Posts Tagged ‘markets’

Jul03

What Works: Using Technology to Give Farmers Better Information

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By Jeffrey Lamoureux

For a farmer good information is time sensitive. Good information must move quickly and freely to reach those who rely on it when they make decisions. Digital technologies have revolutionized the way information travels worldwide, and the increasing availability of the mobile phone in particular is allowing better information to reach greater numbers of people than ever before. Several innovative programs are demonstrating the immense impact that simplest asset—timely and accurate information—can have on farmer’s livelihoods.

Better information allows farmers to make better decisions (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

The Ethiopia Commodity Exchange (ECX) was founded in 2008 to be a clearinghouse for the country’s agricultural commodities. Comprised of a central trading floor in the capital, Addis Ababa, and regional warehouses across the country, the ECX is able to provide farmers with up-to-the-minute price information. Trades are conducted and recorded digitally, allowing instantaneous communication of prices. When a farmer delivers a harvest to the ECX’s warehouses they know they are getting the right price for it. Additionally, the ECX’s modern facilities help minimize post-harvest losses from rotting. The ECX and its founder, Eleni Gabre-Madhin, were featured in a PBS documentary following the initial days of the exchange’s life.

While the ECX is streamlining the market, in Kenya techies have been developing mobile applications to help farmers manage their land and animals. They are building on the success and popularity of the mobile banking application M-PESA, a service that allows anyone with a cell phone to transfer money domestically. The best known of these is iCow, an application that helps farmers manage their herds. The application allows farmers to register their cows, allowing them to receive individualized messages reminding them of their cow’s gestation and feeding schedules. It sends updated market prices and best practices advice, and keeps a database of experts for consultation.

In Turkey, the Agricultural Directorate is utilizing the ubiquity of cell phones to distribute critical pest and weather information to farmers. Utilizing data gleaned from meteorological stations around the country, the Directorate sends text message alerts to farmers before peak pest season and before an oncoming frost. This has allowed farmer’s to reduce the number of pesticides applied each year, and to take preventative measures to protect their crops from frost.

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Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Development, Economy, Farmers, Innovation, Sustainable, Technology

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Sep19

In one of Uganda’s poorest villages, new farming techniques help villagers raise incomes and spirits

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By Graham Salinger              

Katine is one of the poorest villages in the district of Soroti, in north eastern Uganda. For the 25,000 people living in Katine, their livelihood depends on cultivating cassava, ground nuts, millet, and sweet potatoes. Many farmers are not growing enough crops to sell and can’t afford to spend money on education or medication.

AMREF is providing farmers in Uganda with the right tools to improve their livelihoods. (Photo credit: AMREF)

In 2007, The African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) partnered with the Guardian newspaper  and Barclays Bank to establish a four year long project aimed at improving the overall livelihood of villagers in Katine. When the project began, malaria was responsible for nearly a quarter of deaths in the village, and 57.7 percent of children under five had malaria. And most villagers did not have enough money to get health services or buy malaria medication. Malnutrition and stunted growth were also common—most villagers ate only one meal a day and their diets lacked protein. Food insecurity also impacted education—because many students had to leave school to help their family farm or take care of siblings while their parents farmed, the dropout rate was 19 percent for boys and 22 percent for girls.

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Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Africa, Agriculture, Cooperatives, disease, Disease Prevention, Drought, Economy, Education, Farmers, Farmers Groups, Food, Food Security, Markets, Nutrition, Technology, Training

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Sep02

Small Farmers, Big Change

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By Jessica Jones-Hughes

Jessica Jones-Hughes is part of Oke USA Fruit Company, a fair trade fruit company importing bananas to the North American market. Oke USA is a part of Equal Exchange, a Fairtrade worker-owned, cooperative headquartered in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Equal Exchange distributes organic, gourmet coffee, tea, sugar, cocoa, and chocolate bars produced by farmer cooperatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

Equal Exchange has created big change since 1986. The co-founders looked around and saw a food system dominated by multinationals, plantations, monocultures, and unfair treatment of the very producers and workers who worked to grow our food. Despite this downstream reality, they chose to turn and walk upstream. They envisioned a food system that empowers farmers and consumers, supports small farmer co-ops, and uses sustainable farming methods. They started with fairly traded coffee from Nicaragua and didn’t look back.

Oke USA and Equal Exchange are building long-term relationships with farmers. (Photo credit: Equal Exchange)

Today, Equal Exchange continues to find new and powerful ways to build a better food system. Equal Exchange now partners with cooperatives of farmers who provide high-quality organic coffees, teas, chocolates, bananas and snacks from all over the world. One hundred percent of Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting 39 small farmer cooperatives in 19 countries. In keeping with its Fair Trade mission, Equal Exchange is a worker cooperative, owned and democratically controlled by its employees.

In 2005, Equal Exchange started working with bananas. If you think coffee has played a nefarious role in many of the countries where it’s grown, try taking a college course on Latin American history without reading about the harsh realities of the “Banana Republics.” Oke USA Fruit Company emerged with the goal of providing choice to consumers, allowing them to purchase sustainably grown, fairly traded bananas.

