“There is still uncertainty in the market with elections looming in the US and terrorism continuing to make global headlines,” Burrill continued. “I would argue that the summer doldrums were pretty real this year and that while we are on the recovery side, there is no galvanizing event waiting in the wings to trigger momentum,” he said. “Plus the IPO window is temporarily out of commission...that is, the value equation is so ugly that any company pushing to get out is viewed as desperate,” Burrill noted. “Institutional investors simply do not have the appetite for new offerings today,” he said.

“But the pendulum will swing back,” predicted Burrill. “Even though many of the companies that have entered the market during this 2003/2004 window have their offerings now under water, we are likely to see significant recovery in the value of many of those companies as they begin to meet their milestones, hit their benchmarks, and report on quarterly developments that are positive,” noted Burrill. “The markets are in a ‘show me’ mode and as those companies report their successes, we’ll see their stocks recover and perform well,” he added. “Indeed, as those companies prove themselves, the biotech market will regain buoyancy and the IPO window that is temporarily ‘out of order will again be open for business,” Burrill said.

Encouraging signs for German biotech sector
Frankfurt - After two difficult years, there are more signals in 2004 that trends are turning in the economic situation of the German biotechnology industry said Professor Peter Stadler, chairman of the German Association of Biotechnology Industries (DIB) at a press conference in Frankfurt/Main. “The situation is by no means rosy, but now we see light at the end of the tunnel.” Last year the consolidation phase made itself felt with drops in sales, employment and research expenditures - mostly in the double-digit percentage range.

Food problem in Africa is the worst problem facing Africans, and the most important problem to be highlighted. we think that hunger is the cause of all other problems by direct or indirect ways and from the point of it's importance we must discuss the reasons causing it.

Drought and other natural disasters in many parts of Africa have intensified hunger, but poverty is the real cause of famine. Only the chronically impoverished die from the effects of drought, and Africa's impoverishment has been several hundred years in the making. As European countries colonized Africa, they disrupted farming and herding systems that for centuries Africans had adapted to changing environmental conditions. Ecologically balanced food systems were undermined: the best agricultural lands were taken for growing coffee, sugar cane, cocoa, and other export crops that were viewed as the means to economic development according to the neoclassical theory of comparative advantage. Private and government funds were invested to develop these cash crops, while food production for the poor majority was neglected.

Colonial cash cropping ravaged the soil, reducing large areas to desert and semi desert. Millions of acres of brush and trees were cleared, robbing the soil of organic replenishment. Export crops such as cotton, peanuts, and tobacco absorbed large amounts of nutrients from the soil. After each year's harvest, the soil was left bare and unprotected leading to accelerated erosion. As more land was put in cash crops, small farmers have been pushed further and further onto marginal land with scarce rainfall, decreasing their ability to produce food. It is this unfortunate, yet avoidable situation that has contributed to drought- induced famine.

Using the best land for export agriculture degraded the environment and impoverished the rural agricultural population, forcing many to work on plantations or crowd into cities seeking employment. Plantation owners and other commercial interests developed a large labor force that could be paid low wages, thus ensuring high profits.