World Food Day & Save the Children

Alison Doherty of Save the Children has communicated to us below. Just like we breathe and we don't realise that we are actually 'alive', at times we forget that Agriculture sustains the life on earth. Please take the quiz as part of your World Food Day contribution.







Today is World Food Day and we have good news to report — there are fewer underweight children in developing countries: a major improvement in the last decade. But millions still need help. Rising food prices and natural disasters have hit the most vulnerable around the world. Drought in Africa, monsoon floods in Pakistan, and other catastrophes have devastated crops and livestock — putting lives at risk. Progress isn’t coming fast enough for those who need it the most.

Take the Save the Children World Food Day Quiz above and test your knowledge!

Ways You Can Help

There is no silver bullet against child hunger and malnutrition. But comprehensive strategies that address the complex nature of the problem do work. Save the Children fights child hunger around the world — along with striving to help children over come despair, violence and illness. With your generous gift to the Global Action Fund, you help us carry out our worldwide mission to create lasting change in the lives of children in need. Some need food, medicine or books — other in need of hope for a brighter tomorrow.
Charitable contributions from people like you make it possible for us to support child hunger programs, and so much more. Please support our mission and work around the world with a gift to our Global Action Fund. You can count on us to be good stewards of your generous donation, helping vulnerable children where the need is greatest with whatever they need the most.

The Latest Edition of "The State of Food Insecurity in the World" is now Available

About the Series
The State of Food Insecurity in the World raises awareness about global hunger issues, discusses underlying causes of hunger and malnutrition and monitors progress towards hunger reduction targets established at the 1996 World Food Summit and the Millennium Summit. The publication is targeted at a wide audience, including policy-makers, international organizations, academic institutions and the general public with a general interest in linkages between food security, and human and economic development.


How does international price volatility affect domestic economies and food security?
The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2011 highlights the differential impacts that the world food crisis of 2006-08 had on different countries, with the poorest being most affected. While some large countries were able to deal with the worst of the crisis, people in many small import-dependent countries experienced large price increases that, even when only temporary, can have permanent effects on their future earnings capacity and ability to escape poverty.

This year’s report focuses on the costs of food price volatility, as well as the dangers and opportunities presented by high food prices. Climate change and an increased frequency of weather shocks, increased linkages between energy and agricultural markets due to growing demand for biofuels, and increased financialization of food and agricultural commodities all suggest that price volatility is here to stay. The report describes the effects of price volatility on food security and presents policy options to reduce volatility in a cost-effective manner and to manage it when it cannot be avoided.


The full publication can be downloaded HERE.


Source: FAO

Spore Special Issue: Modernising Farms - Paths to Success

Download this special issue here.

Download Spore issue  No 154 Aug / Sept 2011 here.


Download courtesy: CTA

Agricultural Research and Development: Hardier sweet potatoes

Crop scientists at Uganda’s National Crop Resources Research Institute (NACRRI) in Namulonge have released sweet potato varieties that are resistant to diseases and weevils, both of which take a heavy toll on yields. Kawogo, Naspot 1, Naspot 90 and Kakamega were developed using conventional methods, tissue culture, biotechnology and computerised marker-assisted selection.

“We are crossing indigenous species as well as species from the Agricultural Potato Centre in Peru to get resistance”, said agronomist Charles Niringiye. The annual output of sweet potato in Uganda is 2.6 million MT, making it the country’s third most popular food crop after bananas and cassavas.

Source: Spore No 154. See also: spore.cta.int

New Online Forum: "Challenges and Opportunities for Capturing Impact in ICT initiatives in Agriculture"

From 25 September to 6 October 2011 Katalyst and e-Agriculture will organize a new online forum to discuss the challenges of linking impact with the use of ICTs in agriculture.

This forum will discuss the present practices and critical issues (regarding both implementation and monitoring) of ICT initiatives in agriculture.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an emerging area focusing on the enhancement of the agricultural and rural development. Many farmers and rural entrepreneurs generally lack access to accurate and timely information on markets, production processes, crops and livestock disease; as well as access to services such as land registrations, permits, government regulation forms, and internet.

In the past few years, ICT initiatives in agriculture have proliferated and the resources devoted to ICT in development portfolios have expanded in the hope that ICT can help developing countries reach the Millennium Development Goals. Yet, rigorous field-tested knowledge about "what works and why" have been relatively scarce, as well as a deeper understanding of the enabling conditions and success factors in ICT for development initiatives.

As a result, there is a growing consensus in the development community that ICT will only become an effective and mainstream tool of poverty reduction and sustainable development if the proponents of ICT for development can provide more rigorous evidence, strategies, benchmarks, indicators, and good practices that are directly relevant to the core poverty-reduction and development priorities of developing countries and their international partners.

Subject Matter Experts leading the discussions include:

 Shahid Uddin Akbar, Chief Executive Officer - BIID (Bangladesh Institute for ICT for Development)

 Jenny C. Aker, Assistant Professor of Economics - (Economics Department and Fletcher School, Tufts University)

 Jim Tanburn, Coordinator - DCED (Donor Committee for Enterprise Development)

 John Zoltner, Director for Latin America and the Caribbean - Datadyne

All e-Agriculture members are invited to participate during the two weeks online discussion! If you have not registered to e-Agriculture yet, you may do so here and stay up to date about this event and upcoming activities.
 

Source: e-Agriculture

Youth in agricultural Extension – Challenges and opportunities

Agricultural extension and I

For the past 3 years, I have been studying agriculture with specialization in agricultural extension at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Mauritius. During my work-based placement, I have worked at the Agricultural Research and Extension Unit (AREU), where I have got the opportunity to get some work experience in agricultural extension and I have also done my dissertation on the subject. Being involved in agricultural extension, I have seen that youth, as well as experienced professionals are facing several challenges in agricultural extension.

Agricultural Extension in Mauritius

Youth involvement in agricultural extension 

Presently, finding youth involved in agriculture is rare in Mauritius, since their main focus are on subjects related to management and engineering. This is so, because the image of agriculture does not appear “attractive” to youth and for many of them, agriculture is not even an option (Read more on attractiveness of agriculture to youth HERE). However, according to the annual report 2009/1010 of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Mauritius,. However, according to the annual report 2009/1010 of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Mauritius, each year, there about 120 students who enrol for courses related to agricultural sciences for their undergraduate degree. This also implies that every year, there are about 120 graduates from the Faculty of Agriculture. But how many of these graduates are involved in extension? Probably not many because of 2 main reasons; (a) there are not many job opportunities in agricultural extension in Mauritius and (b) extension involves working in the field with farmers, requires several skills and it is a challenging job.

Challenges

When considering the challenges faced by youth in agricultural extension, there are 2 ways in which it can be seen; (a) Challenges faced by young graduates and (b) challenges faced by young professionals.


Read more and looking forward to have your contribution HERE.