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Headline-grabbing events such as the events in Kosovo or the shooting of US school children by classmates overshadow other events, often equally tragic. A new disease accidentally introduced into a country can wipe out its staple crop or it can devastate the livestock. Farmers' livelihoods are ruined, and national economies are hard hit, but the majority of TV viewers and newspaper readers, (a largely urban public) cannot relate to such events through any personal experience. After hostilities have ended in the Balkans the displaced population will struggle with a shattered infrastructure to feed itself and rebuild lives. Rural people will be faced with finding the finance through credit to replace the seeds, livestock, equipment, and feed without which agriculture cannot function. Arguments over land ownership will have to be resolved, markets will have to be found for produce, trade agreements sought. But at this point public attention will probably drift elsewhere.

New Agriculturist reaches agriculturists and non-agriculturists with news and opinion on issues that affect the world's capacity to feed itself. This edition presents contrasting opinions on how successfully micro-credit schemes meet the finance needs of the rural poor; reports on efforts to control African Swine Fever, recently introduced to Madagascar and now threatening Ghana (Developments); new varieties of taro that are resistant to the Taro Leaf Blight that all but wiped out this staple crop of Samoa (News); and the potential of another Pacific crop, Yanqona, to become a major export as a stress treatment for Westerners (Developments). Cacao or cocoa, providing, as it does, a living for thousands of small farmers is the subject of Focus on . . .. The discussion of GMOs with a personal view continues in Perspective, while The Republic of South Africa, facing the urgent need to resolve tensions over access to land is featured in Country Profile.

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