Photo: Swiss Federal Customs Office
BASEL / GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Lower prices across the border in France thanks to the high Swiss franc don’t always mean the Swiss lose out: the Swiss Customs Office says that in 2011 its revenues rose thanks to import declarations, from CHF28.7 million to CHF39.8m.
Imported border goods remain nevertheless a small part of customs revenues, only 0.2 percent of the CHF23.47 billion, which is more than one-third of all Swiss federal revenues.
The 30 percent increase in declared goods was accompanied by revenues from those who couldn’t resist the temptation to buy more without declaring the goods, as the number of contraband merchandise cases rose by 36 percent.
Customs offices and border guards say that while contraband goods are brought in by amateurs and professionals, they focused on the second group last year and uncovered 5,800 cases, some 400 more than in 2010.
They delivered 2,960 people to the police and discovered 1,477 falsified or illegally used documents and 1,308 illegal arms.
They seized, among other drugs, 208 litres of KO drops, more than triple the quantity found in 2010 and equal to 100,000 doses. It has no smell or taste and is “regularly used in kidnappings and sexual crimes”, notes the federal office.
Seized in Bardonnex, 2011
The most popularly imported illegal drop was Viagra-type erection drugs and the most popular source country was India.
Foods remain high on the list of illegal imports: fruits and vegetables (818 tons), cereal for human consumption (41 T), spirits (32 T), Wine (24 T), Meat and meat products (28.5 T), Olive and other consumable oils (20 T), Milk and cheese products (3 T).
Comparis.ch is a popular Swiss internet comparison service and it’s available in English.
Their latest: weekly food, wine and beer deals at major supermarkets are listed in the Special offers section. A free Smartshopper application is available for your smartphone.
Comparis has long been known for its comparisons of insurances rates for health, home, cars and travel. It also compares banking and financial products, TV and Internet providers, homes and car prices and more to help you to find the best deals.
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The Swiss federal government has issued a salmonella warning for a Camembert cheese, cautioning consumers to check if it corresponds to the following:
Le Camembert Fermier « Ferme de Jouvence » (lot 11309VC; DLUO 14.01.2012): 275g with sell-by dates of 14.01.2012.
The cheese was immediately pulled off shelves once French authorities were aware of the problem; they immediately alerted Swiss health authorities of the salmonella risk, but some 200 of the cheeses had already been sold.
Salmonella provokes severe vomiting and high fevers, usually within 6 to 72 hours; if you suspect you have this, contact a doctor immediately.
Insurance was 8.4% in 2009, but cost has risen for past 2 years
Sausage, roesti and great local wine in St Gallen in late October: the Swiss spent CHF460 a month on average of their household budget dining out in 2009, but this includes work canteens and cafeterias as well as restaurants
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Average disposable household income in Switzerland in 2009 was CHF6,650 a month, with 13 percent of that, CHF1,185, going for food, beverages and restaurants. Housing and energy together made up the largest household budget item, CHF1,495 a month.
Transport used up 7.7 percent of the budgets and entertainment 6.7 percent. Clothing: 2.4 percent.
Households were left with, on average, savings of CHF1,160 after all expenses were deducted.
Taxes consumed on average CHF1,125 a month, some 12 percent, or less than what a household spent on food and beverages.
But taxes are only one part of Swiss mandatory expenses, which also include social security payments:
- 10 percent of disposable income that includes AVS and company pension plans (the Swiss first and second pillars)
- the mandatory part of the health insurance system (5 percent)
- and money sent to other households, for example as part of a divorce settlement (2 percent).
These mandatory expenses together with taxes account for 29 percent of household budgets, some CHF2,720 a month.
In addition, the Swiss in 2009 spent 3.4 percent on health insurance not covered by the basic, obligatory plans.
The figures were published by the Swiss Statistical Office Tuesday 15 November.
The office notes three important points: 58 percent of all households had lower revenue than the average, 39 percent had at least two people contributing to the revenue, and revenue here includes salaries but also social security income, pension payouts, interest payments, dividends, income from fortunes and money from other households (notably divorce settlements).
Decomposing sardines from Brittany were destroyed by Swiss customs
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Swiss customs officials in Geneva stepped up their checks of food items entering the country in May, and say they have uncovered serious problems in the transport of a number of food items.
Between June and September they seized a large number of shipments of supposedly fresh foods that were not kept at correct temperatures during transport, they say.
The non-exhaustive list:
1. 531 kg of meat and fish in sauces, headed for a shop, were stored at +18 °C rather than +5 °C to -8 °C. The goods were destroyed.
