For the first time in 10 years, the disparity between the :top and bottom income earners narrowed, as incomes of the lowest earners grew faster than those of the top earners last year.

But will this reversal prove a blip, in the face of a deepening recession this year? Analysts’ views are mixed — with some saying the anticipated Budget bonanza would help lower-income Singaporean level up, while others fear retrenchments among this group could undo progress made.

According to the Department of Statistics (DOS), which released its annual Key Household Income Trends 2008 report yesterday, the Gini coefficient — a measure of income inequality — shrank from 0.489 to 0.481 as a result of a strong labour market, which saw more working persons in an average household.

Incomes of smaller flat-type employed households grew faster, with those in one- and two-room HDB flats enjoying a 12.5-per-cent income spurt; the increase was just 0.6 per cent for those in private housing.

The median household income from work also rose by 13 to 15 per cent for resident households in three-room or smaller flats — compared to 9 to 12 per cent for those in bigger housing types. Across the board, the median income among resident households was $4,950.

While the Gini coefficient has contracted twice before, in 2002 and 2006, those times were the result of Government handouts and rebates boosting the lower-income groups.

But in 2008’s case, the Government’s Surplus Sharing package was icing on the cake of actually shrinking income disparity. The package – which included Growth Dividends, Workfare Income Supplement and utilities rebates – further narrowed the gap to 0.462.

:

SUBHD: Govt’s support vital to narrow the gap

On the side of optimism, CIMB-GK Research head Song Seng Wun thinks it possible for the income gap to further narrow as it tends to do during recessions.

“In a downturn, there are usually Government measures to help the bottom half and support their income, so this trend could continue,” he said. :Conversely, he adds, times of growth usually see the disparity widening.

However, if retrenchments hit jobs held by the lower-income – such as in the manufacturing sector – then the gap could widen again, said Forecast Singapore analyst Joanna Tan.

:Unionist Rajendran Govindarajoo, for one, is not hopeful. He notes that while rank-and-file workers last year benefitted from a strong labour market, it is unlikely to be the case this year. “The downturn will be bad, with employers cutting costs, so I don’t think we will see incomes rise,” he said.

Last year, the bottom 20 per cent of employed households saw incomes rise by 2 to 3 per cent, while the top 10 per cent had just 0.9 per cent growth. But the income gap could have been wider had income earned from non-work sources – such as dividends and rent – been included in the survey, noted Standard Chartered economist Alvin Liew.

The DOS notes that compared to lower-income households, upper-income households had more members already working, hence their household income would grow more slowly.

Without continued Government measures to support the incomes of the lower-income group, Mr Song feels the narrowing of the gap cannot be sustained over time.

Mr Liew agrees. Last year’s figures aren’t likely to signal a turning of the tide, since widening income disparity is “an economic trend we’re seeing globally”, he said. “The Government will have to continue to manage this situation and keep the social fabric cohesive.”

:Last year, its surplus-sharing package added $1,670 to each member’s income in one to two-room HDB resident households, which worked out to 26.5 per cent of each household’s income.

In lean times, SoCal residents trade guns for food

2008-12-08T13:48:00.000+08:00

By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
8 December 2008

LOS ANGELES – A program to exchange guns for gifts brought in a record number of weapons this year as residents hit hard by the economy look under the bed and in closets to find items to trade for groceries.

The annual Gifts for Guns program ended Sunday in Compton, a working class city south of Los Angeles that has long struggled with gun and gang violence. In a program similar to ones in New York and San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department allows residents to anonymously relinquish firearms in return for $100 gift cards for Ralphs supermarkets, Target department stores or Best Buy electronics stores.

Turning in assault rifles yields double that amount.

In years past, Target and Best Buy were the cards of choice, with residents wanting presents for the holidays.

This year, most asked for the supermarket cards, said sheriff's Sgt. Byron Woods.

"People just don't have the money to buy the food these days," he said.

Deputies were counting the weapons collected and expected to gather about 1,000. Authorities said 590 guns and two hand grenades were handed in during the last weekend in November, more than the total collected in any year and eclipsing last year's 387 guns.

Compton's violent history has been chronicled in such gangsta rap albums as N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton." But Woods said most of the residents who turned in weapons were "family people."

"One guy said he had just got laid off from his job," Woods said. "He turned in five guns and said it would really help him to put food on the family's table."

Gun owners dropped their weapons off at a local grocery store parking lot. Deputies checked the weapons to see whether they had been used in crimes, then destroyed them.

The annual drive started in 2005 after a spike in killings, though the murder rate has since dropped.

One man brought in a Soviet-era semiautomatic carbine.

"If that got into the wrong hands of gangbangers, they could kill several people within minutes," Woods said. "Our biggest fear is a house getting burglarized and these guns getting taken."

The drive also has yielded antique weapons.

Gift cards for the guns exchange were paid mostly by Los Angeles County, but the three companies involved and the city of Compton, which contracts the county for police protection, also donated funds.

Seeds of change

2008-11-25T11:17:00.001+08:00

Organic farm will give city school students a chance to get their hands dirty while learning about nutrition
By Jill Rosen
November 24, 2008
Baltimore Sun

Driving on U.S. 40, shoving along with the traffic past strip malls, gas stations and drive-through restaurants, there's no apparent reason to give Nuwood Road, landmarked by an auto supply store, a second glance.

But if one did turn in and hang a quick right, he or she would see what could soon become the linchpin for bringing wholesome eating to Baltimore City schools.

Tony Geraci, the system's new food service director, plans to turn the 33 surprisingly rural acres in Baltimore County into an organic farm where schoolchildren will learn about healthy food and sustainable living, by digging in the dirt, planting seeds and watching fruits and vegetables come to life.

It's to be called Fresh Start Farm, because, as Geraci says, Baltimore, with its disheartening poverty and obesity rates, needs a fresh start.

"If you walk through Baltimore and see the trash, that's [the remnants of] what our kids eat," the former chef says, speaking of the chip bags, soda bottles and fast food containers that litter city streets. "This is what these kids know. But they'll see this farm and see that they can have their own little plant on their stoop at home. And that even in some burned-out neighborhood in the city, they can have a garden that will support life."

Geraci walked the weeded-over property recently, stepping through tangles of scrub grass, past the hulks of fallen trees, pointing to the greenhouses and a long-abandoned stone barn that, though dilapidated, might still have something left to give. Years ago, the city purchased the former reformatory/orphanage with the idea that it could be turned into a nature center, but for at least a decade, Geraci says, the land was largely forgotten.

While he and his newly hired farm manager, Greg Strella, survey the land, they enthusiastically describe their plans.

Under the shaded canopy of the forest, near the brook that runs through the property on its way to the nearby Patapsco River, they'll grow shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

In the sloping fields, they'll plant corn, squash, micro-greens, herbs, tomatoes, peppers - dozens of vegetables.

Cherry, apple, pear and peach trees will eventually fill out an orchard while blueberry bushes will sweeten the perimeter.

Everything will be organic.

"Imagine this chock-full of food growing that kids will have planted," Geraci says. "I see them sleeping on the grass, looking up at the stars, sitting around a campfire - and this is in the heart of Babylon."

That's just the plants. In the barn, Geraci wants to bring in goats, sheep, chickens and cows. He'd like to try beekeeping. And in the name of sustainability, he's counting on building a compost station and a worm farm.

It sounds ambitious. Geraci, however, is anything but daunted. He sees the entire plan - from mushrooms to worms - coming together in phases over the next year. Moreover, he believes the farm will be paying for itself in two years.

"It sounds like a lot of jabber," he concedes. "But it's very real. This is very doable."

The farm is part of Geraci's overall strategy to get city schoolchildren eating healthier meals and making them more aware of the environment and how their food choices affect it.

Like food directors at schools all over the country, he's cutting back on frozen entrees and making deals with area farms to get things like fresh Maryland peaches onto children's lunch trays. He jokes that before he got to town, the most important tools in the school kitchen arsenal were box-cutters. Earlier this year he instituted a "breakfast box" program to encourage kids who might otherwise skip the meal to instead grab the containers with milk, 100-percent juice, low-sugar cereal and a high-protein snack.

Baltimore recruited him this year from New Hampshire, where he led a public school food services department and founded a program called First Course, a culinary arts school for young people who are low-income, disabled or recovering from addiction.

Here, Geraci's job is fraught with challenges. Making good food is the easy part - it's getting children to make the right choices outside of school that's tough.

A 2007 survey found one-fifth of high school students in Baltimore City were obese, according to the city's Health Department. Students in the city were more likely to be overweight than those elsewhere in Maryland. And, rates of heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes in adults are also higher in the city - particularly among blacks.

Nationally, obesity among children and adolescents has increased by about 66 percent during the past decade.

Geraci, who grew up in public housing in New Orleans and, in his adult life, has struggled with diabetes and weight issues, thinks he understands what the young people of Baltimore are up against. As he puts it, "I know what welfare cheese tastes like."

Matt Hornbeck, principal at Hampstead Hill Academy near Highlandtown, is eager for his students to take field trips to the farm. With more than 80 percent of his students coming from households that fall below the poverty line, he knows if the kids don't learn how to eat right in school, they might not learn it at all.

"If you come to school on 20 ounces of Mountain Dew and a bag of Funyons, you feel and act a lot different than if you have something healthy to eat," he says. "We view food and nutrition as a readiness issue - like having enough sleep and having space to do your homework."

Hampstead Hill students have been helping to tend a small garden on school grounds. The school also has a food educator who travels from class to class, inviting kids to help cook nutritious dishes like guacamole, tabouli and stir-fry. Based on how kids have responded to those programs, Hornbeck thinks the farm can't help but work.

"A sixth-grade boy is more likely to try guacamole if he's had a role in preparing it," the principal says.

Geraci hopes to get the project off the ground with grant money and a lot of volunteer help. Master gardeners, horticulturists, plumbers and electricians have already offered their time, advice and sweat equity, he says.

He figures it will take about a half-million dollars in seed money. But once crops begin coming in, and students are harvesting everything from heirloom tomatoes to free-range eggs, Geraci is banking on the project breaking even - with a little clever marketing on his part.

Though Geraci is expecting a high yield from the farm, it won't be anywhere near enough vegetables to support the city school lunch program. He has other ideas for the harvest. He sees money coming in from selling the produce to area restaurants that not only appreciate local ingredients, but would want to give a hand to the city schools. He is thinking about starting a CSA, a community-supported agriculture organization where people could "invest" in the farm and be rewarded with shares of produce through the growing season. He's even considering starting a farmers' market - or bringing the goods to established local markets.

"We're not going to be a limited-palate kind of place. We're going to really be producing some interesting, good stuff."

Cafe Hon in Hampden is one of the restaurants that is already committed to buying Fresh Start Farm produce.

Owner Denise Whiting believes in what Geraci's trying to do. She thinks that if Alice Waters could turn Berkeley, Calif., on to seasonal, local ingredients by opening the famous Chez Panisse in the 1970s, that 30 years later Baltimore should be ready for its own local eating revolution.

"It's teaching kids a new subject and that subject is food," she says. "Food does not come in a tortilla chip bag. Food does not come in a box. ... Real food comes from the farm."

She'd love to see city kids head down to the farm and find out how they can "grow" a pizza.

"What if Tony plants a pizza garden? What if he takes a plot and plants tomatoes and basil and peppers and garlic and oregano? You start with something they can absolutely, 100 percent relate to," she said. "It's about education."

At the farm-to-be, crews will begin breaking ground this week, hauling away weeds and dead tree limbs to prepare the orchards and prime the fields.

One day last week, Geraci was showing off a former kitchen on the property that had been stripped bare of anything useful, with a musty odor hanging in the dusty air. But all the food service director saw was potential, and all he smelled was a home-cooked breakfast sizzling on a future griddle.

"Three months from now," he said, "this will be filled with sparkling stainless steel."

Crisis Shows Urgency of Going Organic - Shiva

2008-11-05T00:33:00.000+08:00

Nicola Leske, PlanetArk 17 Oct 08;

FRANKFURT - Indian physicist and environmental activist Vandana Shiva said the financial crisis showed it was high time for countries to rebuild local, diverse farms to become independent from global turmoil.

"The lesson to be learned from the financial meltdown is that the world is at a tipping point," Shiva told Reuters at the Frankfurt Bookfair on Thursday, where she is promoting her new book "Soil not Oil".

"When one thread rips somewhere its effect is felt around the world," said Shiva, a board member of the International Forum on Globalisation, which examines the effects of globalisation on local economies and communities.

Shiva was also one of the first tree-huggers in the 1970s, participating in the Chipko movement of female peasants in the Uttaranchal region of India, which adopted the tactic of hugging trees to prevent their felling.

Shiva said industrial farmers were running short on funds to buy pesticides and fertilisers amid reduced lending and borrowing worldwide but switching to small-scale, organic farming would eliminate the need to buy chemicals.

Shiva, who received her Ph.D. in physics at the University of Western Ontario, argued that diverse, organic farming was the answer to climate change and world hunger.

She said a quarter of greenhouse gases were emitted by industrially farmed crops and livestock, a figure that could be reduced to zero by switching to organic farming.

"If you look at Great Britain, it has no food independence any more... at this point we are eating oil and that just doesn't taste good," Shiva said.

"The world needs to shift from consumptive energy such as fossil fuels to regenerative energy," Shiva continued, adding that governments should allow and support "the rebuilding of local food sovereignty".

The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has disagreed with the Indian activist.

Its Director General Jacques Diouf said last December there was no reason to believe that organic agriculture could substitute conventional farming systems in ensuring the world's food security.

But the FAO has said that people should reduce their consumption of meat to help tackle global warning.

The organisation has estimated that meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions, which are generated during the production of animal feeds.

Ruminants, particularly cows, also emit methane, which is 23 times more effective as a global warming agent than carbon dioxide, it has said.

Shiva, 56, said she believed it was a mistake to bet on industrial farming to feed the world and said she was heartened by an increased interest in environmental issues globally. (Editing by Jon Boyle)

Aussies set to reclaim export market

2008-11-05T00:25:00.000+08:00

Leslie White, Weekly Times Now
October 24, 2008

ONE country's loss could be another country's gain as Australian vegetable growers look to capitalise on food safety issues in China and a deflated Aussie dollar.

Australian exporters will look to reclaim markets in Japan, Malaysia and Singapore - all currently importing massive amounts of vegetables from China.

Last week, Chinese produce was involved in yet another food scare when a Japanese woman was hospitalised after eating frozen green beans. Testing showed the level of the organic phosphate pesticide dichlorvos was 34,500 times the legal limit.

The incident reignited tensions over food safety between Japan and China.

Australian growers continue to compete with a flood of cheap imports domestically, particularly in frozen vegetables - largely from China.

AusVeg chief economist Ian James said the falling dollar and continuing Chinese food safety issues provided a "big opportunity" for local produce both domestically and internationally. "People are going to start looking on the back of labels (for country of origin) before they buy," Mr James said.

"There is the possibility of growth in markets we lost to China. Japan would be a good one, also Singapore and Malaysia."

Australia sold a significant amount of vegetables to all three countries until cheaper Chinese produce started to push out Aussie produce in about 2002.

Mr James said given Australian exporters were selling product in those countries earlier this decade, it would be relatively easy to re-open communication with old contacts.

Managing director of export company Fresh Select, John Said, said his Singapore contact rang him twice last week, trying to source Australian vegetables.

"There is demand . . . and no doubt there are opportunities," Mr Said said.

He said Japan imported more than 60 per cent of its food and although it had high quarantine regulations, these were not unworkable.

S'pore ranks 7th in the world

2008-10-29T18:22:00.002+08:00

Republic scores well in business and education, but fares poorly as cultural capital
By K.C. Vijayan
29 Oct 2008
The Straits Times

SINGAPORE has been ranked as one of the best global cities in the world in a study by the influential Washington-based magazine, Foreign Policy.

The country was ranked seventh in an index of the top 60 global cities, defined as cities that radiate influence, wealth and sophistication.

It was hailed as a place to get a degree and do business, but fared poorly as a cultural capital.

The cities that finished ahead of Singapore were New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Los Angeles - in that order. But the Republic placed higher than other powerhouses such as Chicago (No. 8), Beijing (No. 12) and Frankfurt (No. 21).

The cities were ranked based on five factors: business activity levels; human capital - the ability to draw diverse groups of people and talent as well as the number of international schools and degree holders it has; cultural experience; information exchange; and political engagement.

Full article at: WildSingapore

Households to see average rise of about 22% in electricity bills from Oct

2008-09-29T16:09:00.000+08:00

By Channel NewsAsia
29 September 2008 1035 hrs

SINGAPORE: Higher oil prices have pushed up electricity prices for this quarter by about a fifth.

SP Services said on Monday households will see an average increase of 21.46 per cent in electricity bills, when average electricity tariffs go up by 5.38 cents per kilowatt-hour.

On average, all SP Services customers will face a 21.89 per cent increase.

For the period from October 1 to December 31, tariffs have been pegged to a higher "forward fuel oil price" of S$155.14 per barrel.

This price is 38.06 per cent higher than the S$112.35 per barrel in this current quarter.

The electricity tariff is reviewed quarterly and adjusted in line with fluctuations in the cost of electricity, and approved by the Energy Market Authority.

At a news conference on Monday, the Authority's chief executive Khoo Chin Hean said that the increase is the highest so far this year.

- CNA/yb

FDA approves irradiating spinach, lettuce to kill germs

2008-09-08T17:21:00.000+08:00

The FDA says spinach and lettuce may be treated to kill germs.
From the Associated Press, From the Associated Press
August 22, 2008 (LA Times)

WASHINGTON -- Consumers worried about salad safety may soon be able to buy fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce zapped with just enough radiation to kill E. coli and other germs.

The Food and Drug Administration today will issue a regulation allowing spinach and lettuce sellers to take that extra step, a long-awaited move amid increasing illness outbreaks caused by raw produce.

It doesn't excuse dirty produce, warned Dr. Laura Tarantino, the FDA's chief of food additive safety. Farms and processors still must keep the greens as clean as possible, she said.

"What this does is give producers and processors one more tool in the toolbox to make these commodities safer," Tarantino said.

Irradiated meat has been around for years. Spices also can be irradiated.

The Grocery Manufacturers Assn. petitioned the FDA to allow irradiation of fresh produce, too, starting with leafy greens that have sparked numerous recent outbreaks, including E. coli in spinach in 2006 that killed three people and sickened nearly 200.

The industry group expects the first irradiated products to be targeted to high-risk populations such as people with weak immune systems.

A food safety expert said irradiation can kill bacteria -- but it doesn't kill viruses that may also contaminate produce, and it isn't as effective as tightening steps to prevent contamination at the farm.

"It won't control all hazards on these products," cautioned Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The FDA determined that irradiation can kill E. coli, salmonella and listeria, as well as lengthen shelf life, without compromising the safety, texture or nutrient value of raw spinach and iceberg lettuce -- the first greens studied.

Farmers stalk wildlife to keep salads free of bacteria

2008-09-08T17:19:00.000+08:00

Under pressure from companies that sell fresh greens, California growers are resorting to shooting, trapping and poisoning animals and destroying their habitats to avert another E. coli disaster.
By Tracie Cone, The Associated Press

September 2, 2008 (LA TIMES)

FRESNO -- Farmers in "America's Salad Bowl" are turning into hunters -- stalking wild pigs, rabbits and deer -- to keep E. coli and other harmful bacteria out of their fields.

It's part of an intense effort to prevent another disaster like the 2006 spinach contamination that killed three people, sickened 200 and cost the industry $80 million in lost sales.

The exact source of the contamination was never discovered, but scientists suspect that cattle, feral pigs or other wildlife may have spread the E. coli by defecating near crops.

The pressure to safeguard crops comes from the companies that buy fresh greens. In response, some farmers are learning how to shoot animals that could carry the bacteria. Others are uprooting native trees and plants and erecting fences to make their land inhospitable to wildlife.

Spinach grower Bob Martin has even poisoned ponds with copper sulfate to kill frogs.

But some officials have questioned whether such drastic measures are necessary based on limited evidence.

"We're trying to talk now with the companies, buyers, retailers, wholesalers to bring things back into balance," said Scott Horsfall, executive director of the Leafy Greens Handlers Marketing Board, which oversees farming standards drawn up after the 2006 E. coli contamination.

