Empowering Africa’s Informal Market Traders To Deliver Safe Food

Local informal food markets feed millions of urbanites in bustling African cities, but the consequences of tainted food could be illness and death for unsuspecting consumers.

Invest in Research to Protect Crops from Future Flooding

Tropical Storm Debby has resulted in record-setting rain and flooding events across several States, including Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and parts of Georgia and left a trail of damage including leaving Florida crops flooded.

Small Farmers Feeling Climate Change Heat Find Little Support From the State

The over 20 million residents of Pakistan’s port city of Karachi, in Sindh province in particular, have been experiencing brutal heat since May. But they are not the only ones bearing the brunt of high temperatures and humidity. Up to 15,000 cattle died due to scorching heat mixed with high humidity which Shakir Umar Gujjar, president of the Cattle and Dairy Farmers Association, Pakistan, said was “no joke”.

Explainer: Why Kenya is Considered a High Climate Risk for Development Banks

Kenya contributes less than 0.1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions every year, yet development banks have flagged the East African nation as a high climate risk. This is due to extreme weather changes that are increasingly threatening the country’s development agenda, widening socio-economic inequalities, and deepening rural poverty and hunger.

Can Kenya’s Gen Z Lead an African Agriculture Revolution?

Kenyan Gen Z recently led a series of historic protests that resulted in Kenya’s President rejecting the Finance Bill 2023 and dissolving his cabinet.  These protests are inspiring a wave of change, revolutions, and optimism in Kenya and the African Continent.

The Price Women Pay for Climate Change

Global warming, widely believed to be a universal crisis, will actually impact girls and women far more than boys and men. It is already known that we live in a patriarchal world, one in which men are afforded far greater opportunities for success while women generally hold less societal power and have access to fewer resources. This especially pertains to developing countries in which agriculture related work, usually delegated to females, depends on a variety of environmental factors and subsequently, significantly hurts their livelihoods.

How Climate-Smart Strategies Revitalized Tanzania’s Livestock Sector

As the sun sets, its golden hues piece through the dusty haze, creating a dazzling display when a herd of livestock lazily roams on the arid landscape as they return home from grazing. Dressed in shiny red robes, the youthful Maasai pastoralists routinely whistle as they steer cattle, goats and sheep to maintain a unified path.

How Vote Reflects Farmers’ View on India’s BJP’s Agrarian Policy Amid Climate Change

On June 4, Ram Das, a 65-year-old farmer from India’s northern state of Haryana, was anxiously waiting for the results of the country’s general elections. It was early morning when he left his home and, along with his fellow villagers, congregated near a tea stall that had a transistor set playing the election results.

UAE Complicit in Sudan Slaughter

Sudan is the scene of unimaginable suffering. As war between army and militia continues, civilians are paying the highest price. Both sides are killing non-combatants and committing gross human rights crimes.

Lebanon’s Deep Healthcare Crisis Exposed through Communicable Diseases

This summer is bringing an additional challenge to the public health front in Lebanon, along with higher-than-normal temperatures.

Emergence of a New Proletariat

Immigrants are essential to Europe’s economic survival. They are needed for doing the jobs that most Europeans no longer want to do. Jobs that involve manual labor in agriculture and industry; or providing home help, care for the elderly; or working un-social hours in the catering business.

Pandemic’s ‘Silver Lining’ for Caribbean Was the Use of Technology

Global South countries did get one benefit from the COVID-19 pandemic. A professor at St. George’s University in Grenada describes it as the pandemic’s “silver lining." He was referring to the widespread use of next-generation genomic sequencing technology to identify, track, and trace the numerous variants of the Sars Cov-2 virus. Researchers and scientists in the Caribbean, Africa, and elsewhere have been eagerly harnessing genomic sequencing technology to develop resilience and greater self-sufficiency in numerous fields, ranging from health surveillance to agriculture and beyond.

Mayurbhanj Kai Chutney: From Forests to Global Food Tables

On a scorching May morning, Gajendra Madhei, a farmer from Mamudiya village, arrives at the local bazaar in Udula, a town in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district. He displays freshly caught red weaver ants, known locally as kai pimpudi, in the bustling tribal market. Thanks to the recent recognition of Mayurbhanj's Kai chutney, or red weaver ant chutney, with a Geographical Indication (GI) tag awarded in January, his business of selling the raw ants has seen a significant surge in profitability.

UNICEF Director of Global Communication and Advocacy Naysán Sahba visits Zambia

 

 
In Zambia, over 6.5 million people need humanitarian assistance because of the drought. 3.5 million of them are children.

Kashmir Frontier Woman Leads the Way in Breaking Down Patriarchy

Smelling the toxic smoke coming from burned powder kegs and helplessly watching fields turn into smoke and ash is traumatic. Rushing to the government's safe houses and leaving your homes, belongings and cattle behind whenever the armies of India and Pakistan trade fire is inexplicable. Then came climate-change-induced weather unpredictability. 

Women Warriors Winning Fight to Bring Back Indigenous Food Traditions

As the school lunch bell goes off, 40 eager little bodies—41 if you count the school dog—burst out onto the veranda. Awaiting them are a stack of steel platters, into which will be ladled a nutritious and delicious lunch, all of it indigenous cuisine.

The World Bank Must Double Its Fund for the Poorest Nations like Mine to Tackle Hunger Crisis

After El Niño-induced floods and devastating drought, roughly two in five people in Malawi – a country of some 20 million people – are now facing the looming prospect of acute hunger by the end of the year.

Unveiling the “Dark Matter” of Food, Diets and Biodiversity

This year, bee pollen has become a trendy superfood thanks to a wide range of potential benefits. Last year, sea moss led the superfood trends. Before that, it was turmeric.

Transforming African Food Systems from the Ground Up

All news is local, they say. The same is true of innovations—those many new technologies, policies, and practices that steadily stream from research to enhance our lives.

Land Grabs Squeeze Rural Poor Worldwide

Since 2008, farmland acquisitions have doubled prices worldwide, squeezing family farmers and other poor rural communities. Such land grabs are worsening inequality, poverty, and food insecurity.

A River’s Contrasts and Inequalities in the Arid Lands of Brazil

Osmir da Silva Rubez refuses to join the drip system, and is the only one among the 51 families living in the Mandacaru Public Irrigation Project in Juazeiro, a municipality in the state of Bahia, in the Northeast region of Brazil, to maintain the furrows that carry water to their crops.