Read more…
Swiss chocolate-makers will be out in force in Geneva, with some 30 chocolate-makers, including some from elsewhere in Europe.
Lise Luka Director, says “The International Exhibition of Chocolate and Chocolatiers is the first ever held in Switzerland and the only one. It is a great opportunity for Geneva to be elevated as a centre of chocolate excellence.”
Location: Geneva
Link out: http://genevalunch.com/blog/2011/09/27/swiss-ch…
Start date: 15 Oct 2011
End date: 16 Oct 2011
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The ICRC (International Red Cross) said Wednesday 5 October that it has started to distribute food to help 1.1 million Somalis living in the areas hardest hit by war, in southern and central Somalia. Enough beans, rice and oil to survive for one month are already being given to 72,000 people in the Gedo region, says the ICRC, and several more distribution rounds are planned.
The distribution follows successful negotiations with the Al-Shabaab militants who have control of the region. The ICRC said Wednesday that Al-Shabaab is respecting its neutrality. It has been working in Somalia since 1978 and since 1982 has had local and Nairobi-based staff, some of whom can venture into areas closed to foreigners. It works closely with the Somali Red Crescent Society.
The region has been closed to foreign aid groups, adding to the woes of the estimated 750,000 people who may be close to starvation, according to the UN, and the 4 million who are considered by the UN to be in need of aid. The UN in September declared a famine in six regions in the country.
The US considers Al-Shabaab a terrorist organization with close ties to Al Qaeda.
“While food distributions are needed to relieve immediate suffering, the ICRC also aims over the medium term to give the population the means to sustain their own livelihoods,” the Geneva-based group says in a Wednesday press release.
New Swiss varieties of soya, non-GM, being tested by federal research station staff
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland’s fight to maintain non-genetically modified (GM) crops in the face of a larger pool of world GM seeds has been given a boost by researchers at the ACW (Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil) federal research station. Two new hybrid seed varieties, Amandine and Falbala, are ready for market, the result of 15 years of guided natural selection, research and testing.
New naturally selected seeds take, on average, 15 years to be market-ready, with two new products ready each year.
The federal department of agriculture notes that while 81 percent of the world’s soya crops are now from genetically modified seeds, 30 years of natural selection of non-GM soya seeds at ACW is resulting in seeds that are well-suited to Swiss soil and climate conditions.
Amandine is notable for its improved flavour and Falbala for its high protein content.
GM soya has been developed on such a large scale because of the plant’s importance as a crop for humans. Wikipedia reports that “In 1997, about 8 percent of all soybeans cultivated for the commercial market in the United States were genetically modified. In 2010, the figure was 93 percent.”
The bean is 40 percent protein and 20 percent oil. It is self-sufficient in nitrogenous nutrients, although thermically very demanding, preferring hot temperatures (20-30C).
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND – Migros, Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain, is about to start trialling two new shopping systems, both designed to save time in checkout lines, says the store. The first will allow shoppers to scan a limited number of large items themselves. The second will allow them to check themselves out by scanning a limited number of items and paying for them.
Ikea has had a similar system for some time, but not for food items. Migros is starting its Subito system in Zurich, Lucerne and several areas in eastern Switzerland 6 September before rolling it out across the country.
Alpine plants could play a role in mountain areas' sustainable development
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Switzerland is host to the world’s first symposium on medicinal and herbal mountain plants, in Saas Fee, canton Valais, starting 5 July. Experts from around the world will be presenting 120 papers on the value-added potential of alpine plants for cosmetics, food and medicine, part of the exploration of the possible role of these plants in sustainable development in mountain areas. Prof. Hostettmann of the University of Geneva will open the conference with his paper on this theme.
High altitudes plants have long been known for their special qualities, such as the powerful antioxidant features of edelweiss.
The conference is jointly hosted by Switzerland’s agricultural research stations and the International Society for Horticultural Sciences.
©2011 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
Sales but clothing prices rose nevertheless in April
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss Consumer Price Index (CPI) eased up 0.1 percent in April, with prices showing a slower growth rate than the 1 percent in March or the 1.4 percent growth rate a year earlier, in April 2010, figures published by the Swiss Statistical Office Tuesday 10 May show.
Petrol and clothing prices accounted for most of the increase, with shoes and clothing going up 1.8 percent as new models replaced old stocks.
Petrol rose 1.8 percent and diesel 1.6 percent. The price of food fell by 0.8 percent, offsetting to some extent food and petrol increases.
