Comoros Landscape

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US Department Of State Post Report

Agriculture dominates the economic life of the 70% of the population living in rural areas - and rice paddies even dot the urban landscape of Antananarivo.  The poor performance of the traditional agricultural sector, dominated by subsistence production of staple foods, is a key factor in persistent poverty that keeps 80% of the rural population below the official poverty line.  Rice, the main staple crop, accounts for over half of farm output. However, Madagascar, which was self-sufficient in rice until the early 1970s, has since been a net importer.  Plots are inefficiently small and productivity is restrained by reliance on traditional cultivation techniques and minimal use of inputs, resulting in yields less than a third of those widely achieved elsewhere.  Other major staple crops for local consumption are cassava, corn and sweet potatoes.   Cash crops include vanilla, cloves, coffee, sugar cane, cotton, pepper and other spices.  Madagascar is tr ... [Read More]

Article Alert, Archives--Electronic Advance Documents

According to the authors of this report, a major shift has taken place in the political and legal landscape of many countries around the globe in the last two years: governments have seized the response to the threat of terrorism to enhance their powers, affecting many fundamental human rights, including privacy. Many have adapted their political discourse, given new life to proposals that had previously failed, broadened the definitions of "terrorism" and "terrorists," passed laws giving them enhanced powers for one purpose, the war on terrorism, and applied them for others, such as the suppression of dissent and the general surveillance and profiling of people's activities. In some cases, they have modeled policies and legal measures from other countries with little consideration to their own cultural and political specificities. ... [Read More]