Le Kenya en proie à des pénuries alimentaires

Face aux pénuries alimentaires liées à la hausse des prix et aux précipitations très modérées au Kenya, le gouvernement du pays doit distribuer des graines aux agriculteurs, provenant notamment de Tanzanie, pour espérer pallier aux récoltes modestes de cette année.

Le gouvernement du Kenya a commencé à donner aux agriculteurs des graines pour les cultures alimentaires traditionnelles lundi, espérant faire augmenter les réserves face à l’augmentation constante des prix de l’alimentation et aux craintes de pénuries alimentaires.

Les précipitations très modérées, une crise sanglante après les élections politiques au début de l’année, et les prix en hausse rapide des produits utilisés dans l’agriculture tels que les fertilisants, sont des facteurs qui ont ralenti la production alimentaire au Kenya.


Voir aussi : http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUnVFBT-i5SrHoBDd94bieEq8cPA

Au Kenya, qui sort d'une grave crise post-électorale, 1,2 million de personnes ont un besoin urgent d'aide alimentaire, selon l'ONU. La production agricole a été fortement perturbée par les violences.

Voir aussi : http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=1&newsid=127898

According to UN agencies, 1.2 million people in the country are in dire need of food aid due to the drought and effects of the post-election violence.

Voir aussi : Entretien avec Josette Sheeran, directrice du Programme alimentaire mondial

http://www.lemonde.fr/organisations-internationales/article/2008/07/23/josette-sheeran-un-desastre-alimentaire-guette-14-millions-de-personnes_1076311_3220.html#ens_id=1076405

“The number in Kenya is expected to rise due to poor performance of the long rains in some parts of the country.”

Despite the Government’s assurance that the situation was under control, the UN agencies warned that the situation might worsen by the end of the year.

“If the short rains also fail, then the number of people in need of assistance in Kenya and other countries may explode.”

Reflexions lues dans la presse kenyane de ce jour...

Wrong signals on

Kenya should take note of recent shifts on the HIV pandemic and plan its future actions accordingly.

First was the announcement a month ago by senior officials of the World Health Organisation and UNAids that while HIV remains the biggest health challenge in man’s history, it no longer posed the danger of a global epidemic.

An HIV epidemic, they said, is only a reality in Africa, not the rest of the world.

Although seemingly unrelated, last week, a major pharmaceutical transnational, Roche, announced that it was suspending its HIV drugs research division for ‘‘lack of new scientific advances’’. This development comes soon after most of the world, including Kenya, suspended research on a vaccine against HIV.

These disappointments viewed with the new thinking – that HIV is mainly an African problem – could eventually shift the West’s attention to other ‘‘profitable’’ diseases in their own backyard.

This could translate into less funding for HIV control in Africa, less investment in new drugs, diagnostic tools, and vaccines. This is a development that could totally cripple Aids programmes in the country.

Not to be caught unawares, the Government must fund most of these activities from the national budget. Actually this should have happened a long time ago to minimise programme disruptions for lack of donor funding.

It is time Kenya, and Africa in general, took their destiny in their own hands.


Source :

http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?category_id=24&newsid=127551

Je ne publierai que le lien de cet article decouvert sur le Net, preferant m'abstenir de tout commentaire par respect des convictions de chacun.

Je me permettrai cependant de souligner la difference entre le necessaire et l'inutile.....

LIEN ; http://northernhillsmteam.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/the-blacks-in-africa/#comment-512

THE MARALAL CAMEL DERBY

The Annual Maralal Camel Derby will be flagged off on August 1st 2008, starting 3 days of festivities in this remote desert outpost. The quiet town of Maralal, about 348 kms North of Nairobi, is considered the gateway to Kenya’s wild and arid North, and is a mecca for adventurers, nomads and camels.

This is real camel country, and the single humped dromedary camel is a vital part of life for many of Northern Kenya’s nomadic people. Each year, the Camel Derby brings colour and action to the streets of Maralal as the finest Camels in the North gather for the big race.

While most of Kenya’s camel rearing communities do not ride them- using them as pack animals- they are excellent handlers and judges of an animals strength and potential for speed.

Winning the Derby is a great local honour, and each year the title is hotly contested. But this by no means a purely local event. Maralal is a haven for nomadic cultures, and that includes travellers from all over the globe. The Town is a popular stopover for travellers looking for adventure in Kenya’s Northern Frontier District - one of Africa’s last great unspoilt wilderness areas.

For anyone visiting the area around this time, attending the Derby is a must. The three day race event is a chance to experience culture, colour, action and adventure first hand. This is not just a spectator sport - if you are going to attend the derby, why not saddle up and join in?

For more information, please Visit http://yaresafaris.co.ke or email the organizers :

yaresafaris@africaonline.co.ke

New coalition government, old cast in Kenya


This article appeared on page A - 17 of the San Francisco Chronicle

To be sure, there are signs that Kenya is returning to normal.
But there are signs that Kenya is heading for another political calamity.

Kenya has requested $1.1 billion from international donors to avert a looming food crisis caused by rising prices, and just 15 percent of the national budget has been allocated for development programs, according to the Mars Group, a Kenyan anti-corruption watchdog organization.

Moreover, the newly created Cabinet positions will cost at least $800 million in office space, staff, bodyguards and state-issued luxury cars, more than a tenth of the national budget. Another $30 million, nearly the amount of the entire education budget, has been set aside for water and power utilities at the presidential estate. And more than $100 million has been allocated for debt payments on so-called ghost projects, including $70 million for a naval ship that has never been delivered and $100 million for a nonexistent fertilizer company, according to the Mars Group.

Why? Parliament has yet to debate the budget. Instead, lawmakers have spent much of their time fighting a plan to tax their annual salaries of $160,000. In contrast, a U.S. senator earns $169,300.

"If they dillydally, and invoke political dishonesty as we have seen in the past - take advantage of power to reintroduce tribalism, corruption, and benefit a nucleus of friends - then there is a likelihood that this will not be a lasting peace," said Omar Hassan, a commissioner with the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights. "The portrayal that Kenya was a unified, dignified, peaceful country, that same myth will be challenged and deconstructed a second time."

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/MNNU11JP4H.DTL

Pour ecouter :

http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/13/1811927/Laila%20Blue%20System.mp3

Only with you

by Dennis Wilson

Love is so many things that I feel
I have only felt with you
Only With You

And then there are the things that we do
That I've only done with you
Only With You

Before love had always had its up and downs
Until the love I finally found

I know one thing for sure I want to do
I want to spend this life with you
Only With You


Pour ecouter


http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/3/13/1811927/ONLY%20WITH%20YOU.wma

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls herd goats and sheep next to Kirisia Forest in Samburu West District where many children have also abandoned school due to poverty and insecurity.

from the Daily Nation....newspaper of Kenya


MAIS OU EST L'EGALITE DES CHANCES ???...Deux mondes dans un meme pays!!!

Le ministère de l'éducation du Kenya utilisera ePals pour connecter les écoles du Kenyan avec le monde entier

- ePals fournira aux classes kényanes le plus grand réseau social destiné à un apprentissage constructif

Le ministère de l'éducation du Kenya offrira à ses étudiants et à ses éducateurs la possibilité de se connecter en toute sécurité à des écoles du monde entier grâce à ePals (http://www.epals.com), le réseau social le plus important et à la croissance la plus rapide destiné à un apprentissage constructif. Utilisant des outils d'apprentissage et de cybermentorat sûrs, protégés et collaboratifs disponibles via ePals, les étudiants et les éducateurs kényans peuvent se connecter à des classes de 200 pays et territoires, et procéder ainsi à des échanges interculturels, à une pratique d'apprentissage de la langue et à une collaboration basée sur des projets afin de développer les compétences du XXIe siècle nécessaires à la réussite dans le cadre d'une économie mondiale.

