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Using Microfinance to Bring Clean Water to India’s Poor
A unique public-private partnership involving private sector giants like Unilever and Heinz is improving the health of Indian children. Two hours outside India's tech hub Bangalore is Krishnagiri the Integrated Village Development Project (IVDP) is using interest-free microfinance loans to increase access to products people could not afford on their own.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- South Asia
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UN Meets Millennium Development Goal on Drinking Water
The Millennium Development Goal for access to clean water has been reached, ahead of the target date of 2015.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Impact Assessment
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Opinion: Bill Gates’ Support of GM Crops is Wrong Approach for Africa
Bill Gates' support of genetically modified (GM) crops as a solution for world hunger is of concern to those of us involved in promoting sustainable, equitable and effective agricultural policies in Africa. There are two primary shortcomings to Gates' approach.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Bill Gates to UN: Find new ways to help poor farmers; announces $200 million in grants
ROME — Current approaches to global agriculture are outdated, inefficient and don’t give small farmers in poor countries the help they really need, Bill Gates told U.N. food agencies Thursday as he announced nearly $200 million in grants. The Microsoft founder brought his campaign to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia to a forum of the U.N. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), one of three Rome-based U.N. food agencies.Much of some $2 billion spent over the past five years to fight poverty and hunger in Africa and Asia by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has gone toward improving agricultural productivity.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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IDA to Help Improve Irrigation System in Pakistan
The World Bank’s concessional lending arm is providing $250 million to help improve water and agricultural productivity in the Pakistani province of Punjab.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Impact Assessment
- Region
- South Asia
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BRAC puts Entrepreneurs to Work Providing Clean Toilets for Millions
In Bangladesh, the development organization's Water, Sanitation and Hygiene program gives millions of the rural poor a fresh start with latrines at prices fair to buyers and sellers alike.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Health Care
- Region
- South Asia
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Can The iPad Revolutionize Rural Agriculture?
The iPad’s fairly steep price has kept it firmly entrenched in the developed world. That’s starting to change, however, as evidenced by efforts from Exprima Media and coffee importer Sustainable Harvest to bring the iPad to coffee co-ops and farmers in East Africa, Mexico, and South America.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- supply chains
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East Africa: Boost for Agriculture
The fight to secure food and income for millions of small holder farmers in eastern Africa, a region that experiences severe food shortages from time to time, is poised to get additional ammunition with the construction of a science research block by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa