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The European Union could be on the road to more stringent biofuel regulations. In a hard-won compromise, the European Parliament’s Environmental (ENVI) Committee on July 11 voted to cap the transportation industry’s use of first-generation biofuels at 5.5% and to require reporting of the indirect land use changes (ILUC) caused by biofuel production. The vote also calls for countries and suppliers to promote the use of alternative biofuel sources, such as algae and straw.

Many of today's young Africans grew up watching their parents sow and dig tirelessly on their farms, using tools that give you a backache just by looking at them.

With this in mind, can we really blame youngsters for not wanting to become smallholder farmers as adults?

Just like young people in other parts of the world, African youths want something better. They want something their parents didn’t have. This is why many head for cities in search of a better life where they don’t have to worry if the rains will come just in time to save the drying crops.

Cross-posted from IFPRI.org and Tim Thomas' Much Ado About Something blog
By IFPRI Senior Research Fellow Alex De Pinto

The African Growth and Development Policy (AGRODEP) Modeling Consortium recently issued its second annual call for "Gaps in Research" Grants. These grants support research on emerging issues in Africa that have previously received little or no attention. The selected topic of this year’s grant is “Barriers to the expansion of agriculture and agroindustry in Africa”.

The FAO has released the latest version of its Food Price Index . The June Index was almost 2 points below May levels, but remained 11 points higher than in June 2012. The slight decline came mainly from sugar and dairy prices.

The Cereals Price Index also declined slightly by 2.5 points in June on expectations of bumper global crops. Tight coarse grain supplies are expected to continue until harvests in the fall, however, and the Index remains 14 points above its June 2012 level.