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- Colombia, FARC rebels reach agreement on agrarian reform
- Obama calls Oklahoma tornado's toll 'hard to comprehend'
- Robots to drones, Australia eyes high-tech farm help to grow food
Colombia, FARC rebels reach agreement on agrarian reform Posted: 26 May 2013 06:05 PM PDT HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia and the Marxist-led FARC rebels have reached agreement on the critical issue of agrarian reform, the two sides said on Sunday in a major step forward for the peace process aimed at ending their long war.
They said the accord called for the economic and social development of rural areas and providing land to the people living there, which addresses one of the main issues that led the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, to form in 1964 as a communist agrarian reform movement and launch its insurgency. Lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle reminded that the agreement would take effect only if an overall peace accord is achieved, which has been the guiding principal of the talks since the beginning. "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed," he said. De la Calle said it would represent "a historic change, a rebirth of the Colombian countryside." The government promised to build up services and infrastructure in rural areas as it tries to end the country's long history of social and economic inequality. "What we have agreed to in this accord will be the beginning of radical transformations in the rural and agrarian reality of Colombia, with equity and democracy," said the joint statement, which was read at the end of the ninth round of the talks, which began November 19 in Havana. The rebels warned that "certain points" in the agrarian reform accord "necessarily will have to be retaken before the completion of the final agreement," but said a path was being opened for "the people to act, to mobilize themselves in defence of their rights." It was not disclosed how much land would be given out. De la Calle said there would be "an ambitious program of restitution and adjudication of lands" to the rural poor, but that private landowners would not lose their property. "Legal landowners have nothing to fear," he said. The agreement drew praise at the United Nations in New York, where a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called it "a significant achievement and important step forward." Ban "wishes both delegations further success in their efforts to reach agreement on the remaining issues and to put an end to Colombia's long conflict," the spokesperson said. Adam Isacson, senior associate for security policy at the Washington Office on Latin America think tank, told Reuters the agrarian reform agreement was a "genuine big deal" for Colombia's peace hopes. "To have arrived at an agreement on land and rural development with a peasant-based guerrilla group for the first time in nearly 50 years is a step whose importance is hard to overestimate," he said. "It greatly increases the probability - now to well over 50 percent - that a final accord will be reached as a result of these talks," Isacson said. Many potential obstacles remain, starting with the next agenda item - the delicate subject of political participation for the FARC. FACING JUSTICE More than 100,000 people have died and millions have been displaced in the war that is now Latin America's longest-running insurgency and goes on at a low intensity even as the peace discussions continue. Many Colombians feel the FARC must face justice for war casualties, the use of kidnappings to extort money and involvement in the illicit drug trade, the latter a charge the group has denied. But criminal charges and jail time could exclude many FARC leaders from taking part in politics. The rebels have said they are willing to "review" any "error" committed during the war but have ruled out prosecution by a state they say they legitimately rose up against for persecuting and neglecting its own people. Other remaining agenda points include the logistics of ending the conflict, the drug trade, compensation for victims and the implementation of the final accord. President Juan Manuel Santos, who recently hinted that he plans to run for re-election in 2014, has said he wants the talks ended this year. Santos initiated the peace talks last year on a bet the FARC had been so weakened by the government's 10-year, U.S.-backed offensive against the group that its leaders were ready to negotiate an end to the fighting. Three previous peace attempts - the last ending in 2002 - had failed. The rebels have been pushed into remote corners of the country but still are able to attack oil and mining operations that are fuelling Colombia's economic growth. The war has diverted billions of dollars from the economy as industry is unable to function at full capacity and the government is forced to spend heavily on troops and weapons. Even if peace with the FARC is achieved, the government still must deal with a smaller rebel force, the ELN or National Liberation Army, and criminal gangs running drug-trafficking operations. The ELN, with an estimated 3,000 fighters, has expressed interest in seeking a peace accord similar to the one being pursued with the FARC, but Santos has said it must first release captives who include a Canadian citizen. Norway and Cuba are serving as guarantors for the Colombia-FARC talks, with Chile and Venezuela as observers. The discussions are set to resume in Havana on June 11, a government spokesman said. Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
Obama calls Oklahoma tornado's toll 'hard to comprehend' Posted: 26 May 2013 05:42 PM PDT MOORE, Oklahoma (Reuters) - Standing by a pile of debris that once was an elementary school, President Barack Obama on Sunday called the destruction last week's tornado wrought in Moore, Oklahoma, "hard to comprehend" and vowed to provide long-term federal help in rebuilding.
The tornado, rated at the top of a five-step scale used to measure the destructive power of twisters, killed 24 people - including seven children at the school site Obama visited. It ripped a 17-mile-long (27-km-long) corridor of destruction through the suburb of Oklahoma City, flattening entire blocks of homes, two schools and a hospital. "Obviously the damage here is pretty hard to comprehend," Obama said, standing on a block where piles of boards, bricks and cinder blocks that used to be buildings and houses lined the side of the street. Rare items that survived the disaster - a television set, a pink baby carriage - stood in contrast to the wreckage. The visit to the disaster-shaken town was one in a series of responses Obama has made in recent months to tragedies, including the Boston Marathon bombings last month; a December mass school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut; and the destruction that Superstorm Sandy caused along the Jersey Shore in October. "Whenever I come to an area that has been devastated by some natural disaster like this, I want to make sure that everyone understands that I am speaking on behalf of the entire country," said Obama, flanked by officials including Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin. "Everywhere, fellow Americans are praying with you, they're thinking about you and they want to help. And I'm just a messenger here letting you know that you are not alone." Cars with their bodies dented and windows smashed lay under debris or twisted on their sides. Rising above the wasteland were at least three American flags that had been attached to the rubble, waving in the wind. Caleb Sloan, 24, who lost his home in the storm, said Obama's words gave him hope that help would be forthcoming. "He has no choice but to live by his word," Sloan said. "I hope and pray and think he will keep his promises." SPATE OF STORMS The May 20 tornado in Moore was the most powerful of a spate of 76 twisters that touched down in 10 states from May 18 through May 20, causing an estimated $2 billion to $5 billion in insured losses, according to disaster-modeling company Eqecat. The Moore tornado, the deadliest such windstorm to hit the United States in two years, also injured 377 people. While assuring that residents of the 1,200 homes the storm destroyed would receive extended federal help, Obama also urged lawmakers to maintain funding for the training and equipment that emergency responders rely on in the aftermath of disasters. "We can't shortchange that kind of ongoing disaster response, we can't just wait until the disaster happens," Obama said. "That's how, in part, we're able to save a lot of lives." After the president left, the town held its own memorial service at First Baptist Church of Moore that included a performance by the Oklahoma Strong Children's Choir, made up of Moore school children who were affected by Monday's storm. (Additional reporting by Heide Brandes; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Philip Barbara) Copyright © 2013 Reuters | ||
Robots to drones, Australia eyes high-tech farm help to grow food Posted: 26 May 2013 02:19 PM PDT SYDNEY (Reuters) - Moving carefully along a row of apple trees, two of Australia's newest agricultural workers check if the fruit is ripe or the soil needs water or fertiliser.
