September 30, 2020 | No.9 |
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Microsoft and AGRA collaborate to support agriculture transformation
Microsoft, through its 4Afrika Initiative, has announced a new collaboration with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) to co-create technology solutions in agriculture. Announced at the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), the collaboration will support AGRA’s digital transformation as it works to improve food security for 30 million farming households across 11 countries by 2021. READ MORE
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CIMMYT and IITA collaborate to increase adoption of conservation agriculture in southern Africa
The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) recently launched a project that aims to research the drivers and barriers to adoption of conservation agriculture in southern Africa, and to develop strategies for achieving adoption and impact at scale. READ MORE
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African farmers are younger than you think. Here is why
Over the past 20 years sub-Saharan Africa has registered the highest rate of agricultural production in the world. There have been knock-on effects with the region also seeing the fastest growth in off-farm employment and non-farm labour productivity. READ MORE
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Tony Blair: Why it's vital we are giving African agriculture the attention it needs
Over the next 30 years, Sub-Saharan Africa’s population will double to over two billion, and its economies will industrialize. Africa’s development will therefore be critical to the world’s future stability, prosperity, and health. Given this, the continent should be receiving much more international attention. READ MORE
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Opinion: A Global African Agriculture Forum
The UN’s second SDG is to achieve zero hunger by 2030. However, as they point out, after decades of steady decline, the number of people who suffer from hunger – as measured by the prevalence of undernourishment – began to slowly increase again in 2015. Current estimates show that nearly 690 million people are hungry, or 8.9 percent of the world population – up by 10 million people in one year and by nearly 60 million in five years. READ MORE
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Data-Driven Food Systems for Crisis Resiliency
The first half of 2020 has been marked with the food market and agri-dealer closures, trade blockages, labor shortages, manufacturing and processing plant closures, shortages of certain food products as buying patterns shifted and bulk buyers such as restaurants or canteens faced closures, and other logistical and tactical issues. READ MORE |
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Seven villages, 700 women, one story: plant nurseries in Niger are changing lives
A group of women across four regions of south-western Niger have grown 84,000 trees to earn US$ 20,400 (CFA 11,200,000) in just three months. Their entrepreneurial quest, an example of besting odds in harsh environs, has seen the women bond over fruit trees while leaving them financially empowered. ICRISAT has interconnected the seven groups to better share business ideas and to promote inter-community exchange. READ MORE
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Building for better science
In 2019, the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) continued to do great science and give serious attention to scaling, working with a diverse array of partners. This report, like last year’s, is organized around five well-defined, high-impact flagship projects. The important topics of gender and youth are embedded across these flagship projects. READ MORE
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A “track record of delivering local solutions with a global perspective:” Review confirms impact and importance of WHEAT research
The CGIAR Research Program on Wheat (WHEAT) has “a track record of delivering local solutions with a global perspective — and is well positioned to continue this trajectory in the next decade.” This was a key finding of a recent review of the program aimed to assess WHEAT’s 2017-2019 delivery of quality science and effectiveness, as well as to provide insights and lessons to inform the program’s future. READ MORE
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How we use social media to grow our farms
To make farming appealing to the youth, make it cool, so goes the phrase that is often repeated at many agricultural forums. Experts have suggested the use of machinery and information and communication technology on the farm to achieve this end. READ MORE
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