Concern over contamination is most pronounced in the Salinas River Valley. The lush valley, nicknamed America's Salad Bowl, grows 60% of the nation's lettuce.

The nonprofit Resource Conservation District of Monterey County surveyed 181 leafy-greens growers who manage more than 140,000 acres. The survey showed that more than 30,000 acres had been affected by trapping, poisoning, fencing or removal of habitat.

Growers, packers and shippers adopted new food-safety standards last year for farms, including requiring 30-foot buffer zones between fields and grazing land for cattle, which are known carriers ofE. coli.

The standards acknowledged that wildlife could also carry the bacteria, but they imposed no requirement for buffers between wildlife habitat and fields.

"I think there's a little brinksmanship going on," said Hank Giclas of Western Growers, who was part of the committee that wrote the standards. He worries that processors are exceeding the rules to gain a sales advantage without good science.

Industry representatives defend their above-and-beyond restrictions.

Barbara Hines, a spokeswoman for Fresh Express, which processes 40 million pounds of salad each month, said the company's tighter regulations were "generally valued" by its retail customers, which include grocers such as Safeway and Vons

Said Terry Palmisano, a senior wildlife biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game: "We have two extraordinary resources in this area: wildlife and our agricultural community. It's our position that you don't need to destroy one in order to save the other."

Thanks to Ria for the heads up!

Battling food crisis

2008-09-08T13:10:00.001+08:00

Saturday August 30, 2008
The Star

THE Government’s concern over the state of the national food security is reflected by the generous allocation of RM5.6bil for the National Food Security Policy from 2008 to 2010.

Since early this year, securing adequate food supply topped the agenda of most developing countries, especially for rice, the staple food amid the global food crisis.

Over the past five years, Malaysia’s food import bill jumped 80% to RM23bil in 2007.

Of the total food security allocation, RM1bil would be channelled to increase padi production in the country.

Some 220,000 padi farmers nationwide are poised to receive incentives to enable them to efficiently boost their crop.

The Government is also allocating RM475mil in the form of agricultural input, fertilisers and pesticides to assist padi farmers.

A proposal has also been made to abolish import duty on fertilisers and pesticides.

“The abolishment will help farmers counter high fertiliser costs, which had gone up by more than 40% this year,” an industry players told StarBiz.

To date, over 1,300ha of abandoned land have been identified for padi and other food production such as fruits, vegetable and livestock.

Incentives would also be given to agriculture entrepreneurs to reduce production costs and encourage higher agriculture output.

Some 350,000 vegetable and fruit growers, as well as aquaculture and livestock breeders stand to benefit from these incentives.

To increase fish landings, the Government has allocated RM300mil, of which RM180mil is for the cost of living allowance to fishermen and fishing boat owners, and RM120mil in the form of incentives.

Under Budget 2009, poultry players like Leong Hup Holdings Bhd, Farm’s Best Bhd and CAB Cakaran Corp Bhd will also stand to benefit from the proposed reinvestment allowance of 60% for 15 years for the expansion of chicken and duck farms.

This is to encourage consistent supply of poultry for the domestic market amid strong demand.

Farmers: Give out incentives fairly

2008-09-08T13:09:00.000+08:00

Saturday August 30, 2008
The Star

THE RM5.6bil provided under the National Food Security Policy for incentives to help agriculture entrepreneurs is good news to the Federation of Vegetable Sellers Associations.

However, its adviser Datuk Yeoh Chip Tong said in George Town yesterday that the incentives must be distributed fairly to all who genuinely deserve it regardless of race.

The incentives are meant to encourage higher agriculture output among agriculture entrepreneurs. More than 1,300ha of abandoned land has been identified for padi, fruits, vegetables and livestock.

About 350,000 vegetable and fruit growers, as well as aquaculture and livestock breeders, will benefit.

Yeoh said consumers would reap the most benefit with the introduction of such incentives.

With the incentives, Yeoh said he hoped to see more participation from various races in the sector as currently there are still segregated groups in the sector with the Chinese growing fruits and vegetables and the Malays growing padi.

On the RM1bil allocation which will assist 220,000 padi farmers, Yeoh said it was insufficient compared to other sectors which had secured a bigger slice in the 2009 Budget.

The move to abolish import duties on fertilisers and pesticides has met with mixed reaction from farmers in Cameron Highlands.

Federation of Malaysia Vegetable Growers Association secretary-general Chay Ee Mong said in Ipoh that any measure to reduce the operating cost of farmers was most welcome.

While the import duties for fertilisers and pesticides varied, Chay said farmers would be saving RM100 for every metric tonne of fertiliser costing RM2,000 if its import duty had been at 5%.

However, Cameron Highlands Flower Floriculture Association chairman Lee Peng Fo said that taking away the import duty translated to nothing.

“Instead, the Government should control the price of fertilisers and pesticides because importers are buying them cheap but selling to us dear,” he said.

Lee also said that farmers would have been happier if the Government had offered them help in the form of subsidies.

“In the last Budget, the Government had brought down our electricity charges. This time there is nothing for us.”

基孔症阴影笼罩渔场周末人潮锐减

2008-09-08T13:07:00.000+08:00

3 August 2008 1930hrs
吴俍祥 (xin.sg)

新传媒新闻报道，基孔肯雅症的阴影笼罩克兰芝大道一带的渔场，跟上个周末相比，这个周末的人潮锐减50%。

初步调查显示，两名外籍劳工和一名本地送货司机，很可能是在克兰芝大道感染了基孔肯雅病毒。距离克兰芝大道方圆五公里至少有六家渔场和农场开放给公众参观。这家渔场业者说，克兰芝大道传出基孔症新病例后，周末人潮大减。

开胜贸易渔场老板张开胜说，“这边人潮比较少，大概有一半。”

不过另外五家农场受询时表示目前还看不出生意受到什么影响。

叶绿清气耕农场发言人赵根说，“这个周末跟上个星期比较的话，人流量差不多。”

有公众表示，“根本没有把这回事放进脑海里，我觉得吉人自有天相。”

“这里的鱼比较新鲜，减少30%便宜很多。”

受访的农场积极与国家环境局配合，加强检查农场的环境。

业者说，“每天我们都有把那些积水这些跟它弄掉，不过我们这边没有什么积水的，我们这边的斜度，排水都很好。”

“有一些水就放鱼下去，有鱼的地方是肯定不会生那个蚊虫。”

“每天就是打扫，因为我们这里的就是旅游团观光团比较多，所以我们在这个卫生方面比较注重，等一下他们走之后，我们马上清理干净。”

业者对目前的情况表示乐观，并有信心基孔症可获得控制。

环境局的密集灭蚊行动将持续进行，直到不再发现新病例，唯有至少24天内没有出现新病例，才能确定病毒传播的威胁已经过去。

三人染基孔症摊贩零售生意跌三成

2008-09-08T13:05:00.000+08:00

18 August 2008 2007hrs
郑景祥 (xin.sg)

新传媒新闻报道，巴西班让批发中心有人感染基孔肯雅症的消息传开以后，一些摊贩的零售生意下跌了30%。摊贩告诉记者郑景祥，他们已经采取积极的防蚊措施，但生意可能要再过一两个月才会好转。

巴西班让批发中心，上个星期被证实有三名摊贩感染基孔肯雅症。虽然国家环境局进行了灭蚊行动，卫生部也为那里的员工抽血检查，但一些摊贩的零售生意还是下跌了。

福和兴水果总行老板许亚财说，“我看很多人都受影响，因为整条街这边他们都影响到。没有人敢进来跟我们买，变成生意会掉，掉30%40%。”

林氏水果老板林永兴说，“我有一些顾客怕，不大敢下来，所以我看要整个月，他们可能会慢慢淡忘才下来。”

批发中心零售顾客说，“我买了就很快就走掉，不逗留在这里。”

环境局在上个星期接获通知后，已经在这一带发现了四个蚊子滋生地。目前他们还继续派官员到场检查，并寻求摊贩们的合作。

武吉水果有限公司老板傅合成说，“我们有跟那些伙计说，叫他们不要把东西全部堆在店里面，那个水要倒掉，保持店里清洁。烂的水果我就丢掉，不要放在店里面生蚊子。”

除了加紧检查和提醒摊贩，环境局也到处张贴像这样子的传单，提高公众的防范意识以及对病症的了解。从而制止基孔症继续传播。

最早染病的一对父女，女儿已经康复，回到批发中心工作，但不愿意受访。但她透露父亲的病情已经无碍，目前还在医院休养。

巴西班让批发中心三人染基孔肯雅病

2008-09-08T13:04:00.001+08:00

16 August 2008 2005hrs
张颂景 (xin.sg)

新传媒新闻报道，又有九个人在本地感染了基孔肯雅症，而卫生部的初步调查显示，巴西班让批发中心可能有病毒传播。在批发中心工作的三个人，证实染病。

染病的包括住在蔡厝港丰山径，并在巴西班让批发中心经营水果生意的一对父女。卫生部说，32岁的女儿是在这个月8号出现症状，12号证实感染基孔肯雅症。她的61岁父亲随后也证实染病。父女俩都没有在近期出过国。

病患员工黄祖祥说，“(发病时)他(老板)的手会痛，突然冷，他现在很好，在休养。”

卫生部在星期四8月14日，在批发中心为184名员工抽血检验，有一名44岁员工也证实染病。批发中心表示，管理层将同商家合作防蚊。

巴西班让批发中心商联会会长郑谦木说，“在各方面都注意看，不要有滋生蚊子的地方，希望不会再有这样的病例在这里。”

环境局在14号接获通知后，派了20名工作人员在批发中心检查，发现了四个滋生地。当局已经清除了滋生地，并在这一带展开灭蚊行动。

除了巴西班让批发中心三起病例，在克兰芝大道工作的两个人，也被证实染病，而双溪加株也有一名书记受感染。另外有三名分别住在武吉班让实加路、碧山惹兰柏彩雅和奎因街的男子，证实染病。卫生部长表示，当局会尽全力，确保基孔肯雅病毒不会在新加坡"落地生根"。

卫生部长许文远说，“万一像骨痛热症一样成为地方性疾病，就很难把病毒赶尽杀绝了。”

另外有五个人在国外染病，使新病例总数达到14起。

走出基孔症阴霾批发中心人潮回流

2008-09-08T13:02:00.000+08:00

7 September 2008 1908hrs
吴俍祥 (Xin.sg)

新传媒新闻报道，巴西班让批发中心的生意因有人感染基孔肯雅症而受影响，将近一个月后，记者发现中心已走出基孔肯雅症阴霾，人潮逐渐回流。不过从马来西亚进口的蔬菜因雨季收成不佳导致菜价涨了30%。

巴西班让批发中心上个月传出五起基孔症病例，尽管如此有些消费者仍然定期到这里买菜。

消费者叶玉荣表示，“这种病情不是人传人最主要第一，第二相信这个环境局在这里控制这些蚊子的活动控制得很好。”

中心的摊贩们也紧密配合灭蚊防蚊工作，如今顾客已经回流。不过，雨季来临，导致马国农作物受到损失，蔬菜进口量减少了四成。

巴西班让批发中心商联会副主席罗松南表示，“8月份到9月份的雨量比较比较多，我们从马国进口的这些叶菜就会影响到所以价钱会好像高了20%30%。”

苋菜的批发价每公斤从1.20元涨至1.60元，空心菜和菜心则从1.50元提高到2元。

“为了确保本地蔬菜供应稳定，多数进口商转而增加中国、泰国、印尼蔬菜的进口量，虽然进口成本增加了两成，可是罗松南表示，比起涨价后的马国蔬菜还是来得便宜。

A New Biopesticide For The Organic Food Boom

2008-08-26T10:03:00.000+08:00

From: American Chemical Society
Published on ENN
August 25, 2008

With the boom in consumption of organic foods creating a pressing need for natural insecticides and herbicides that can be used on crops certified as "organic," biopesticide pioneer Pam G. Marrone, Ph.D., is reporting development of a new "green" pesticide obtained from an extract of the giant knotweed in a report scheduled for presentation here today at the 236th national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

That 12-foot-high Goliath, named for the jointed swollen nodes on its stem, invaded the U.S. from Japan years ago and grows along the East Coast and other areas. "The product is safe to humans, animals, and the environment," says Marrone, founder and CEO of Marrone Organic Innovations Inc., in Davis, Calif.

The new biopesticide has active compounds that alert plant defenses to combat a range of diseases, including powdery mildew, gray mold and bacterial blight that affect fruits, vegetables, and ornamentals. The product will be available this October for conventional growers, according to Marja Koivunen, Ph.D., director of research and development for Marrone Organic Innovations. A new formulation has also been developed for organic farmers and will be available in 2009.

In one of the presentations by Marrone Organic Innovations (MOI), the progress toward discovery of an "organic Roundup" — the Holy Grail of biopesticide research — an environmentally friendly and natural version of the world's most widely used herbicide was discussed.

Biopesticides are derived from plants, microbes, or other natural materials and are proven to be safer for humans and the environment. The active ingredient in one of the company's first products, GreenMatch EX, came from lemongrass oil, and microorganisms from around the world are studied in the search for novel and effective natural pesticides. Currently, the MOI R&D team is working on an organic rice herbicide based on an extract from a marine microorganism, as well as on insecticides and nematocides to kill insect pests and soil-inhabiting, parasitic roundworms that affect plants and animals.

Although sales of synthetic pesticides dominate the $30 billion pesticide market, the use of biopesticides is increasing. Officials from MOI estimate that global sales will hit $1 billion by 2010 and grow 10 percent a year on average. Biopesticides could make up 4.25 percent of the global pesticide business in 2010, up from 2.5 percent in 2005. As they become more popular, synthetic pesticides are expected to shrink by 1.5 percent each year over the same period.

What accounts for the changing numbers? Public awareness, Koivunen said. "I think the time is right, there's more demand," she said. "People are becoming more aware of the negative effects of conventional pesticides. At the same time, growers are more willing to switch. They have more choices and incentive compared to 10 years ago."

All organic farmers must have markets for their food — markets that might not have been available to them a decade ago, Koivunen said. Why are people switching to organic food? "I think there has been enough scientific evidence that there's a difference between, let's say, conventional tomatoes and organic tomatoes in terms of pesticide residues but also improved taste and higher levels of antioxidants," she said.

Koivunen adds that the growing popularity of biopesticides and organic foods is not a fluke. In fact, it is part of a much larger development.

"I think it's a combination of the movement of green chemistry, trying to protect the environment and people's thoughts about their own health — maybe not even their health but their kids; and grandkids' health."

Sustainable development committee encouraged by public's response

2008-08-24T20:59:00.000+08:00

By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
24 August 2008

SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said on Sunday that the ideas received via the have both quality and breadth, and the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sustainable Development has been encouraged by the response.

Suggestions from the public include tapping on renewable energy in their living environment. For now, solar panels will be piloted at the Housing and Development Board's (HDB) eco-precinct Treelodge@Punggol.

Mr Mah said the relevant ministries will study all the ideas and continue to engage Singaporeans. A final report on sustainable development, which will contain a list of recommendations, is expected to be ready in the first quarter of next year.

He said there could be greater use of solar panels in public housing.

"This is one of the issues that is being studied in detail – how far we can go, how fast we can go, what we need to do, (while) bearing in mind that solar panel is still a new technology.

"It is still very expensive, but I think it would be useful for us to do some test-bedding of this new technology," Mr Mah said.

- CNA/so

Singapore's food safety standards still world-class

2008-08-22T22:54:00.001+08:00

By 938LIVE/ Channel NewsAsia
22 August 2008 2113 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's food safety standards continue to be world-class, according to a high-level panel of foreign experts who have completed a review of the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

They said AVA has done well in using a science-based method of sourcing for food from markets with health risks, instead of slapping a blanket ban on such markets.

Dr Gardner Murray, who chairs the international advisory committee of experts, explained the benefits of Singapore's approach on Friday.

He said: "When one talks about zero tolerance, it's effectively saying 'no' – you feel a country may not be able to safely send you food, that is zero tolerance. But, if you're reliant on food for imports, you've got to look further than that and increase your source of supply.

"The way to do this is to use a science basis for making decisions on imports. It doesn't mean your standards of food safety decrease. In fact, because you're being scientific, the food safety risk minimises."

For example, Singapore continues to buy pork from Brazilian farms that are billed safe, even though the hand, foot and mouth disease is widespread there.

The panel also praised AVA's efforts to keep out bird flu within the region by creating a control zone in Kepri, a nearby Indonesian province.

"If you want to manage risk, you need to think about the sources of introduction of disease and one source could be neighbouring countries. And if there's difference with respect to the efficiency or the veterinary service, it's actually quite useful rather than build up a fortress for Singapore where you have a big wall around you," said panel member, Professor Dirk Pfeiffer.

Still, Dr Murray said there are areas Singapore can strengthen.

He said: "A key initiative that we see as important is developing intelligence networks within the region and globally - on food safety, animal and plant health issues - so that all this data can be brought together to enable improved analysis of risk and this will enhance food safety and biosecurity in Singapore."

The experts also said AVA should beef up its staff competencies through training and enhance its strategies to deal with food-borne diseases.

- 938LIVE/CNA

Britain declares war on food waste

2008-07-07T15:11:00.001+08:00

By Andrew Grice in Hokkaido, Japan
Monday, 7 July 2008
The Independent

The Government is to launch a campaign to stamp out Britain's waste food mountains as part of a global effort to curb spiralling food prices.

Supermarkets will be urged to drop "three for two" deals on food that encourage shoppers into bulk-buying more than they need, often leading to the surpluses being thrown away. The scandal of the vast mountains of food that are thrown away in Britain while other parts of the world starve is revealed in a Cabinet Office report today. It calls for a reduction in food waste: up to 40 per cent of groceries can be lost before they are consumed due to poor processing, storage and transport.

The report says UK households could save an average of £420 per year by not throwing away 4.1 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten.

Gordon Brown said he would make action to tackle the soaring cost of food a priority at the G8 summit starting today in Japan. "If we are to get food prices down, we must do more to deal with unnecessary demand, such as by all of us doing more to cut our food waste which is costing the average household in Britain around £8 per week," he told journalists on board the plane to the summit.

Mr Brown's determination to act follows The Independent's campaign to reduce waste through excessive packaging of food in supermarkets. The Government is to launch a major offensive to encourage supermarkets, restaurants, schools and all public sector bodies as well as householders to try to cut down dramatically on the amount of food they throw away.

The key findings of the 10-month review are that:

*Global food prices have risen significantly in recent years due to a combination of poor harvests in some exporting countries; higher costs for energy, fertiliser and transport; the diversion of some commodities to biofuel; and a long-term rise in demand for grain to feed a growing global population;

*The average UK household now devotes about 9 per cent of its expenditure to food, down from 16 per cent in 1984. But the poorest 10 per cent of households in the UK saw 15 per cent of their expenditure go on food in 2005-06; the richest 10 per cent just 7 per cent. And low-income households also spend proportionately more on staples such as milk, eggs and bread – products that have seen some of the biggest price rises in recent months;

*The increase in global food prices has hit developing countries the hardest, with food accounting for 50 to 80 per cent of household expenditure of the poorest. Price rises have contributed to social unrest in a number of countries.

At his first G8 summit as Prime Minister, Mr Brown will argue that the world's richest nations must do more to tackle the food price crisis. He will urge them to halt the decline in funding for agricultural projects in Africa, so the continent can boost farm production by 6 per cent a year.

He will call for a rethink over the use of biofuels so they are used more selectively. A separate study to be published by the Department for Transport today will admit they have contributed to the rise in food prices because land has been switched from food production to plant-derived alternatives to petrol and diesel.

Mr Brown hopes the G8 leaders can unblock the stalled world trade talks, which could collapse in the next few weeks.

The Cabinet Office study concludes that urgent action is needed on the supply of and demand for food. "The solution lies in raising the potential of food production in the developing world," it says. "If yields in Africa and elsewhere reached their potential, global food output would be much higher, far fewer people would go hungry and social instability around the world would decrease."

Oxfam accused G8 leaders of an "inadequate and hypocritical" response to the food crisis. Phil Bloomer, its spokesman, said: "World leaders ... must reiterate their promises to increase aid ... and make the necessary reforms including increasing investment in agriculture in poor countries."

