Malawi'’s agricultural sector is critical to its economy, employing around 77% of the population and accounting for 23% of gross domestic product (GDP). The majority of workers in agriculture are smallholder farmers, many of whom cultivate less than one hectare of land. Despite its importance, the sector faces significant challenges, …
Last year the skyrocketing cost of food was a wake-up call for the planet. Between 2005 and the summer of 2008, the price of wheat and corn tripled, and the price of rice climbed fivefold, spurring food riots in nearly two dozen countries and pushing 75 million more people into …
This publication examines the use of index insurance to help reduce vulnerability and poverty and adapt to climate change. Experience in index insurance to-date has been limited to individual case studies, which show promise of lessening the impacts of climate shocks, and enabling investment and growth in the agriculture sector. …
Traditional approaches to supplying food are an inefficient 'band aid', says Pedro A. Sanchez. New evidence shows that helping farmers to help themselves is more effective and would be six times cheaper.
Correctly identifying malnourished or at-risk children is the critical first step towards appropriate nutritional interventions. To improve weight-for-height assessment and classification of nutritional status, we present a novel, low-cost, weight-for-height slide chart. We also describe a target weight system for monitoring children's progress towards nutritional recovery.
floods Kosi breach yet to be plugged The breach in the Kosi embankment that caused the devastating flood in Bihar may not be plugged before March 2009. The deadline for completion of the work was in November, but the state government extended it by four months. Though the government did …
In Malawi, the fifth poorest country in the world, the government introduced a voucher programme for small scale farmers, providing them access to subsidised fertilizer and seed. The country suddenly saw bumper harvests in both 2006 and 2007. Are fertilizer subsidies the way out of poverty for small scale farmers …
The objective of the study was to assess indicators of TB-related stigma and socio-cultural and gender-related features of illness associated with stigma. Original Source
The Malawian government has suspended domestic tobacco sales in major markets following a price dispute between growers and merchants. In early April, tobacco prices reached the highest us $11 per kg and then dropped. This fluctuating price could undermine Malawi's economic targets, said the finance minister. Tobacco accounts for 15 …
Climate change is often seen as a global problem demanding global solutions. But for poor people hit hard by the impacts, climate change is a not a boardroom abstraction, but day-to-day reality. Faced with local shifts in weather patterns and natural resources, they are forced to find ways of coping …
Global food shortages have taken everyone by surprise. What is to be done? Reuters SAMAKE BAKARY sells rice from wooden basins at Abobote market in the northern suburbs of Abidjan in C
Participatory fisheries management (PFM), as widely understood in Malawi, is a governance type that entrenches participation of the user community in fish resource management. In PFM, the Department of Fisheries (DoF) and the fishing community are key partners who, in an ideal situation, agree on shared roles and responsibilities, and …
In the face of an energy crisis and soaring crude oil prices the Malawi government has launched a project to ensure that all vehicles in the country switch to ethanol in a few years. The five-year project, worth us $1 million, will promote the production of ethanol from sugar molasses. …
A sustainable energy supply is a precondition for economic and social development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In many parts of the world, a large share of the population have no access to modern energy services. At best, towns and industries are supplied with antiquated and unsustainable energy …
>> A shortage of health care workers is paralysing the health system in Southern Africa. The shortfall has imperilled the lives of millions in Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique, particularly in rural areas, warns Medecins Sans Frontieres. A report by the global healthcare NGO, launched in the commercial hub of Johannesburg …
Farmers of Malawi, a country in southeast Africa, have warned the government to tread carefully before endorsing the European Union's (eu's)economic partnership agreement. In a statement, the Malawian farmers union said that signing the new eu trade deal will undermine development and increase poverty. The union has also urged governments …
Will African wild land be colonised again? Moves by Dutch tycoon Paul van Vlissingen to buy some national parks of Zambia, Malawi, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique have split the continent's polity down the middle. A debate that many thought had been buried along with apartheid has thus been rekindled. Vlissingen …
While Malawi has decided to mill genetically modified (gm) food from the us, Zambia is still resolute on its decision not to accept gm maize. Zimbabwe, on the other hand, has instituted a milling programme to ensure that none of the food aid it accepts is used for planting.
a recent report has blamed the International Monetary Fund (imf) and World Bank for putting pressure on Malawi, a southern African nation, to sell 28,000 metric tonnes (mt) of maize to Kenya, resulting in widespread famine in the country. The report has been released by uk-based Jubilee Research Foundation, which …
globally, there are now 40 million adults and children suffering from aids, according to a new report by the World Health Organisation (who) and the Joint United Nations Programme on hiv/aids called unaids. The epidemic shows no signs of abating
