Droughts Bring Climate Change Home to Nepali Farmers

Farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change. 

Nothing to Show for Hard Work but Burnt Fields of Maize

Gertrude Mkoloi earns a living harvesting maize on a small piece of land in rural Zimbabwe. Or at least she used to.

Q&A: The Future of Agriculture May Well Be in Cities

In the coming decades, the world's population is expected to grow by at least another two billion people, 80 percent of whom will live in cities by the year 2050.

Adding Rice Farmers to the Rio+20 Agenda

The year 2011 was one of extremes for the small Sri Lankan village of Verugal.

KENYA: Microloans, Greenhouses Help Women Cope with Climate Change

At Gakoromone Market in Meru, in Kenya’s Eastern Province, Ruth Muriuki arrives in a pickup full of tomatoes and cabbages despite the scarcity of rainfall in the area, thanks to the greenhouse technology she uses on her farm – and microcredit.

ZIMBABWE: Farmers Tackle Water Problems Fuelled by Climate Change

Beauty Moyo’s desire for access to water has finally been met. The rains that fell in the past week after a long dry patch have awakened this small-holder farmer deep in rural Plumtree, Zimbabwe on the border with Botswana to the reality of sparse rainfall, climate change and how she and her fellow villagers can respond.

CENTRAL AFRICA: Tentative Steps Towards Adaptation

Governments and civil society organisations in Central Africa are slowly developing strategies in response to global warming. But specialists say the steps being taken seem hesitant in the face of emerging realities.

Rural Women in Latin America Face Myriad Hurdles

"Sometimes I think of giving it all up,” Aura Canache, a small farmer in Venezuela, told IPS. “My neighbours get loans and aid, but I never have. The farm assistance plans are for men, although there are many women living off the countryside too.”

Native Farmers in Mexico Drive Local Eco-Friendly Farming

The largely invisible work of small local groups of indigenous farmers in Mexico who are spearheading the defence of their territory and identity and of native seeds is strengthening ecologically sound family farming, experts say.

Moving Towards a Food-Secure Ghana

In Dundo village in Nyankpala district, Northern Ghana, 10 women are busy weeding a rice field on a piece of land donated to them by the village chief.

AGRICULTURE-BOLIVIA: Adapting to the Floods

Margarita Amabeja holds out her hands full of golden rice grains and rough brown manioc roots - the first results of a strategy to adjust the agricultural cycles to the seasonal floods and droughts in the vast plains of Beni, in northeastern Bolivia.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Waiting for the “Heavens to Weep”

Duduzile Sibanda takes a break from preparing her long stretch of land for her maize crop in rural Mberengwa, in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province. She wipes her brow under the scorching sun and looks upwards. The sparse clouds are a cause of concern as she studies the sky and wonders aloud when the "heavens will weep."