>, a déclaré Barnabas Sang, responsable des technologies de l'information et de la communication pour le ministère de l'éducation du Kenya. >

Grâce à des milliers d'échanges ePals en Afrique ainsi qu'à des projets pilotes en cours à Nakuru, au Kenya, les efforts continus de l'entreprise offrent aux étudiants et aux éducateurs africains la possibilité de créer des correspondances interculturelles et des programmes collaboratifs basés sur des projets dans un contexte sûr et protégé grâce à ePals et à son riche ensemble d'outils scolaires de communication de premier plan. ePals s'est également associée à National Geographic afin de proposer un contenu numérique riche au site ePals, offrant des projets en profondeur et augmentant la perspective internationale. De plus, la communauté d'apprentissage sécurisée d'ePals, les outils de connectivité et les programmes numériques d'alphabétisation donnent aux éducateurs la possibilité d'aider leurs étudiants à développer les compétences numériques d'alphabétisation et d'apprentissage du XXIe siècle. L'entreprise s'est aussi associée récemment à Intel afin d'offrir un accès à sa Communauté internationale d'apprentissage sécurisée et connectée aux utilisateurs du programme international Intel-powered classmate PC, y compris des écoles de toute l'Afrique.

>, a déclaré Tim DiScipio, cofondateur d'ePals. >

Pour aider les éducateurs à transformer l'apprentissage, ePals offre des occasions de développement professionnel aux éducateurs intéressés par l'intégration d'outils de réseau social pour un apprentissage significatif basé sur des projets. Barnabas Sang s'exprimera au cours d'une pré-conférence spéciale d'ePals au cours de l'Alan November's Building Learning Communities 2008 Conference, organisée par ePals. Cet événement d'une journée, qui se tient aujourd'hui à Boston, dans le Massachusetts, verra également les présentations de cadres, d'éducateurs et de directeurs des techniques modernes d'enseignement. Les intervenants aborderont l'apprentissage des langues, l'alphabétisation numérique, les projets de correspondants interculturels, la mise en oeuvre au niveau du quartier, la manière de diffuser des podcasts sur des blogs, et la manière de mettre en relation les familles avec les professeurs grâce aux blogs afin de contribuer à l'apprentissage à l'extérieur de la salle de classe. Pour de plus amples informations sur l'ePals Globally-Connected Classroom Conference, accédez au site http://www.epals.com/conference.

Pour de plus amples informations au sujet d'ePals et des activités au sein de la communauté internationale, veuillez consulter http://www.epalscorp.com.


Source :

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=232614

Kenya to benefit from UN campaign against hunger

Provision of fertilisers and other agricultural inputs to small farmers is intended to encourage donors, financial institutions and national governments to support the scheme on a much larger scale.

Kenya is among countries that have been selected to benefit from a $21 million UN project to shield poor households from the rising cost of food and farm inputs.

Through the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) backed deal, a number of projects are to be established in 48 countries to help farmers access agricultural inputs starting this month.

Eighteen African nations will benefit from the project.

“The immediate aim is to ensure the success of the next planting seasons and, in the longer term, demonstrate that by increasing the supply of key agricultural inputs, such as seeds and fertilizers, small farmers will be able to rapidly increase their output,” the agency said in a statement.

FAO reckons that increased production would help cushion small farmers from the adverse effects of highly priced food because they often have to buy part of their food from markets.

“Hopefully, the initiative may lead to the production of a surplus that could be sold to increase their income and improve access to food among urban populations.

Provision of fertilisers and other agricultural inputs to small farmers is intended to encourage donors, financial institutions and national governments to support the scheme on a much larger scale.

Reviving systems
The organisation said that countries most affected, especially in Africa, will in the in 2008-09 period need about $1.7 billion to start reviving agricultural systems that have been neglected for several decades.

“The unprecedented hike in food prices, which rose 52 per cent between 2007 and 2008, has had severe effect in poor countries,” FAO said.

This situation has been worsened by high prices of agricultural inputs such as fertiliser that are increasingly becoming a major obstacle to developing countries’ efforts to increase agricultural production.

Huge volumes
In Kenya the State intends to import up to two million bags of maize this year to try and mitigate the effects of violence witnessed in most production areas following the disputed 2007 elections that left huge volumes of produce destroyed.

The Government has also offered to import fertiliser in bulk through the National Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) and pass it on to growers at affordable rates in a bid to boost their productivity.

Its prices have risen this year with a bag going for Sh2,000, up from Sh900 last year.