Plastic bag policy 'a diversion'

2008-05-17T19:56:00.001+08:00

17 May 2008
By Joe Lynam
BBC News

Plans to ban or charge for single-use plastic bags are a diversion from the real environmental issues, one of the government's own advisers has said.

Waste and recycling expert Professor Chris Coggins said such a government policy allowed the supermarkets to pass on responsibility to customers.

He said supermarkets could be helping to influence packaging rather than shifting the problem on to consumers.

The government said the public wanted to see action to curb use of the bags.

Visible litter

"Supermarkets have a much bigger role to play in influencing the packaging they use," said Professor Chris Coggins, who was appointed research managing agent for the Department of Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) waste research programme in 2005.

"They [supermarkets] have power in terms of what they buy and how it's packed. The problem is, by focusing on the consumer end, they are to some extent diverting attention from what they should be doing."

In a BBC interview, Prof Coggins, who also works on the sustainable urban environment (waste) programme, said: "Plastic bags are a very visible form of litter but in reality they are a very small proportion of waste and oil use.

"So in overall resource terms, it's a visual rather than mainstream issue."

Environment minister Joan Ruddock admitted single use bags were only a small part of the waste stream.

But she added: "We know that the public is on our side. They want action. It's very symbolic of our throw-away society and so we do need to do something quite dramatically to curb their use."

Trivial issue

British retailers hand out an estimated 13 billion free plastic bags every year, which take about 1,000 years to decay.

The government has set a voluntary target of cutting plastic bag usage by a quarter every year.

It has also proposed stricter measures on retailers as part of the proposed climate change bill, should that target not be met.

The retail sector comprises about 7% of the total UK building energy consumption, emitting over 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, according to the Carbon Trust.

But the proposed new legislation has not been welcomed by retailers.

Jane Milne, from the British Retail Consortium, which represents Britain's supermarkets, said: "There are a lot of important provisions in the climate change bill which we do support but we think this is a rather trivial issue to add onto it.

"It's not just a sledgehammer to crack a nut, it's a steamroller to crack a walnut. It really is not the best use of our resources in terms of all the issues that we need to be addressing."

Lack of uniformity

Since 6 May, one of Britain's largest retailers, Marks & Spencer, has been charging its customers 5p for each disposable plastic bag as part of its corporate environmental policy.

The move follows a trial at 50 stores in Northern Ireland and the south-west of England, which saw demand for polythene bags fall by more than 70%.

If that trend is copied throughout the UK, M&S said it could reduce the number of bags used by 280 million each year.

Other supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury's have their own policies for cutting plastic bag use among customers.

Discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl have been charging for bags for a number of years.

This array of strategies to combat single-use plastic bags by supermarkets has also been criticised by Prof Coggins as confusing for shoppers looking for uniformity nationwide.

In 2002, the Republic of Ireland became the first country in the world to charge for plastic bags - a policy which cut usage by 90% almost overnight.

Although the scheme has been beneficial for the environment, the measure was initially introduced to reduce litter.

Could Rising Food Prices In Poor Countries Trigger Change Among Western Economists?

2008-05-15T23:28:00.000+08:00

May 15, 2008 (ENN)

The ongoing food crises in 36 countries around the globe are a cause of worry for major institutions such as the World Bank because the problems signal profound problems of disbalance in the world economy. The main reasons behind the high food prices in poor countries are the high oil price and market liberalization shocks. Biofuel crops are hardly a factor. Climate change is something that has played a role for as long as everyone can remember and it's only being recognized now.

In recent months, the world has witnessed various food riots in poor countries around the globe and the general conclusion bankers in their dossy offices have drawn are that some countries apparently really don't have much of a buffer zone left - hence the upset.

In the 1990s several countries faced hardships meeting their primary needs and there were hardly any protests. So what's different this time? It might be a case of the cupboard being extremely bare. It's odd but now that globalization obsessioning has gone out of fashion, its effects are overly tangible and the word proves as elusive as its definition was vague.

Researchers at French Agricultural Centre For Research and Development (CIRAD) recently produced a hugely interesting report analyzing the reasons behind the high food prices. They compiled experiences from experts in several countries and pointed out that it's easy to find a scapegoat in any of the countries on the brink of starvation, but that the longer term situation is hugely complex.

Firstly the purchasing power of people in emerging countries (Brazil, China, India) has increased in recent decades. In addition, diets changed. People eat more meat now. Calories of animal origin accounted for just 5% of total calorie intake in Asia in 1970. Thirty years later, the figure had more than doubled, to 11.7%.

That's not negligeable; it takes seven calories of plant origin to make one calorie of animal origin. The phenomenon is also a part of urbanization. "Demand for food is growing faster than population levels and this trend will continue", the CIRAD researchers predict. "The agricultural production is less surplus than ten years ago. The market is more stressed."

These trends might have developed over a long time but prices in the shops have shown violent movements in recent months, signalling an immediacy which is fear instilling. In one month, U.S. wheat export prices skyrocketed from $375 to $425 per ton. Prices for Thai rice rose from $365 to $475 per ton. The economic situation is creating the scenario for a very stressed situation. Get bad weather to ruin your crops and riots are easily triggered. The CIRAD researchers also say that several countries were hit by freak weather conditions (drought in Australia, typhoon in Bangladesh, cold winter in China and Vietnam), resulting in poor harvests. This has resulted in more import demands and a fall in supplies from major exporters such as Australia (a big wheat exporter).

Exacerbating this weakness are the actions by speculators cashing in on price expectations on the agricultural commodity futures markets. Given the rising demand for food products and the fall in supplies, there simply is one way only in which a price trend can develop. According to the latest World Bank report, Rising Food Prices: Policy Options and World Bank Response, increases in global wheat prices reached 181 percent over the 36 months leading up to February 2008, and overall global food prices increased by 83 percent. And on top of all that, prices in poor countries also experienced increased volatility due to a lack of market regulation. "As a result of liberalization, governments no longer intervene, and cereal stocks are running very low. We are now firmly in an era of unstable prices, with long-term risks of occasional explosions," according to CIRAD.

What to make of the biofuel stories and the high oil price? In recent months, strong accusations have been made that biofuel crops are to blame for the lack of food supplies domestically in Third World countries. Farmers were said to prefer growing bio fuel crops over food crops due to higher prices. But actual numbers don't underpin the scope of the problem as portrayed in some media. The International Energy Agency released figures showing that less than 1% of all cultivated land globally is used for biofuel crops. What is true is that the stories about the cultivation of lucrative biofuel crops add to the scares that liberalized markets bring to local populations.

The very anticipation alone that the lucrative crops will soon outpace the cultivation of food crops would make an already tense bunch of people even more jittery. "It is our anticipation of the rise in demand rather than the actual rise that accounts for the recent price rises," the CIRAD researchers say, downplaying the severity of the biofuel impact.

That is not to say that the potential disastrous impact of bio crops is over-estimated. The 2008 World Development Report “Agriculture for Development” provides a compelling example of the food-for-fuel debate: over 240 kilograms (or 528 pounds) of corn — enough to feed one person for a whole year — is required to produce the 26 gallons, or100 liters of ethanol needed to fill the gas tank of a modern sports utility vehicle.

So far, what's been more damaging than biofuel has been the impact of rising oil prices. Oil is an incremental need in the mechanized agricultural sector and rising oil prices also affect the cost of transport, fertilizers, irrigation by pumping, and agrifood processing. Although developing countries use less fossil energy in their farming systems, [the high oil price] affects local commodity production, processing and marketing costs," say researchers at CIRAD. "The aim now is to invent a form of agriculture and an agrifood processing and marketing system that is less energy-intensive."

But it's not the food producers who are hardest hit by the high oil price. It's the importers of food that suffer the most. Strangely they're largely absent in many research analysis reports. But to solve their problems means that you've eliminated the largest part of the food problems in most poor countries. So what are the solutions? To find these, it's important to be aware of the changes at grassroots levels in some countries and the anomalies in local politics. The suppliers of food products in many poor countries have innovated dramatically in recent years to gear up for their more sophisticated domestic market. And with some success. Yet politicians are still dreaming on about exporting, a scenario that's simply not materializing because the local market now is as valuable or even more lucrative than exporting.

What it would take for food crop production to replace imports is difficult to estimate, because most of the activities thus far are scarcely covered publicly. Boosting productivity with tremendous results is believed to be difficult for all the old reasons. Shaky resources of course are mostly blamed. CIRAD researchers point at poor technical solutions, poor planting material and weak disease controls. Investment in research into these production chains is also far from sufficient. But the food crop sector is not limited to farmers. This fact is often overlooked. It also concerns a large number of other activities that connect producers and the market including agrifood processing (oil extraction, cereal milling, root and tuber crop crushing, fish drying, etc), marketing and distribution, and catering.

The CIRAD researchers come up with a few helpful hints for short term emergency steps that make a long term difference. "Emergency food aid will not solve the problem," the researchers say. They add that all that it would take to make the commercial food crop sector respond would be to give farmers access to a little more fertilizer, phytosanitary products, good roads, processing facilities, credit, advisory services, insurance and information on prices, and to cut police taxes on roads and the cost of diesel.

Let's hope this is true. The pan ultimate challenge for our century almost certainly has to do with our senses but we're simply failing to make out which one. At a time that plant breeders and agronomists are warning that it's only a matter of a major disease epidemic and farm yields in the world’s major granaries are wiped out, we might do best when we're in possession of a discerning vision of what it is that's needed.

U.S. Using Food Crisis to Boost Bio-Engineered Crops

2008-05-15T23:24:00.001+08:00

May 15, 2008 (ENN)

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries.

The value of genetically modified, or bio-engineered, food is an intensely disputed issue in the U.S. and in Europe, where many countries have banned foods made from genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.

Proponents say that GMO crops can result in higher yields from plants that are hardier in harsh climates, like those found in hungry African nations.

"We certainly think that it is established fact that a number of bio-engineered crops have shown themselves to increase yields through their drought resistance and pest resistance," said Dan Price, a food aid expert on the White House's National Security Council.

Problems anticipated Opponents of GMO crops say they can cause unforeseen medical problems. They also contend that the administration's plan is aimed at helping American agribusinesses.

"This is a hot topic now with the food crisis," said Ronnie Cummins, national director of the Organic Consumers Association. "I think it's pretty obvious at this point that genetically engineered crops-they may do a number of things, but they don't increase yields. There are no commercialized crops that are designed to deal with the climate crisis."

President George W. Bush proposed the food package two weeks ago as aid groups and the UN World Food Program pressed Western governments to provide additional funds to bridge the gap caused by rising food prices. The aid must win congressional approval.

It would direct the U.S. Agency for International Development to spend $150 million of the total aid package on development farming, which would include the use of GMO crops.

The U.S. is the UN food program's largest donor, providing nearly half the help the group receives from governments. It gave about $1.1 billion to the WFP in both 2006 and 2007. The WFP provided $2.6 billion in aid in 2006.

In April, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested at a Peace Corps conference that "we need to look again at some of the issues concerning technology and food production. I know that GMOs are not popular around the world, but there are places that drought-resistant crops should be a part of the answer."

Some aid organizations agree that it is time to consider GMO crops.

"I think it's good, that it should be part of the package," said Mark Rosegrant, an environment and technology specialist with the International Food Policy Research Institute. "It shouldn't be the only thing in the package. It is now showing quite a bit of potential in starting to address some of the long-term stresses, drought and heat."

But Noah Zerbe, an assistant professor of government and politics at Humboldt State University in California, said that GMO crops might not be appropriate for developing countries.

"You get fantastic yields if you're able to apply fertilizer and water at the right times, and herbicides to go along with that," Zerbe said. "Unfortunately, most African farmers, they can't afford these inputs."

Africa ambivalent
The U.S. tried to introduce GMO crops to Africa in 2002, with mixed results. European Union opposition was part of the reason that several African nations that year balked at an offer of U.S. aid that included corn, some of which was genetically modified.

In a severe drought, Zambia rejected the U.S. aid altogether. Several other countries accepted the U.S. corn, but only after it was milled.

The NSC's Price said the administration is working to persuade European nations to lift their objection to the use of GMO crops in Africa. Rosegrant of the research institute said that, given current food shortages, new bio-safety measures could resolve such problems.

"There's evidence that those fears tend to be overblown," Rosegrant said.

Shortages Threaten Farmers’ Key Tool: Fertilizer

2008-04-30T13:45:00.001+08:00

By KEITH BRADSHER and ANDREW MARTIN
April 30, 2008
New York Times

XUAN CANH, Vietnam — Truong Thi Nha stands just four and a half feet tall. Her three grown children tower over her, just as many young people in this village outside Hanoi dwarf their parents.

The biggest reason the children are so robust: fertilizer.

Ms. Nha, her face weathered beyond its 51 years, said her growth was stunted by a childhood of hunger and malnutrition. Just a few decades ago, crop yields here were far lower and diets much worse.

Then the widespread use of inexpensive chemical fertilizer, coupled with market reforms, helped power an agricultural explosion here that had already occurred in other parts of the world. Yields of rice and corn rose, and diets grew richer.

Now those gains are threatened in many countries by spot shortages and soaring prices for fertilizer, the most essential ingredient of modern agriculture.

Some kinds of fertilizer have nearly tripled in price in the last year, keeping farmers from buying all they need. That is one of many factors contributing to a rise in food prices that, according to the United Nations’ World Food Program, threatens to push tens of millions of poor people into malnutrition.

Protests over high food prices have erupted across the developing world, and the stability of governments from Senegal to the Philippines is threatened.

In the United States, farmers in Iowa eager to replenish nutrients in the soil have increased the age-old practice of spreading hog manure on fields. In India, the cost of subsidizing fertilizer for farmers has soared, leading to political dispute. And in Africa, plans to stave off hunger by increasing crop yields are suddenly in jeopardy.

The squeeze on the supply of fertilizer has been building for roughly five years. Rising demand for food and biofuels prompted farmers everywhere to plant more crops. As demand grew, the fertilizer mines and factories of the world proved unable to keep up.

Some dealers in the Midwest ran out of fertilizer last fall, and they continue to restrict sales this spring because of a limited supply.

“If you want 10,000 tons, they’ll sell you 5,000 today, maybe 3,000,” said W. Scott Tinsman Jr., a fertilizer dealer in Davenport, Iowa. “The rubber band is stretched really far.”

Fertilizer companies are confident the shortage will be solved eventually, noting that they plan to build scores of new factories. But that will probably create fresh problems in the long run as the world grows more dependent on fossil fuels to produce chemical fertilizers. Intensified use of such fertilizers is certain to mean greater pollution of waterways, too.

Agriculture and development experts say the world has few alternatives to its growing dependence on fertilizer. As population increases and a rising global middle class demands more food, fertilizer is among the most effective strategies to increase crop yields.

“Putting fertilizer on the ground on a one-acre plot can, in typical cases, raise an extra ton of output,” said Jeffrey D. Sachs, the Columbia University economist who has focused on eradicating poverty. “That’s the difference between life and death.”

The demand for fertilizer has been driven by a confluence of events, including population growth, shrinking world grain stocks and the appetite for corn and palm oil to make biofuel. But experts say the biggest factor has been the growing demand for food, especially meat, in the developing world.

Recently, Ms. Nha, the tiny Vietnamese woman, stood in a field outside her village, her weather-beaten face shielded from the drizzle by a big straw hat. She took a break from wielding her wood-handled hoe and described the meager diets of her youth.

Her family, including six brothers and sisters, struggled to survive on rations from the commune where they lived, eating little protein. The occasional pigs they raised on rice stalks and mush “fattened very slowly,” Ms. Nha recalled.

But with market reforms, better seeds and increased fertilizer use, Vietnam’s rice yields per acre have doubled and corn yields have tripled, allowing farmers to fatten a growing herd of livestock.

Several times a season, Ms. Nha and her neighbors walk down their rows of corn with battered metal buckets full of chemical fertilizer, which looks like coarse gray sand, sprinkling a bit at the base of each plant. Ms. Nha’s husband, Le Van Son, remembers villagers’ amazement in the 1990s when they learned that a pound of chemical fertilizer contained more of the major nutrients than 100 pounds of manure.

Overall global consumption of fertilizer increased by an estimated 31 percent from 1996 to 2008, driven by a 56 percent increase in developing countries, according to the International Fertilizer Industry Association.

“Markets are asking farmers to step on the accelerator,” said Michael R. Rahm, vice president for market analysis and strategic planning at Mosaic, a fertilizer producer in Plymouth, Minn. “They’ve pressed on it, but the market has told them to step on it harder.”

Fertilizer is plant food, a combination of nutrients added to soil to help plants grow. The three most important are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The latter two have long been available. But nitrogen in a form that plants can absorb is scarce, and the lack of it led to low crop yields for centuries.

That limitation ended in the early 20th century with the invention of a procedure, now primarily fueled by natural gas, that draws chemically inert nitrogen from the air and converts it into a usable form.

As the use of such fertilizer spread, it was accompanied by improved plant varieties and greater mechanization. From 1900 to 2000, worldwide food production jumped by 600 percent. Scientists said that increase was the fundamental reason world population was able to rise to about 6.7 billion today from 1.7 billion in 1900.

Vaclav Smil, a professor at the University of Manitoba, calculates that without nitrogen fertilizer, there would be insufficient food for 40 percent of the world’s population, at least based on today’s diets.

Initially, much of the increased production of fertilizer went to grains like wheat and rice that served as the foundation of a basic diet. But recently, with world economic growth at a brisk 5 percent a year, hundreds of millions of people began earning enough money to buy more meat from animals fattened with grains. That occurred at the same time that rising production of biofuels, like ethanol, put new pressure on grain supplies.

These factors translated into rising fertilizer demand. Prices at a terminal in Tampa, Fla., for one fertilizer, diammonium phosphate, jumped to $1,102 a ton from $393 a ton in the last year, according to JPMorgan Securities, which tracks the prices. Urea, a type of granular nitrogen fertilizer, jumped to $505 a ton from $273 a ton in the last year.

Manufacturers are scrambling to increase supply. At least 50 plants to make nitrogen fertilizer are under construction, many in the Middle East where natural gas is abundant, and phosphorous and potassium mines are being expanded. But these projects are expensive and time-consuming, and supplies are expected to remain tight for years.

Fertilizer is vitally important in Iowa, whose farmers grow more corn than in any other state and depend on fertilizer to increase yields.

But the combination of high prices and spot shortages has forced some farmers to revert to older methods of fertilization, making hog manure a hot commodity. Farmers are cutting deals to have hog barns built on the edges of their corn and soybean fields.

On a tour of his rolling farm in Oxford Junction in eastern Iowa, Jayson Willimack pointed to the future sites of two buildings that will hold 2,400 hogs. Their manure will eventually replace commercial fertilizer on 400 acres, about 10 percent of his farm, and save him perhaps $50,000 annually. “Every little bit helps,” he said.

Such a strategy has severe limits — manure contains so little nitrogen that tons are required on each acre. That means farmers in Iowa and abroad have little choice but to pay the higher prices for commercial fertilizer.

In many countries, those cost increases have so far been offset by record high prices for crops. But fertilizer inflation has created a crisis in countries that subsidize fertilizer use for farmers. In India, for instance, the government’s subsidy bill could be as high as $22 billion in the coming year, up from $4 billion in 2004-5.

Once new supplies become available, the rising use of fertilizer will still pose difficulties.

Environmental groups fear increased use, particularly of nitrogen fertilizer made using fossil fuels. Because plants do not absorb all the nitrogen, much of it leaches into streams and groundwater. That runoff has long been recognized as a major pollution problem, and it is growing.

A barometer of the pollution is the rising number of dead zones where rivers meet the sea. In the Gulf of Mexico, for instance, nitrogen runoff from fields in the Corn Belt washes downstream and feeds plant life in the gulf. The algae blooms suck oxygen from the water, killing other marine life.

More than 400 dead zones have been identified, from the coasts of China to the Chesapeake Bay, and the primary reason is agricultural runoff, said Robert J. Diaz, a professor at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

“Nitrogen is nitrogen,” Professor Diaz said. “If it’s on land, it produces corn. If it gets in the water, it produces algae.”

This month, a United Nations panel called for changes in agricultural practices to make them less damaging. The panel recommended techniques that offer some of the same benefits as chemical fertilizer, like increased crop rotation with legumes that naturally add some nitrogen to the soil.

