Harvests of Development in Rural Africa: The Millennium Villages After Three Years

The Millennium Villages Project was piloted in Kenya and Ethiopia in 2005. The goal is to show how an integrated approach to community-level development can translate the international MDG agreements into ground-level breakthroughs throughout rural sub-Saharan Africa. The Millennium Villages Project is a ten-year initiative and involves community-led delivery of interventions for agriculture, education, health, [...]

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Agric SA allies with military

A total of 650 soldiers were recently deployed to protect the Mozambican and Zimbabwean borders. Farmers had raised their concerns about crime on their farms as a result of unprotected borders. Pretoria News, Tuesday, May 25, 2010 (Page:05)

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Farming from the ground up

Agricultural researchers throughout Africa are using the latest technology to develop a digital map showing the properties of soil across the continent. Farmers will be able to get detailed information on soil fertility in their area. The data will available on the internet and accessible from mobile phones. The project is part of an international [...]

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Destroying the World’s Peasantry? Criticism of Agricultural Investment principles

The World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Secretariat recently presented seven “Principles for Responsible Agricultural Investment” (from FAO, IFAD and UNCTAD) try to make sure that large-scale land investments result in “win-win” situations, benefiting investors [...]

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Dairy Goats in Ethiopia

The central objective of FARM AFRICA’S Dairy Goat Development Programme is to increase rural incomes and the stability of those incomes in the highlands of Ethiopia by improving the productivity of goats managed by women in the areas of poor arable crop production and high population pressure. Read more here.

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Africa and Brazil to collaborate on agricultural research

Brasilia: The Africa-Brazil Agricultural Innovation Marketplace — a collaboration initiative between the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the Brazilian Organisation for Agricultural Research (Embrapa) was launched on 10 May at Embrapa´s headquarter in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia. The launch was part of the Brazil-Africa Dialogue on Food Security, Combating Hunger, and Rural Development [...]

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Farmers desperate as virus ravages cassava crops

Kampala: Brown streak virus — named for the marks it leaves on the plant stem — is now ravaging cassava crops in a great swath around Lake Victoria, threatening millions of East Africans who grow the tuber as their staple food. Dr. Fauquet fears brown streak will cross the Congo Basin to Nigeria, the world’s [...]

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East and West Africa in 10-year research on food security

Nairobi: East Africa and West Africa have been earmarked for a global research programme that seeks to strike a balance between food production and environment conservation. The programme will bring together different scientists and research institutions from all over the world to tackle the three issues that are of global concern. Read more here.

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Second Green Revolution taking root in Africa

Washington: A second Green Revolution is starting to take root in Africa, says Cameroon-born agriculture specialist Dr A. Namanga Ngongi. Speaking to the Symposium on Global Agriculture and Food Security in Washington on 20 May Ngongi, who is president of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), said African farmers must take a [...]

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Why crises persist in West Africa

Abuja: According to Dr Aliyu Idi Hong, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, the Nigerian Federal Government links the unabated food, energy and financial crises in the ECOWAS sub-region to haphazard implementation of agreements reached by member states. Hong said the haphazard implementation of the 1979 ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Goods and [...]

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