Prices of goods produced in Switzerland remained stable while imports’ prices rose 1.4 percent.
The European Union publishes its April figures 16 May; Swiss prices can be compared using the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices.
Critically injured French journalist part of 935 rescued Wednesday from Misrata
Update 17:35 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The IOM (International Organization for Migration) and the International Red Cross (ICRC) say the Red Star One, a ship that left Benghazi, in eastern Libya late Tuesday 26 April for Misrata to deliver medical supplies and pick up 1,000 refugees, was forced to wait offshore until Wednesday morning, due to heavy fighting in the area. Reuters reported Wednesday morning that one migrant from Niger was killed by the shelling and up to 20 people reportedly injured.
IOM says in a statement issued Wednesday evening that the ship is safely en route to Benghazi and is expected to land there Thursday morning. “Among the 935 evacuees are 848 Nigeriens and small groups of Sudanese, Egyptians and Tunisians as well as 30 Libyan medical cases and 50 accompanying family members. Also on board are a group of journalists being taken out of Misrata, including a French journalist who had been shot in the neck and now in intensive care.”
Fifth ship with migrants makes it out of Misrata
The ship was making its fifth refugee pickup at the port city. The IOM warns that another 500 are waiting for help near the port and that people in the area say the number may be closer to 1,500 when those who ran from the area, as shelling started, return.
It had been loaded with 160 tons of food and medical supplies, according to the IOM, including two new ambulances to help transport casualties to Misrata’s Ras Touba hospital and from the hospital to the port area for medical evacuation.
A specialized medical team of 11, including personnel from the International Medical Corps, was on board the Red Star One to take care of up to 25 war-wounded, including 4 patients requiring intensive care.
More than 625,000 have fled Libya since March
Wednesday’s statement notes:
“So far, IOM has rescued 5,512 people, the vast majority stranded migrant workers from more than 21 nationalities, including Nigeriens, Bangladeshis, Ghanaians, Nigerians, Egyptians and Tunisians as well as hundreds of Libyans, many of them war-wounded.
From Benghazi, IOM provides the migrants onward land transportation to the Egyptian border at Sallum. Since it began a land evacuation from Benghazi to Sallum on 3 March, IOM has evacuated more than 8,000 migrants from Benghazi to the Egyptian border before taking them to their home countries.
IOM’s humanitarian evacuation programme out of Misrata is funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civilian Protection Office (ECHO), Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), Germany, Ireland and Australia.
Nearly 626,000 people have fled Libya and crossed into Tunisia, Egypt, Niger, Algeria, Chad, and Sudan with some of them putting their lives in great danger to reach the shores of Italy and Malta.”
Two Geneva-based organizations at centre of Libyan aid and evacuation say more funds needed
The UNHCR is appealing for $160 million or the Libyan evacuation. It has to date received $68 million.
The ICRC earlier in April opened an appeal for $24 million for the Libya crisis, mainly for food, water, medical care, sanitation and hygiene, for 100,000 people inside the country and another 100,000 crossing the border into Tunisia. Its director-general, Yves Daccord, is interviewed on the ICRC site about the funding crunch, as state donors are providing less and the needs are growing.
Swiss Alpine bee (photo ©2011 Ellen Wallace)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss love their bees, to the point where there is a waiting list to rent one through a project to help the bees survive a global bee disease problem whose origins remain murky.
Swiss Rentabee is a project was started by Thomas Eberhard three years ago. “After all the bad news about bees dying all over the world, I realized that there are many people who would like to help, who would like to do something for the bees. Bees are well-liked animals, making a well-liked product! I also wanted to motivate beekeepers and show them that they are not alone in their struggle against the bee diseases.”
Eberhard’s interest was also personal and rentabee.ch is part of a non-profit association. ‘I am a bee-keeper myself, my bees fly in the middle of the city of Bern.”
World’s bee population continues to fall
The death of bees has been news for the past five years. ABC News in the US a year ago wrote:
“In 2009 almost 29 percent of the bee colonies in the United States collapsed, say scientists who surveyed commercial beekeepers and brokers. That’s slightly less than the 36 percent loss in 2008 and the 32 percent counted in 2007, but an informal survey just finished suggests that the die-off continues.”
The BBC in 2010 reported that Manx bees, queens from the Isle of Man, could be the secret to keep Britain’s bee population, down 15 percent in the previous two years, from being decimated in the face of the little-understood problem.
