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	The Great Land Rush by Financial Times, Pulitzer Center   Nov. 2016   The Financial Times reporting project, "The Great Land Rush" has received the prestigious 2016 European Newspaper Award for Innovation Online.   This multimedia storytelling project, supported by the Pulitzer Center, is a wide-ranging, investigative series that examines the global race for one of the world’s most precious resources - land.   The investigative team of Tom Burgis, Michael Peel, Pilita Clark reported from Ethiopia, Myanmar and Indonesia. With words, photos, and video they tell the stories of people who are being forced to deal with the consequences of large land grabs, and those who have profited from the investments.   The FT published the series in March 2016. Now in it''s eighteenth year, the European Newspaper Award is Europe''s largest newspaper competition. The competition aims to exchange information about modern newspaper design in Europe, in order to improve and contribute to new, creative solutions. The award-winning multimedia series can be viewed on the Financial Times website, see link below: http://ig.ft.com/sites/land-rush-investment/ethiopia/ http://pulitzercenter.org Visit the related web page
	Syria food production at all-time low by WFP, FAO, Unicef, agencies   Food production in Syria has hit a record low as widespread insecurity and unfavourable weather conditions in parts of the country continued to hamper access to land, farming supplies and markets, making it ever more difficult for farmers to maintain their livelihoods and feed the war-torn country.   A Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in November 2016 shows that after five years of conflict many farmers have lost the ability to cope.   Rising prices and scarcity of essential inputs such as fertilizers and seeds mean they will have no other option than to abandon food production if they do not receive immediate support.   This will likely have grave consequences not only for the food security of farming households but also on food availability in the country, and may lead to further displacements.   The area planted to cereals in the 2015-16 cropping season is the smallest ever, based on field visits and surveys across the country.   Production, meanwhile, shows an even more drastic decline, from an average 3.4 million tonnes of wheat harvested before the war to 1.5 million tonnes this year - a decrease of 55 percent.   Because the ongoing crisis and associated sanctions have disrupted trade and markets, access to seeds, fertilizers, machinery and fuel needed to operate pumps and tractors is very limited. Those inputs that are available on local markets are frequently overpriced and of dubious quality.   Poor rainfall and the destruction of valuable irrigation infrastructure has made matters worse for growers trying to continue to produce food under adverse circumstances. At the same time, the assessment showed vast differences among the governorates in terms of access to land and agricultural inputs.   "Today, we see almost 80 percent of households across Syria struggling with a lack of food or money to buy food - and the situation is only going to become worse if we fail to support farmers so they can maintain their lands and livelihoods," said Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa.   "Agriculture was the main source of livelihood for rural households before the crisis and it is still producing to a certain extent, but it is stretched to the maximum and farmers have largely exhausted their capacity to cope," he added.   "The food security situation of millions of people inside Syria continues to deteriorate with more than seven million people classified as food insecure across the country having exhausted their life savings and no longer able to put food on the table for their families," said Muhannad Hadi, WFP Regional Director for the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and East Europe.   Livestock producers are equally feeling the effects of the crisis. With the upkeep of their animals becoming ever more difficult, many herding families have been forced to sell or slaughter their sheep, goats and poultry.   Ongoing fighting and widespread insecurity continues to limit access to grazing land and water sources, while animal feed has become unaffordable for many pastoralists.   The country''''s veterinary service, meanwhile, is rapidly running out of animal vaccines and routine drugs, making it harder for herders to keep their animals healthy and productive.   Today, there are 30 percent fewer cattle, 40 percent fewer sheep and goats, and 60 percent less poultry.   Since 2011, the conflict has displaced close to 11 million people, with 4.8 million fleeing to neighbouring countries. Many of those internally displaced within Syria have been displaced multiple times.   WFP provides food assistance to more than 4 million vulnerable Syrians every month inside Syria. About 30 percent is delivered to besieged and hard-to-reach areas across Syria through cross-border and cross-line deliveries.   For crop farmers across Syria, few options remain but to try to continue working their fields or alternatively abandon their only source of income for an uncertain future among the millions seeking safety in increasingly overburdened host communities elsewhere.   According to the latest household surveys, some 9.4 million people across Syria are in need of assistance - 716,000 more than in September 2015. http://bit.ly/2kshE2q http://www1.wfp.org/syria-emergency
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