Women Farmers Key to Sustainable Agricultural Development
Women account for 75 percent of the agricultural producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but the majority of women farmers are living on only $1.25 per day…
Nourishing the Planet
Targeting Gaps in the Food Supply Chain: Going Beyond Agricultural Production to Achieve Food Security
Agricultural production is only the first step in moving the world’s food from farm to fork…
Farming the Cities, Feeding an Urban Future
As people move from rural to urban settings in search of economic opportunities, urban agriculture is becoming an important provider of both food and employment, according to researchers with the Worldwatch Institute.
Getting “More Crop Per Drop” to Strengthen Global Food Security
The Green Revolution of the 1960s led to a near tripling of global grain production and a doubling of the world’s irrigated area. It also, however, demanded vast quantities of water. Previous agricultural investments have focused narrowly on increasing crop yields, while there has been relatively little research and investment in ways to make better use of scarce water resources. Affordable innovations that boost agricultural development and meet the increasing demand on already-scarce water resources while also mitigating the impacts of climate change, are more important than ever.
Providing the Skills—and the Confidence—Needed to Improve Livelihoods
For most women living in rural and remote parts of India, the day begins as early as 3:00am. The flour for the day’s meals needs grinding, livestock need to be fed, breakfast needs to be cooked, and water needs to be carried from wells, rivers, and streams. And that’s all before the children—usually just the boys— head off to school for the day.
Innovation of the Week: Gathering the Food Growing at our Feet
After many years of studying invasive plant species in Patagonia, Argentina, Dr. Eduardo Rapoport, Professor at the Universidad Nacional Del Camohue, realized that many of the “pests” he was cataloging were edible. As a result, Dr. Rapoport found himself looking at these “pests, invaders, and weeds,” in a very different light.
Turning an Invasive Species into a Livelihood
Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. In Kenya, for the over 5,000 people living in rural communities on or near its shore, Lake Victoria—the largest body of freshwater in Africa—is a life line. It is the main source of water for bathing, drinking, and cooking in the area and its fish populations provide …
Improving the Harvest, From the Soil to the Market
Farmers in the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania are fighting a losing battle against increasingly degraded land. Repeated plantings are quickly depleting the nutrients in the soil, leaving it nearly barren and vulnerable to erosion. Meanwhile, downstream, the water is dark with sediment, unfit for drinking and expensive to treat. “Downstream, people are complaining about the quality of water,” says Lopa Dosteus, program manager for CARE International’s Equitable Payment for Watershed Management (EPWM) program. “And upstream, the farmers are struggling to grow enough food while their soil washes away.”
Banking on the Harvest
Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. In the Maradi area in south central Niger, where 70 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, the months before the harvest are called “the hunger season.” From mid-July to mid-September, food supplies are at their lowest and most families only eat one meal a …
Getting the Most from Crops: In the Field and at the Market
In Cameroon, one of the foods that grows best is cassava. But farmers struggle with low yields because of pests and diseases that damage crops, making each harvest much more labor intensive than they are worth. One group is looking to change that.