“The bloodsucking Varroa virus and other infections have been blamed for the decline, which has infiltrated many colonies across the world,” the BBC writes in one report, while quoting experts in another who blame changing agricultural practices.
How Swiss Rentabee works
Smart phone orders now more than 8%
Source: Le Shop, 2011
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Le Shop’s steady strong growth continued in the first three months of 2011, but with a new twist, as shoppers increasingly used smart phones and tablets to place their orders.
Le Shop’s sales rose 9 percent in Q1 compared to the same period a year earlier, to CHF41.5 million for the three months. Smart phone and tablet orders now account for 5,000 orders a month, with a total value of more than CHF1 million a month, or about 8 percent of Le Shop’s total sales.
The share of customers with iPhones has increased in the past year from 25 percent to 37 percent, says Le Shop. The target clientele is working mothers with young children. Some 45,000 clients now spend at least CHF230 in one order, at least once a month.
Photo, ©2011 Swissmilk
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss have outdone themselves as cheese-eaters, climbing from their world leader position in 2009, when consumption was a record-breaking 21.4 kilos per inhabitant, to 21.55 in 2010.
The new figures, published by Swissmilk, show the Swiss eating more fresh cheese in particular, but also semi-hard and very hard cheese.
The news is not all good for Swiss cheesemakers, with the total increase of 170 grams including an increase of 300 grams of imported cheese.
Foreign cheeses account for 27.2 percent of the market in Switzerland.
Mozzarella remains the most popular cheese by far, followed by Gruyere, but Appenzeller and Emmental are gaining in popularity.
Source: Swissmilk 2011
Tunisia, Egypt keep borders open as their citizens rush to provide aid
International funds needed to ease pressure on Libya’s neighbours
Update 08:40 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Humanitarian agencies based in Geneva are reporting massive numbers of refugees fleeing Libya over the weekend as they step up emergency aid. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other world leaders flew into Geneva Sunday for a special session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Monday.
Switzerland has sent two of its Rapid Intervention teams to the Tunisian and Egyptian borders with Libya to assess the situation. “The humanitarian situation in Libya and the border areas is precarious,” the Swiss federal government said late Sunday in a statement. “It is difficult at the moment, however, to evaluate the extent of the problem.”
Tunisia Saturday told United Nations’ HCR, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, that 100,000 people had crossed the border from 20-26 February and another 10,000 were expected Saturday: 18,000 are Tunisian, 15,000 Egyptian, 2,500 Libyan and 2,000 Chinese, according to UNHCR.
(story continues below)
ICRC deliveries, video
Egypt has had 55,000 people cross its border with Libya since 19 February: 46,000 Egyptians, 2,100 Libyans and 6,900 third country nationals, mainly from Asian countries.
The two nations, which have both deposed their rulers in recent weeks, are desperately in need of emergency aid to cope with the influxes, say the organizations, which are appealing for generous help from other countries.
Red Cross and Red Crescent funds appeal launched
The International Red Cross, ICRC, launched an emergency funds appeal Friday night, “launched a preliminary emergency appeal for 6 million Swiss francs ($6.4 million/€4.7 million) to meet the emergency needs of people affected by the violent unrest in Libya.”
African refugees treated with distrust in Libya because of mercenary rumours
UNHCR reports that its staff have “met with Libyan police and military who said that they had defected from Government forces and were now working directly with local committees of tribal leaders. The police arranged for UNHCR to meet with tribal leaders, who highlighted the need for humanitarian assistance, with a critical shortage of food throughout the eastern region, as well as shortages of some medical supplies.
“According to the tribal leaders, Africans are being treated with suspicion in eastern Libya, due to rumours about the Government employing mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa. During the meeting UNHCR staff highlighted the fact that thousands of refugees from sub-Saharan Africa are in Libya, and are very vulnerable at this time. The tribal leaders promised to pass this information on to their communities.”
Tunisians, Egyptians: “ordinary citizens” respond to the crisis
Ayman Gharabeih, a senior emergency specialist with UNHCR at the Ras Adjir border with Libya, is working closely with the Tunisian Red Crescent. “It is impressive to see how quickly the government, the Red Crescent and ordinary citizens have responded to this crisis,” he says, noting that according to the Tunisian Red Crescent “Tunisians are driving from far and wide to bring food, blankets and to offer people a safe place to stay.”
ICRC’s Georgios Georgantas, is in charge of coordinating International Red Cross relief efforts in Libya and neighbouring countries at the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, says “our colleagues in Tunisia tell us that the arrival of tens of thousands of displaced people along the border is putting a strain on local infrastructure and that the need for basic services, such as sanitation facilities, is likely to increase as the numbers continue to rise.”
