Rome, 20 April 2020 - With the COVID-19 pandemic and economic slowdown threatening the lives and livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people, the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today committed US$40 million, and launched an urgent appeal for additional funds, to support farmers and rural communities to continue growing and selling food.

The Malawi Government through the Ministry of Irrigation and Water Development says it is committed to investing in Greenbelt Initiative as one way of transforming the country’s economy.

This is according to Minister responsible Charles Mchacha who was speaking on Saturday after touring the Salima Sugar factory which is a product of Greenbelt Authority.

Mchacha who was accompanied by his Deputy Minister Esther Majaza said Greenbelt has a potential of turning around the economic status of the country hence the need to have serious investors in the sector.

Monrovia — In fulfillment of the Ministry of Agriculture's new vision to shift from subsistence to mechanized farming, Agriculture Minister, Jeanine Milly Cooper, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a local farm, Kpawee Farm, for the use of a power tiller in preparation of the planting season.

The power tiller was among several donated agriculture equipment and implements -dusty with spider web increasing on them -have been kept at the ministry's warehouse off Somalia Drive, now renamed Japan Freeway.

CENTRAL Governor Robert Agarobe is advising villagers to use the state of emergency period to farm their land.
Agarobe called on villagers to concentrate on farming instead of travelling to town to buy sugar and rice which was also putting themselves at risk of being infected by the coronavirus.
He said eating fresh food from the garden was better than buying junk food from the shops.
“It could be a good way too for young people to learn their traditional way of living by making gardens, growing crops and storing them for later use,” he said.

• The social distance at the farms implies that farmers must limit the number of labour force-carrying an activity at a time.

The Institute of Development Studies is gathering short stories that capture the diverse experiences of those who have interacted with the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition Programme (GODAN) and GODAN Action.

If you’ve engaged with GODAN over the last few years – as a network member, a participant on one of their courses or events, or by engaging with their publications, tools and applications – this is your last chance to tell them your story.

• Indigenous communities and human rights NGOs contend that Pluspetrol violated a set of business standards issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
• The complaint, delivered March 11 in the Netherlands, says the company has avoided paying taxes and has failed to address damage to the environment in the Peruvian Amazon caused by its oil-drilling activities through 2015.

For Mimi Pabai, 42, a mother of three, she can now see light at the end of the tunnel with the introduction of the EU-funded Boosting Agriculture and Food Security (BAFS) project in which selected farmers in Bo District are beneficiaries. In the Faala community of the Bo District, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, where she is head of the Gualatima Women’s Cooperative, there are visible signs of the gains brought to her farming activities. “Life was hard when I lost my husband during the January 6, 1999 rebel invasion of Freetown at the climax of the 11-year civil war of Sierra Leone.  I r

Smallholder farmers grow 90% of Nigeria’s food but their crops are vulnerable to ever more extreme weather linked to climate change. New technologies can help

Michael Okorie, 54, wanders through a narrow muggy track on his way to his farm, wagging a cutlass and whistling some local Christian hymns. His tune makes him seem excited, but the expression on his face suggests subdued worries.

In theory, South Africa has strong laws to protect the property ownership and inheritance rights of all women. However, a 2018 study conducted by Bongi Owusu for her master’s dissertation in social science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal found that these laws are often not implemented in rural Zulu-speaking communities. She explains how this prejudices widows in particular.

When a Zulu woman’s husband dies, she is relegated to sitting quietly on a mattress in the corner of a room while other people are allowed to help themselves to her late spouse’s land and other possessions.