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Thursday, April 18, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Farming Crisis: Filling An Empty Plate
Ebola Outbreak Affects Key Development Areas in Sierra Leone
The outbreak of the deadly Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone has badly affected the West African country’s move towards meeting key development goals.
Uganda Still Grapples with Inadequate Funds to Tackle Climate Change
Until last month, Allen Nambozo's only source of income was the cabbages, carrots and bananas she grew along the slopes of Uganda’s Mount Elgon in the eastern district of Bulambuli.
Sustaining Africa’s Development by Leveraging on Climate Change
By leveraging knowledge about climate change, through adopting improved agriculture technologies and using water and energy more effectively, Africa can accelerate its march towards sustainable development.
Ethiopia Moves in Right Direction with Climate Change Response But Challenges Remain
Ethiopia is widely regarded as an African success story when it comes to economic growth. According to the International Monetary Fund, the country’s economy is growing by seven percent annually. But there are concerns that climate change could jeopardise this growth.
Measuring How Climate Change Affects Africa’s Food Security
For the past 40 years Josephine Kakiyi, 55, has been cultivating maize, beans and vegetables on her small plot of land in the remote area of Kwa Vonza, in Kitui County, eastern Kenya.
Family Farmers Don’t Need Climate-Smart Agriculture
Small farmers can look to options like agroecological intensification and innovation, without necessarily turning to climate-smart agriculture, which is promoted by the United Nations but has awakened doubts among global experts meeting in this Italian city.
Africa Pays the Price of Low Harvests Thanks to Costly Fertilisers
Eherculano Thomas Rice, is pleased to have harvested 40 bags of white maize from his eight-hectare field in Chimoio, in Mozambique's Manica Province. But he knows that his productivity and yield would be higher if he had been able to afford to buy fertiliser to add to his crop.
The Time Has Come for Agroecology
"It is time for a new agricultural model that ensures that enough quality food is produced where it is most needed, that preserves nature and that delivers ecosystem services of local and global relevance" – in a word, it is time for agroecology.
Kenya’s Ogiek Women Conquer Cultural Barriers to Support their Families
Just two years ago, Mary Ondolo, a 50-year-old mother of nine from Kenya’s marginalised, hunter-gatherer community, the Ogiek, used to live in a grass thatched, mud house. She'd been living there for decades.
Uganda’s Youth Discover the Beauty in Farming
Before she entered the Miss Uganda beauty contest, 24-year-old Fiona Nassaka was a farmer.
Africa’s Dividing Farmlands A Threat To Food Security
When Kiprui Kibet pictures his future as a maize farmer in the fertile Uasin Gishu county in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, all he sees is the ever-decreasing plot of land that he has to farm on.
South Sudan’s Hip Hop Artists call for Peace and Reconciliation Through the Unhip Practice of Farming
“What is the benefit when children are crying and people are dying due to hunger? There is no need to cry when you have the potential to dig,” sings Juba-based dancehall reggae group, the Jay Family, in their latest single “Stakal Shedit,” which means “Work Hard” in Arabic.
War Veterans Planting for Peace in South Sudan
Along the fertile banks of sub-Saharan Africa’s White Nile, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile River, a war veteran’s co-op is planting for a food secure future in South Sudan, a country potentially facing famine.
Zambia’s Cash Transfer Schemes Cushion Needy Against Climate Shocks
“Last season, I lost an entire hectare of groundnuts because of a prolonged drought. Groundnuts are my hope for income,” says Josephine Chaaba, 60, from Pemba district in southern Zambia.
Going Back to the Farm in Cuba
Scattered houses amidst small fields of vegetables and other crops line the road to the La China farm on the outskirts of the Cuban capital. This is where Hortensia Martínez works – a mechanical engineer who has been called crazy by many for deciding to become a small farmer.
How Farming is Making Côte d’Ivoire’s Prisoners ‘Feel Like Being Human Again’
François Kouamé, prisoner Number 67, proudly shows off a sow and her four piglets. Dressed in his rubber boots, he passes by two new tractors as he happily makes his way to a field where pretty soon cassava and corn plants will start growing. “Look at those sprouts. It is a lot of work!”
Fish Before Fields to Improve Egypt’s Food Production
Less than four percent of Egypt’s land mass is suitable for agriculture, and most of it confined to the densely populated Nile River Valley and Delta. With the nation’s population of 85 million expected to double by 2050, government officials are grappling with ways of ensuring food security and raising nutritional standards.
Salvadoran Peasant Farmers Clash With U.S. Over Seeds
Under a searing sun, surrounded by a sea of young maize plants, Gladys Cortez expresses her fears that her employment in the cooperative that produces seed for the Salvadoran government may be at risk, if United States companies achieve participation in seed procurement.
Small Farmers’ Loss of Land Increases World Hunger
The world is increasingly hungry because small farmers are losing access to farmland. Small farmers produce most of the world’s food but are now squeezed onto less than 25 percent of the world’s farmland, a new report reveals. Corporate and commercial farms, big biofuel operations and land speculators are pushing millions off their land.
Agroecology Movement Addresses Challenges of Food Security
Agriculture in this Caribbean island is going through its worst moment. Whereas this sector accounted for 71 percent of its gross domestic product in 1914, now it amounts to no more than one percent.
Q&A: Investment and Research Key to Resilient African Agriculture
There is urgent need to increase the proportion of climate finance for adaptation in Africa by increasing public sector budgets for agriculture and exploring partnerships with the private sector.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Today, one in six people on the planet go hungry, according to United Nations statistics. The food crisis and now the global economic crisis, together, have increased the number of undernourished people in the world to more that one billion for the first time since the 1970’s. Much of southern Africa continues to face severe food shortages, largely the result of one of the worst droughts in a decade followed by erratic rains. While the Latin American and Caribbean region as a whole is a net food exporter, food price inflation is still having a detrimental impact on the income, nutrition, and health of poor consumers. Solutions must be carefully crafted in each region, country and community taking into account local priorities. The complex web of issues surrounding food security and rural development include farmers access to markets, the adoption of international trade rules, technology transfer, the sustainable use of limited resources, and the application of traditional knowledge, among others. Establishing a prosperous, sustainable economic future for the world means placing a spotlight on agriculture - and giving a voice to farmers. IPS News is covering the food crisis, its causes and its effects, from both a local and a global perspective.
This website is funded through the support of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
