By Manjushree Naik MANIPAL, India. 21 August 2023 (IDN) — With India facing the prospect of a grain crisis, the state government of Karnataka in southern India has come up with a novel approach to keep to election promises by giving the poor money to buy the grains. The Karnataka Government’s most ambitious programme, Annabhagya […]
A Pakistani University Employs Artificial Intelligence to Boost Agriculture
By J Nastranis NEW YORK | KARACHI, Pakistan, 18 June 2023 (IDN) — A member institution of the United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) in Pakistan, the Iqra University, appears to have spared the South Asian country of an impending food crisis, predicted within two years.
Yemen: How UNDP Is Helping Agriculture and Climate Resilience
By Bernhard Schell* CAIRO, 4 June 2023 (IDN) — Climate change has severely affected agriculture sector in the Western Asian country Yemen, which employs a large number of workers and produces the majority of the country’s food. A weak and fragile economy was further damaged by the country’s eight-year conflict, leaving large swathes of the […]
UN Humanitarian Aid Subverted by Large-Scale Looting in Sudan
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 8 May 2023 (IDN) — As the civil war in Sudan continues into its fourth week—with more than 19 million people facing hunger and severe shortages of food—the country’s fighting forces have been left with only one choice: starve or steal. Last week the World Food Programme (WFP) reported the […]
Hunger & Starvation Threaten Quarter of a Billion People Worldwide
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 4 May 2023 (IDN) — A new report on world hunger by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) is a setback to the UN’s highly-publicized goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by 2030—an integral part of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Far from achieving progress in the […]
Experts Study Ways Out of the Food Crisis in Sahel West Africa
By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS, 19 April 2023 (IDN) — The Sahel and West Africa region is facing a chronic food and nutrition crisis, with 29.5 million people currently needing immediate food and nutrition assistance. This number could reach 42.5 million people by June-August 2023 if appropriate measures are not taken. Furthermore, 107.5 million people currently […]
Thailand: ‘Seeds of Hope’ Aims to Ensure Community Food Security
By Pattama Vilailert KAEN MAKROOD, Thailand (IDN) — With the belief that without seeds, there is no hope of sustaining food security to accommodate the global population, the ‘Seeds of Hope’ (SOH) project in Thailand aims to mobilize the community to be self-reliant in their farming methods and protect themselves from predatory agri-business companies. The […]
Urban Dwellers in Southern Africa Turn to Backyard Farming
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — At unoccupied swathes of land behind houses in Bloomingdale, a medium-income suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, numerous maize fields and vegetable gardens have emerged as urban dwellers enduring economic hardships switch to backyard farming. Zambia, despite emerging from an economic crisis during former President Edgar Lungu’s reign […]
UN Agencies Help Enhance Food Safety and International Trade in 14 Countries
By Joanne Burge, IAEA Office of Public Information and Communication VIENNA (IDN | IAEA) — Animal diseases and crop pests can badly affect food supply and economies. Managing these problems can result in farming practices that involve the use of chemicals, which can lead to another problem: unsafe levels of chemical residues and contaminants in […]
Agroecology, The Antidote for Climate Change?
By Busani Bafana SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (IDN) — The world needs to dump the false solutions of industrial agriculture for food and nutritional security and adopt agroecology in tackling climate change, says Edward Mukiibi, president of Slow Food, a global organization promoting local food and traditional cooking. Agroecology rejects chemical fertilizers and tackles climate change […]