Danielle Mitzman

Why I decided to join tens of thousands of Italian women in an anti Berlusconi demonstration.

French oyster producers say the much-loved mollusc is at risk of becoming a thing of the past. Will we soon be saying adieu to oysters?

Cupped oysters all over Europe are suffering from a Herpes virus epidemic which began 3 years ago and is threatening to completely destroy the industry. The situation is especially bad in France, where oyster farmers are losing a staggering 80% of their income.

While the virus doesn’t pose a health threat to humans, it is devastating the livelihoods of those in the business. And many natural oyster farmers are angry that the spread of the virus may well have been exacerbated by the introduction of laboratory manipulated and reproduced oysters.

French oyster farmers were at the Salone del Gusto, Slow Food’s international fair for traditional food producers, to publicise their plight.

(first broadcast on European Business Week, Deutsche Welle Radio, 30th October, 2010)

Online article: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,6174169,00.html

Over the past 10 years, Afghanistan has become the largest producer of opium. The Taliban finance themselves with the money they make from illegal sales of the drug. Many farmers are either forced, intimidated or financially tempted into cultivating opium poppies. And today the country produces over 90% of the world’s opium.

The government is trying to change this, with a policy of burning poppy fields, but one of the most effective ways of dealing with the problem is by offering farmers an alternative source of income.

In Herat Province in western Afghanistan, a small project is proving a resounding success: switching from the cultivation of opium poppies to saffron flowers.

First broadcast on World in Progress, Deutsche Welle Radio, 10th November 2010