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W'Bank Restates Commitment to Tackling Hunger Globally
[October 22, 2014]

W'Bank Restates Commitment to Tackling Hunger Globally


(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The World Bank said it is implementing integrated, holistic solutions across agriculture, environment, transport and more to end hunger and feed the world One in nine people suffer from chronic hunger, more than one billion people are undernourished, and 3.1 million children die every year due to hunger and malnutrition, the multilateral institution stated.



According to the World Bank, hunger affects poor people the most-both in the present and over the long term. It noted that when people are hungry and malnourished, they are less able to improve their livelihoods; adequately care for their families; live full and healthy lives and lift themselves out of poverty.

Children are especially vulnerable-malnutrition in the first two years of life can result in physical and cognitive damage that diminishes future health, welfare and economic well-being.


"For developing countries, this is a drain on development with effects that can last for generations. Hunger impairs a person's ability to be part of a productive workforce, and contribute to economic growth. In the short term, food shortages and rising food prices can widen inequality, and lead to conflict and instability.

Feeding the world with sufficient, nutritious food is already a huge challenge in the present. The problem is set to intensify in the future, as the population grows, climate change affects food production and the natural resources that help feed the world are stretched even further," it stated in a report obtained on its website.

A Senior Director, Agriculture Global Practice at the World Bank, Juergen Voegele said: "We're tackling the food insecurity challenge by implementing integrated solutions that cut across sectors. It's not just a matter of sustainable resource management, more efficient storage or even producing more food. It encompasses all of the above-and more." The bank is helping countries sustainably manage landscapes such as farms, forests, watersheds and coastal fisheries so that they are more productive. Community management of fisheries has helped restore fish stocks in Senegal, where according to President of the Local Committee of Fishers of Ngaparou, Issa Sagne, "Now, the fish are really abundant." Climate-Smart Agriculture, which aims to produce more food on less land, improve climate resilience and reduce negative environmental impact, has tripled maize yields in Zambia and improved the incomes of farmers in Costa Rica.

The Bank is also empowering the farmers that produce much of the world's food in other ways, including by providing crop insurance, expanding access to financial services and improving access to resources for women. But food security is not just a question of increased productivity. Up to one third of all food produced is wasted-mainly during production, storage and transport.

"To reduce food waste, the Bank is helping countries implement modern food storage and distribution systems, as well as improve the agro-supply chains.

"The Bank is also addressing food crises and price volatility-which makes food unaffordable for the world's poorest-by contributing to tools that improve agricultural market transparency and monitoring global vulnerability to food crises," it added.

The World Bank is also tackling food insecurity with a holistic approach-using its expertise in agriculture, sustainable management, logistics, irrigation, and research and analysis to implement integrated solutions CEO Says No Gender Pay Gap at Microsoft Microsoft Chief Executive Officer, Satya Nadella who ignited a firestorm of protest earlier this month by suggesting women should not ask for pay raises said on Monday that men and women are paid equally at his company.

Nadella's statement, made at a presentation on cloud computing in San Francisco, runs counter to some limited data made public by employees, but is unverifiable given that Microsoft does not release details of its pay structure.

"I checked that it is something that we are enforcing," Reuters quoted Nadella to have said when asked about equal pay. "We are in fact in good shape. Men and women get paid equally at Microsoft." Nadella said he was "humbled" by his experience on October 9, when he told a conference celebrating women in computing that women should not ask for pay raises but trust in "karma" to give them the salary they deserve.

The remarks generated negative headlines and widespread criticism on social media. Nadella's latest comment was not backed up by numbers from job site Glassdoor, which showed that men tend to earn more doing a similar job than women at Microsoft, although the data is based on a very small sample size of employees who choose to give pay figures to Glassdoor.

A male Microsoft senior software development engineer makes about $137,000 per year, according to Glassdoor, compared with about $129,000 for women.

Only 29 percent of Microsoft's more than 100,000 employees are female, according to figures recently released by the company. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that men earn 24 percent more, on average, than women in the tech sector. The American Association of University Women found that women were paid 78 percent of what equally qualified men received across the board last year.

However, one tech hiring site believes women are paid on a par with men. According to Dice, last year the average tech salary for men was $89,468 while women earned $81,214.

"On face value, it appears there's a gap, however when we compare for equal levels of experience, education and parallel job titles, the compensation gap disappears," a spokeswoman at Dice, Courtney Chamberlain said.

Maria Klawe, a Microsoft board member who has pushed the company to hire and promote more women, has said that the issue of equal pay is now likely to be discussed in Microsoft's boardroom.

Nadella acknowledged on Monday that there was room for improvement on the issue within Microsoft. "We have made some progress," he said. "We have a lot more to do." Ghana Power Supply Improves After Blackouts Cut Water Flow Ghana's Volta River Authority (VRA), the nation's largest power producer, is restoring electricity after blackouts crippled the capital's two water processing plants and led to a shortage of the liquid. The deficit narrowed to 60 megawatts on Monday from 440 megawatts on October 17, the VRA's spokesman, Samuel Fletcher said by phone.

Peak demand is about 2,000 megawatts versus supply of 1,940 megawatts. The state Electricity Company of Ghana widened planned power cuts this week because of a shortage of natural gas from Nigeria, the low water level at the largest hydroelectric dam and maintenance at plants. The two water processing plants for the capital, Accra, were without power October 16, Stanley Martey, a spokesman for Urban Water Limited said by phone.

Steady production of the potable liquid can't resume until the power supply is restored, he said. The cuts forced the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to switch to generators. The facility has been designated as an Ebola treatment center in case the disease spreads to Ghana. No cases have been confirmed in Ghana.

President John Dramani Mahama's spokesman, Ben Dotse Malor, referred questions to cabinet ministers. Minister for Water Resources Collins Dauda didn't return a text to his mobile phone after business hours yesterday or answer multiple calls during and after business hours.

Ghana Power Supply Improves After Blackouts Cut Water Flow Ghana's Volta River Authority (VRA), the nation's largest power producer, is restoring electricity after blackouts crippled the capital's two water processing plants and led to a shortage of the liquid. The deficit narrowed to 60 megawatts on Monday from 440 megawatts on October 17, the VRA's spokesman, Samuel Fletcher said by phone.

Peak demand is about 2,000 megawatts versus supply of 1,940 megawatts. The state Electricity Company of Ghana widened planned power cuts this week because of a shortage of natural gas from Nigeria, the low water level at the largest hydroelectric dam and maintenance at plants. The two water processing plants for the capital, Accra, were without power October 16, Stanley Martey, a spokesman for Urban Water Limited said by phone.

Steady production of the potable liquid can't resume until the power supply is restored, he said. The cuts forced the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to switch to generators. The facility has been designated as an Ebola treatment center in case the disease spreads to Ghana. No cases have been confirmed in Ghana.

President John Dramani Mahama's spokesman, Ben Dotse Malor, referred questions to cabinet ministers. Minister for Water Resources Collins Dauda didn't return a text to his mobile phone after business hours yesterday or answer multiple calls during and after business hours.

Copyright This Day. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).

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