agricultural

Highlights from IFPRI's 2017 Food Policy Report: Part 1 Original link to the report is here:  http://www.ifpri.org/publication/food-security-and-nutrition-growing-cities-new-challenges How hungry is the world today? Are more people suffering from hunger today than 50 years ago? What can be done about the hunger that remains so visible in our world today? Where is work being done, and who can we look to for the best practices in solving this grand problem? These are questions that the International Food Policy Research Institute ’s (IFPRI) recently published Global Food Policy Report 2017 seeks to answer. Its meticulous efforts of gathering data now point to a positive trend! Global Hunger affects now 11 percent, down from 19 percent in 1990. While this is certainly progress, this 770+ million-strong collection of individuals still presents a major challenge to the international humanitarian landscape. We spent some time reading through the IFPRI's report and wanted to highligh...

If You Give a Man a Rabbit By: Abe Fisher, F2F Volunteer - Haiti   Who does not enjoy a cookie and a tall glass of milk? While in the U.S. a cold glass of milk and a delicious cookie is commonplace, in Haiti, this delicious treat is regarded differently. Bon Bon Te cookies are a finite tradition given to pregnant women and hungry children across Haiti. While most U.S cookies contain chocolate and lots of flour and sugar, Bon Bon Te cookies are made from water, cooking oil, salt, sugar, and clay. The clay is found in the deep pits and caves that make up Haiti's Central Plateau. The clay is shipped to urban areas like Port-au-Prince where they are sifted and strained to remove small rocks, branches, or other “ foreign objects. ” After being processed, the clay is used to make Bon Bon Te . Despite providing impoverished Haitians with a cheap source of nutrients, much of these "cookies" are laden with parasites which for many Haitians can lead to  medi...

You know that feeling when you just want to jump on an opportunity? Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer Dr. Fabio Lima, an assistant professor from University of Illinois, must have felt like after his recent trip to Nicaragua, where he saw the tremendous potential for the Livestock and Dairy program in the country. As Fabio explains: “Nicaragua is a lovely country with a great potential. Considering its strategic location in Central America, its tradition to raise cattle, and vast farmland, an increase of efficiency could offer them competitiveness necessary to take a significant position in the global market.” Livestock production is a big part of the Nicaraguan agriculture sector. There are 130,000 Nicaraguan farmers who manage 5 million heads of cattle. But many farmers could benefit from technical assistance to improve their livestock management practices. Dr. Lima traveled to Nicaragua to help address on of the challenges in the livestock sector and improve productivity and profitability ...

Do you know what it means to be climate-smart? For smallholder banana farmers in the Dominican Republic, climate-smart agriculture can mean the difference between surviving and thriving during extreme weather events. Find out how Partners' Farmer-to-Farmer strategy in the DR is leveraging the agricultural knowledge of American agricultural experts to help Dominicans become more resilient to climate change and ensure a food secure future for their families!