Sunday afternoon, ICRC staff in Egypt were reporting that the situation along the border there was calm, according to Georgantas, in an ICRC statement.
The BBC early Monday qualified the border situation as a “crisis” but, while the numbers leaving Libya are dramatic, reports of numbers of people stranded vary the UNHCR’s Sunday 27 February figure of 75 sent in a statement Sunday 27 February to the BBC’s quote from an unnamed source at a UN refugee agency that “20,000 Egyptians were stranded and needed food and shelter.”
Simon Brooks, the ICRC’s team leader in Benghazi, said Sunday, “We hear that surgeons and orthopaedic specialists are needed in Benghazi’s hospitals, as well as medicine for patients suffering from chronic illnesses. Our initial assessment is that there is no urgent need for food supplies. It’s difficult to know, however, what the needs are outside the city.”
Swiss farming, Aubonne, canton Vaud, October 2010
Science, technology, agriculture, private and public invited to participate in Milan fair
Update 12:00 Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland was present for the official registration of Milan Expo in 2015 at a meeting in Paris Tuesday 23 November, three weeks after the closing of the six-months long Shanghai Expo, and now the race begins to see what the national exhibit in five years will look like. World Expos are held every five years, with “international – specialized” expos held in between. Switzerland is in the planning stages for the international expo at Yeosu, South Korea, in 2012.
World expositions are organized under the aegis of the Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions, BIE.
Shanghai Expo was a success for Switzerland
The country’s contribution to the Shanghai Expo during the summer of 2010 was among the most popular pavilions, with China News agency putting it among the top 10.
Swiss food company looks past borders as price markups bring local media heat
A distributors' own brands cheese omelette is easy to make in Switzerland
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s two large food retailers, Migros and Coop, together account for more than 70 percent of the CHF10 billion-plus Swiss food market. Migros has held the lead in terms of size for several years, estimated to have 50 percent of the home market. Coop has now overtaken its competitor in sheer size, if not market share, thanks to its buyout of transGourmet, a company it has until now jointly owned with German retailer Rewe.
Coop’s turnover has suddenly grown to an estimated CHF8 billion, according to swissinfo, putting it CHF2b ahead of the Migros group. TransGourmet is active in eastern Europe.
Pair berated by media for food markups of 33-37%, well above European average
The deal comes in a week when Swiss media have been putting the heat on the two national food giants over their markups, following a report by PriceWaterhouseCooper for Promarca, the Swiss arm of Aim, the European Brands Association. Promarca carries out industry research and represents its 100 members’ interest with the federal government and to some extent with distributors.
The ville est a vous returns, the first neighborhood partying is Jonction.
Location: Jonction, Geneva
Link out: http://www.ville-ge.ch/culture/vav/qJonction.html
Start date: 4 Sep 2010
End date: 5 Sep 2010
Vevey, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) - Swiss food multinational Nestlé’s research arm is joining forces with a major US hospital research centre to study the the effects of a diet rich in whole grains on body composition and energy metabolism.
A $500,000 gift by Nestlé to the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, USA, will fund the largest-ever such controlled study.
The Nestlé Research Center near Lausanne will work closely with the Cleveland Clinic centre, with the latter using its MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) experience and the Swiss centre running metabolic analyses on the 40 to 50 people who will participate in the 26-week study.
They will be given meals from the Nestlé Prepared Food Company in Ohio.
In related food news, Migros, Switzerland’s largest supermarket, announced 23 July that it will increase by one-third its purchase of Integrated Production (IP) near-organic grains in 2011.
The IP grains bear the TerreSuisse label used by growers whose farming methods include efforts to aid biodiversity. Details, GenevaLunch food blog, Savouring Switzerland
Links to other sites: Nestlé Research, Nestle announcement of joint study
Switzerland's favourite brand in 2010
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Migros has just moved up three places to take the top slot as Switzerland’s number one brand for the first time, according to Young & Rubicam’s “BrandAsset Valuator” 2010. The consulting agency, an arm of the advertising agency of the same name, surveyed 1,100 Swiss people who gave the Migros brand points for repesenting “Swissness” and traditional values. The supermarket chain which has a series of linked brands, such as Migrol for petrol sales, says its M-Budget label performed particularly well in the survey.
The BAV’s top 20 list includes names known well outside Switzerland, such as Coca-Cola and Google.
