Food & Agriculture

The Race to Save the Caribbean’s Banana Industry

By Desmond Brown
When Dean, the first storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, lashed Dominica on Aug. 16, it left behind a trail of destruction, claimed the lives of a mother and son, and decimated the island’s vital banana industry.

Website Gives Real-Time Snapshot of Deforestation

By Bryant Harris
A new website launched Thursday will allow governments, businesses, civil society and private citizens to monitor near real-time loss and gain in forest cover in every country around the world.

U.N. Focuses on Faltering Goals: Water, Sanitation, Energy

By Thalif Deen
When the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) reach their deadline in 2015, there will still be a critical setback: millions of people in the developing world without full access to safe drinking water, proper sanitation and electricity in their homes.

Half of U.S. Farmland Being Eyed by Private Equity

By Carey L. Biron
An estimated 400 million acres of farmland in the United States will likely change hands over the coming two decades as older farmers retire, even as new evidence indicates this land is being strongly pursued by private equity investors.

“Blessed” Rains Become a Curse in Antigua

By Desmond Brown
Antigua is one of the most drought-prone countries in the Caribbean. So whenever it rains, the inhabitants generally regard the weather as “showers of blessing”.

USAID Unveils Five-Year Plan in Afghanistan

By Bryant Harris
Even as most international military forces are slated to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, USAID, the foreign aid arm of the U.S. government, is emphasising its sustained commitment to developing Afghanistan’s economy after the withdrawal.

OP-ED: We Need Everyone to Build a More Sustainable World

By Tarja Halonen
Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, an annual event that deals with a subject that is very close to my heart.  The summit gathered together amazing people: Nobel Prize winners, thought leaders, heads of state, corporate innovators, and academicians to deal with the paramount challenges of the 21st Century all focused on three pressing dimensions of sustainability:  food, water and energy.

Vieques Goes from Bombs to Beets

By Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero
A decade after the United States Navy’s departure, the Puerto Rican island town of Vieques faces new challenges, and the rebirth of its agriculture sector is hampered by a legacy of toxic military trash that has uncertain consequences.

Kenya’s Empty Bread Basket

By Miriam Gathigah
Jane Njeri from the semi-arid lower Mukurweini district in Kenya’s Central Province has taken to boiling wild roots to feed her five children.

Egypt’s Generals Face a Watery Battle

By Shelly Kittleson
Heavy reliance on water intensive crops, a major upstream dam project for the Nile basin, and rising groundwater levels pushing at pharaoh-era monuments will be pressing issues for the next Egyptian president - whether military or civilian.

After Slowdown, Global Fight for Land Rights at Tipping Point

By Carey L. Biron
Global trends towards a strengthening of legal rights over land for local and indigenous communities appear to have slowed significantly in recent years, leading some analysts to warn that the fight for local control over forests has reached an inflection point with a new danger of backtracking on previous progress.

Starving for Access in Syria’s Yarmouk Camp

By Jonathan Rozen
The refugee camp of Yarmouk represents one of the most severe examples of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, with foreign aid agencies unable to enter the opposition-controlled area that been effectively besieged since December 2012.

A Nation Chewing Itself to Death

By Cam McGrath
The Yemeni capital of Sanaa is reputed to be over 2,500 years old, making it one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world. But it is living on borrowed time.

U.S. Reforming “Outdated” Overseas Food Aid

By Carey L. Biron
U.S. lawmakers are in the final stages of approving reforms to a half-century-old system of providing overseas food assistance that critics say is outdated, inefficient and sometimes harmful to local economies in developing countries.

Q&A: Africa’s Tremendous Progress Amid War and Famine

By Jacey Fortin and Jason Warner
The issue of peace and security, particularly in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, are expected to dominate the discussions at the African Union’s (AU) semi-annual summit being held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this week.
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