Africa’s hidden drought: a desert of agriculture policy
I recently visited farmers in Limuru, a town outside of Nairobi, Kenya, where I met Angella, a 35-year-old single mother of three school-age children who lost her husband in a car accident seven years ago. For many seasons, Angella planted seed recycled from the previous year’s crop. Her harvest was never large enough to feed …
Tasting the Sweet Fruit of Profit from Farming
Across the African continent today, governments are finding that investments in the agricultural sector are uniquely effective at energizing the economy. The welfare benefits of agriculture spurred the African Union in 2003 to develop the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP)—a commitment by African governments to allocate 10 percent of national budgets to agriculture and …