Food and Agriculture

Mobilizing Against Hunger in Brazil, Where It Affects 33.1 Million People

By Mario Osava
A campaign against hunger, a problem that affects 15.5 percent of the Brazilian population, seeks to mobilize society once again in search of urgent solutions, inspired by a mass movement that took off in the country in 1993.

Digital Training in Pakistani Villages Yields Bumper Participation

By Irfan Ulhaq
Farmer Abdul Waheed, 32, has been using his cell phone for everything but work for the past seven years. But after a recent training session he has installed six farming apps and says the move has paid off.

Digital Tools Complement Organic Farming at Islamic School in Indonesia

By Kafil Yamin
It appears to be business as usual at the Al-Ittifaq pesantren, the local term for an Islamic boarding school. Yadi and Rezki, both 18, join the subuh, pre-dawn prayer, in the local mosque. After a session of religious meditation, along with other santris, or students, the two study science in a pre-dawn class for about 30 minutes.

Digital Technology Buoys Indonesian Catfish Farmers

By Kafil Yamin
For years Indramayu has been known as one of Indonesia’s rice centres. The district in West Java is the country’s number one rice producer, generating 1.3 million tonnes of husked rice in 2021, according to Indonesia’s Centre of Statistics (BPS). The country’s total rice production was 54 million tonnes.

Across Asia and the Pacific, Digitalization of Rural Communities is Leading the Way to a Better Future – But the Goal is to Leave No One Behind

By Jong-Jin Kim
It wasn’t that long ago that Internet connectivity faded the moment one left a populated area like a city or big town – “no service” was the take-away message back then. But thanks to 3G, 4G and now 5G mobile technology, coupled with widespread installation of cellular towers in rural areas region-wide, that little message shows up much less frequently.

Small-Scale Fishers in Central America Demand Social Security Policies

By Edgardo Ayala
At the pier, Salvadoran fisherman Nicolás Ayala checked the pocket of his pants to make sure he was carrying the hypertension pills he must take when he is at sea on a 24-hour shift. He smiled because he hadn’t forgotten them.

Challenge for 2023: Guaranteeing Sufficient Food Production

By Mario Lubetkin
If the war in Ukraine and other conflicts around the world continue, the challenge for 2022 will be to guarantee greater access to existing food supplies, and sufficient food production by 2023.

Frankincense and Myrrh Have New Economic Resonance for Women in Kenya’s Arid North

By Robert Kibet
Clad in traditional regalia and necklaces of richly coloured beads that form magnificent patterns around their necks, an army of women from the pastoral Rendile community that resides at the heart of Marsabit, a county in Kenya’s arid north, is on a mission.

Ending Hunger in America: Here’s What the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health Should Do to Be Inclusive

By Esther Ngumbi
This September, the White House will convene a conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. Leading up to the conference, the White House is organizing several virtual listening sessions across America to hear firsthand from people impacted by food insecurity and to collect ideas about how to end hunger and hunger-related diseases and disparities.

Researchers Strive for Technological Innovations to Achieve Food Security in Africa

By Aimable Twahirwa
A few years ago, after coming up with a project of launching the first-ever unmanned aerial systems (UAS) in Rwanda, entrepreneur Mamy Muziga Ingabire identified the need to provide farmers with information related to their activity – such as the health status of crops.

Disability Inclusion Lifts Rural Ugandan Families From Poverty

By Wambi Michael
Lawrence Akena was born 32 years ago with microcephaly. Because of his neurological condition, he didn't go to school or benefit from skills training.

At Half-time, the European Green Deal is Still Grounded

By Jagoda Munic
This month marks the mid-point of the much-heralded European Green Deal. Taking office at the end of 2019, the European Commission went into rhetoric overdrive. This was Europe’s ‘man on the moon’ moment, we were told. The Green Deal would herald an economic paradigm shift, and “reconcile the economy with our planet…to make it work for our people” the new President, Ursula von der Leyen, said.