But others say those approaches, while helpful, will be not be enough to meet the world’s rapidly rising demand for food and biofuel.

“This is a basic problem, to feed 6.6 billion people,” said Norman Borlaug, an American scientist who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his role in spreading intensive agricultural practices to poor countries. “Without chemical fertilizer, forget it. The game is over.”

Punjab reaps a poisoned harvest

2008-04-27T11:03:00.001+08:00

By David Loyn
BBC News, Punjab
26 April 2008

The governments of many poor nations are alarmed at the rise in food prices. There are even problems in the Indian region of Punjab, where science once seemed to have found answers for a hungry world.

The first thing Satpal Singh sees when he walks out of his bedroom door in the morning is a gleaming tractor, without a speck of mud on it.

It is given pride of place and washed down before being put away for the night in its garage built into the middle of his house.

This is a sign of the wealth that has made this the richest farmland in India.

In Mr Singh's front yard, half a dozen cows chew contentedly on a maize-based mix, processed in his own machine in the corner.

But behind this idyll serious questions are being asked about farming practices in Punjab, which have consequences for the looming crisis in world food supplies.

Pesticide fears

Before Mr Singh's father died young of cancer in 1992, none here suspected that the technology that had brought wealth to these farmlands in the 1970s might have a downside as well.

The new strains of seed and chemical pesticides and fertilisers, certainly brought high yields.

They called it the Green Revolution.

But today the food the cows eat and the milk they produce, along with the water the cows and Mr Singh's family drink, all show high levels of pesticide residue.

As well as being a successful farmer, he works part-time as a health co-ordinator in the village.

He took me to meet a group of farmers, who all spoke of health problems and knew of deaths they believed came from the use of pesticide sprays.

No protection

The problem here, as in many other places in the world, is that the benefit of high yields from new seed types was not long-lasting, and the pests kept ahead of the pesticides.

An old man, suffering from cancer, told me that in recent years he has had to spray round the clock to keep the pests off his wheat.

The sprays all have instructions demanding that they should only be used with face masks and protective clothing.

But the farm workers here do not use protective equipment, and they spray far more than the recommended amount.

The cause of cancer is always a contentious issue, but a new study from the Punjabi University at Patiala ruled out other potential factors like age, alcohol intake and smoking, concluding that the way the sprays are used is causing cancer.

Organic ignorance

The farmers told me that they wanted the same agricultural scientists who had given them the high yields of the 1970s to come up with something else.

They know that what they are doing now is unsustainable, because they are getting lower yields despite using more spray and paying more for fertiliser because of the high oil price.

None had heard of organic farming.

In neighbouring Pakistan, the local TV news carries interviews every night from flour mills and farms, as well as a daily check on the market price of flour.

The police have intervened to stop hoarding.

Ration cards have been issued, and the World Food Programme (WFP) talks about a crisis as the number of people who do not have enough to eat has risen to 77 million, half of the population of Pakistan.

The WFP describes the food price rise as a "tsunami" affecting the poorest in the world and there are many poorer countries than Pakistan.

The political consequences are already apparent in the troubled regions of the North West Frontier, where the Taleban and al-Qaeda have significant support.

They are more easily able to recruit by saying the government is failing to make affordable food available.

And on the other side of the border on a recent trip to Afghanistan, I heard the US-led occupation squarely blamed on the streets of Kabul for the high price of food.

Radical solution

High oil prices, drought, over-intensive farming leading to lower yields, increased food demand in India and China and the loss of land to biofuels have all played their part in ending the long period of cheap food that the world has enjoyed for the past 30 years.

One radical solution now being talked about is direct payment of subsidies to farmers.

Until recently Malawi was dependent on food aid.

Back in 2002, I remember going from village to village, walking through fields where stunted maize plants had failed to grow.

Children climbed a tree to show me the tiny indigestible hard fruits which were all they had to eat.

At that time Malawi was one of a number of southern African nations at the centre of a worldwide appeal for aid.

When it introduced a voucher scheme to provide cheap fertiliser to farmers, the big donors opposed it.

Hunger victory

Memories of corruption and belief in economic orthodoxy that allowed the market to decide prices had given subsidies a bad name.

But now international donors are starting to change their minds and back the scheme.

Malawi has turned the corner, its farms are producing food for domestic consumption as well as for export, and few go hungry.

It is a stark contrast to the picture in 2002. And maybe an example some countries currently experiencing food shortages could follow.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 26 April, 2008 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

More S'poreans use coupons and opt for house brands to cut spending

2008-04-26T23:10:00.000+08:00

By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia
25 April 2008

SINGAPORE: With Singapore's March inflation hitting a 26-year high at 6.7 per cent, many are starting to use a variety of ways to make their dollar stretch further.

One customer said: "I try to buy home brands like NTUC home brand. I try to cut down, I know things are not cheap these days. Everything is very expensive, so we have to cut down."

House brands, with its lower costs, are proving to be more popular. A spokesman for NTUC Fairprice said since its discount scheme was introduced last December, sales of house brand products have increased by about 25 per cent.

The supermarket chain has also been promoting frozen meat as a cheaper alternative to fresh meat. In the last two months, sales of frozen chicken and beef grew by up to 30 per cent, while frozen pork has seen a threefold increase in sales.

Many also look out for various discounts, purchase-with-purchase and rebate schemes.

One shopper said: "Sometimes we choose all those promotions and try to think again and again what I can afford. Now it's really very difficult."

"Plan accordingly - so cut out unnecessary items like entertainment because we can't live without food," said another shopper.

Over at Giant Hypermarket, one of the popular items to stretch one's dollar is the big savings catalogue. It was launched in 2007 and due to its popularity, it was launched again this year.

The catalogue contains a whole series of vouchers and using up all of them can amount to more than a thousand dollars in savings.

Shop N Save supermarket also has an ongoing five per cent rebate promotion. Its spokesman said that the supermarket has seen a ten to fifteen per cent rise in the number of customers using this scheme in recent months.

To help consumers cope with rising prices, more schemes are expected to be announced next week. - CNA/vm

Government prepared to do more to soften impact of rising food prices

2008-04-26T23:09:00.000+08:00

By Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia
26 April 2008

SINGAPORE: The Singapore government is prepared to do more to soften the impact of rising food prices - if necessary - in the next Budget.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong revealed this when speaking to Marine Parade residents at a community event on Saturday.

Mr Goh believes food prices will remain high in the next year or so because it may take time for supply to adjust to the demand of higher consumption levels worldwide.

SM Goh added that it is a situation that is beyond Singapore's control as Singapore is dependent on food imports.

He said that since 2006, global food prices have spiked by 43 per cent. With crude oil getting more expensive, it only compounds the problem. This means that transportation as well as the energy needed to process food are now more expensive.

Between 2000 and 2006, global food prices rose by only about five per cent annually.

But with crops being converted to bio fuels because of rising crude oil prices, it's a double whammy, as this has reduced food supply by some 40 per cent.

Mr Goh said: "As far as Singapore is concerned, we (are) price takers. We have no control over the prices of the imports. But we have done a couple of things where we allowed the Singapore dollar to strengthen through monetary policy.

"A stronger dollar means we can buy things cheaper. Foreign currencies are cheaper as compared to the Singapore dollar."

Another strategy is diversifying the sources of food imports from all over the world.

However, Singaporeans are still feeling the pinch. The low income families are most affected as they spend a large proportion of their household income on food.

Colin Yap, a Marine Parade resident, said: "Pay have not been going up much recently and we got a big family to feed. Our weekly expenditure at the supermarket has gone up quite a bit. My wife is asking for more allowance to spend (on) marketing now."

Jason Lim, another Marine Parade resident, said: "I think the government is also looking into how they can help the lower income. So I think that is a good move. The increase in prices is expected. Even the countries that can produce their own food are facing the problem."

Already, the government is giving out some S$3 billion to help Singaporeans tide over the Goods and Services Tax increase and the escalating food prices.

While it is difficult to estimate how long the problem will last, Mr Goh said the government is willing to give more help.

SM Goh said: "If necessary, next year, provided we have the surpluses in the budget, we can do some of this. We can do perhaps even more of this to cushion the rising food prices for Singaporeans.

"But more importantly, the job you have to do is to ensure stability. There is co-operation between employers and unions and government to create an environment which allows us to attract more investors to Singapore to create jobs."

Mr Goh said healthy increases in wages is one effective way for Singaporeans to overcome the rising prices of food. - CNA/vm

As Prices Rise, Farmers Spurn Conservation Program

2008-04-17T19:02:00.002+08:00

By DAVID STREITFELD
New York Times
April 9, 2008

Out on the farm, the ducks and pheasants are losing ground.

Thousands of farmers are taking their fields out of the government’s biggest conservation program, which pays them not to cultivate. They are spurning guaranteed annual payments for a chance to cash in on the boom in wheat, soybeans, corn and other crops. Last fall, they took back as many acres as are in Rhode Island and Delaware combined.

Environmental and hunting groups are warning that years of progress could soon be lost, particularly with the native prairie in the Upper Midwest. But a broad coalition of baking, poultry, snack food, ethanol and livestock groups say bigger harvests are a more important priority than habitats for waterfowl and other wildlife. They want the government to ease restrictions on the preserved land, which would encourage many more farmers to think beyond conservation.

Kerry Dockter, a rancher in Denhoff, N.D., has about 450 acres of grassland in the program. “When this program first came about, it was a pretty good thing,” he said. “But times have definitely changed.”

The government payments, Mr. Dockter said, “aren’t even comparable anymore” to what he could make by working the land. He plans to devote some of his conservation acres to growing feed for his cows and some to grazing. He might also lease some land to neighbors.

For years, the problem with cropland was that there was too much of it, which kept food prices low to the benefit of consumers and the detriment of farmers.

Now, because of a growing global middle class as well as federal mandates to turn large amounts of corn into ethanol-based fuel, food prices are beginning to jump. Cropland is suddenly in heavy demand, a situation that is fraying old alliances, inspiring new ones and putting pressure on the Agriculture Department, which is being lobbied directly by all sides without managing to satisfy any of them.

Born nearly 25 years ago in an era of abundance, the Conservation Reserve Program is having a rough transition to the age of scarcity. Its 35 million acres — about 8 percent of the cropland in the country — are the big prize in this brawl.

Groups like Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever want the government to raise rental rates to keep the same amount of land in the program or even increase it. While offering more money to farmers might be a difficult sell in a year of record farm profits, Jim Ringelman of Ducks Unlimited said, “There are overriding environmental issues here.”

The bakers and their allies have a different set of overriding issues: high commodity prices. The rising cost of feed is hurting ranchers, the rising cost of corn is hurting ethanol producers and the rising cost of wheat is hurting bread makers.

“We’re in a crisis here. Do we want to eat, or do we want to worry about the birds?” asked JR Paterakis, a Baltimore baker who said he was so distressed at a meeting last month with Edward T. Schafer, the agriculture secretary, that he stood up and started speaking “vehemently.”

The Paterakis bakery, H&S, produces a million loaves of rye bread a week. The baker said he could not find the rye flour he needed at any price. That gives him two unwelcome options: close half of his operations starting in July, or experiment with a blended flour that will yield a different and possibly less-than-authentic rye bread.

Such problems were never contemplated when the Conservation Reserve was conceived as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. Participants bid to put their land in the program during special sign-ups, with the government selecting the acres most at risk environmentally. Average annual payments are $51 an acre. Contracts run for at least a decade and are nearly impossible to break — not that anyone wanted to until recently.

“Older farmers put their land in the program rather than renting to a younger farmer or selling,” said Dale Schuler, who grows wheat in Fort Benton, Mont. That made it difficult for farmers who wanted to expand as well as farm equipment dealers, supply co-ops and other services, which suffered declines in business.

“It’s certainly been a polarizing issue,” Mr. Schuler said. “Half the people love it and half the people hate it.”

While few urban dwellers ever heard of Conservation Reserve, it found support among two important constituents: hunters had more land to roam and more wildlife to seek out, with the Agriculture Department estimating that the duck population alone rose by two million; and environmentalists were pleased, too. No one disputes that there are real environmental benefits from the program, especially on land most prone to erosion.

The program peaked late last summer, with more than 400,000 farmers receiving nearly $1.8 billion for idling 36.8 million acres. Put all that land together and it would be bigger than the state of New York.

The group doing the most to undermine this amiable coexistence is the farmers themselves. Last fall, when five million acres in Conservation Reserve came up for renewal, only half of them were re-entered. While the program has gained some high-priority land in the last few months, in part from an initiative to restore bobwhite quail habitats, the net loss is still more than two million acres.

That is just the beginning, warns Ducks Unlimited, a politically potent organization with more than half a million members in the United States. Ducks Unlimited is concerned about the three-quarters of a million acres of grassland that were removed from the program last year in the so-called duck factory in the Upper Midwest.

“We foresee a dramatic reduction,” said Mr. Ringelman, a conservation director for the association.

Ardell Magnusson, a farmer in Roseau, Minn., shows the changing mood. He said the program was “a godsend” when he put 300 of his 2,300 acres into it eight years ago. “I needed some guaranteed income or my banker was going to tell me to find another occupation,” Mr. Magnusson said. It is not exactly a bonanza: he gets about $12,000 a year.

He calculates he can make more than that by farming sunflowers or wheat or soybeans. When his contract expires in two years, he plans to withdraw about half his land. It would not be a shock if the Agriculture Department cut him loose sooner. “Another nine months of wheat at today’s prices and there will be political pressure on this program like you wouldn’t believe,” Mr. Magnusson said.

That pressure is exactly what the bakers and their allies are aiming for, saying the Conservation Reserve costs taxpayers and hurts consumers.

“This program is taking money out of your pocket twice a day,” said Jay Truitt, vice president for government affairs for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. “Do you think it’s right for you to pay so there’s more quail in Kansas?”

The cattlemen and bakers argue that farmers should immediately be allowed to take as much as nine million acres out of the Conservation Reserve without paying a penalty, something they say would not harm the environment.

“The pipeline for wheat is empty,” said Michael Kalupa, a bakery owner in Tampa, Fla., who is president of the Retail Bakers of America. Mr. Kalupa said the price he paid for flour had doubled since October. He cannot afford to absorb the cost and he cannot afford to pass it on. Sales have been falling 16 percent to 20 percent a month since October. He has laid off three employees.

Among farmers, the notion of early releases from conservation contracts is prompting sharp disagreement and even anger. The American Soybean Association is in favor. “We need more food,” said John Hoffman, the association’s president.

The National Association of Wheat Growers is against, saying it believes “in the sanctity of contracts.” It does not want more crops to be grown, because commodity prices might go down.

That is something many of its members say they cannot afford, even with wheat at a robust $9 a bushel. Their own costs have increased, with diesel fuel and fertilizer up sharply. “It would decrease my profit margin, which is slim,” said Jeff Krehbiel of Hydro, Okla. “Let’s hurt the farmer in order to shut the bakers up, is that what we’re saying?”

Mr. Krehbiel said his break-even last year was $4 a bushel. This summer it will be $6.20; the next crop, $7.75.

In the struggle between those who would shrink the program and those who would bolster it, the Agriculture Department is leaning toward the latter. When Mr. Schafer spoke recently before wildlife and hunting groups in Phoenix, he opened the door to significantly raising rents on new land.

Randy Schuring, a dairy farmer with 200 acres in the program, said there was no possible solution that would make everyone happy.

“If the government lets the land out and then crop prices fall, that’s going to hurt a lot of farmers,” said Mr. Schuring, whose farm is in Andover, S.D. “If it doesn’t let the land out and prices keep going up, that will hurt a lot of consumers. If only we had a crystal ball.”

A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice

2008-04-17T17:27:00.001+08:00

By KEITH BRADSHER
New York Times
April 17, 2008

DENILIQUIN, Australia — Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of this dusty southern Australian town, remembers the constant whir of the rice mill. “It was our little heartbeat out there, tickety-tick-tickety,” he said, imitating the giant fans that dried the rice, “and now it has stopped.”

The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

Ten thousand miles separate the mill’s hushed rows of oversized silos and sheds — beige, gray and now empty — from the riotous streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, but a widening global crisis unites them.

The collapse of Australia’s rice production is one of several factors contributing to a doubling of rice prices in the last three months — increases that have led the world’s largest exporters to restrict exports severely, spurred panicked hoarding in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and set off violent protests in countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Italy, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, the Philippines, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

Drought affects every agricultural industry based here, not just rice — from sheepherding, the other mainstay in this dusty land, to the cultivation of wine grapes, the fastest-growing crop here, with that expansion often coming at the expense of rice.

The drought’s effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.

It is difficult to definitely link short-term changes in weather to long-term climate change, but the unusually severe drought is consistent with what climatologists predict will be a problem of increasing frequency.

Indeed, the chief executive of the National Farmers’ Federation in Australia, Ben Fargher, says, “Climate change is potentially the biggest risk to Australian agriculture.”

Drought has already spurred significant changes in Australia’s agricultural heartland. Some farmers are abandoning rice, which requires large amounts of water, to plant less water-intensive crops like wheat or, especially here in southeastern Australia, wine grapes. Other rice farmers have sold fields or water rights, usually to grape growers.

Scientists and economists worry that the reallocation of scarce water resources — away from rice and other grains and toward more lucrative crops and livestock — threatens poor countries that import rice as a dietary staple.

The global agricultural crisis is threatening to become political, pitting the United States and other developed countries against the developing world over the need for affordable food versus the need for renewable energy. Many poorer nations worry that subsidies from rich countries to support biofuels, which turn food, like corn, into fuel, are pushing up the price of staples. The World Bank and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization called on major agricultural nations to overhaul policies to avoid a social explosion from rising food prices.

With rice, which is not used to make biofuel, the problem is availability. Even in normal times, little of the world’s rice is actually exported — more than 90 percent is consumed in the countries where it is grown. In the last quarter-century, rice consumption has outpaced production, with global reserves plunging by half just since 2000. A plant disease is hurting harvests in Vietnam, reducing supply. And economic uncertainty has led producers to hoard rice and speculators and investors to see it as a lucrative or at least safe bet.

All these factors have made countries that buy rice on the global market vulnerable to extreme price swings.

Senegal and Haiti each import four-fifths of their rice, and both have faced mounting unrest as prices have increased. Police suppressed violent demonstrations in Dakar on March 30, and unrest has spread to other rice-dependent nations in West Africa, notably Ivory Coast. The Haitian president, René Préval, after a week of riots, announced subsidies for rice buyers on Saturday.

Scientists expect the problem to worsen. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, set up by the United Nations, predicted last year that even slight warming would lower agricultural output in the tropics and subtropics.

Moderate warming could benefit crop and pasture yields in countries far from the Equator, like Canada and Russia. In fact, the net effect of moderate warming is likely to be higher total global food production in the next several decades.

But the scientists said the effect would be uneven, and enormous quantities of food would need to be shipped from areas farther from the Equator to feed the populations of often less-affluent countries closer to the Equator.

The panel predicted that even greater warming, which might happen by late in this century if few or no limits are placed on greenhouse gas emissions, would hurt total food output and cripple crops in many countries.

Survival Techniques

Paul Lamine N’Dong, an elder in Joal, Senegal, worries that hot weather and failing rains have already crippled his village’s crop of millet, a coarse grain eaten locally and traded for rice.

Sitting on a concrete dais reserved for elders, Mr. N’Dong said on a recent morning, “The price rises very quickly, which means we really have to go and look for money.”

“It is live or die,” he said.

For farmers in a richer nation like Australia, the effects of the current drought are already significant.

The rice farmers who do not give up and sell their land or water rights are experimenting with varieties or techniques that require less water.

Still, Australia’s total rice capacity has declined by about a third because many farmers have permanently sold water rights, mostly for grape production. And production last year was far lower because of a severe shortage of water; rice farmers received one-eighth of the water they are usually promised by the government.

The accidental beneficiaries of these conditions have been the farmers who grow wine grapes in the river basin where the Deniliquin mill stands silent.

Even with the recent doubling of rice prices, to around $1,000 a metric ton for the high grades produced by Australia, it is even more profitable to grow wine grapes. All told, wine grapes produce a pretax profit of close to $2,000 an acre while rice produces a pretax profit around $240 an acre.

Also selling water rights to grape growers are ranchers like Peter Milliken, who raises sheep on 37,500 acres near Hay, Australia. Some ranchers have water to sell because they are reducing the water they use. Mr. Milliken is installing a buried nine-mile pipe to replace an irrigation canal that lost up to 90 percent of its water to evaporation — and is planning for the day when he does not irrigate at all.

Sheep farmers have already worked out cooperative arrangements to send flocks to whatever fields have recently received rain, sometimes herding or trucking them long distances. Keeping an eye on a flock, Frank Cox, a drover, said recently, “We had to move the sheep because they were dying of starvation, and truck them down here.”

The drought is making rice harder to find. For instance, SunRice, the Australian rice trading and marketing giant owned by the country’s rice growers, began preparing to mothball the Deniliquin mill five months ago, when it noticed that Australian farmers were planting almost no rice. To make sure that it could continue supplying the domestic market, as well as export markets in Papua New Guinea, South Pacific island nations, Taiwan and the Middle East, SunRice stepped up rice purchases from other countries, said the chief executive, Gary Helou.

The SunRice purchases became one among the many factors that are making it harder for longtime rice importers elsewhere to find supplies.

Researchers are looking for solutions to global rice shortages — for example, rice that blooms earlier in the day, when it is cooler, to counter global warming. Rice plants that happen to bloom on hot days are less likely to produce grains of rice, a difficulty that is already starting to emerge in inland areas of China and other Asian countries as temperatures begin to climb.

“There will be problems very soon unless we have new varieties of rice in place,” said Reiner Wassmann, climate change coordinator at the International Rice Research Institute near Manila, a leader in developing higher-yielding strains of rice for nearly half a century.

The recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change carried an important caveat that could make the news even worse: the panel said that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable.

Seeking Hardier Rice

Many agronomists contend that changes in the timing and amount of rain are more important for crops than temperature changes. Rajendra K. Pachauri, the chairman of the panel, said long-range climate forecasts for precipitation would require another 5 to 20 years of research.

In addition to drought, climate change could also produce more extreme weather, more pest and weed outbreaks, and changes in sea level as polar ice melts. Most of the world’s increase in rice production over the last quarter-century has occurred close to sea level, in the deltas of rivers like the Mekong in Vietnam, Chao Phraya in Thailand and Ganges-Brahmaputra in Bangladesh.

Yet the effects of climate change are not uniformly bad for rice. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can actually help rice and other crops — although the effect dwindles or disappears if the plants face excessive heat, inadequate water, severe pollution or other stresses.

Still, the flexibility of farmers and ranchers here has persuaded some climate experts that, particularly in developed countries, the effects of climate change may be mitigated, if not completely avoided.

“I’m not as pessimistic as most people,” said Will Steffen, the director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. “Farmers are learning how to do things differently.”

Meanwhile, changes like the use of water to grow wine grapes instead of rice carry their own costs, as the developing world is discovering.

“Rice is a staple food,” said Graeme J. Haley, the general manager of the town of Deniliquin. “Chardonnay is not.”

Keith Bradsher reported from Australia last month and later added updated information. Rose Skelton in Fadiouth, Senegal, contributed reporting.

Food prices have risen but not expected to spike sharply

2008-04-16T19:45:00.000+08:00

By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia
6 April 2008

SINGAPORE : The prices of some food items are up because energy and commodity prices have risen.

But according to Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education Grace Fu, prices are not expected to spike sharply.

Speaking to reporters after launching a web portal, Ms Fu added that the government will consider importing pork from countries like Malaysia.

"We look at each of these countries... on a risk-managed perspective... Not only do we look at the supply of meat from a certain country, we will also accredit the abattoir as well as the way the meat is being processed," said Ms Fu. - CNA /ls

Recycling That Harms the Environment and People

2008-04-15T17:23:00.001+08:00

By HENRY FOUNTAIN, New York Times
April 15, 2008

Recycling is supposed to be good for the environment. But if it’s not carried out properly, certain kinds of recycling — notably the dismantling of electronic circuit boards, which contain lead, zinc, copper and other metals — can cause environmental harm.

It can also be dangerous to human health, as a new study of electronics recycling in China shows.

Anna O. W. Leung and Ming H. Wong of Hong Kong Baptist University and colleagues went to the town of Guiyu in southeastern China, home to a cottage industry of family-run recycling workshops. These are typically set up inside homes, where family members melt the tin-lead solder on the boards to remove chips and other components for sale, with only small household fans for ventilation.

The researchers collected surface dust samples in and around these workshops, at local markets and schools and in other nearby residential areas.

As reported in Environmental Science and Technology, they found extremely elevated levels of lead, zinc and other metals in the workshops. Lead levels, for example, were up to 2,400 times commonly accepted optimum levels.

The contamination extended beyond the workshops into adjacent streets. Lead levels were still high, although about one-fifth the levels inside the homes. But even neighborhood schoolyards and markets were affected, suggesting that people spread contaminated dust as they walk around.

Government announces plans for Jurong Lake District

2008-04-04T14:40:00.000+08:00

By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
04 April 2008

SINGAPORE: Singapore is planning to have its very own lake district in Jurong, which will be a magnet for business and leisure.

The Jurong Lake District – made up of two precincts, Jurong Gateway and Lakeside – will offer a potential development area of 360 hectares or about the size of Marina Bay.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan announced this when he unveiled the government's Draft Master Plan 2008 on Friday. This plan will guide Singapore's land use over the next 10 to 15 years.

The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said the Jurong Lake District is expected to attract investments worth billions of dollars.

Under the proposed plan, some 750,000 square metres of land will be set aside at Jurong Gateway for offices, hotels, food and beverage, and entertainment uses.

It is also expected to add about 2,800 hotel rooms, equivalent to the hotel belt at the Singapore River area. Land to build 1,000 new private homes will be available as well.

URA said the Jurong Gateway is set to be the biggest commercial hub outside the city centre – nearly 2.5 times the size of the Tampines Regional Centre.

Lakeside, which is the other component of the Jurong Lake District, has been earmarked to be the next waterfront playground.

Urban planners said there will be plenty of leisure options there, including nature-themed and edu-tainment attractions.

But the centrepiece will be a new world-class Science Centre to be located next to the Chinese Garden MRT station.

Visitors can also look forward to lush greenery and water-based activities like kayaking and dragon boating at Lakeside.

- CNA/so

Online barter exchange sites gain popularity

2008-04-02T11:29:00.000+08:00

By Ng Jing Yng, TODAY
02 April 2008

SINGAPORE: It's an online exchange site that allows you to trade your unwanted items for someone else's — and it is part of a growing Web community that believes in cash-free recycling.

While auction sites like eBay have long allowed people to sell off their second-hand stuff, YouSwop.com abides by the ancient practice of barter trading that does away with hard cash.

Such barter sites have been gaining a following — on www.u-exchange.com, for instance, users trade across countries on items ranging from clothes to garden appliances.

YouSwop, launched last August, already lists more than 6,000 registered users who post photographs of items they wish to trade for virtual credits or "YS dollars". Each member tags a value to his or her item and can use credits earned to "purchase" items from other members.

But how does this system compare to the popular Singapore Freecycle, or SgFreecycle, where users simply give away their used items freely?

Items put up for offer on the two-year-old site range from baby clothing to computer accessories and household furniture, and interested parties can contact the person making the offer to collect the items.

According to the moderator of SgFreecycle, 30-year-old Varun Arora, a recent poll was conducted on whether bartering should be allowed. Members did not subscribe to the idea.

"While YouSwop might be an alternative for some, the vast majority who give away items on SgFreecycle do so with altruistic motives and not because they want something in exchange," said Mr Arora.

Secretary Gerry Khoo, 30, who has been using both sites for six months, says each serves a different purpose. "But in both cases, I felt that the items would benefit someone else who really needed them."

According to one of YouSwop's three creators, Mr Patrick Lim, 33, using virtual credits for bartering purposes makes for easier exchange and fair play for both buyer and seller.

The idea was sparked off by Mr Lim's wife, who had too many items that were rarely used and taking up storage space.

"Initially, we just wanted to have a platform which enabled us to swap for things that we need," said Mr Lim. He now hopes the site will help save the environment by recycling unused items. - TODAY/sh

No simple solutions to food price hikes

2008-04-02T11:27:00.001+08:00

By Neo Chai Chin and Alicia Wong, TODAY
02 April 2008

SINGAPORE: In theory, importing food from many sources sounds like a good way to keep rising prices in check — apart from hedging one's bets against supply disruptions due to, say, natural disasters.

But reality is rarely so simple.

With food prices going up around the world, economists point out - diversification will not be enough to avoid inflation in Singapore, which imports about 90 per cent of its edibles.

The theory works only if there is a "disconnect between two markets", said Forecast's economist Vishnu Varathan. For instance, if Australia is facing a drought, dairy prices here can be kept stable if imports are still coming in from other regions.

That's not the case with the brewing Asian rice crisis, however. Noting shortages reported from Cambodia to the Philippines, rice importer Hong Lian Gim Kee said: "How can you negotiate prices?"

On Tuesday, the World Bank said that inflation poses a bigger challenge to East Asia than the current credit crisis does. For one, it has led to higher fuel prices — which leads to higher freight costs that could negate cost-savings from food sourced further afield, said a spokesman from the Singapore Cereal Oils Foodstuffs and Native Products Import and Export Association.

Said Mr Varathan: "We can get some limited relief from inflation by changing consumer patterns, but unless we have a backyard to plant some crops, there's little we can do."

But, how far are consumers here willing to adapt?

Importer See Hoy Chan's operations manager E K Lim believes "people want higher quality rice". For instance, Vietnamese rice is often too rough, and Chinese, Australian and American rice too sticky for the fussy Singapore palate.

NTUC FairPrice's director of integrated purchasing Tng Ah Yiam said sales of its house-brand rice from Vietnam have doubled since its launch last October, partly because it is 20-per-cent cheaper than Thai rice.

Yet there are those like housewife Pauline Wong, 59, who would "switch to a cheaper brand of Thai rice" easily but fuss over the standards of Vietnamese rice. It is difficult for consumer tastes to change within a short time, said associate research fellow Ng Sue Chia of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Likewise, diversifying food sources may also take time. Sheng Siong supermarket will "definitely" look for other rice suppliers, but it could take years to build a working relationship if mutual benefits cannot be found, said its international business development deputy general manager Wong Heng San.

Conversely, it only took two to three months to form a working relationship with Thailand's rice suppliers as the supermarket has worked with them before.

Meanwhile, what Singapore can do seems to have already been done.

According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the government requires all white rice traders to stockpile twice their monthly import quantities. The growth dividends and GST credits to be paid out later this year will also help to offset inflation, an MTI spokesperson told TODAY.

Also, said Assistant Professor Tomoki Fujii of the Singapore Management University's School of Economics: "With little control over the price of food it buys from other countries, the government can let the Singapore dollar appreciate against other currencies to mitigate inflation -- which is indeed being done."

FairPrice – the island's largest supermarket chain -- said it tries to help consumers by being the last retailer to adjust prices. While it raised the prices of three in-house rice brands last Friday by 10 to 15 per cent, it eliminates middlemen costs by importing directly from countries like Thailand and Vietnam, said Mr Tng. FairPrice is also studying setting up budget outlets for the needy, possibly next year.

Sheng Siong supermarket – with 21 outlets – imports some of its rice directly, and will keep promotional prices for rice constant until stocks run out.

Prof Fujii suggested coping with short-term price fluctuations by making long-term contracts with food-exporting countries.

Freezing food prices, like what Thailand is considering, would create a "disastrous situation" with insufficient food to meet demand. But increasing food subsidies for the poor could be considered, he said.

Prof Fujii also mooted the idea of imposing a tax on restaurants for food wastage, with the money going to the poor. Households could also be taxed according to how much waste they generate. But such an idea would be hard to implement, he admitted. - TODAY/sh

Gore Group Plans Ad Blitz on Global Warming

2008-04-01T11:45:00.000+08:00

By ANDREW C. REVKIN
April 1, 2008
New York Times

Former Vice President Al Gore and a nonprofit climate group have begun what they say will be a three-year $300 million advertising blitz to recruit 10 million advocates to seek laws and policies that can cut greenhouse gases.

The campaign was introduced in a “60 Minutes” appearance by Mr. Gore on Sunday. The first ad, posted online at wecansolveit.org , compares the challenge of fighting global warming to the invasion of Normandy and the civil rights movement.

That advertisement will start appearing on television Wednesday, according to the Alliance for Climate Protection, a group created by Mr. Gore in 2006. It will be followed by ads tailored to particular audiences and media, including the Internet.

About half the anticipated budget has been raised from donations, mostly from anonymous benefactors, people involved in the campaign said.

In a presentation on the campaign last week, Cathy Zoi, who heads the alliance and was formerly a Clinton administration environmental aide, said the goal was to replicate the marketing success of enduring public service ad campaigns like the frying egg depicted as “your brain on drugs” and the 1971 advertisement featuring a tearful American Indian considering a polluted landscape.

John P. Murry Jr., an associate professor of marketing at the University of Iowa who has studied public service advertising, said the campaign might be spending too little.

“I think the global warming project media budget should be 10 times as high,” he said. “Both Coca-Cola and Pepsi spend over a billion dollars each year to promote brand preference for soft drinks. In this light, the $100 million per year to change our lifestyles seems pretty small.”

Pollsters and communications experts have noted that the public remains deeply divided along party lines over global warming and that the issue rarely shows up on voters’ lists of worries.

Ms. Zoi said the goal was to recruit people she described as “influentials.” She added: “These are people who talk to five times as many people a day as the typical person, who derive self-esteem from having new information.”

The ads will be coordinated with outreach through organizations like the United Steelworkers union and the Girl Scouts.

On various blogs on Monday, reactions ranged from strong support to complaints that the money would be better spent on energy research and that the effort would mainly swell coffers of environmental campaigners and carbon traders.

Food Prices Rise, Farmers Respond

2008-04-01T11:44:00.001+08:00

NYTimes

April 1, 2008

CHICAGO — Faced with strong worldwide food demand and the accompanying higher prices, American farmers are beginning to respond to the signals of the market. In a new government report, farmers said they would make significant cuts in corn acreage this year in favor of soybeans.

If they carry through with their intentions, the resulting additional soybean oil could help alleviate global shortages of cooking oil that have led to sharply higher prices, hitting poor countries hard.

But a smaller corn harvest would most likely raise prices for that crop, which could also increase the prices Americans pay for meat. Most corn is used as animal feed.Higher corn prices may also compound the difficulties of companies that use corn to produce ethanol as a motor fuel. Despite government mandates for the use of ethanol, those companies are struggling. They expanded so rapidly in recent years that an oversupply of ethanol depressed prices, even as the cost of their main feedstock — corn — was rising.

The release Monday morning of the Agriculture Department’s report on farmers’ plans, based on interviews with growers during the first two weeks of March, caused the price of corn in the commodities markets to rise past $6 a bushel for the first time, before falling back. Soybean prices, meanwhile, fell 70 cents to $10.89 on expectations of a greater supply.

The commodities markets have been extremely volatile recently, with prices swinging more widely in a few days than they used to move in a year. Overall the trend has been sharply upward, making for an uneasy winter.

Consumers are confronting sticker shock at the grocery store, while farmers insist they are not getting rich because their own costs, like diesel fuel, are up. Wheat and soybean stockpiles have fallen in the last year, the government said in a separate report, meaning there is little buffer if the weather is not favorable this year and harvests are disappointing.

“We’re hoping for good yields,” said David Orden, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington. “If we get bad yields and tight commodity markets are pushed even tighter, we’ll get food prices skyrocketing, inflationary pressures and food riots in developing countries, and countries cutting off their exports.”

Many of those unfortunate trends, Mr. Orden said, are happening already.

Soybean producers told the government they would plant 74.8 million acres, up 18 percent from last year and just below the record high in 2006. Corn growers said they would plant 86 million acres, down 8 percent from 2007.

The soybean number was a little higher than analysts had been predicting, while the corn number was a little lower. The 2007 corn crop was the biggest since 1944 as growers rushed to capitalize on the government-mandated demand for ethanol. Three years ago, before the ethanol mandates, the price was less than $2.50 a bushel.

“In February, we were thinking farmers would plant as much as 90 million acres of corn,” said the Agriculture Department’s chief economist, Joseph Glauber. But the relatively high prices of soybeans might have caused some of them to switch. Soybeans also require less fertilizer, another commodity whose prices have been breaking records.

Mr. Glauber cautioned that the planting report not only reflected the intentions of farmers, but could affect them too. Last year’s report underestimated actual corn plantings by three million acres. A rise in corn prices and a drop in soybean prices might inspire other farmers to change their minds.

That is what the ethanol industry is hoping. “We do certainly use corn and it is going to have an impact,” said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. “But I’m sure the marketplace will respond to this signal.”

Joe Victor, an analyst with the market research firm Allendale, said he expected corn to rise as high as $7.50 by summer.

Farmers are not necessarily planting less corn for economic reasons, Mr. Victor said: “They’re going back to a more normal crop rotation. They needed to give their corn acres a bit of a rest.” Next year, he predicted, the ratio will shift again, and farmers will cut back on soybeans in favor of corn.

A handful of farmers, principally in Texas and California, told the government they were planning to grow more corn. But in the heart of the Corn Belt, it was a different story. Indiana is projected to be down 800,000 acres, Illinois 600,000, Nebraska 600,000, Iowa 1 million.

Ray Gaesser in Corning, Iowa, said he would devote about 48 percent of his 6,000 acres to corn, down from 52 percent last year. The rest would be soybeans.

“Last year, the price ratio of corn to soybeans was telling us we should plant more corn,” said Mr. Gaesser, a former president of the Iowa Soybean Association. Now the ratio is more in line with historical norms. The result is that “many of the increased corn acres in 2007 are going back to soybeans,” he said.

Mr. Gaesser sells his corn to the local ethanol plant, where he is an investor. “If corn prices get low, we make money at the plant,” he said. “If they’re high, we make money in our core business, which is agriculture.” He had already contracted to sell his corn, he said, which meant he would not benefit from any further price rises.

For bakers worried about the price of flour, the plantings report offered a little relief. Wheat farmers said they planned to plant 63.8 million acres, up 6 percent, about what the commodities markets had been expecting. Cotton plantings are expected to fall 13 percent to 9.39 million acres. Cotton farmers have been abandoning the crop for corn and wheat.

The Agriculture Department said farmers would devote 323.8 million acres to 19 principal crops this year, up 3.8 million acres from last year and 7.8 million acres from 2006. Some of the increase has come from land pulled out of conservation programs, some from pasture, and some from the double-cropping of wheat and soybeans.

Despite the back-to-back increases, the number of acres under cultivation is still about six million below the level of a decade ago. The government is not entirely sure why that is happening, but one possibility is that some land has been swallowed up by suburban construction.

Koh Soo Keong appointed as new Chairman of Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority

2008-03-31T22:54:00.000+08:00

Channel NewsAsia
31 March 2008

SINGAPORE: Mr Koh Soo Keong will be taking over as the new Chairman of the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) come 1 April.

Currently AVA's Deputy Chairman, Mr Koh will be succeeding the current and founding Chairman Mr Koh Poh Tiong.

Mr Koh Poh Tiong has been AVA's Chairman since April 2000.

He helped to guide the growth and development of AVA and established it as the national authority for food safety.

Under Mr Koh Poh Tiong's leadership, AVA adopted a risk management approach to achieve diversification in food supply sources.

Its food safety management system was also strengthened by the upgrading its professional and diagnostic capabilities.

Mr Koh also helped AVA formulate strategies to enhance the resilience of Singapore's food supply.

Minister for National Development, Mah Bow Tan, said: "I deeply appreciate Mr Koh Poh Tiong's significant contributions, as the first Chairman of AVA, in guiding the development of AVA into a recognised and credible authority on food safety and veterinary services." - CNA/vm

LTA may give cash rebates to persuade more to switch to public transport

2008-03-30T18:09:00.001+08:00

By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia
30 March 2008

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is considering giving cash instead of credits when one gives up his or her car to persuade more people to opt for public transport.

