Tag Archive | "women"

FAO Issues Progress Report on the Status of African Agricultural Growth

October 1, 2009 3 comments

In the lead-up to its High-Level Expert Forum in Rome this October, the FAO has issued a cautiously optimistic progress report on the state of the African agricultural sector, as reported in a recent article by Voice of America.
The FAO has calculated that agriculture has grown by 3.5% in 2008, largely due to better policies

Mozambican Farming Cooperative for Women Shares Knowledge, Builds Local Access and Capacity

September 19, 2009 2 comments

In the past, Celina Cossa would queue for days and even nights just to get the chance to buy a bag of maize to feed her two children, her husband, and herself.  She was one of thousands of Mozambican women finding it difficult to feed her family in a country that was newly independent from

FANRPAN and Gates Foundation Announce 3-year Project for Rural African Women Farmers

August 4, 2009 1 comment

The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN), led by Farming First’s Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda, has announced a three-year pilot project to help women farmers in Southern Africa influence agricultural policy development.
The programme has been funded by a $900,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and will be presented at the

Final Adopted Text from CSD-17 Published on the UN Website

May 19, 2009 4 comments

An advanced, unedited text of the final recommendations of the UN Commission for Sustainable Development is now available on its website.
Gerda Verburg, Chairperson of the Commission and the Netherlands’ Minister of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality, said of the outcome:
Nothing less is needed than a revolution in ideas and a revolution in technologies, supported by

Accessing Micro-credit in India

April 12, 2009 No comments yet

Improving access to credit is essential to allow farmers to invest and grow. The Grameen Foundation is one of the leader in the field of microfinance and its loans are changing women’s lives.
For example, in India, Ellevva and her husband, Durgiah, live in a small, one room house made of mud and sticks. Before taking


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