From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:

Consider this: Kenya needs to plan for their food security. This doesn’t mean guarding the chicken coops but literally formulating a plan to make sure everyone in the country can be feed in the next decade. Their plan calls for putting farming first because of its importance. Hmmm, wonder where else that could work? Think about that the next time you go grocery shopping and see the abundance thanks to our farmers and food processors. We are truly blessed.

KENYA EYES FOOD SECURITY STATUS

Kenya started its march towards food security Saturday after President Kibaki unveiled a new plan to oversee food production in the next decade. The grand roadmap –Agricultural Sector Development Strategy, 2010-2020– will spearhead the fight against poverty and hunger as the country inches towards its dream of being a middle-income economy by 2030.

Speaking at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi Saturday, President Kibaki said the government was changing tack to have agriculture drive Kenya’s economy to the ambitious annual growth of 10 per cent expected in the next two decades.

The President said the government will make changes to the current laws “so that individual farmers feel encouraged to shift from subsistence crop production to market-oriented commercial production”

“(We’ll ensure) that farmers can access affordable credit even if it means changing our credit laws in favour of farming enterprises,” he said. Read More...

From the outbox of Meyer’s inbox:

First it was Greece. Then Great Britain. Now it’s Germany’s turn to slash their way through social programs to get their budgets under control. Like other Europeans nations, Germany isn’t deciding what to cut (everything is on the table) but how much. Plus they’re still paying for reunification. That’s a big bill to pay off on lay-away.

GERMAN CONTEMPLATE CUTS TO SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM by Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times

Unemployed mom Fee Linker lives on welfare benefits in a centrally located five-room flat that costs about type="promotepost" postid="22007",500 a month. The garden terrace looks out onto a lush wooded area where birds chirp in the trees.

“I wouldn’t get along without this government money, not with this apartment,” says Linker, who sends her 6-year-old daughter and two sons, 7 and 10, to a private school. “It’s my opinion that as a mother of three, I deserve a comfortable life.”

These days, fewer politicians and economist agree, and if proposed laws are enacted, Linker’s benefits could be gone with the stroke of a bureaucrat’s pen.

The German government is contemplating spending cuts and tax increases totaling 0 billion by 2014. The Cabinet approved the measures July 7, though many details have not been disclosed. But proposals so far include slashing billion in welfare benefits, in part by allowing caseworkers to decide how much, if anything, people like Linker get instead of doling out automatic payments.

“Germany has never [before] agreed to an austerity package to this extent, but these cuts have to be made in order for the country to establish a stable economic future,” a grim-faced Chancellor Angela Merkel told the nation in early June. “We cannot afford everything we wish for if we want to create a future.”

After providing poor citizens with generous stipends for decades, Germany’s welfare system is coming under scrutiny like never before. Europe’s economic powerhouse says that it’s no longer able to foot the bill. Economists worry that maintaining current benefit levels for Germany’s increasingly elderly population is placing an unfair burden on the young, who must eventually shoulder the cost.

There are also great regional variations that critics say unfairly result in some areas subsidizing others. In Berlin, up to 15% of families and 30% of children receive some form of public assistance, whereas only one of 20 people are on social welfare in richer states such as Bavaria. Read More...