After a long dry spell coupled with drought, the rains have finally arrived in many African countries, including Kenya and South Africa, and the 2017 planting season is underway. But this joy may be short-lived. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization released an update that projects a 50-60 per cent chance of an El Niño event forming in mid- to-late 2017. …
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 …
Drought is a slow and predictable natural disaster. We know it will happen again, and we know much of its effects are preventable if money is invested at the right time. So why do we wait for people to die from hunger induced by droughts before we start calling for emergency relief money? The UN recently launched …