
Miriam Otipa was the first women in her village in Kenya to earn a science degree. She wanted to do more to ease farmers’ suffering and is now providing solutions to plant diseases.
From record droughts in Kansas to deadly wildfires in California, the United States is feeling the effects of climate change. These same conditions have a dire impact across the developing world, especially for poor, rural smallholder farmers whose very lives are threatened every time the rains arrive late, the floods rush in, or the temperature soars.
It’s been a year since Nimna Diayte met President Obama in Senegal when he stopped by for a chat at her booth at the Feed the Future Agricultural Technology Marketplace. The president was impressed by Nimna’s can-do attitude and the way she had become a community leader and entrepreneur. Nimna made quite the impression! In fact, President Obama even mentioned her last week during a discussion at the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in Washington, DC.
When President Obama took office, the world was mired in the midst of food, fuel, and financial turmoil that pushed millions of people back to the precipice of poverty. In 2007 and 2008, food prices hit all-time highs, sending prices for basic staples like rice and wheat beyond the reach of the world’s most vulnerable people.
Every year, heads of state and cabinet officials from across Africa gather in Addis Ababa to meet with political, civil society, and business leaders at the annual African Union Summit. Last week, I was honored to lead the USAID delegation to my first AU Summit. The AU’s role is critical to the future of Africa.