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Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Cooperatives, Farmers, Farmers Groups, Markets, Trade

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Aug30

New report urges the government to invest in farmers markets

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By Graham Salinger 

Every economist knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but if you buy the ingredients for your lunch–or breakfast or dinner–at a farmers market you could help provide a much needed boost to the economy.

Investing in farmers' markets could help boost the economy, according to this new report. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

A  report by the Union  for Concerned Scientists  stresses the importance of farmers markets in generating local revenue and creating jobs and identifies a number of steps the federal government should take to encourage the growth of farmers markets.  While the number of farmers markets nationwide more than doubled between 2000 and 2010 from 2,863 to 6,132, the report’s author, Jeffrey O’Hara, argues that more government resources could be used to support farmers markets. “On the whole, farmers markets have seen exceptional growth, providing local communities with fresh food direct from the farm,” O’Hara points out. “The fact that farmers are selling directly to the people who live nearby means that sales revenue stays local. That helps stabilize local economies,” explains O’Hara.

But If the government is going to make good on Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s request  to help provide entrepreneurial training and support for farmers markets in efforts to get 100,000 Americans to become farmers by next year, the government is going to need to use the 2012 Farm Bill to prioritize funding for farmers markets.  Last year the USDA spent nearly $14 billion in commodity, crop insurance, and supplemental disaster assistance payments to support industrial agriculture, while less than $100 million was spent on supporting local food producers.

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Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Agriculture, Economy, Farmers, Food Security, Funding, Income, Investment, Policy

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Aug17

Cultivating Knowledge and Crops: Women Are Key to Sustainable Agricultural Development

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Women account for 75 percent of the agricultural producers in sub-Saharan Africa, but the majority of women farmers are living on only $1.25 per day, according to researchers from the Worldwatch Institute. “The lack of access to information technology and the inability to connect rural enterprises to banks can prevent women from obtaining vital financial services,” said Danielle Nierenberg, director of the Institute’s Nourishing the Planet project.

Although women represent a large percentage of farmers worldwide, they still lack many important extension services. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

Despite the challenging circumstances that women in developing countries face, important innovations in communications and organizing are helping women play a key role in the fight against hunger and poverty. “Access to credit, which provides women farmers with productive inputs and improved technologies, can be an effective tool in improving livelihoods in Africa and beyond,” said Worldwatch Institute’s executive director Robert Engelman.

Worldwatch researchers traveled to 25 countries across sub-Saharan Africa to meet with more than 350 farmers groups, NGOs, government agencies, and scientists, highlighting innovations, such as better extension and communication services, that are helping farmers improve their livelihoods. The findings are documented in the recently released report, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet.

Nourishing the Planet highlights four innovations that can strengthen women’s agricultural capacity: providing microfinance credit, providing access to the global market, providing extension services, and providing organizational support to women’s projects.  (more…)

Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Africa, Agriculture, Extension, Farmers, Nourishing the Planet, Research, State of the World 2011, sub-Saharan Africa, Women

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May02

What Politicians Must Do To Boost Agriculture in SA

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Nourishing the Planet was recently featured in South Africa’s Sunday Independent. In the article, we suggest four agricultural recommendations that South African policy makers should include in their agendas.

The recommendations include scaling up such innovations as urban agriculture, improving farmers’ access to markets and increasing biodiversity. These agricultural practices, already working in sub-Saharan Africa, can help reduce food insecurity, while also building an equitable and environmentally sustainable economy.

As policymakers come together for the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) later this year, agriculture can be a crucial sector that can help achieve our collective environmental goals, as long as it is given the attention it deserves.

As the host of the conference, South Africa is already showing its commitment to the environment, but there is also room for growth. To the South African government, we present 4 innovations that are working in South Africa, but that can be scaled up to boost agricultural development:

Feeding our Cities. The U.N. estimates that more than 70 percent of the global population will live in cities by 2050, putting a strain on food security in urban areas. But urban agriculture projects are becoming a viable solution for feeding city dwellers, and they need support from the South African government. As Cape Town’s population expands, residents are relying on the Philippi Horticulture Area (PHA) to grow fresh produce to feed their families. The city government, however, is planning to buy up pieces of that farmland, threatening the livelihoods of urban farmers. Nazeer Ahmed Sonday, a businessman-turned-farmer, founded the Schaapkraal Developing Farmers Association, to help struggling farmers, and to protect the remaining farmland and the natural resources that they depend on. (more…)

Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Africa, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Economy, Environment, Farmers, Food Security, Hunger, Nourishing the Planet in the News, Poverty, South Africa, State of the World 2011, sub-Saharan Africa, Sustainable, Urban Farming

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Apr30

Contemplating the State of Sustainable Agriculture

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This article in SmartPlanet contemplates the future of sustainable agriculture and discusses a number of recent initiatives and research led by individuals and organizations.

