Subsistence Agriculture

Climate Change Makes Life Tougher for Solomon Island Farmers

By Catherine Wilson
Life is difficult enough for communities on the remote southern Weather Coast of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.  Sustaining a livelihood from the land is a daily struggle on the steep coastal mountain slopes that plunge to the sea, made worse by the absence of adequate roads, transport and government services. And now, climate change is taking its toll on the already precarious food situation here.

Youth Find a Future in Food Production

By Catherine Wilson
With little more than a bush knife and an axe between them, a group of young boys between the ages of nine and 18 years have taken food security into their own hands. In Kindu, a community of 5,000 people in the coastal urban area of Munda in the Solomon Islands, these boys, who have been abandoned by their parents, have transformed their lives by establishing a cooperatively run farm.
An organic farm in the village of Swierze Panki, about 100 kilometres east of the Polish capital Warsaw. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu/IPS

Feed Europe, Feed the World

By Claudia Ciobanu
A huge moment for reform of the industrial farming system in Europe has many stakeholders on edge. Farmers who are feeling the crunch of rising input costs – from fertilisers to fuel – believe they can benefit greatly from a transition to more traditional and sustainable farming methods.

Food Security and the Failure of Mechanisation in DRC

By Donat Muamba
Mechanisation was expected to transform agriculture in the Democratic Republic of Congo's central province of East Kasaï. But a project to offer tractors for ploughing land has fallen flat.

Agriculture Key to Liberia’s Youth Unemployment Challenge

By Travis Lupick
With his gold chain, baseball cap, and baggy denim shorts, Junior Toe wears the uniform of Liberia’s urban youth. Spend just a few minutes with the young man and it is evident that he possesses the street smarts to match the look.

Family Planning and Subsistence Agriculture Key to Food Security

By Catherine Wilson
Papua New Guinea’s high fertility rate is exerting pressure on land and food production in a country where 80 percent of the population lives in rural communities. But the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) argues that traditions of subsistence agriculture provide a firm foundation to build food security for a growing population.