Kedaulatan pangan, lebih dari sekedar cita-cita kemerdekaan

Frasa kedaulatan pangan menjadi suatu tema yang sangat seksi dalam beberapa dekade terakhir di awal abad ke 21. Tema ini sebegitu menarik utamanya di negara-negara berkembang di kawasan Eropa, Amerika Latin, Afrika dan tentunya juga kita di Asia. Dalam kenyataannya, masalah ini tidak begitu menjadi topik menarik pada negara-negara berbahasa Inggris seperti USA, Australia maupun UK sendiri.

                Tema kedaulatan pangan pertama kali muncul pada tahun 1996 pada agenda World Food Summit (Pertemuan Tingkat Tinggi Pangan Dunia) yang digagas oleh FAO, sebuah badan dunia yang mengurusi masalah pangan. Adalah sebuah organisasi petani pemilik lahan La Via Campesian (LVC) dari Amerika Latin yang pertama kali menggagas ide tersebut.

Akibat perdagangan global, hidup dan mati petani di Amerika Latin sangat dipengaruhi subsidi ekspor bahan pangan dan bantuan pertanian di Amerka Serikat. Kebijakan pemerintah Amerika Serikat telah menjadi semacam dumping produk pangan (impor produk pangan dengan harga dibawah harga lokal, kebanyakan melaui mekanisme subsidi pemerintah) bagi petani kecil di Amerika Latin dan merupakan salah satu efek negatif liberalisasi perdagangan bebas sektor pangandan pertanian  yang digagas WTO.

Hal yang mirip terjadi dengan adanya perang dagang produk pertanian antara Indonesia dan China. Banjir produk buah dari daratan China diperkirakan terjadi melalui mekanisme yang sama. Hal yang kemudian menjadi lebih parah ketika produk buah lokal Indonensi seperti Salak, Kesemek dan Duku mengalami kesulitan untuk menembus pasar Negeri Tirai Bambu. Sementara produk impor buah dari China seprti jeruk dan anggur sebernarnya bukan tidak bisa diproduksi di dalam negeri.

Benang merah yang dapat ditarik dari fenomena ini adalah bahwa mempertahankan kedaulatan pangan ternyata sama beratnya merebut dan mewujudkan cita-cita kemerdekaan. Perdangan global menjadikan semua negara sedemikian volatile dan fragile (rapuh) yang memerlukan proteksi menyeluruh dalam bentuk aplikasi kebijakan dari pemerintah yang lebih pro terhadap produk dan potensi lokal.

 

www.maszoom.blogspot.com
Contents adapted from FAO, Rome-Italy

Brain-eating Amoeba Terrorizes America

Reports of a brain-eating amoeba are on the rise in the country, and it’s already taken a toll on three Americans so far this summer.

So far a 16-year-old Florida girl and a 9-year-old boy from Virginia have succumbed to the Naegleria fowleri parasite in the month of August alone. Health officials say that the amoeba can be found in regular freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers, but once the little bugger gets in your system, the results can be grave.

Despite being identified 50 years ago, scientists are still unsure of how to combat the amoeba or why it can kill some and not harm others.

"It's very difficult to treat. Most people die from it," Dr. Raoult Ratard, Louisiana's state epidemiologist, tells The Associated Press.

Dr. Michael Edmond, epidemiologist for VCU Medical Center and chief of infectious diseases, tells the Richmond Times Dispatch that he would never swim in a pond, fearing the bug.

In the case of Courtney Nash of Florida, authorities say she brought the bug into her body after swimming in a local river. Symptoms then developed within a week. Christian Strickland of Virginia passed away from amoebic meningoencephalitis after attending a fishing camp.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that amoeba enters through the nasal passages, migrates to the olfactory nerves and from there makes its mission “invading the brain.”

The CDC adds that the amoeba isn’t all too common and that deaths aren’t necessarily on the rise. With an average of around three reported deaths last year, however, two in the month of August alone signal an unusual death toll caused by the parasite. Four people passed away from complications caused by the parasite in 2010.

Those that welcome the amoeba into their body often contract meningitis as a result, which leads victims to suffer symptoms including fever, nausea, stiff neck and headache.

Since the amoeba was identified in the early 1960s, the CDC says that the US has seen around 120 cases, almost all resulting in death.

So far three people have been killed this year by the amoeba. A 20-year-old Louisiana man contracted the parasite earlier this summer through contact with regular drinking water in his home. In that case, an unnamed man used a popular household neti pot device to rinse out his sinuses with tap water and contracted the bug that way. (as www.rt.com said so)