Transport Minister Raymond Lim said he has asked LTA to work with the Finance Ministry to see if Certificate of Entitlement (COE) and Additional Registration Fee (ARF) rebates can be given in cash when motorists decide to give up their cars.

This study should take about four to six months.

A whole slew of measures was announced from late January on improving bus and rail services to get more people to use public transport. A more extensive ERP system was also set up as part of the deal to keep traffic smooth.

But what kind of push do people actually need to give up their cars?

One idea that has been tossed about and was recently brought up by MP Inderjit Singh during the Budget debate is to give cash incentives.

The current situation is that when a motorist gives up his or her car, ARF and COE rebates are given in terms of credits. In order not to lose out, motorists usually end up using these credits to purchase another car.

Many people have given the feedback that if these rebates are given to them in cash, it would be more of an incentive for them not to buy another car.

But by that same token, motorists could – just as easily – take the cash rebate and purchase another vehicle.

Mr Lim said: "That can happen – I agree. That is why I said we have to study this very carefully. If we are going to do this, how best are we going to do it?"

The transport minister was speaking at the release of the detailed Masterplan report on Sunday, which marks out in detail the announcements made recently and the plans on the road map for the next 15 years, with a simpler illustrated version for the community at large.

The Community Outreach Programme to solve day-to-day problems like parking was also launched on the same day.

Over the next six months, LTA will hold 14 dialogue sessions with grassroots leaders from all constituencies. Efforts like site visits and road shows will also be stepped up at locations where there are major projects like the construction of the Downtown Line.

- CNA/so

Rich bear the brunt

2008-03-25T10:32:00.002+08:00

Inflation hits top income earners in unusual turnabout
Neo Chai Chin (TODAY)
March 25, 2008

FOR the first time in at least eight years, the wealthy in Singapore have borne the brunt of inflation, while lower-income earners have — in a reversal of roles — seen expenses rise at a slower rate than the national average.

In the last six months of 2007, inflation was 3.9 per cent for the top 20 per cent of income earners. The bottom 20 per cent saw a 2.8-per-cent hike in their consumer price index (CPI), while middle-income earners fell in between, with 3.3 per cent.

For the whole of last year, the top income-earners experienced 2.3-per-cent inflation, compared to 2 per cent for the rest.

It's an unusual turnabout. The Department of Statistics records dating from 2000 show inflation hurting the bottom 20 per cent of the population most. And one key reason high earners were harder hit last year: Spiralling fuel prices, which started reaching record highs in October.

This, said economists, fed into more expensive holiday travel, cars and petrol. Together with housing — where private property rentals helped push up the CPI — transport and recreation costs make up almost two-thirds of the top 20-per-cent earners' CPI.

Forecast's economist Vishnu Varathan said the affluent are more likely to hail cabs and to drive, and July's taxi fare hikes and higher pump prices would have affected this demographic more. "The impact of bus and MRT fare increases would be less acute for the lower-income as there have been small increases over time," he said.

Transport inflation for the bottom earners was 2.9 per cent for the second half, compared to 5 per cent for top earners.

As for recreation, said Standard Chartered economist Alvin Liew, the wealthy are more likely to go on holidays, and a "key component of air travel is fuel costs".

And with the high-end property market fetching record prices last year, consumers would have to pay higher rents for more swanky accommodation, said Mr Varathan.

But does all this mean that higher earners necessarily had it harder than the middle- or lower-income? Not so. As Citigroup economist Chua Hak Bin pointed out: "What is important to note is that the higher-income group saw the highest nominal wage increases and are better able to withstand higher price increases."

Looking ahead, a slower global economy this year could ease prices of luxury items, which form a more significant part of higher earners' CPI, said Mr Liew.

Overall, however, it is uncertain if inflation will continue to be higher for the rich. Economists point to the twin trends of rising food prices and fuel costs, which affect all tiers of society.

Mr Varathan felt food prices — which went up by 4.1 per cent in the second half, up from just 1.7 per cent in the first half of 2007 — were likely to remain high because of global trends such as urbanisation, the growing of biofuels and increased consumption of meat. These impact the supply of food — cultivation of biofuels means less farmland available, for instance.

Can rising inflation be halted? February's CPI rose 6.5 per cent over the same period last year, with transport and communication, food, education and healthcare costs leading the surge. Part of it could be attributed to the Chinese New Year period, when food and overseas travel are at a premium.

Still, a reprieve could be in sight - the slowdown of the global economy and excess manufacturing capacity could lead to lower prices in the second half of the year, said economists. And come July, the effects of last year's GST hike will no longer reflect in year-on-year CPI comparisons.

OTHER SNAPSHOTS OF 2007

Healthcare

Middle-income earners were the hardest hit – healthcare costs rose 4.3 per cent for them, higher than the overall 4.1 per cent. Economists did not know exactly why this might be, saying more research had to be done. For example, are the subsidies for the poor benefiting the middle classes? Did hospital charges rise proportionately across all income classes? What types of medication did the middle classes consume?

Food prices

While the hike was about equal for all income groups, averaging 2.9 per cent, the poor felt the impact most as this component accounts for almost 30 per cent of their expenditure.

Housing

Thanks partly to the moderating influence of service and conservancy charge rebates, bottom and middle-income groups saw inflation of 0.1 per cent, compared to 1.2 per cent for top earners.

Inflation hits top income earners in unusual turnabout

Cold snap in S'pore

2008-03-16T23:03:00.001+08:00

By Sumathi V Selvaretnam and Tania Tan
14 March 2008
Straits Times

TALK about a chill in the air.

Thermostats here are being turned up as Singaporeans throw on sweaters and jackets to beat the 'coldest' March in 74 years: The average temperature so far this month is 25.6 deg C, a tick higher than the 25 deg C in 1934.

Singapore dipped to its coldest of 19.4 deg C on Jan 30, 1934.

On Thursday night, the mercury dipped to 21.8 deg C - about the average day-time temperature in wintry Hong Kong.

The 'cold snap' has resulted in some things one does not typically see - or hear - in Singapore. Children bundled up like Eskimos and office workers coming to work in woollies.

But Solutions architect Sivaram Shunmugam, 29, likes it cool.

'Normally it is hot, humid and uncomfortable. Not now. Finally, a temperature I can live with!' he said.

Neither is Colin Wan, 34, complaining.

'It's like a regular English day. I get to wear winter clothes like my jumpers and cardigans that I thought I would never need in Singapore,' said the advertising executive from Britain who has been living here for five years.

The cool spell stems from the prolonged heavy rain and dense cloud, said Associate Professor Matthias Roth of the National University of Singapore's Department of Geography.

'It's more difficult for sunlight to penetrate the thick cloud cover - so the ground cools after a few days,' he explained.

The freakishly wet weather is due to a strong La Nina effect, explained Dr Roth. Caused by a cycle of cooling air over the Pacific Ocean, the weather phenomenon usually results in cooler, wetter weather.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) says next week will continue to be wet, with moist winds blowing in from the ocean.

Walk held to support consumers' rights to healthy food

2008-03-16T23:00:00.001+08:00

By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia
16 March 2008

SINGAPORE: Consumers have rights and that includes the right to healthy food.

So, in conjunction with World Consumer Rights Day – which is focusing on fast food this year – the local Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) held a walk for a few thousand participants early Sunday morning.

CASE said it is working with fast food companies to provide healthier options and it has received a response from McDonald's.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, the Guest-of-Honour at the event, recently highlighted in Parliament how obesity could quickly become a problem in Singapore.

Later at the event, Mr Khaw recalled his conversation with some children at the walk.

He said: "I was very happy when I spoke to the children just now. I asked, 'Do you eat vegetables?' They said, 'Yes!'. I hope it's true. I said, 'Do you go for fast food often?' They said, 'No!'. If they are being truthful, that is a good sign.

"There is nothing wrong with fast food, it's just (a problem of) how often you eat it. Occasionally, I go for fast food as well – maybe three times, four or five times a year. If it's three or four times a week, that will be very troublesome. Obesity seriously can be a big problem because it underlies a lot of other problems."

- CNA/so

Do you know how much of your food is genetically modified?

2008-03-14T11:07:00.001+08:00

By Jessica Lim
Straits Times
March 14, 2008

Half of corn, canola oil and soya bean sold here are genetically
modified. But most S'poreans don't know as the law here does not require
manufacturers and retailers to label GM foods

THAT soya bean milk drink you had for breakfast could have been made
from genetically modified (GM) beans.
Lots of food in your larder - from nachos to poultry to baby food and
soya milk - could also contain ingredients whose genetic make-up has
been altered in a bid to make them plumper, tastier or resistant to
disease.

But it is unlikely that you will ever know.

The reason: Unlike dozens of developed countries around the world,
Singapore does not require manufacturers and retailers to label GM foods.

While the foods have not proven to be unsafe, their sale has sparked
protests from Indonesia to the United States, driven largely by fears
about >the long-term effects of tinkering with Mother Nature.

According to Singapore's Genetic Modification Advisory Committee, about
half of the corn, canola oil and soya bean sold in Singapore are
genetically modified.

Dr Wong Kwok Onn, head of the survey and safety review branch at the
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA), said that Singapore's reliance
on imported food means GM foods 'could be anywhere on the market now'.

Consumers, though, have little way of knowing what they are buying.

Singapore laws allow manufacturers and importers to leave out or even
remove labels that would inform consumers they are buying GM foods.

Many companies, Dr Wong said, do just that because they are 'worried
that Singaporeans might not accept them'.

While the issue is a major one around the globe, it is only just gaining
steam here.

No one has complained to Singapore's consumer watchdog about the lack of
labelling, but some shoppers The Straits Times spoke to were concerned
when told that they might be buying GM foods.

Mrs Khairina Mohd, 45, a mother of two, wants labels on such items.

She said: 'Like most other educated Singaporeans, I want to know what I
am putting into my mouth. It's a basic right.'

Mr Daniel Koh, 36, a psychologist, said: 'Just browsing online, I can
tell the issue is getting out of hand globally and there are more GM
foods around.

'We are consumers too, and I would like to know more about the food I am
eating and the long-term effects, if any.'

Although no side effects from eating GM foods have emerged, the
long-term effects of bioengineering have not been completely evaluated,
said Mr Peter Droge, head of genomics and genetics at Nanyang
Technological University.

Still, some Singaporeans couldn't care less if GM foods are labelled.

Businessman Goh Keng Wee, 53, is among them.

He said: 'It does not matter much to me. If it is safe and tastes good,
why should I care?'

Proponents of genetic modification view it as the answer to food
shortages. Yields are higher and less water, energy and fertiliser are
used in the production process, Mr Droge explained.

Currently, 51 countries - including China, Canada and the United States
- produce GM foods.

More than two-thirds of modified American corn, for example, is exported
to Asia and Africa.

Labelling of these foods is compulsory only in the European Union and in
about 30 countries, including Japan and Australia.

It is not compulsory here because of the lack of international consensus
on the labelling of GM foods, said Dr Wong.

However, that could change following a meeting next month of an
international body that sets standards for the food industry, according
to government officials.

limjess@sph. com.sg

Public housing demand continues to be brisk in 2008

2008-03-11T19:51:00.002+08:00

By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
11 March 2008 1742 hrs

SINGAPORE: The demand for public housing continues to be brisk. HDB's first build-to-order project this year at Punggol Spring is already four times oversubscribed.

New flats aside, property agents have also described the HDB resale market as the kingpin for the real estate sector in 2008.

The application for Punggol Spring, where 494 units of four-room flats will be built, will not close until 17 March, but the project is already oversubscribed with 2,093 applications.

Punggol Spring is part of the 4500 new flats that HDB has committed to build for the first half of this year. Prices of the Punggol Spring flats range from S$204,000 to S$259,000.

Apart from this build-to-order development, HDB's bi-monthly sale of four-room and larger flats in February also drew overwhelming response with over 10,000 flat buyers vying for just 278 units.

Eugene Lim, associate director of ERA, said: "They are usually the first timers and they do not have so much cash with them, so as the norm is cash over value for the resale market, so inevitably, they are being pushed to the new flat market where they don't have to come up with as much cash or don't need to come up with any cash at all."

Still, transaction volume in the HDB resale market is expected to remain strong.

Industry players project 30,000 units to be sold in 2008, 1,000 more than last year.

Price-wise, it is estimated to increase by about ten per cent in 2008, compared to over 17 per cent in 2007.

Property agents said the spike was partly due to the sharp rise in cash over valuation (COV). But they added this is likely to change as buyers have hit a threshold when it comes to forking out more cash.

Propnex CEO Mohamed Ismail said: "The central areas were getting as high as S$100,000 for Queenstown, Bukit Merah, Toa Payoh, but such prices are not sustainable in the long term. Therefore, I do foresee (for) the very high-end side in the central location, the COV (will) dip quite drastically."

Some property agents said the COV for flats in the central region will dip by 20 per cent within the next three months. As of the fourth quarter of last year, the average COV for the area was about S$35,000 to S$40,000.

Despite the high demand for flats, agents are confident there will be enough to go around, whether it is for families or singles.

They also welcome HDB's new incentive to offer an extra S$9,000 grant to singles who buy a resale flat and live with their parents.

The scheme, however, is unlikely to have any impact on the market given the small segment it serves. - CNA/ac

Consumer prices up 6.6% from a year earlier

2008-02-25T16:16:00.002+08:00

25 February 2008 (CNA)

SINGAPORE: Singapore's consumer price index (CPI) increased by 6.6 per cent in January from a year earlier, according to data released by the Department of Statistics on Monday.

Higher costs of food, housing, transport and communication contributed to the rise.

Compared to a month earlier, the CPI in January went up by 1.3 per cent, or 1.5 per cent on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Food prices were 1.1 per cent higher due to higher prices of cooked food, fresh fish, poultry and pork following greater demand prior to Lunar New Year period in early February.

Housing cost and healthcare costs also increased 4.1 and 1.3 per cent respectively in January.

Transport and communication costs, however, fell marginally by 0.1 per cent as lower car prices more than offset higher taxi fares.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry said the 6.6 per cent year-on-year increase was consistent with the official inflation forecast of 4.5 to 5.5 per cent for 2008. It added that it largely reflects a low base 12 months ago.

The ministry noted that as the effects of the low base and one-off factors wear off in the second half of 2008, year-on-year inflation is expected to moderate significantly. - CNA/ac

Hazy sky for Singapore as hotspots detected

2008-02-25T16:15:00.000+08:00

By Sheralyn Tay, TODAY
25 February 2008

SINGAPORE: Don't rub your eyes, it's not your vision blurring. It's just the haze which returned this weekend.

On Sunday, Singapore experienced its haziest day this year, with the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading hitting a peak of 56 at 4pm. This is the highest reading since December last year.

Sunday was also the third consecutive day that the 24-PSI reading has crept past the good range into the moderate range of 50-100. On Saturday, the 24-hour PSI reading hit 52, up from 51 on Friday.

According to the National Environment Agency's (NEA) hot spot map, there are "numerous" hotspots over Thailand and Laos. Hot spots indicate areas with fires or hot smoke and are detected by infrared images captured by weather satellites.

While isolated hotspots have been detected over Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, western Borneo and parts of Sumatra, it was Riau in Sumatra that had been enveloped in thick smoke over the weekend as land-clearing fires created a choking haze that reduced visibility in some parts to 20 metres.

But the number of hot spots in Riau appears to be dropping, as Sunday's hot spot count was four, compared to 100 on Thursday and 50 on Friday.

According to NEA, the moderate haze is due, in part, to drier conditions. So far prevailing winds have kept most of the smoke away from Singapore, although changes in wind direction could account for hazier days ahead. - TODAY/sh

Prices of some vegetables have doubled in the past weeks

2008-02-23T21:36:00.001+08:00

By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
23 February 2008

SINGAPORE : Prices of some vegetables have almost doubled in recent weeks.

Importers say this is due to the extreme weather in southern China, which had affected supply of the greens.

The problem is further compounded by the surge in demand for vegetables over the Chinese New Year period.

This saw a reduction in exports to Singapore, and importers had difficulties having their orders fulfilled.

Over the past weeks, only three out of an order of ten containers have been delivered and this shortage has driven up prices.

For instance, a kilogramme of kai lan and chye sim went up by about two dollars to five dollars.

But importers expect prices to soften once more supplies start arriving from southern China next week.

And it will complement stocks from Malaysia and northern China, which remain unaffected. - CNA/ch

S'pore's food inflation remains low by international standards

2008-02-04T00:53:00.000+08:00

By S Ramesh and Margaret Perry, Channel NewsAsia
03 February 2008

SINGAPORE: Singapore's food inflation has remained low by international standards, according to a survey of cooked and uncooked food prices worldwide.

The Trade and Industry Ministry (MTI) said while Singapore is not spared from the general increase in global food prices, the survey of 14 countries from 2005 to 2007 showed Singapore had one of the lowest rates of food inflation for all three years.

That is because Singapore's open and competitive environment kept food price increases less pronounced than for most countries.

In 2007, food inflation stood at 2.9 percent, compared to 1.6 percent in 2006 and 1.3 percent in 2005.

The ministry's survey results follow concerns expressed by many Singaporeans that food prices had gone up.

MTI said only three countries – Japan, Australia and South Korea – had a lesser rate of food inflation than Singapore.

Out of the 14 countries surveyed, China had the sharpest increase in food prices last year at 12.3 percent.

The ministry explained that consumers could choose from a wide range of options, allowing them to switch to cheaper alternatives should some businesses charge unreasonable prices.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority has also diversified food sources so that Singapore is less vulnerable to disruptions.

While Singapore has traditionally sourced vegetables from Malaysia and China, the country is now getting them from Vietnam and Indonesia as well.

Imported food prices here rose 12.1 percent between December 2006 and December 2007, but this has not been reflected on supermarket shelves where the prices of non-cooked food rose by only 7.1 percent.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan said: "What we believe is the distribution channel - the supermarkets and shops - have absorbed the difference, they have not passed on the entire cost difference to the consumers."

Businesses have also played a responsible role in moderating the pace of increases by not passing on the full extent of price increases in their inputs immediately.

Most hawkers, in particular, have shown restraint.

According to the Department of Statistics, about 75 percent of hawkers surveyed held prices constant since June last year.

The ministry said the food component of the Consumer Price Index has increased in recent months.

However, the cooked food price increases have been smaller than those for non-cooked food, and that is an indication that hawkers and restaurants have not passed on all the increases in raw food prices to consumers.

MTI stressed that the rising trend for food inflation is mainly driven by external factors such as the surge in oil prices and adverse weather in supplier countries.

The ministry added that Singapore's best strategy against food inflation is to sustain economic growth over the medium term and create quality jobs for Singaporeans.

- CNA/so

New NUS centre to study effects of natural disasters on S'pore buildings

2007-11-23T20:39:00.001+08:00

23 November 2007 (TODAY)

SINGAPORE: Our buildings may shake when earthquakes occur in the region, but it is "highly unlikely" they will fall. But would they be safe years down the road?

That is what the new Centre for Hazards Research at the National University of Singapore (NUS) aims to find out.

Launched on Thursday, the centre will study the short- and long-term effects of natural disasters on structures and infrastructure.

The centre's director, Associate Professor Lee Fook Hou, said: "I am pretty sure our buildings are safe now, but I can't assure you they will always be. The aim of our research is to reduce that margin of uncertainty."

Comprising 20 local and three foreign academics and researchers, the centre will start work on the impact of earth tremors because that is something "closest to our hearts", noted Assoc Prof Lee.

Through experiments and the investigation of data collected, the centre aims to develop new technologies to counter potential risks to the safety of structures.

"While natural hazards are inevitable, we can focus on using good science to prevent them from becoming disasters," said Assoc Prof Lee. "The idea is to find new ways to improve structures."

This would prove especially useful to companies looking to venture into earthquake-prone areas, he added. The centre will eventually move into research on other dangers such as typhoons and floods.

Another goal of the centre: To become an information and resource hub on natural disasters for Singapore and the region.

By providing "accurate and reliable answers" on why buildings behave the way they do during earthquakes, people here will be more knowledgeable about the effects of natural disasters and be in "a calmer state of mind because they know they are safe", said Assoc Prof Lee.

There are plans to launch a website to provide near real-time information when natural disasters occur, he added.

Several industry players have expressed interest in working with the centre by providing technological assistance or data. - TODAY/ym

Editor's Note: Finally they admit that Singapore is vulnerable to Natural Disasters. It's about damn time!

