Imagine discovering that within a few hours your entire crop for the season had been consumed by unwelcome visitors. In this edition of “Pounds of Prevention,” USAID examines the desert locust, a pest that affects the lives of millions of people in more than 65 countries throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia, an [...]
Tag archives for Agriculture
Small, but Perfectly Formed: Coffee Drives Development in Timor-Leste
The road south out of Dili climbs steadily, winding back and forth with spectacular switchbacks on a paved but narrow road, one of the few that crosses Timor-Leste, ultimately reaching the country’s south coast. I am told Timor-Leste is about the size of Connecticut – a state I have traversed many times in just a [...]
Three Questions about the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
The new Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) will be officially launched today during the United Nations’ 56thsession of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York City. The WEAI is the first-ever measure to directly capture women’s empowerment and inclusion levels in the agricultural sector. The index is the product of [...]
Greater Private Sector Diversity Sought on USDA’s Agricultural Trade Advisory Committees
As featured in the USDA Blog The face of America – and of American agriculture – is changing. The number of farms in the United States has grown 4 percent and the operators of those farms have become more diverse in the past five years, according to results of USDA’s most recent Census of Agriculture. [...]
Public Private Partnership Week: Passion Fruit, Opening the Path for a Brighter Future
Rural farmers in Paraguay are having great success selling their passion fruit through farming associations to a leading corporate juice brand. This is thanks to USAID’s support through Paraguay Productivo, a program that connects small farmers with private sector buyers. Last week, I had the chance to visit some farmers in Paraguay’s Itapúa province and [...]
50 Years of Partnership with Kenya – Part 1 of 4
Agriculture is the largest single employer in Kenya and counts for one fourth of the country’s GDP, but the current agricultural production methods in Kenya are inefficient, causing economic stagnation and poverty. USAID and partners on the ground in Kenya have developed competitive programs for maize, dairy, passion fruit, and small hold farmers to help [...]
The Horn of Africa’s Last Famine?
Guest blogger Sam Dryden is the Director of Agricultural Development at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This post was originally published as an op-ed in the September 15, 2011 edition of The Globe and Mail. For more information on the crisis in the Horn of Africa and how to get involved in the relief [...]
Women and Agriculture: Behind the Scenes
After an event on Monday with Secretary Clinton to promote food security, influential leaders discuss the important role women play in strengthening global agriculture. Featured in this short video: Kathy Spahn, President of Helen Keller International; Dr. Jose Granziano da Silva, Director General Elect of UN FAO; and Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever.
