Sibanda grew up on a farm in rural Zimbabwe, and believes her strong personal connection to Africa’s agricultural traditions has helped her become one of the continent’s leading advocates for food and nutrition security. At FANRPAN, Sibanda coordinates agricultural policy research and advocacy programs in 17 African countries. In 2010, she was invited into the …
Salif Niang is working to revolutionize the rice industry in Mali, establishing a model for improving the livelihood of smallscale farmers upon which much of Africa depends. “In late 2012, we were the first venture in Africa to market locally grown fortified rice to consumers and we are currently building a processing center that will …
The sun was mid-way up when the car that carried me and a few local agricultural officers pulled up in front of a farmhouse. We got out and walked behind the house. There we found a heavily damaged field of corn. The farmer talked animatedly about a strange ‘hungry worm’. His corn was less than …
Anandha Reddy is a farmer from Bayyaram Village, Siddipet District, Telangana. He has about four acres of thirsty land, which has twelve boreholes. He was ‘lucky’ as the twelfth borehole finally showed signs of water, at more than 1,000 feet. But, his expenditure of Rs 18 lakh on water discovery is a risky journey as …
KEFFI, NIGERIA – In the rural village of Kura in Kano State, Nigeria, where I grew up, my grandfather would lose more than half of his tomatoes after each harvest. He was not a bad farmer. But bad roads made it difficult for him to get his tomatoes to market, and he had never learned …