S'pore seaweed 'satisfactory': AVA

2007-11-23T17:01:00.000+08:00

By Tan Hui Leng, TODAY
23 November 2007

SINGAPORE: Roasted seaweed exported from Singapore that failed Malaysian food safety standards has been tested and found to be satisfactory, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said on Thursday.

The Star, a Malaysian newspaper, had reported on Wednesday that "roasted seaweed from Singapore was found to contain metal contaminants on four occasions from July to September". The contaminant, cadmium, was at a level that contravened Malaysia's food regulations.

But the AVA, in an email to Today, said: "We have followed up with checks on the cadmium level in the roasted seaweed that was processed in our local food factory and the cadmium level was found to be satisfactory."

Singapore's food safety levels are set in line with international standards, it said, adding that the AVA had only received one notification from Malaysia on 13 Aug.

Locally-manufactured foodstuff is processed in factories licensed by the AVA and they have quality control programmes to ensure safe food production, it said. "Each factory is required to appoint a food hygiene officer to oversee the manufacturing process and the hygiene of the factory."

The AVA conducts routine inspections to ensure that the factories continue to maintain standards. Laboratory analyses are also conducted on food samples to ensure that the quality meets regulatory standards. - TODAY/ym

Orchard Road sees red

2007-11-21T14:39:00.000+08:00

By Nazry Bahrawi, TODAY
21 November 2007

SINGAPORE: They had played by the rules, holding gatherings at indoor venues to express solidarity with their countrymen back home. And on Tuesday, they had planned to release doves in a symbolic gesture of peace.

But the gameplan for the Myanmar community here changed after United Nations' special envoy Ibrahim Gamabari's briefing to the East Asia Summit was called off - and on Tuesday, they took to the streets without a police permit.

Thirty-five in all - students, professionals and workers - donned red T-shirts and lined up in rows of three, carrying flyers and a banner, outside Starbucks Coffee at Orchard Parade Hotel for nearly 20 minutes.

Police arrived and after a five-minute exchange with the protesters, the latter, who remained smiling and polite, removed their T-shirts and dispersed - telling the media: "This is a peaceful protest, we don't want any trouble."

Their one request to Singapore: Arrange a session with Mr Gambari, so they could get an update on Myanmar.

On Monday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said Singapore as ASEAN chair could "facilitate Mr Gambari's meeting with interested parties".

Earlier in the day at Orange Grove Road, near summit venue Shangri-La Hotel, four members of SG Human Rights tried to hand over a greeting card bearing some 40 signatures and a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi to ASEAN leaders.

They were barred by police but after some discussion, it was agreed the group would disperse if a member of the ASEAN Secretariat came out to receive their card. This took place without incident.

Others went beyond theatrics.

At a press conference, regional civil society coalition Sapa Working Group on ASEAN said, the grouping's acceding to Myanmar's request to scrap Mr Gambari's briefing was "a slap" to ASEAN and the hosts.

But the group stressed that the "drama and activity" of street protests should not distract from what is important: The contents of the ASEAN Charter.

The Sapa Working Group plans to submit its alternative ASEAN Peoples' Charter - a code of human rights principles - to the ASEAN secretariat at the next year's Bangkok summit.

Meanwhile, two members of the Singapore Democratic Party were escorted away from Shangri-La Hotel after repeated warnings not to enter the restricted area. One of them, Ms Chee Siok Chin, the sister of the party's secretary-general Chee Soon Juan, told police she had planned to have dinner at the hotel. - TODAY/ym

Dutch official wary of biofuels impact on food supplies

2007-11-16T15:21:00.001+08:00

November 13 2007
Reuters

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Policymakers should be cautious of biofuels' effect on food costs, Dutch Agriculture Minister Gerda Verburg said, emphasizing the need to develop new non-food raw materials.

First-generation biofuels are usually made from crops such as grains and vegetable oils but have raised concerns that they are driving up food prices and could lead to shortages.

Many see the solution as so-called second generation biofuels which are not yet commercially viable but involve the breaking down of non-edible crops such as fast growing grasses or trees by enzymes to eventually create liquid motor fuel.

"We need the experience (of first generation biofuels) but we have to be cautious," Verburg said in an interview with Reuters on Monday.

"If biofuels production is stimulated and we do not care about the relation between production for food or for biofuels, we are increasing a problem: namely hunger and poverty."

Earlier this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said biofuels were one of the main drivers for projected food price hikes of 20-50 percent by 2016.

The U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food recently described it as a "crime against humanity" to convert food crops to fuel, though some industry leaders have hit back, saying the concerns are exaggerated.

Verburg said she hoped the focus could shift to forms of biofuels that are not made out of food crops.

"We try to put emphasis on moving towards second generation biofuels and we hope we can move on to that soon," she said.
"We have to invest in biofuels but we have to make sure that we do not produce for biofuels when producing for food is needed. And it must be done in a sustainable way."

Target seeks label move for treated meat: report

2007-11-16T15:18:00.000+08:00

November 13, 2007 (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Discount retailer Target Corp is seeking government approval to add a consumer warning to labels of meat treated with carbon monoxide to keep it looking red and fresh, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday in its online edition.

Target, which sells packaged meat in 210 of its 1,537 stores, sent a letter Friday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeking permission to add a warning to meat labels, the Journal said.

According to the Journal, the proposed label states: "Consumer Notice: Carbon monoxide has been used to preserve the color of this product. Do not rely on color or the 'use or freeze by' date alone to judge the freshness of the product. For best results please follow the Safe Handling Instructions."

Representatives from Target could not immediately be reached for comment.

Singapore will do its part to mitigate effects of climate change: PM Lee

2007-11-15T12:33:00.000+08:00

By Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia
03 November 2007

SINGAPORE : Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says Singapore will do its part to mitigate climate change but the country cannot afford to do so at the cost of its economic growth.

Global warming has caused extreme weather events like major floods and rising sea levels.

And the situation will worsen if countries do nothing.

Speaking at the launch of the year-long Clean and Green Singapore campaign, Mr Lee says no country can solve this problem on its own but must tackle it collectively.

He says countries are taking this seriously and in ASEAN, this is reflected by the pledge put in recent meetings and will be discussed at the upcoming summit.

Singapore, he adds, will do its part.

But Mr Lee says the country must also be practical and recognise that our direct impact as a small country is limited.

He says: "We contribute less than 0.2 percent of all the carbon emission worldwide...so what we do in Singapore is not going to change the world. And just to give you a sense of it, even if Singapore is to shut down the whole of Singapore, no lights, no fans, no air cons, no cars, buses, MRT, nothing, the amount of carbon saved not generated will be the same as three days of energy consumption in China. So it is not possible for us to solve this problem on our own but we cannot say therefore we will ignore it. We will do our fair share as part of the global effort to reduce greenhouse gases."

Mr Lee says when the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emission expires in 2012, Singapore will contribute to that.

But the country also has to safeguard its national interests.

This is because it is totally dependent on fossil fuels, with no feasible alternative and it is a major manufacturing base for MNCs, whose products are exported.

Also, Singapore is a major air and sea hub.

Mr Lee says: "Every year we have 25 million containers ship through Singapore, ships taking bunker fuels in Singapore. These are not Singapore's consumption, they are international but happens to upload in Singapore and we have to account for this fairly. If there's a treaty, we have to ensure that it's not all put on our account because that's not fair and doesn't make sense."

Mr Lee says that to prepare for the future, Singapore will have to start now, and redouble efforts to conserve energy, and get used to less wasteful habits.

A Ministerial Committee on Climate change has also been set up to coordinate Singapore's efforts.

And the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources has also announced plans to push for greater energy efficiency in Singapore.

One way is to make buildings here more energy efficient.

Households can also make a difference by taking simple and effective measures, such as choosing energy efficient appliances and also switch to energy-saving light bulbs. - CNA/ch

Conservation alone 'is not enough'

2007-11-10T23:44:00.000+08:00

VIEWPOINT
Richard Leakey
BBC News
10 September 2007

Ahead of Wednesday's publication of the 2007 Red List of Threatened Species, Dr Richard Leakey argues that conservation alone cannot save threatened species such as the mountain gorilla. In this week's Green Room, he calls for action on humans' needs as well.

These deaths were repulsive for the fact that the gorilla corpses served no use to the killers

Millions of people were horrified by the recent slaughter of mountain gorillas that dominated headlines for the inhumanity that seems to cling to this corner of the world.

In the space of a month, nine gorillas - more than 1% of the known population of these charismatic relatives of ours - were wiped out. All were from the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Virunga National Park.

Predictably, the slaughter drew an outraged response. Wildlife conservation organisations leapt into action and began raising funds to deal with it, and a crisis team went in on the ground.

In the following four weeks, peoples' compulsion to do something to save the species produced donations amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.

Living at the epicentre of the bloodiest conflict since the Second World War, the mountain gorillas share their habitat with heavily armed militia.

In other lawless regions, where wild meat comes into contact with hungry gunmen, species are slaughtered for food, or for trophies to be traded for cash and weapons.

But these deaths were repulsive for the fact that the gorilla corpses served no use to the killers.

On the contrary, it is the very presence of mountain gorillas in the Virunga National Park that threatens them, for the animals draw attention to an area that unscrupulous people would rather have us forget.

Fuelling conflicts

At the heart of the crisis is charcoal - the main form of household energy in Africa. And making charcoal means felling forests, destroying wildlife habitats, damaging ecosystem services such as water catchments and soil fertility.

Charcoal production has been going on for millennia, but recent events in eastern DRC have led to a sharp escalation in demand.

In neighbouring Rwanda, an enormous human population has stripped almost all its indigenous forests bare; while in the Congolese border town of Goma, refugees fleeing the region's crises have swelled the population to more than half a million.

Together, they've created an insatiable demand for charcoal worth an estimated $30m (£15m) a year.

To save Rwanda's few remaining forests and the gorillas that have become a major source of tourist revenue, President Paul Kagame has installed a surprisingly efficient and effective ban on charcoal production.

Ironically, however, that has driven the black industry across the border into DRC, threatening the habitats of the very same gorillas in the park which straddles both countries.

Given the lack of any form of effective government in eastern Congo, and the ludicrously small government salaries - a ranger earns about $5 (£2.50) per month - it is not surprising that the parks' forests have become a commons and virtually everybody is involved in the scramble for resources, from peasants to high ranking government officials and rebel militia.

If gorillas focus unwelcome global attention on the park, it is hardly surprising that those getting rich on charcoal will want to remove that attention by getting rid of one of our closest biological relatives.

As shocking as the gorilla executions were, this is fundamentally a human tragedy, with very human solutions.

There must be alternative sources of energy to meet the demand in both Rwanda and eastern Congo. There must be a return to the rule of law in DRC, where the forests are saved for the long term good of all, rather than looted for the short term riches of a few.

In it together

Although it seems to be a very local problem, we all have an interest in protecting the forests.

It will take a focused global initiative to end the conflict, introduce alternative sources of household fuel, and create alternative livelihoods

Not only do we risk losing one of the most charismatic and important species on Earth, but we are in danger of doing more damage to the world's warming climate.

In that respect, the forests' destruction is a double whammy. Burning charcoal is one of the greatest sources of atmospheric carbon dioxide, but it also strips away the trees that otherwise soak up so much of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

While the alarm has been raised by conservation organisations concerned about gorillas, and the global public has responded, it is clear that the problem is much greater than one of conservation alone.

This is a human development crisis and it will take a focused global initiative to end the conflict, introduce alternative sources of household fuel, and create alternative livelihoods for the population living in eastern Kivu.

If the underlying demand for charcoal is ignored and we focus too much on the gorillas alone, we will not only see the extermination of the mountain gorillas, but the forests, woodlands and all the unique species that inhabit this biologically diverse landscape.

We will also lose the climate mitigation services that the intact forests provide. In the end, we could see a human crisis that will dwarf the tragedy of nine gorillas.

Dr Richard Leakey is the founding chairman of WildlifeDirect, a former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service and a leading palaeontologist

The Green Room is a series of opinion pieces on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News website

S'pore can set example for ASEAN on energy use: IEA

2007-11-10T11:28:00.000+08:00

By Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia
09 November 2007

SINGAPORE: Singapore can set an example for the rest of ASEAN when it comes to the use of energy, said William Ramsay, the deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

According to IEA, the Energy Studies Institute at the National University of Singapore could look into areas such as analysing the use of energy by studying energy policy, security and its impact on the environment.

Mr Ramsay said the work would show how ASEAN and in particular, Singapore, can contribute to how energy is being used.

"Singapore, at the centre of ASEAN, could begin making significant changes by doing things differently," he said.

The deputy executive director of IEA is in Singapore to discuss the agency's latest report on energy use.

The report highlights a fact that countries around the equator, like Singapore, would be among the first to suffer from the effects of polluting the planet.

Mr Ramsay said: "Places like China and India and countries not far from the equator know they are going to be the first victims of this. They know they are going to suffer the weather irregularities, they are going to suffer the extreme rains or the extreme droughts; they know they are going to suffer migration of diseases. So intellectually and at the senior policy levels in those countries, we see recognition. The question is how well they can translate that into action."

For the first time, the report concentrates on the two economic giants, China and India.

For China, it says if the country adopts the policies that are being planned, China could cut its energy use by about 15 percent by 2030.

And for India, the country could lower its coal imports by more than half by 2030.

- CNA/so

NEA to offer Environmental Education modules to more schools

2007-11-06T23:18:00.000+08:00

By Vimita Mohandas, Channel NewsAsia
06 November 2007

SINGAPORE: Among its various initiatives to raise awareness on today’s pressing environmental challenges, the National Environment Agency (NEA) has partnered schools to develop Environmental Education modules to educate our young on issues such as global warming and climate change.

Having already been rolled out in four schools- Commonweath Secondary, Marsiling Secondary, Nanyang Girls’ and Nan Hua High, NEA is looking into working with these schools to develop similar courses for other schools.

Speaking at the opening of this year’s Clean & Green Singapore Schools’ (CGS) Carnival, Dr Amy Khor, Senior Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry for the Environment and Water said adopting habits to protect our environment should be cultivated at a young age.

“Global challenges such as climate change, the shortage of potable water and the depletion of natural resources have highlighted the urgent need for sustainable development. There is no better way to meet these challenges than to get more people to adopt environmentally-friendly practices as a way of life. We will achieve a greater chance of success if we start raising awareness and cultivating an environmentally-friendly lifestyle from young,” said Dr Khor.

Since 2006, secondary one students at Marsiling Secondary underwent a 30-hour environmental educational module on water management as part of their curriculum and the programme has been extended to secondary two students this year who are learning about factors that impact air quality and ways to prevent air pollution.

Meanwhile, Mrs Annie Lim, teacher-in-charge of the Green Club at Commonwealth Secondary School, said that the "Water" module of the Environmental Education curriculum for Secondary 1 students, helped them to adopt a green mindset and lifestyle.

"The students are now more aware of the strategic importance of water and the repercussions of not saving and conserving water. They also realise how vulnerable Singapore is, and have learnt about the appropriate technologies available to sustain our water supply. They are more observant of what is happening in the school environment and willingly step forward to provide suggestions on ways to improve it. Moreoever, they are very enthusiastic about taking up green projects next year and mentoring their juniors in these projects," said Mrs Lim.

This annual CGS carnival also showcased joint environmental projects by schools and their corporate partners from the NEA Corporate & School Partnership Programme (CASP). Under (CASP) participating corporations act as mentors to their adopted schools, facilitate training attachments and conduct tours of their companies and plants. Resources and funding are also provided for the schools’ environmental programmes and projects which are exhibited at the Schools Carnival where the best projects are selected to compete in the “Environment Project Competition”.

Among the winning projects this year is one by Princess Elizabeth Primary School and Fujitsu Microelectronics Asia Pte Ltd who have developed an eco-friendly aquarium that requires minimal maintenance and reduces water usage. They came up with a system which enables the water in the aquarium to be changed once every two years compared with once in two months previously, with the use of a unique filtration system that uses bacteria to clean up the waste in the tank.

Another winning entry successfully tested earthworms as an alternative to chemical fertilizers.

This year saw some 175 schools from pre-school to pre-tertiary levels, participating in build-up activities for the Carnival, an increase of 45 per cent compared to last year.

First-ever carbon trading deal signed in Singapore

2007-11-05T20:16:00.000+08:00

By Wong Siew Ying, Channel NewsAsia
05 November 2007

SINGAPORE: A Singapore-based company, ecoWise, has tied up with Japan's Kansai Electric Power Company to tackle climate change.

Under the four-year deal, the first to be signed in Singapore, ecoWise will trade carbon credits for Kansai, Japan's second largest power firm.

Carbon trading is a market-based mechanism to help mitigate the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The burning of fossil fuels is a major source of industrial greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide and methane.

Countries, which have signed the Kyoto Protocol, are legally bound to meet emissions targets by 2012.

The Kyoto Protocol is designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by making the polluter pay for climate change.

A country that needs to fulfil its obligations may need to buy spare credits from another country that is on track to meet its target.

Under the latest Emission Reduction Purchasing Agreement, Kansai Electric Power Company will buy 95,000 carbon credits from ecoWise over four years, starting in 2008.

ecoWise said it would sell the carbon credits, which will be generated from its facility that processes industrial waste by using thermal energy, at market rate.

Lee Thiam Seng, CEO, ecoWise Holdings, said: "Currently, these agro wastes are using diesel burner, diesel dryer to dry. We are using renewable energy to dry. This will save about 6.1 million tonnes of diesel over the next four years."

The companies are in the process of getting the project registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Kansai said this contract is relatively small compared to its 20 other carbon credit deals around the world.

The firm estimates it will need to procure up to 13 million carbon credits between now and 2012.

Koji Toyama, Manager of the Global Environment Group, Kansai Electric Power, said: "In the near future, I hope Kansai will supply or provide environmental related technology to Singapore industries and if possible, Kansai would like to make a direct investment to the energy sector."

It is hoped that this collaboration will pave the way for more companies to follow suit.

For a start, ecoWise said it would explore opportunities in China, while KYOTOenergy, which had helped broker the deal, will look at investing in gas cogeneration projects.

Michel Buron, CEO of KYOTOenergy, said: "The market in 2006 for emission reductions was around US$24 billion. It is expected to grow to US$100 billion by 2010, and I would say the region – Southeast Asia – will take its share of it, but we see that this region is a bit behind compared to India or China, or even Latin America."

But industry players said there are more emission reduction projects coming on-stream in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, and the sector is set to grow.

However, the rate of adoption will depend on the level of confidence and awareness of how carbon credits can benefit businesses.

Climate change is expected to be discussed at the upcoming ASEAN Summit in Singapore.

Industry players hope this can further promote sustainable development.

- CNA/so

700 dress up as endangered animals to spread conservation message

2007-11-03T11:18:00.001+08:00

By Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia
02 November 2007

SINGAPORE: There was a wildlife "stampede" at the Singapore Botanic Gardens on Friday.

Over 700 participants, dressed up as endangered plants and animals, paraded at the Gardens to spread the conservation message.

From the kings on land to creatures of the ocean deep, participants let their imagination soar.

But the message was clear -- that the environment needs to be protected.

The eco-parade was led by primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall.

It made its way from the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden to the Palm Valley at the Gardens.

The event was organised by the Jane Goodall Institute.

It aims to raise awareness of endangered plants and animals in Singapore as well as foster a sense of responsibility to nature. - CNA/ir

Flood alleviation projects on track: PUB

2007-11-03T11:17:00.000+08:00

By Genevieve Woo, Channel NewsAsia
02 November 2007

SINGAPORE: The PUB has sent out flood advisories to about 600 residents and shop owners located in low lying areas.

But it is confident that flash floods in these areas will be alleviated when the Marina Barrage starts operation by next year.

PUB says the barrage is designed to handle both high tides and heavy rainfall.

It does this by maintaining the water level in the future Marina reservoir through a series of crest gates and huge pumps.

According to PUB, there are now 130 hectares of flood prone areas but this will be reduced to less than 100 hectares when the Marina Barrage and other drainage improvement projects are completed.

In time, low-lying areas such as Boat Quay, Chinatown, Jalan Besar and Geylang, can expect to be relieved of flash floods when it rains.

