November 11, 2009
Africa: U.S. Peace Corps to Bring New Focus to Food Security
The Obama administration earlier this year named a former United States Peace Corps volunteer, Aaron S. Williams, as the program's new director. The Peace Corps, which will soon… Read more »
November 03, 2009
Zimbabwe: Cultivating Food Security in the City
In recent years Zimbabweans have faced severe food shortages and staggering hyperinflation. As a result, residents in the capital, Harare, have increasingly turned to urban… Read more »
East Africa: Saving Lives, Securing Livelihoods
Mount Kenya rises majestically from the Kenyan landscape, dwarfing all around it, a magisterial monument. The mountain is a fertile giant, but this year it became a killing field… Read more »
November 02, 2009
Africa: Food for Thought on Food Security
This year, the world will witness a new record, albeit a devastating one: for the first time in our history, over one billion people in the world suffer from daily hunger.… Read more »
November 01, 2009
Kenya: Widows Support Themselves Selling Maize to World Food Programme
Widows are often looked down on and pitied in Kenya. But the widows in the village of Angata Barakoi in the Transmara area of Kenya were determined to help each other and make a… Read more »
Africa: Trees Can Increase Farm Yields and Transform Agriculture Says Agroforestry Group
Headquartered in Nairobi Kenya and working across sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in Latin America and Asia, the World Agroforestry Centre aims to enhance soil fertility and the… Read more »
October 31, 2009
Niger: Tree Planting Heroine Helps Reclaim the Desert
Sakina Mati is a farmer and community leader in the village of Guidan Batoye, in the Maradi Region of Niger. She began to manage the regeneration of useful trees on her fields 15… Read more »
Burkina Faso: New Farming Technique Brings Trees Back to the Sahel
Yacouba Savadogo is a farmer, community leader and natural resource innovator from the village of Gourma, in the Yatenga Province of Burkina Faso. Yacouba began to experiment with… Read more »
Africa: Women Are Behind 80 Percent of Continent's Food Production
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) considers gender mainstreaming, or involving women in farming development efforts, an essential component of its efforts… Read more »
South Africa: Snapshot Descriptions of Woman Farmers
Below are snapshots of some of South Africa's successful women farmers. All of them are recent winners of a female farmer competition run by provincial departments of agriculture,… Read more »
South Africa: Women Farmers Play Vital Role in Food Security
In South Africa's not-too-distant past, the image of a commercial farmer usually brought to mind middle-aged white men in short pants or, in a few cases, black farmers struggling… Read more »
October 30, 2009
South Africa: Land Reform Moves Slowly in Post-Apartheid Era
Land reform has always been a popular part of political rhetoric for a democratic South Africa, but agrarian transformation has not been realized in the post-apartheid era. The… Read more »
South Africa: Critics Welcome Rejection of Genetically Altered Potato
The recent rejection of a permit application for the general release in South Africa of a potato that has been genetically altered has received a standing ovation from the African… Read more »
South Africa: New Potatoes - Blessing Or Curse?
The debate around genetically modified (GM) crops in South Africa has flared up once again after the rejection of a permit application for the general release of the SpuntaG2, a… Read more »
Africa: FAO Launches Key Land Initiatives
People's rights to work the land – an indispensable pre-condition for food security in Africa – are the subject of two key initiatives by international agencies working… Read more »
South Africa: Urban Subsistence Farmers Spread Wings
A project which began as an effort to empower citizens of Cape Town's poorest neighbourhoods to grow their own food has mushroomed into a scheme for selling vegetables for the… Read more »
Mauritania: Desert Locusts Threaten Region
A potentially serious infestation of desert locusts has broken out in Mauritania, but experts are hopeful that quickly implemented countermeasures will prevent a repeat of… Read more »
October 29, 2009
Africa: Digital Soil Mapping Helps Continent's Farmers
Digital mapping has been used in the West to ascertain soil variation and help determine why some crops perform better than others in particular regions. In Africa, digital… Read more »
Africa: Food Crisis Forces Changes on GM Crops
Daniel Mataruka is director of the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF) in Nairobi. The non-profit organization aims to improve the lives and agricultural output of… Read more »
Africa: Agriculture Group Finds Targeting Women Improves Food Security, Family Incomes
Gender inequalities are a key impediment to achieving food security in many households in sub-Saharan Africa. Although women do most of the farming on the continent, growing an… Read more »
October 27, 2009
Liberia: Post-War Farmers Persevere Amid Multiple Challenges
Nathaniel Ziayee and his family live in a single-room hut built with mud bricks and palm branches, held firmly together by sticks cut from the bushes that surround their small… Read more »
Africa: Green Revolution Requires Supporting Farmers, Says Agriculture Expert
Akin Adesina, vice president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (Agra), talked to AllAfrica about the work of the young, Nairobi-based institution and how its… Read more »
October 26, 2009
Liberia: Displaced by War, Families Grow Own Food
"The cassava we are eating today is from that small garden you see over there," said Hayford Quaye, a 50-year-old father of four. His cassava garden was planted just behind a large… Read more »
October 15, 2009
Africa: 'Greener' Green Revolution the Aim of New Gates Foundation Grants
In advance of World Food Day, marked on 16 October every year, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a total of $120 million in grants for nine agricultural projects.… Read more »
Africa: Green Revolution Alliance to Form Agriculture Policy Hubs
The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is getting U.S. $15 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support policy innovations and implementation to… Read more »