Meet "Mantis" and "Shrimp", agricultural robots being tested to do these tasks and more in a bid to cut costs and improve productivity in Australia's economically vital farm sector, which exported A$39.6 billion ($38.8 billion)of produce in 2012. Australia is one of the leaders in the field and, with a minimum wage of A$15.96 per hour and a limited workforce, has a big incentive to use robots and other technology such as unmanned aircraft to improve efficiency. It hopes to tap fast-growing Asian neighbours, where the swelling ranks of the middle class increasingly want more varied and better quality food from blueberries to beef. "The adoption of new technology is going to be crucial for Australia to maintain its competitiveness in terms of the global agricultural sector," said Luke Matthews, commodities strategist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. "If we don't adopt new technology, we can give up on these high-flying ambitions of being the food bowl of Asia." Agriculture now accounts for 2 percent of Australia's gross domestic product, but the government forecasts it could reach 5 percent by 2050. Its growth is particularly important now the once-booming mining sector is slowing. Australia is the world's second-biggest wheat exporter and arable farmers are already using specialised technology aimed at improving efficiency, including satellite positioning software to allow farmers to map out land and soil to determine optimal inputs. Using such technology to optimise the use of fertiliser can boost profitability at grain farms by 14 percent, according to a study by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation. COLOUR RECEPTORS A robot effortlessly plucking fruit is some way off, though a range of simpler tasks are within reach to add to existing technology such as automatic steering of harvesters. Salah Sukkarieh, Professor of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at the University of Sydney and developer of Mantis and Shrimp, says the next phase aims for robots to do increasingly complex jobs such as watering and ultimately harvesting. "We have fitted them with a lot of sensors, vision, laser, radar and conductivity sensors - including GPS and thermal sensors," said Sukkarieh, speaking at his laboratory housing a collection of both ground robots and unmanned air vehicles. The technology could have the biggest application in horticulture, Australia's third-largest agricultural sector with exports of $1.71 billion in the last marketing year, since a fixed farm layout lends itself better to using robots. Robots and an unmanned air vehicle that are being developed at the University of Sydney had passed field tests at an almond farm in Mildura, Victoria state, said Sukkarieh. Propelled by sets of wheels and about the height of a man, the robots were named after the native Mantis shrimp because of the marine crustacean's 16 different colour receptors, capable of detecting up to 12 colours. Humans only have four, three of which pick up colours. This capacity to recognize colour already allows the robots to sense whether fruit is ripe. The data can then be processed by computer algorithms to determine what action the robot should take. This could be to water or apply fertiliser or pesticides, or to sweep and prune vegetation, and eventually the aim is to harvest the crop. "If tomorrow we got an apple, orange or tomato farmer that wants a robot to go up and down these tree crops reliably and accurately, we can do that within six months to a year." "The question is can we make them more intelligent," added Sukkarieh, who also sees the technology being attached to standard farm vehicles and foresees a fully automated horticulture farm within 10 years. BRUISED APPLES Australian farmers, who depend on seasonal labour for jobs such as picking fruit and vegetables, said they would welcome high-tech help. "Berry picking by a robot would be difficult but if they could produce a robot, I could make a significant saving," said Allan Dixon, co-owner of the Clyde River Berry Farm in New South Wales, who typically takes on five people every year. To get enough agricultural workers, Australia allows in some labour from neighbouring Pacific island countries and East Timor, as well as using backpackers on temporary work visas. Some fruit farmers remain sceptical. "Apples will always need to be harvested by hand, due to their fragile nature. They bruise very easily," said Lucinda Giblett, director at Newton Orchards in Western Australia. "We see no current opportunities offered by agricultural robots. Even as a pruning device, application is very limited," added Giblett PRODUCTIVITY Further productivity gains will be needed if Australia is to reach its target of being the main food supplier to Asia. A 2011 study by the Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences said around two-thirds of the increase in the monetary value of agricultural production in the last 50 years in the country was down to gains in productivity Another survey by the Grains Research and Development Corporation showed 67 percent of respondents in 2011 used auto-steer technology to guide machinery such as harvesters and sprayers, up from 47 percent in 2008. Obstacles to using more technology remain, however, including the cost of buying or renting equipment and slower growth in research and development spending. Some studies show growth in the use of satellite imagery and soil mapping has stagnated in Australia and the United States in recent years. Regardless of whether it can meet its targets to supply more food to Asia, Australia is expected to play a big role in global food security by being one of the test beds for new ways to produce food more efficiently in often harsh conditions. (Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Michael Urquhart) Copyright © 2013 Reuters |
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