Wants U.S.-funded farm research to respond to poor countries' needs
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) wants to train a new generation of international agricultural scientists and ensure that U.S.-funded agricultural research responds to the needs of developing countries, the agency says.
USAID officials discussed the agency's new agricultural strategy during a meeting with the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) in Iowa, according to an October 13 press release. BIFAD is one of the agency's advisory groups.
A foreign visitor recently asked, "What exactly is the World Food Prize?"
I usually respond to such inquiries by quoting the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Dr. Johannes Rau, who called the World Food Prize "The Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture."
The longer answer is that The World Food Prize is a $250,000 annual award presented each October in Des Moines, Iowa (in the central part of the United States) to inspire and recognize exceptional breakthrough achievements in increasing the quality, quantity or availability of food around the globe.
United States, Jamaica, The Nature Conservancy sign debt-for-nature pacts
The governments of Jamaica and the United States, along with The Nature Conservancy, have concluded agreements to reduce Jamaica's debt to the United States by nearly $16 million, according to the U.S. Treasury Department.
In a press release issued October 8, the Treasury Department explained that the Jamaican government -- in return for the $16 million debt reduction -- has committed itself to devoting an equivalent sum over the next 20 years "to fund projects to conserve and restore important tropical forest resources" in Jamaica.
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