Agriculture

share

Afghanistan's superhero: mobile phones fight crime, liberate women and enrich the poor

As Afghanistan’s leading telecommunications provider, Roshan’s mobile phone service is transforming security, information sharing and entrepreneurship in the world’s second most corrupt country.

share

TV makeover show shapes up East African agricultural economies

Edutainment company Mediae's latest recipe to revive rural livelihoods in Kenya mixes agricultural education and reality TV, with a pinch of celebrity and a dash of drama.

A child squeezes the last bit of Medika Mamba ("Peanut Butter Medicine") out of its wrapper. Photo: <a href="http://mfkhaiti.org/">Meds and Food for Kids.</a>

share

'The only sustainable way to improve poverty is to educate and employ': 8 questions for Patricia Wolff

Over 23 years volunteering in Haiti, Dr. Patricia Wolff has seen the hemisphere's poorest country at its most hopeful and in its deepest despair.

Drawing from Indonesia's rich cultural heritage, HONF marries art and technology in search of development solutions <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kkseema/1378851855/ ">Seema Krishnakumar</a>

share

Applied art: How a few of Indonesia's creative pros are helping fix poverty

Who said art wasn’t an exact science? In Indonesia, an artists' collaborative is driving innovative technological solutions to some of the most difficult issues facing developing nations.

Those mangroves aren't just nice-looking - they could be delivering serious value to nearby farms just by staying put. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aramisfirefly/3306656930/in/photostream/">Matthew Stewart (Flickr)</a>

share

10 African countries will put a price on 'natural capital'

A plot of mangroves could be harvested for $850, then the land sold for $9,000 to a shrimp farmer. Or, alternatively, it could stay standing and offer $16,000 worth of flood protection to everyone nearby.

Incorporating native plants could revitalize the agriculture, nutrition and economy of Malawi. Photo: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/cimmyt/7290577556/in/photostream/”>CIMMYT (Flickr)</a>

share

Value Chains

The problem with Malawi's state-subsidized maize surplus: Nutrition

Malawi is fixated on maize, but Kristof and Stacia Nordin aim to change that. They say native crops would bring variety and abundance to the monotonous Malawian diet.

Small-scale farmers in Afghanistan benifit from a joint financing program administered by USAID and Development Associates International. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/dfid/573327368">UK Department for International Development (flickr)</a>

share

Loans without banks: Afghan farmers and USAID cut the middlemen out of finance

Small-scale farmers in Afghanistan, considered "high-risk" borrowers, are finally getting the credit they need to buy good seeds and equipment, but not from traditional banks.

One-third of all food produced for human consumption never makes it to the table. Photo: <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/sunnyshine80/5042513304/sizes/m/in/photostream/">SSTUDIO Samuel Bietenholz (Flickr)</a>.

share

Why agricultural research should not end with the harvest

This article was republished on The Christian Science Monitor.

We've got plenty of wheat. A new UN report says agricultural investments shouldn't prioritize yield over quality. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinlabar/152693541/sizes/z/in/photostream/">Photo: Martin LaBar (Flickr)</a>

share

Food quality is more important than quantity, UN says

When it comes to global food security, more doesn't always mean better.

The World Bank is accused of helping foreign companies to purchase productive land in Africa and Asia. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/planeteavendre/5505956967/in/photostream/">Planète à Vendre (Flickr)</a>

share

Groups claim World Bank aids land grabs

Development aid is meant to support marginalized populations. But sometimes that aid can hurt the very people it was intended to help.

share

Mercy Corps responds to U.S. Farm Bill reforms

Last Friday, Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich) and Ranking Member Pat Roberts (R-Kan) presented a draft Farm Bill to the Senate Agriculture Committee.

A crowded market in Dhaka, Bangaldesh. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ifpri/4860343116/"> IFPRI</a>

share

How to make population growth work for Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is getting bigger. But despite warnings from neo-Malthusian alarmists, population growth—if managed correctly—could be the key to unlocking Africa’s economic potential.

Failure to adapt to global climate change led to unrest across the Arab World. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/6argoo3a/6253592631/sizes/m/in/photostream/">Saleem-Homsi (Flickr)</a>

share

How climate change puts the heat on governments

Incompetent, unjust governance by some of the Middle East’s worst despots brewed a recipe for disaster before the Arab Spring, but it took climate change to turn up the heat.

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange helps farmers know what their crops are worth, and earn a fair price. Photo by Erin Gray/Mercy Corps.

share

Ethiopia's Commodity Exchange fights hunger through fair prices

"If more and better information within agricultural markets can make uncertainty recede like darkness in front of a candle, the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange is a bank of high-powered floodlights," writes Tate Watkins in GOOD magazine.