March 2019

Sustainable livestock for development

March 25th, 2019 / Why livestock matter

Livestock are critical for sustainable development yet often overlooked. The world’s cows, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry and other farm animals are the mainstay of livelihoods across the developing world. And the energy and nutrient-dense milk, meat and eggs these animals produce provide hundreds of millions of families in the world’s poorer …

How to boost local fertiliser production

March 25th, 2019 / The Nation, Nigeria

At an average of 12 kilogrammes per hectare, fertiliser usage in Nigeria and other African countries have been considered low, compared to the global average of 100 kilogrammes per hectare. But, prompted by Africa’s fast-growing population, as well as the increasing awareness that high quality fertiliser is key to increased …

Livestock feeding a key factor in gainful farming

March 25th, 2019 / Daily Monitor, Uganda

B4FA Fellow Michael Ssali writes:

Livestock keeping is an enterprise whose main objective is to get profit at the end of the day. Much as we raise animals for our own benefit, they have rights such as the right to adequate, good, clean food. It would be unfair for us to keep …

Why African farmers must consider drought tolerant crops

March 25th, 2019 / Africa.com

The latest UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s annual Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition Report highlighted drought as one of the key factors contributing to the continuing rise in the number of hungry people in sub-Saharan Africa. And in South Africa, the Government’s Crop Estimates Committee announced that the country …

International project working to beat wheat rust

March 25th, 2019 / Weekly Times, Australia

A JOINT venture project between the CSIRO and a US foundation has had recent success with a field trial of a wheat variety stacked with five wheat rust resistance genes.

The collaboration between CSIRO and the University of Minnesota known as 2Blades has recently demonstrated strong field resistance to stem rust …

Climate change threatens to poison the food supply of some of the world’s poorest people

March 25th, 2019 / Independent, UK

The alarm was raised by Professor Jacqueline McGlade, a former chief scientist at the United Nations Environment Programme, at a Gresham College lecture in London.

Her interest in the problem was first roused when reports emerged from Ethiopiaof impoverished farmers and their animals dying in mysterious circumstances.

The country was in the grip …

How good urban farming can combat bad eating

March 18th, 2019 / African Arguments

Unhealthy diets pose a bigger global health risk than unsafe sex, alcohol, drug and tobacco use combined. This is according a new report that estimates 820 million people are underfed and that many more consume low-quality diets that substantially increase the risks of cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.

To combat these problems, …

African farmers want GMO seeds to help weather climate change

March 18th, 2019 / Genetic Literacy Project, US

It’s an old proverb in these lands that since man has learned to shoot without missing, birds have learned to fly without perching — and the same is true with farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

As climate change becomes more of a reality, bringing uneven seasons, longer droughts and heavy rains …

Is agribusiness the problem or the solution?

March 18th, 2019 / Africa.com

For two centuries, all too many discussions about hunger and resource scarcity has been haunted by the ghost of Parson Thomas Malthus. Malthus warned that rising populations would exhaust resources, especially those needed for food production. Exponential population growth would outstrip food output.

Humanity now faces a major challenge as global …

Let’s make farming attractive to youths

March 18th, 2019 / The Sunday Mail, Zimbabwe

We need to realise that if Zimbabwe is ever to address the perennial food-related challenges such as food insecurity, malnutrition, and increasing food prices, in a sustainable manner, there is urgent need to make sure that more and younger people are incentivised to go into farming and remain there. Read …

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