Tracing the history of farming across Africa gives clues to low production outputs: African farmers need homegrown solutions to improve food security Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-SA Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is under-performing, leaving 30% of people in the region food insecure. Food insecurity means that not all people, at all times, have physical, social, and …
Small towns are collapsing across South Africa. How it’s starting to affect farming: Cattle grazing on a farm near Tulbagh in the Western Cape, South Africa. Photo by: Peter Titmuss/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Farming and agribusiness play a crucial role in sustaining the economies of small towns and rural areas. There is …
Farming without disturbing soil could cut agriculture’s climate impact by 30% – new research: Perhaps because there are no chimney stacks belching smoke, the contribution of the world’s farms to climate change seems somehow remote. But agriculture accounts for a staggering 26% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Tractors running on diesel release carbon dioxide (CO?) …
Pandemic underscores flaws in Nigeria’s farming and food supply chains: A tomato vendor attends to buyer at a makeshift food market established to cushion the effect of COVID lockdown in Lagos. Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images During the lockdown in Lagos, Nigeria, I joined a humanitarian team to distribute food to poor …
South Africa in the news: South Africa launches fund to boost Black farming: South Africa has set up a 5 billion rand ($ 340 million) fund to help Black farmers gain access to capital and boost their role in commercial agriculture, state-owned Industrial Development Corporation …: “South Africa” – BingNews Existing COVID-19 vaccines may protect …
How young Kenyans feel about farming goes against conventional wisdom: Young Kenyans typically see farming playing some role in their future, although few respondents want only to farm. Getty Images Every year, 12 million young people enter the labour market across the African continent. Economists and policy makers differ about how they should be absorbed …
Tractors can change farming in good ways and bad: lessons from four African countries: Agricultural mechanisation can reduce work burden, increase prosperity and enhance diets. Shutterstock Agricultural mechanisation is on the rise in Africa, replacing hand hoes and animal traction across the continent. While around 80-90% of all farmers still rely on manual labour or …
UK Agriculture Bill: how farming and forestry could co-exist happily: Grazing cattle in wood pastures could be a win-win for food growers and the environment. Graham Durham/Unsplash, CC BY-SA Trees for storing carbon, grazing for livestock, improved animal welfare and sustainable rural economies – how can we satisfy all these aspirations for the British countryside? …
We found a way to turn urine into solid fertiliser – it could make farming more sustainable: Zlikovec/Shutterstock It’s likely that most of the food you’ll eat today was not farmed sustainably. The global system of food production is the largest human influence on the planet’s natural cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus. How much crops …
Why a Zimbabwean farming project failed: lessons for rural innovation: GettyImages Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa commit resources to promote agricultural innovations. This is based on the assumption that rural livelihoods are mainly agricultural and that the innovations will increase agricultural production and household income. As resources come under pressure from growing populations and natural …
Changes in South Africa’s rainfall seasons could affect farming and water resources: Brewing thunderstorm in the dessert area of the Karoo in South Africa. Shutterstock Most of South Africa’s seasonal rainfall occurs during the warmer summer months, from October to March. As a result, October is an important period for farmers to begin planning when …
Urban farming: four reasons it should flourish post-pandemic: Joshua Resnick/Shutterstock Since lockdown, public interest in growing fruit and vegetables at home has soared. Seed packets are flying off shelves and allotment waiting lists are swelling, with one council receiving a 300% increase in applications. Fear of food shortages will have motivated some, but others with …
Antibiotic resistance: how drug misuse in livestock farming is a problem for human health: Shutterstock Rearing animals for food takes time and requires hard work to maintain their health and well-being. Just as in humans, farm animals sometimes get sick and require drugs to treat infections. But organisms that cause infections are becoming increasingly resistant …
Green ammonia could slash emissions from farming – and power ships of the future: LaineN/Shutterstock For the past 100 years, a simple molecule has had an immensely positive impact on our world. Ammonia, which comprises three hydrogen atoms bonded to a single nitrogen atom, is widely used to make the fertilisers enable us to produce …
Is the future of farming under water?: Oceans cover 71% of Earth’s surface and contain 97% of Earth’s water. Land-based food production is in crisis, driven by climate change and population increases. We have to grow 70% more food by 2050 in order to accommodate two billion more people on our planet. read more: Opensource.com …
Cage farming can protect Lake Victoria’s fish. But regulations need tightening: Cage farming is when fish are raised and harvested in a netted enclosure. Ranko Maras/Shutterstock Lake Victoria’s fish stocks are struggling to keep up with demand. For instance, stocks and catches of Nile perch have reduced, from 340,000 tons in 1990 to about 251,000 …
The EU’s farming policy is hated – but what comes next may be worse: C M Harvey / shutterstock Out of all the EU’s policies, the Common Agricultural Policy has consistently received the worst press in the UK. Politicians and papers of both the left and the right have variously attacked it for being too costly, …
In this week’s Top 5 articles on Opensource.com, we highlight low-cost, DIY, open hardware farming equipment; open source issue tracking tools; free and open source music making programs; a look inside the Secret Lab hackathon; and a new column on the site about how to build a business with open source. 5. Let’s talk about how to build a business with …