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Thursday, May 7, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Farming Crisis: Filling An Empty Plate
Farming in Bangladesh Stays Afloat – Literally
With the rains over Gopalganj district intensifying each year and much of Baikantapur village permanently waterlogged, Bijoy Kumar Sen had little choice but to abandon traditional rice farming and grow vegetables on bairas – floating islands built of straw and aquatic plants.
Delivering Promises to Africa’s Smallholder Farmers
Investment in rural infrastructure and support for Africa's millions of small-scale farmers have increased in the past decade. But as these farmers begin to see increased yields, the question of better access to markets comes to the fore.
Urban Agriculture Sprouts in Brazil’s Favelas
You do not need to live in the countryside to grow vegetables, as hundreds of thousands of people involved in urban agriculture from Havana to Buenos Aires know very well. Now they are being joined by residents of Rio de Janeiro’s “favelas”.
Second Chance For an African Green Revolution
As the world searches desperately for ways to boost food production by at least 70 percent by 2050 to feed an increasingly hungry planet, many are looking to Africa as the place where a large part of this potential can be realised, mainly for its huge portion of arable land.Microfinance Brings Hope to Myanmar’s Farmers
After decades of grinding poverty under successive military dictatorships, Myanmar’s rice farmers have a chance at a better future through rural reforms ushered in by the country’s quasi-civilian government. Microfinance is at the root of it.
Women Take up Care of Tohoku Elders
Yumiko Yonekura, who survived last year’s massive earthquake and tsunami that devastated Tohoku in northeast Japan, has just launched ‘Hot Care Kesenuma’, a welfare company that provides special care for feeble elders in the affected region.
Philippines Floods Prompt Climate Action
This year’s floods, one of the worst in Philippine history, destroyed a staggering 57 million dollars worth of crops, pushing this climate vulnerable country to implement disaster risk reduction measures.
“Operation No Back Way to Europe” Keeps Young Farmers at Home in Gambia
Mohamed Ceesay, a 20-year-old farmer from the Central River Region in the Gambia, is a high school dropout. But thanks to an initiative to discourage local youths from emigrating to Europe, he earns almost half the salary of a government minister from his rice harvest.
Study Links Kidney Disease in Sri Lanka’s Farm Belt to Agrochemicals
A new report links the high prevalence of chronic kidney disease in Sri Lanka’s main agricultural production regions with the presence of heavy metals in the water, caused by fertiliser and pesticide use.
Beating the Weather With Sustainable Crops
Narrow, cobblestoned lanes separate the rows of mud houses with cool interiors and mud-smoothened patios, some with goats tethered to the wooden posts. This is Tajpura village, deep in this water-stressed, drought-prone region of northern India.
Livelihoods Drying Up on Malawi’s Lake Chilwa
Fisherfolk and farmers living near Malawi’s second-largest water body, Lake Chilwa, are relocating en masse and scrambling for space around its shores as the lake has dried to dangerously low levels.
Swapping Trash for Fresh Produce in Mexico City
Isabel Becerril has come with some friends to the “barter market” in the Mexican capital, to exchange 40 kgs of recyclable refuse for fresh produce, sweets and plants. “This is the first time I have come here, and I like it,” the university student tells IPS, with her ecological bag in hand.
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.
Pouring Edible Oil on Pakistan’s Troubled Areas
PESHAWAR, Jul 28 2012 (IPS) -Taking turns to lug a heavy can of edible oil, Mushtari and Sheema Gul, twin sisters aged nine, trip home happily from their school in Ghareebabad village in Pakistan’s troubled Bajaur Agency.
Super Cereal For Mali’s Malnourished Children
Millet has become the basic ingredient for an enriched flour at the heart of an effort to establish a local, sustainable response to malnutrition in Mali.
Thai Farmers Fight ‘Global Warming Fines’
Small farmers in the Baan Pra village of Thailand's southern Trang province have been living in anxiety ever since they were slapped with stiff fines by the government in 2006 and ordered to vacate their ancestral lands for ‘contributing to global warming’.
Aquaculture Boosts Papua New Guinea’s Food Security
The vast Sirinumu Reservoir in Central Province which supplies water and electricity to Papua New Guinea (PNG)’s capital, is home to a co-operative of 60 fish farmers who are successfully employing aquaculture to improve local incomes and food security.
Mapping out Climate Change Adaptation Plans on Kenya’s Airwaves
On a Wednesday morning in Mutitu-Andei township in Makueni County, one of Kenya’s driest areas, smallholder farmer Josephine Mutiso tunes into Radio Mang’elete 89.1 FM and listens as meteorological experts discuss the changes in rainfall patterns in the county.
Cuba Develops Crops Adapted to Climate Change
Cabbage, broccoli, carrots, onions and other resistant vegetables are being grown by researchers in Cuba, who for decades have been working to design plants adapted to the tropical conditions in the Caribbean region.Microfinance Gets ‘Divine’ Intervention in India
In a country with a disastrous record for microfinancing, a religious organisation has done well enough to claim this year’s Ashden award for initiatives in providing loans to poor farmers.Biofuels and Hunger, Two Sides of the Same Coin
Despite growing evidence that biofuel production is causing food insecurity around the world, the new European Union policy blueprint on renewable energy ignores the social effects of biofuels. Last week, Guatemalan victims of the food crisis came to Brussels to make European policy makers aware of the problem.« 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).
