Good people,

The month of June is here and with it the halfway mark to the end of the year 2017.

What else is also almost gone? We have only 60 years of farming left! Why? Due to degradation of soil! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/...

• This soil loss issue should concern all of us and be a priority issue for all humanity, from policy makers to farmers, including consumers…but it is not!
• Why? Part of the reason is because of prioritizing PROFITS over public good, by our policy makers and political “leaders; they are unfortunately,  “motivated” by multinationals and global corporations(and their subsidiaries) for short term financial gains, at the expense of destroying the planet and its people, through the destruction of SOIL!
• Use of MORE pesticides and GMOs coupled with farming approaches that degrade the soil and increase global warming. The result is an increase of crop pests, like the Fall Army Worm, resulting in poor yields, which threathen food security, increase in hunger and malnutrition and chronic diseases, also referred to as  non-communicable diseases(NCDs).
  
• Do we have evidence that increased use of pesticides, synthetic agrochemicals and GMOs, are contributing to the destruction of soil life which informs the health (or detriment of the health) of the environment and human health? YES. Here below some recent evidence:
• GMO maize is increasingly been cultivated by use of MORE TOXIC pesticides: This is harmful to both the soil and human health: https://acbio.org.za/south-africa-24-d-stacked-gm-maize-biosafety-socio-economic-risks/
• Evidence of pesticide harming human health, especially children, causing untold misery:http://panap.net/2017/06/cases-studies-newspaper-articles-children-poisoned-pesticides/

• And GMO maize traders making MORE MONEY by importing non-approved GMOs from USA, into Africa via South Africa. See the commonality between GMOs and Pesticides? GMOs are the “Trojan Horse” for pesticide use and related PROFITS!

Good people,

The month of April comes with “April fool’s day" notoriety, but what is shared in this blog article is no fools tale. It is science based evidence of our the interconnectedness of humans with Mother Nature, through the foods we eat (consume) and how these foods are grown has profound impacts on human health and disease, including manifestation on chronic diseases.

Is there evidence of a link between mineral deficiencies and human diseases?

• Iron deficiency causes anemia; the hemoglobin molecule of red blood cells cannot be complete without iron to maximise its oxygen carrying abilities.
• Magnesium deficiency predisposes one to many chronic diseases which include; diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease and osteoporosis, among others.
• Selenium deficiency is associated with many chronic diseases, from cardiovascular dysfunction, musculo-skeletal weakness due to necrosis of joint cartilage, immune system dysfunction resulting in failure to fight infections and dysfunction leading to the body’s inability to fight cancers. Selenium on human disease and health: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/ars.2010.3275

Do we have any population based studies that show a link between selenium deficiency and human disease? Yes, we do: The case of Malawi:

• Malawi case study: Bio-fortification of crops with 7 minerals; iron, zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, selenium and iodine. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2008.02738.x/pdf
• Malawi’s “hidden hunger”; could enriched fertilizers be the answer? Or Agroecology? http://www.espa.ac.uk/news-events/espa-news/2013-03/38179
• Soil types influences human selenium  levels which underlies widespread selenium deficiency in Malawi. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep01425

Good People,

The month of May is here with us and with it the long rains, albeit sporadic and of an increasingly unpredictable nature.

This month I had the privilege and opportunity to visit Lorient, in France, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorient and commune with like-minded global activists/advocates of agro ecology; A global resistance against GMOs: More here:https://rir-ogm.info/?p=168&lang=en I had the opportunity of seeing and witnessing, first hand,  agro ecological food production and consumption practisesm reinforcing the fact that they agroecologial organic approaches, as an alternative food systesm, CAN sustainably feed the world and mitigate climate change, while preventing/reducing lifestyle diseases aka non-communicable diseases(NCDs).

• As a public health physician, I now fully understand why the French are, generally, healthier despite eating a lot of bread for breakfast, lunch and supper! They eat lotsa  green vegetables, good quality butter and cheeses, and drink plenty of good French wine while keeping in constant motion…they exercise…they dance and walk or cycle, in the pristine landscaped, fresh air filled, forested neighbourhoods. Wow!
• Then I asked myself, are there any examples of LOCAL successful agroecological ecosystems in African and elsewhere? I started searching and this is what I found…
• Deep in Rural Malawi, a Mzungu couple, Kristof and Stacia Nordin have proven beyond doubt that agro ecological food production and consumption systems can sustainably feed local communities;  but also, importantly, tha they can mitigate climate change, reduce farmer input costs and hence increase incomes/improve livelihoods while providing highly diversified nutritious foods from the “food forests” which, additionally, preserve seed variety and enrich the soils. Here is the story:http://www.neverendingfood.org/
• Deep in rural India, a retired agronomist/scientist, Dr. Carl Rangad, has turned an otherwise food deprived rural community into a food secure paradise and managed to attract and retain YOUTH back into the rural areas, with passion for agro ecological and cultural based practises of agroecology and agroforestry. Here is the story:https://foodtank.com/news/2017/04/indian-indigenous-agroecological-traditions/
• And, finally, do you need recent evidence that GMOs are bad for the environment and the food  system? Here is evidence of recent “accidental” GMO contamination:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gmo-ethanol-corn-contamination-raises-concerns-about_us_58e52857e4b0ee31ab9533dd