Smart-Planet-Danielle-Nierenberg-National-Resources-Defense-Council-Growing-Green-Mark-Bittman-Olivier-de-Schutter-United-Nations-State-of-the-World-2011The National Resources Defense Council’s Growing Green Awards celebrates pioneers and community leaders across the United States who are helping to build a healthier, more sustainable food system. These include organizations, such as EarthDance Farms in Missouri, that are teaching young leaders about the benefits of organic farming and community activists who are working to introduce salad bars in school cafeterias.

And according to the United Nations report Agro-ecology and the Right to Food by Olivier de Schutter, State of the World 2011 contributing author, sustainable agriculture is capable of feeding our growing planet.

The article also mentions State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, where we focus on local and indigenous food as a means of strengthening self-sufficiency and protecting vulnerable populations against high food prices. According to Danielle Nierenberg, Nourishing the Planet co-project director, “The solutions to the price crisis won’t necessarily come from producing more food, but from listening to farmers, investing in indigenous vegetables and changing how foods are processed and marketed.”

Listening to farmers and helping them identify what works, reducing food waste, efficiently managing precious water resources, and harnessing the skills of women farmers can help us build a more food-secure future.

To purchase State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet please click HERE. And to watch the one minute book trailer, click HERE.

Posted by Nourishing the Planet in Africa, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conservation, Development, Environment, Farmers, Food Security, Indigenous Vegetables, Markets, State of the World 2011, Sustainable

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Jan17

Challenging Convention: The Sanjukta Vikas Cooperative in Darjeeling, India

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By Dan Kane

Darjeeling tea is considered to be among the finest in the world and is often referred to as the “Champagne of Teas.” Much like the French wine, Darjeeling tea cannot be grown anywhere else because the soil and climate conditions there give it a unique flavor.

Farmers in the Sanjukta Vikas Cooperative use the profits made by selling tea to reinvest in the community. (Photo credit: Ida C. Benedetto)

But despite the tea’s reputation for fine flavor, the Darjeeling tea industry has a history that’s far less pristine.

In 2010, negotiations between the state government, plantation owners, and plantation trade unions set the wage for tea laborers at Rs. 63 a day, or less than $1.50 USD. Even those plantations labeled as Fair Trade by the Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO) and receive a premium price for their product rarely pass on these profits to laborers.

The majority of tea laborers are women, who pick all the leaves by hand, leaving them little opportunity to pursue other work. Families often remain on a plantation for generations, unable to earn enough money to leave; and children often start work at a young age, forgoing school to help the family make ends meet.

In addition, conventional tea plantations often use heavy amounts of pesticides, putting workers at risk. The recent documentary “The Bitter Taste of Tea,” found that many workers aren’t given working  safety equipment and that they often experience serious health problems related to chemical exposure. (more…)

Posted by Danielle Nierenberg in Africa, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Diet, Economy, Food, Food Security, Health, Hunger, Income

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Dec10

Where Cultivation Meets Conflict: Farming in Sudan’s War-torn Darfur Region

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By Abisola Adekoya

This is part one of a three part blog series on farming in conflict zones.

Producing enough food to satisfy domestic markets is a challenge that countries throughout Sub-Saharan Africa face. But for places in Africa where conflict and war prevail, the threat of hunger and malnutrition is particularly acute. For many, the biggest obstacle is accessibility, as internal conflict often limits a farmer’s ability to get her products to market. When this occurs, vulnerable and marginalized groups often suffer the most.

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Farmers in Sudan face many challenges, but investments in rural agriculture are paying off (Source: UAE)

This is just one of the issues that exacerbate food insecurity in Sudan’s Darfur region, where farmers are often placed in direct conflict with militias groups over access to water and farm land. As the United Nations media service has observed, “The conflict pits farming communities against nomads who have aligned themselves with the militia groups – for whom the raids are a way of life – in stiff competition for land and resources. The militias, known as the Janjaweed, attack in large numbers on horseback and camels and are driving the farmers from their land, often pushing them towards town centers.” (more…)

Posted by Danielle Nierenberg in Agriculture, Conflict, Conservation, Development, Food, Food Security, Hunger, Income, Nutrition

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Nov18

Urban Farming for Bangalore’s Future

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By Matt Styslinger

According to the United Nations, urbanization is unstoppable. Today, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and by 2050, 70 percent of humanity will live in cities. As farmland gives way to urban expansion and farmers abandon their posts for urban livelihoods, feeding the cities in an overpopulated world is a growing challenge. One way to bring food security into cities, and at the same time minimize costs and resource consumption, is to bring farming to the concrete jungle.

Urban/ peri-urban agriculture could be strategic in ensuring food security for the world’s growing metropolises. (Photo credit: Bernard Pollack)

An international network known as Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) is trying to do just that. The central aim of RUAF is to reduce urban poverty and improve food security and environmental management through urban farming. RUAF cooperates with local governments, NGOs, universities, farmers’ organizations, and private enterprises. It emphasizes capacity building among these groups through the formulation of supportive policy, networking and information sharing, and training to promote thriving agriculture markets in and around cities.  RUAF is active in 20 cities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. (more…)

Posted by Molly Theobald in Agriculture, Development, Diet, Food, Food Security, Funding, Hunger, Income

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