Castle tower, Saint Prex, Vaud, Switzerland - May 2010
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Reminder to readers from outside the country (or visitors who are surprised to find shops closed): Thursday 13 May is a holiday in Switzerland and much of Europe. Some shops and businesses are open Friday 14 May, but this varies according to location. Tip: if you’re looking for food because you forgot to stock up, petrol stations with shops increasingly carry staples such as meat, salad, bread and milk. Remember if you’re traveling Sunday 16 May to check our travel advisory.
Producing Swiss Emmental cheese (image, Swiss Cheese Marketing)
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss are the world leaders in eating cheese and for 2009 the country set a new record for per person consumption, 21.4 kg. New 2009 figures from the Swissmilk show that in economically tight times the Swiss ate more, not less cheese, with consumption rising by 240g per person. The preference is for fresh, medium-hard cheeses.
Swiss cheese consumption 2009 (table, Swissmilk - click on image to view larger)
Those numbers are not as reassuring as the Swissmilk, the national milk farmers’ federation would like because foreign cheeses accounted for the increase, with Switzerland consuming 310g more of imported cheese, per person, and 70g less of Swiss cheese.
Appenzeller was the big loser, with consumption falling 10.5 percent, and Emmental was the big winner, up 7.5 percent. Switzerland Cheese Marketing will lead a country-wide publicity campaign to push the quality of Swiss cheese to consumers, starting in May 2010.
Swiss food and drink cost you a little more in September 2009.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland’s inflation rate fell slightly in September, down 0.9 percent, to an annual rate of 2.9 percent. The Consumer Price Index remained stable but the overall CPI is the result of a balance between imports,which have gone down in price and Swiss-made goods and services, which have risen slightly. It also hides differences that include falling prices for housing, energy and transport but rising prices for teaching, communications, food and drink, healthcare.
A new report indicates that several agricultural technologies which have been used successfully in China’s rural areas are appropriate for Africa and could be used to help the continent better feed its population. The report is to be published in full in August by the African Agricultural Technology Foundation but one section, written by a group from Stellenbosch University in South Africa says, reports SciDevNet, that “the Chinese government’s investment in rural economies is now paying huge dividends. The country can feed its 1.3 billion people despite only nine percent of its land being arable, and it provides food security for 20 percent of the world’s population.“ A key difference between China and Africa, the report notes, is that the former has shared finances between rural and urban areas, while in Africa most government money goes to urban areas.
Fêtes de Genève, fun on the ground and in the sky
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Geneva and Switzerland’s biggest outdoor party kicks off tomorrow, 30 July, as the Fêtes de Genève get underway, after a two-week warmup called the pre-Fêtes. Music, art and food stalls in the streets, lakeside fair rides, a slow-up Sunday 2 August, spectacular fireworks Saturday 8 August: they’re all part of the fun.
And to put you in the mood the city is calling on amateur photographers to get out their cameras and start shooting their entries for the four seasons of Geneva photography contest, with tempting prizes.
Check it out on the GenevaLunch events page. Here’s where it is happening:
Paleo crowd, 2009
What it is: The largest outdoor music festival in Switzerland, started in 1976, with over 4.3 million concert-goers since then. In 2008, the audience was 227,000 strong, and there were 146 performances on six stages.
Volunteers, all 4,062 of them, helped to make the experience a great one for all. According to a survey in 2008, 59 percent of concert-goers came from the Lake Geneva region.
Title: Wine and chocolate: a family affair
Location: Romainmôtier, Vaud
Link out: Click here
Description: A group of nine Côtes-de-l’Orbes wine producers are presenting their wines at the Caveau de Romainmôtier, along with chocolates from Pascale Philippe’s chocolate shop Passionnément Chocolat in Yverdon-les-Bains.
What’s really special about this is that you can bring the whole family. This wine tasting doesn’t have to be an all-adult affair. The Formule jeune lets under-18ers taste four different chocolates and two different artisanal juices from the region for CHF6.
Start Date: 18 Jul 2009
End Date: 30 Sep 2009
Shadu, age 3, has lost his mother, DR Congo (image: ICRC June 2009, P Yazdi)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More than half of the civilians directly touched by the world’s eight major conflicts have been displaced, and half say they have lost contact with a family member. One in five have lost their livelihood.
These are some of the findings of a statistical and interview set of surveys ordered by the International Red Cross (ICRC), based in Geneva, to ascertain the extent to which civilians today are affected by major conflicts.
The greatest fears mentioned by people surveyed:
