Food

A child eats Plumpy'nut in Ethiopia. Photo: Bija Gutoff/Mercy Corps.

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Franchised manufacturing: For social enterprises, an idea worth copying

How do you get poverty-fighting products to the furthest corners of the globe the way that Coca-Cola gets its products there? Use the same strategy, obviously.

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>

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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.

Food aid procured by the World Food Program in Tanzania has injected millions of dollars into the country's economy. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/theroadtothehorizon/2175363898/">Photo: WFP/Tom Haskell (Flickr)</a>

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By shopping local, the UN puts food aid to work for African economies

The benefits of food aid go beyond feeding the hungry.

Social services provided by aid agencies at refugee camps just outside the Myanmar border should not be ended too swiftly, or returning populations won't be ready to access new opportunities that may await them. Photo: Jacqueline M. Koch for Mercy Corps

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Reform in Myanmar brings growth but needs caution

Reforms and investment are opening new doors and promising growth for Myanmar. But what’s exciting for some Burmese and the West brings a downside for many refugees.

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>

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Food quality is more important than quantity, UN says

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

Jeffrey Garten explored the massive shifts taking place in the global economy with an audience at<a href="http://www.mercycorps.org/portland"> Mercy Corps' Action Center</a>. Photo: Kyla Springer/Mercy Corps.

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Yale economist to world: Don't panic. Embrace uncertainty and innovation.

Presented by Jeffrey Garten at Mercy Corps

The world is not ending, and the sky is not falling. But the rise of the global South and East promises to reward the world's most innovative risk-takers.

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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>

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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>

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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.

Wendell Pierce's new chain of grocery stores will bring fresh produce to New Orleans' food deserts. Image: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034361412@N01/558333048/">Rick (Flickr)</a>

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A new take on charity: TV star turns New Orleans grocer

Years after the disaster, people are still turning challenges into opportunities in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward.

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

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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.

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Five clear steps we can take to fight food insecurity

Four years after a global crisis sent food prices soaring, the world continues to struggle with hunger and food price volatility. To combat global hunger, we clearly need a new strategy.

65 million people benefit from U.S. food aid, but key changes to the 2012 Farm Bill could help even more while saving taxpayer dollars. Photo: Kyla Springer.

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As Congress debates, a new report says U.S. food aid is going to waste

A new report is claiming that unnecessary regulations imposed by the U.S. Farm Bill are wasting nearly half a billion dollars per year in taxpayer dollars that could be used to save millions of lives.

Our love affair with morning coffee -- an unexpected weapon in the war on drugs. Photo: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/angela7/2228825069/"> Angela7dreams (Flickr)</a>

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Bolivia's new drug crop of choice: caffeine

As the war on drugs continues to appear futile, the drug that supplants coca’s stranglehold over Bolivian farmers might turn out to be ... coffee.

Eating well isn't only good for you, it's good for the economy, too. Photo: Edgar Putul/Mercy Corps Guatemala

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The world's cheapest path to wealth: Well-fed kids

In a time of global economic crisis, the world is exploring every possible hindrance to economic growth: debt, unemployment, inflation... malnutrition?