Other flood alleviation projects are on-going at Cuscaden Road, Olive and Joan Road and Commonwealth Avenue.

PUB says the onset of the rainy season is likely later this month, and is expected to last till late January 2008.

Should you come across floods or wish to check the weather forecast, call PUB-One at 1800-284 6600, or the NEA at 6542 7788.

Alternatively, you can get weather information on NEA's website at www.nea.gov.sg.

- CNA/yb

Jane Goodall inspires kids to take action

2007-11-01T09:53:00.000+08:00

By Sheralyn Tay, TODAY
01 November 2007

SINGAPORE: As a young girl, Jane Goodall set off for Africa on a ship, without realising that her journey to Tanzania would forever change the way humankind viewed its primate cousins.

She was first to discover that chimpanzees, just like people, not only used tools but also fashioned them, manipulating twigs and grass blades to poke into termite mounds for food.

In Singapore on Wednesday, the extraordinary doctor greeted her audience of 500 corporate and non-profit leaders at a conference here on voluntarism and philanthropy with the hooting cry of a chimpanzee — before setting out to enchant them, in her quietly charismatic way.

Recounting her experiences and programmes in Africa and around the world, Dr Goodall's message for people here was that they, too, could make a personal difference, in this daunting era of global warming, social inequity, terrorism and vanishing forests.

For instance, there was that 8-year-old boy from "the poorest public school in the United States" she said, who was so inspired by her talk that he chastised cereal company Kellogg's for the way a monkey was portrayed on its packaging.

When she returned to the school the following year, she said, the little boy "stood up very tall" and reminded her: "You told us that when monkeys bare their teeth they're not smiling, they're fearful; and I saw that face on a packet of cereal. You also said monkeys shouldn't wear clothes because it's undignified.

"So, I took action."

He had written to the company — unbeknown to him, other people were doing so, too — and to his surprise, Kellogg's took the packaging off the market. "That kind of thing doesn't happen often, but makes a difference in that child's life," said Dr Goodall.

Alluding to mankind's destruction of the planet, she told her audience: "I've seen so many young people who have lost hope. They are apathetic, bitter, angry and even violent, because they feel we have taken their future away from them. And we have."

But through the Roots and Shoots community youth programme that she started in 1991, Dr Goodall hopes to convince youths around the world that they can take charge and make a difference.

Roots and Shoots societies are in almost 100 countries, including Singapore, and draws children from pre-school to university level. Youngsters are encouraged to tackle problems facing their communities, be it through community service, environmental activism or animal welfare.

On Friday, Dr Goodall will meet with members of the 11 societies here, some of them in institutions such as the American School and Hwa Chong Institution.

They will take part in the first Wildlife Stampede at the Botanic Gardens, organised by the newly-registered Singapore arm of the Jane Goodall Institute, which supports local Roots and Shoots groups as well as promotes education and conservation activities.

Dr Goodall hopes that, by nurturing a new generation who will be better stewards of the planet, solutions will be found for today's pressing climate and social issues.

"If we see a brick wall as all these problems that we've inflicted on the planet … hundreds and thousands of young people around the world, like roots and shoots, can break through," she declared.

Dr Goodall earned her doctorate in ethology, the scientific study of animal behaviour, from the University of Cambridge in 1964.

Aged 73 today, she is still on the road 300 days a year giving talks and raising funds for her organisation. She still glows with a youthful vitality.

Asked her secret to ageing gracefully, the elegant Dr Goodall laughed quietly and said: "I just don't look in the mirror!"

- TODAY/so

Move up the food chain

2007-10-31T12:35:00.000+08:00

October 30, 2007 (Sydney Morning Herald)

Ethicurean. It's a new word to describe a new kind of eater - diners whose ethical concerns take priority over epicurean whims. According to the website ethicurean.com, they like their food as tasty as everyone else but they insist it falls into sustainable, organic, local or ethical categories - SOLE food, for short.

Choices are informed by a grab-bag of ethical concerns, not all compatible. How do I save the planet from global warming, show concern for factory-farmed livestock or help Third World workers?

There are no simple answers when it comes to the ethics of what we eat. Our food landscape is a moral minefield. It's no longer enough to carry a green bag to the shops. Do you buy the organic apple or the conventional? And if you opt for the organic, should it be local or can you justify the imported?

Products sold under the Fairtrade label further tangle this web of ethical problems. Buying Fairtrade from overseas growers may lift them from poverty but the goods travel long distances to get here. Wouldn't the local product be better? Alternatively, why not buy imported rice when cultivating it is water-intensive, Australia is dry and countries such as Thailand are awash with it? And what about all that landfill-bound food packaging?

Then there are quandaries most consumers avoid. Has your plastic-wrapped pork chop been raised and killed humanely? What sort of life has your cheap takeaway chicken had?

Confused already? Here's a comprehensive guide for the ethicurean.

Eat unprocessed

Food sage Michael Pollan - author of The Omnivore's Dilemma - advises us not to eat anything that our great-great-great grandmothers wouldn't recognise. For Pollan, the antithesis of natural eating is yoghurt squeezed from a tube directly into the mouth - a recent hit with US children. Pollan is a champion of the ethical superiority of small, local organic farms and believes industrialisation has caused the organic movement to lose its soul. He cites the microwaveable organic TV dinner, saying this bastardisation looks and tastes like airline food. The more processed or refined a food is, the more energy and water are used to make it.

The lesson Eat food, not food products.

Link
www.michaelpollan.com

Choose local

Food kilometres are a measure of the distance food is transported between production and consumption. The more kilometres, the more greenhouse gas is used. Britain's leading organic certifier stirred debate earlier this year when it announced it was considering denying organic status to food arriving by air. In Australia, a report by CERES Community Environment Park in Melbourne in July found that the contents of a typical Australian weekly shopping basket travelled an average of 70,803 kilometres and included four imported items. The debate became more complex when, at about the same time, a Lincoln University, Christchurch, report called the concept of food kilometres "simplistic". The report studied the energy efficiency of food production. It found some goods, such as dairy and lamb exported from New Zealand to Britain, produce less carbon dioxide per tonne than the same goods produced in Britain due to less intensive farming.

Even the mode of transport creates angst. Is air freight cleaner than refrigeration on a cargo ship, for example? The fresher the food, the more nutrients it retains.

The lesson Kilometres count.

Links
www.acfonline.org.au
www.farmersmarkets.org.au
www.foe.org.au

Embrace the seasons

Seasonal food doesn't usually travel great distances. Environmentalists suggest not buying items such as strawberries in winter, when they travel long distances. Buying at farmers' markets also ensures seasonal purchases. Internet sites such as yates.com.au or horticulture.com.au list what's in season. Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life chronicles a family's experience eating food they had grown or that was local, and learning to live without the rest.

Allan Campion and Michele Curtis's newly released Seasonal Produce Diary provides monthly lists, recipes, wine tips and details of farmers' markets.

The lesson There are reasons for seasons.

Links
www.organicdownunder.com
www.kingsolver.com

Unpackaged food

The Australian Conservation Foundation suggests buying fresh vegetables and unbleached flours rather than food with high-embodied energy such as snack food with aluminium-lined packaging, freeze-dried instant coffee or individually wrapped sweets or biscuits.

One of the worst offenders is bottled water. According to environmental group Worldwide Fund for Nature, 2 million tonnes of plastic water bottles go to landfill each year in the US alone.

The lesson Keep it simple.

Links
www.planetark.com
http://en.wikipedia.org (search "bottled water")

Reduce waste

According to the Australia Institute, Australians threw away $5.3 billion of food in 2004. Apart from squandered money, the ACF says this throwaway culture wastes water, energy and other resources used in food production. The wasted food that each Australian household contributes to landfill produces 15 tonnes of greenhouse gas each year, says environmental group Planet Ark.

The lesson Audit what you waste. Set up a compost bin to reduce landfill and don't buy vegetables in unnecessary packaging.

Link
www.planetark.com

Eat less meat and dairy

The world slaughters about 60 billion animals a year for food (excluding fish). The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts that between 2001 and 2050, global meat consumption will double and global milk consumption will almost double. By eating four fewer serves of dairy a week you can save 26,000 litres of water and cut greenhouse pollution by up to 500 kilograms a year.

The lesson Find alternatives to meat.

Link
www.veg-soc.org

Choose fish wisely

The number of local species classified as overfished by the Bureau of Rural Science, Fisheries, rose from five in 1992 to 24 in 2005. The ACF advises avoiding farmed fish as these often need more fish caught from the wild to feed them - anywhere from one to 12 kilograms of fish meal produces a kilogram of aquaculture fish.

The Australia Marine Conservation Society's sustainable seafood guide is available from marineconservation.org.au or 1800 066 299. You also need to know what species the fish is and where it came from as they are often sold under different names. Imported fish is not subject to the same regulations as the local product.

The lesson Buy local produce from a reputable fishmonger.

Links
www.afma.gov.au
www.seafood.net.au

Have a social conscience

During the past decade, prices paid to coffee farmers fell to a 30-year low, with as little as three cents from a $3 cup of coffee reaching the farmers who grew the beans. With Fairtrade, farmers - including those in the Third World - get a fair and competitive rate for their beans. Coffee production can be a threat to the environment because some plantations have replaced rainforest. Some manufacturers now have chocolate and coffee that helps conserve forests, doesn't use child labour or chemicals and gives the farmer a fair price.

The lesson Look for the logo.

Links
www.oxfamshop.org.au/coffee
www.fta.org.au

Buy organic or free-range

Organic farming uses no synthetic chemicals and focuses on soil health. There is also reduced run-off of water-soluble nitrogen from fertiliser into rivers and lakes, meaning less algal blooms, proliferation of weeds and pests such as mosquitoes.

Organic food is free of genetic modifications and its farmers adhere to humane production methods allowing animals to behave naturally.

The downside is organic food can cost from 15 per cent more to three times the non-organic price.

The lesson Seek organic alternatives.

Links
www.greenpagesaustralia.com.au
www.organicchoice.com.au

Consider animal welfare

According to Compassion in World Farming, each year 47 billion meat or broiler chickens are slaughtered and 5 billion laying hens live mostly in cramped battery cages.

More than 1 billion pigs are reared for meat, many in confined environments.

Such intensive farming produces cheap milk, meat and dairy but the animals suffer.

The lesson Know the origins of your meat.

Links
www.ciwf.org
www.apl.au.com
www.rspca.org.au
www.animalsaustralia.org

Organic produce 'better for you'

2007-10-30T01:15:00.000+08:00

29 October 2007 (BBC)

Organic produce is better for you than ordinary food, a major European Union-funded study says.

The £12m four-year project, led by Newcastle University, found a general trend showing organic food contained more antioxidants and less fatty acids.

But researchers did admit the study showed some variations.

The findings call into question the current stance of the Food Standards Agency (FSA), which says there is no evidence that organic food is better.

Researchers grew fruit, vegetables and reared cattle on adjacent organic and non-organic sites across Europe, including a 725-acre farm attached to Newcastle University.

They found levels of antioxidants in milk from organic cattle were between 50% and 80% higher than normal milk.

Organic wheat, tomatoes, potatoes, cabbage, onions and lettuce had between 20% and 40% more nutrients.

But the study, which is yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, also showed there were significant variations.

Change

Project co-ordinator Professor Carlo Leifert said: "We have shown there are more of certain nutritionally desirable compounds and less of the baddies in organic foods.

"Our research is now trying to find out where the difference between organic and conventional food comes from.

"What we're really interested in is finding out why there is so much variability with respect to the differences. What in the agricultural system gives a higher nutritional content and less of the baddies in the food?"

He said he hoped the findings would help farmers in organic to improve the quality of their produce.

Final results of the project are due to be published over the next 12 months.

The FSA, the body which provides advice and information on food, currently states: "Consumers may also choose to buy organic food because they believe that it is safer and more nutritious than other food.

"However, the balance of current scientific evidence does not support this view."

But officials are currently evaluating organic food for nutrient and non-nutrient content, with a report due to be published next year.

However, the Soil Association said the findings of the EU project showed the watchdog should change its stance.

A spokesman said: "The FSA has always been quite sceptical of organic food when there is no need to be. This study again shows that and I would hope they change their stance soon."

Disney's "Ratatouille" boosts demand for pet rats

2007-10-29T09:08:00.000+08:00

Sun Oct 28, 2007 (Reuters)

LONDON - It has four legs and a tail like a dog or a cat, so why shouldn't man's best friend be a...rat?

Demand for rats as pets has surged thanks to the latest Disney/Pixar animated film "Ratatouille" featuring the adventures of a gourmet rat Remy demonstrating his culinary prowess in the top kitchens of Paris.

Pets at Home domestic pet chain says rat sales have surged 50 percent since the film opened in Britain on October 12.

"It's early doors yet, but it seems 'Ratatouille' has done wonders for the image of rats," said company spokesman Steve Fairburn said on the www.ukpets.co.uk Web site.

"Contrary to popular opinion, rats are actually one of the cleanest and least smelly pets you can own. They are incredibly responsive to learning and can be taught to do amazing tricks, much in the way that dogs and cats can," he added.

Indeed, the British experience appears to have been echoed wherever the film has been screened.

The United States reported a surge in demand for pet rats during the summer, and pet groups in Germany and Sweden have also said rat sales have surged thanks to the film.

But they also warn that, as with demand for pet puppies and kittens that can fade once the cute factor diminishes with age, a rat is for life not just the holidays.

SPEND MORE, BUSH TELLS CHINA CONSUMERS

2007-10-14T15:23:00.000+08:00

6 September 2007 (TODAY)

SYDNEY - United States President George W Bush yesterday urged China's
consumers to spend more to help close a yawning trade gap with the US, as
he prepared to meet his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao today.

While trade will likely top the agenda at the talks, the leaders are also
expected to include prickly issues such as exchange rates and reported
Chinese cyber-attacks on the Pentagon, reflecting a relationship Bush
termed "complex".

"We certainly hope that China changes from a saving society to a consuming
society," Mr Bush said, ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(Apec) forum.

"Right now, because of the lack of a (social) safety net, many Chinese
save for what we call a rainy day," Mr Bush said. "What we want is the
government to provide more of a safety net so they start buying more US
and Australian products."

Most American criticism of the surplus is focused on the value of China's
currency - said to be kept artificially low - but Mr Bush focused on
China's high savings rates ahead of his meeting with Mr Hu.

China's enormous trade surplus with the US is a regular bone of contention
in bilateral relations, with widespread American claims that jobs are
being lost to the massive Chinese exporting machine.

The gap with China, which has the lion's share of imports into the US,
expanded to a record US$21.2 billion ($32.3 billion) in June from US$20.02
billion in May, according to US official data. - AFP

SLA tendering out four sites at Sungei Tengah for agricultural use

2007-10-12T00:18:00.000+08:00

By Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia
11 October 2007 1736 hrs

SINGAPORE : More land is being released for agricultural use, with four sites at Sungei Tengah being placed for tender on 20-year leases.

While set aside mainly for agricultural use, they can be tapped for commercial purposes too.

The total size of the four sites at Sungei Tengah up for tender is about 96,000 square metres, equivalent to 11 football fields.

The biggest site has an area of about three hectares while the smallest is about two hectares.

Besides traditional farming like vegetable and fish production, each site can be developed for commercial purposes, such as retail, food and beverage, as well as rustic accommodation and spa facilities.

According to the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), this will enable the farmers to purse a better business model.

Teo Jing Kok, Deputy Director, Singapore Land Authority, said, "Sometimes the market changes and the commodities prices of these fluctuate. So, if they have a commercial use, they can have an additional source of income. So, they actually diversify their operations."

The tender follows the successful sale of three similar sites at Lim Chu Kang last year.

The sites at Lim Chu Kang fetched between S$300,000 and S$500,000 each.

But SLA believes Sungei Tengah may be a different case.

Mr Teo said, "...here, because it is Sungei Tengah, which is nearer to the Choa Chu Kang New Town and also (because of) better access by Kranji Expressway, (the) likelihood is the price will be higher, but I am not too sure how much higher because there hasn't been any sales there recently."

SLA plans to release more of such land at a steady rate to meet market demand and at the same time enable the existing market to grow before facing new competition arising from new sites.

Mr Teo said, "I think the number of people who are interested in farming activities - there's still only a fixed population that's interested in such activities. But, of course we do have some entrepreneurs who will go in there and see what else they can do with the land and come up with new, exciting activities, and hopefully draw customers there and also create some avenues of making money."

SLA said there has been strong interest by investors who want to develop new farms at Sungei Tengah and existing farmers here have also expressed interest in expanding their operations.

The tender for the four sites at Sungei Tengah closes on November 15. - CNA/ms

ASEAN Civil Society Conference to be held in S'pore in October

2007-09-18T22:18:00.000+08:00

By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
18 September 2007

SINGAPORE : Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in ASEAN now have a platform to represent their views to their governments at the ASEAN Summit.

They can have their say at the ASEAN Civil Society Conference 2007, which will be held in Singapore from October 27-28.

The event has the endorsement of the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), which is organising the event, said the conference will provide the platform for CSOs to convey their views, through ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong, to leaders at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore in November.

The conference is expected to focus on human rights, climate change, nuclear safety, fair trade, poverty and development and gender issues.

Associate Professor Simon Tay, Chairman of the SIIA, said: "ASEAN has often been seen as an inter-governmental organisation and (is) sometimes criticised as being limited to the ruling elites.

"We hope this conference, which aims to bring the voice of the people to ASEAN governments, will go some way to bring people and communities into the ASEAN process.

"We hope that the ASEAN Civil Society Conference 2007 will continue to grow into a platform to allow more structured participation by NGOs in ASEAN to work with the ASEAN Secretariat to give feedback to ASEAN heads of governments."

Singapore's Foreign Ministry spokesman said the ASEAN Secretariat will be the approved conduit for CSOs to channel their views to the 13th ASEAN Summit.

Singapore is the current Chair of ASEAN. - CNA/ms

Singapore lifts suspension of poultry imports from Selangor

2007-09-17T12:01:00.000+08:00

17 September 2007 (CNA)

SINGAPORE : Singapore is lifting the suspension on imports of poultry and poultry products from Selangor with immediate effect.

Singapore's Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority had visited Selangor recently to evaluate the surveillance and biosecurity systems put in place by Malaysia's Department of Veterinary Services to keep out bird flu.

Malaysia had declared that it was free from bird flu on September 9th this year.

This is in line with international guidelines which states that a bird flu affected country can declare freedom from disease 90 days following the culling and disinfection of the last case.

Malaysia supplies 3.6 million poultry birds and 83.7 million eggs per month to Singapore.

But AVA says imports from Selangor constitute only about 6 percent of the poultry and 1 percent of the egg imports from Malaysia.

Singapore imposed the ban in June this year following an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus in chickens in Selangor. - CNA/ch

The foam on the shore is really styrofoam

2007-09-16T11:00:00.000+08:00

It tops list of junk washing up on coasts here. What's worse, it fragments badly and poses threat to marine life

By Shobana Kesava
Sep 16, 2007
The straits times

UNLIKE anywhere else in the world where cigarettes make up the bulk of junk collected on beaches, in Singapore it is styrofoam.

This material has been picked up in increasing amounts over the last five years, said Mr N. Sivasothi, coordinator of the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS).

The ICCS, an annual clean-up event, is the only concerted effort by volunteers here to analyse the kinds of trash that land up on local shores.

'Styrofoam is potentially much more damaging because it can fragment badly, whereas cigarette butts stay whole,' said Mr Sivasothi.

'The overwhelming problem we have is of plastic consumer items in the sea. As they break down, the chemicals that leach from them can be toxic.' Plastics are also a threat to birds, which are known to mistake them for food.

Preliminary data from this weekend's coastal clean-up saw styrofoam caking up the coastlines of both mangrove swamps and beaches.

While the most litter - all 29,801 pieces of it - was collected along the East Coast, Pulau Ubin Beach proved the dirtiest when factors such as the density of the litter collected by volunteers were factored in.

Mr Sivasothi attributed the problem at Ubin in part to dumping.

'There is a lot of heavy litter like oil drums and furniture parts. Offshore farms may have contributed to this load.'

The litter at the East Coast beaches was linked to heavy usage.

'Where there is recreation, there is rubbish,' he said.

skesava@sph.com.sg