How can so many people be hungry when farmers produce enough food, at least in theory, to feed every person on the planet?
The answers are complex and involve everything from American farm politics and African corruption to war, poverty, climate change and drought, which is now the single most common cause of food shortages on the planet. more
An example of Indian Agricultural Extension videos being shared through you tube.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4F4A07BBA95EAA98
http://www.e-agriculture.org is a "global initiative to enhance sustainable agricultural development and food security by improving the use of information, communication, and associated technologies in the sector."
BGCI was founded in 1987 to link botanic gardens as a co-operating global network for effective plant conservation. It now links over 2500 institutions in over 120 countries, all working together to preserve and promote plant diversity for people and the planet.
It includes several gardens in Africa including Kenya, and links to the African Botanic Gardens Network
Julia Willison is head of education.
http://plantscafe.net/ is a related project and includes many educational resources.
This article discusses the economic aspects of growing maize.
Most Kenyan farmers still have faith in maize - so much so that 90 percent of them regularly invest in this crop. About 75 percent of Kenya's farmers are small-scale producers, and more than 70 percent of farmers are women
The use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) has been controversial in the Kenyan maize sector.
"Arid Lands a UK charity enabling disadvantaged and low-income ‘common interest groups’ to tackle their urban and rural environmental, health and educational challenges through their own practical action. In particular we support the growing of nutritional vegetables and fruit and the conservation and renewal of local soil, water, fodder, fuelwood and rangeland resources, both in the UK and overseas."
For interest only, this article about a long-distance version of this East African game.
The KENYA - Seeds for Life Project
Aim: to enhance ex situ conservation and sustainable utilisation of plant genetic resources indigenous to Kenya. Kenya's land area consists of about 80% arid and semi-arid lands and the project will focus on the conservation of plants from these areas. To achieve the objective of the project, partners have identified 4 key outputs expected over the next 3 years.
1. The strengthening of Kenyan capacity to conserve plant genetic resources - through the provision of equipment and technical and academic training programmes.
2. The conservation of seed collections of priority plant species using appropriate and improved methods
3. The generation and dissemination of appropriate scientific information to aid the conservation of Kenyan biological diversity
4. The identification and consideration of the current status and the potential benefit of on-farm utilisation of indigenous plants.