Farmers in Senegal Adopt Farming as a Business to Beat Climate Change

By Busani Bafana
Onions and rice are a conspicuous part of every meal in Senegal, including the famous Poulet Yassa. However, climate change makes it hard for smallholder farmers to grow enough staple food with extra to sell for income.

Land in South Africa Shall Be Shared Among Those Who Work It

By Vijay Prashad
In March 2022, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General António Guterres warned of a ‘hurricane of hunger’ due to the war in Ukraine. Forty-five developing countries, most of them on the African continent, he said, ‘import at least a third of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia, with 18 of those import[ing] at least 50 percent’. Russia and Ukraine export 33% of global barley stocks, 29% of wheat, 17% of corn, and nearly 80% of the world’s supply of sunflower oil. Farmers outside of Russia and Ukraine, trying to make up for the lack of exports, are now struggling with higher fuel prices also caused by the war. Fuel prices impact both the cost of chemical fertilisers and farmers’ ability to grow their own crops. Maximo Torero Cullen, chief economist at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said that ‘one of every five calories people eat have crossed at least one international border, up more than 50 percent from 40 years ago’. This turbulence in the global food trade will certainly create a problem for nutrition and food intake, particularly amongst the poorest people on the planet.

War & Peace 2.0: Ukraine Showing the World How to Fight Back

By Sania Farooqui
It has been over 100 days since Russia first invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, turning the country into a slaughterhouse. The United Nations (UN) in this report says that, as of 1 June, 2022, more than 6.9 million refugees have left Ukraine and 2.1 million have returned, while eight million people are displaced inside Ukraine itself. War in Ukraine has caused the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II.

US Leads Sanctions Killing Millions to No End

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
Food crises, economic stagnation and price increases are worsening unevenly, almost everywhere, following the Ukraine war. Sanctions against Russia have especially hurt those relying on wheat and fertilizer imports. Unilateral sanctions illegal Unilateral sanctions – not approved by the UN Security Council – are illegal under international law. Besides contravening the UN Charter, unilateral sanctions inflict much human loss. Countless civilians – many far from target countries – are at risk, depriving them of much, even life itself.

The Great Fish Robbery

By Baher Kamal
Now it comes to another ‘crime’ being stealthy committed as a consequence of the unrelenting business obsession for making more and more money.

Animal Farm, Ukrainian Resistance and Russian Propaganda

By Jan Lundius
Warfare and misinformation are intimately connected. The 29th of May was globally observed as The Day of Communication and due to the ongoing war in Ukraine it was difficult to avoid thinking of affiliated propaganda campaigns, carried out by warring factions and far from indifferent bystanders.

Developing countries and the Perfect Storm
Part II: What Developing Countries Need to Do

By Daud Khan
Developing countries are facing a combination of crises that are unprecedented in recent times. Over the last three years they have had to face the COVID-19 crisis, the food crisis, the energy crisis, the climate change crisis, the debt crisis and, on top of all this, a global recession. The crises have overlapped, and each has added to the problems created by the previous ones.

Complex Emergencies: In Kenya’s Arid North, Locals Face Impact of Climate Change, Hunger and Poverty

By Charles Karis
Darkuale Parsanti and his wife Mary Rampe are counting their losses: One by one, they have seen their livestock wiped out. “I had 45 cattle heads and 50 goats, but they all died due to worsening drought. I currently remain with only one cow and five goats,” says Parsanti, supporting himself on a walking stick.

World Environment Day: Burden of Environmental Decline Falls Heavily on Poor and Vulnerable

By Joyce Chimbi
Barnabas Kamau’s home sits on a wetland in Rumuruti Laikipia County in the Rift Valley region - considered Kenya’s breadbasket. He settled in the area 15 years ago, attracted by the wetlands’ fertile grounds as they provide favourable farming and livestock activities conditions.
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