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Report: The State of Food and Agriculture 2017 – Leveraging food systems for inclusive rural transformation
Rural areas, too long seen as poverty traps, key to economic growth in developing countries. But sweeping transformations needed to unlock their potential to help feed and employ a younger, more crowded planet, says a new report.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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New Study: What does revised methane data mean for the Paris Agreement?
Revised calculations find that methane emissions from livestock in 2011 were 11% higher than modeled estimates based on data produced in 2006 by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). In response, media outlets including the BBC Radio 4 Today program and Agence France-Presse (AFP) released reports suggesting that the findings could mean that it will be harder for countries to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment
- Tags
- climate change
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The Protein Bottleneck: Are Insects the Solution to the High Cost of Livestock Feeds?
In 2012, 16.3 million tonnes of fish produced were used to make fish oil and fishmeal feed for animals. This threatens food security and is unsustainable. One solution to that problem, making the feed from Black Soldier Fly larvae, also has the potential to create thousands of jobs and a new agribusiness sector in Kenya, writes James Karuga.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Environment, Social Enterprise
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Nigeria: Dangote Group to Invest $4.6 Billion in Agriculture
The Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has said that the company would invest $4.6 billion in nation's agricultural sector in the next five years.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Technology is helping middle-class Nigerians turn to farming without getting their hands dirty
More than 80% of farmers in Nigeria are small holder farmers who cultivate a few acres of land to feed their family and also sell produce to earn a living. Yet, while the government has failed—getting middle-class Nigerians to take up farming—thanks to technology, a crop of new agro-tech startups are finding success.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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The Power of SMS: How Simple Texts Can Provide a Lifeline for Farmers
Last month, nearly 3,000 coconut farmers in Mindanao received a text from FarmerLink warning that conditions were ripe for infestation by two devastating insect pests, allowing them to take preventive action. That's just one way SMS messages are being used by FarmerLink, a rural advisory service formed by Grameen Foundation and other partners. The foundation's Gigi Gatti explains how the project, which also connects farmers with buyers and other services, is impacting smallholders 18 months after its launch.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
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Viewpoint: Is China ready to reshape global agriculture?
China's aspirations to play a more active role in global affairs should be taken seriously by business and government leaders in food and agricultural spheres. However, its promises to overhaul agriculture in other countries may be premature in view of the ongoing overhaul of China's own farming sector that is still in its initial stages.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Asia Pacific
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Small Tweak, Big Impact: How a ‘Simple Innovation’ Convinced Farmers to Improve Agricultural Inputs
TechnoServe and the Gulu Agricultural Development Company (GADC), an agricultural company based in northern Uganda, partnered to see if a simple market innovation would spur farmers to use a hybrid maize seed and boost productivity. The results – as measured by a randomized control trial involving 1,000 farmers – show what is possible with even modest market nudges.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Impact Assessment
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