Today is World Food Day. But, I wonder, do the farmers of Africa know it? Actually, for them, every day is World Food Day. Food – growing it, scraping together enough money to buy it – is their daily preoccupation, a primal obsession. Africa’s smallholder farmers – the most common occupation on the continent –
The most difficult conversations were about the malnourished children. “When you, as a parent, see your child not eating enough to be satisfied, you are hurt, but you are not in a position to control the situation,” Zipporah Biketi told me when we first met in western Kenya last year. Her two-year-old son David was
ONE members in Seattle listened to an inspiring panel discussion on the the issues surrounding agriculture and development in Kenya and what non-profits are doing to empower farmers. This week, Seattle ONE members had the opportunity to talk with guests at a panel discussion featuring journalist, activist, author and ONE Fellow Roger Thurow. His new
How African communities are making sweet potatoes look good I arrived in the village of Nhazombe, Mozambique, in the middle of an orange mania. A troupe of women draped in bright orange cloth came dancing down the main road. They were singing an Ode to Orange: A farmer selling sweet potatoes in Tanzania “Always give
Francis Mamati was gobsmacked by what he heard. Why would they say that?, he wondered. Sitting under a shade tree in front of his little house in western Kenya, Francis had just been told that there are people who think African smallholder farmers are better off planting seeds saved from previous harvests than planting newer,
This piece by Roger Thurow was originally posted in Chicago Council Global Food for Thought blog. Are we paying attention now? The shriveled corn and wilting beans and severely parched soil of the U.S. farm belt are trying to tell us something: focus on the global food chain. More than half of U.S. counties have
As we have heard during this week’s international conference in Washington, D.C., there has been wondrous progress on the AIDS treatment front since President George W. Bush launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) nearly a decade ago. At that time, there were only about 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa receiving the life-saving
ONE Regional Field Director Tzviatko Chiderov talks about his experience at a recent Chicago Council event with Roger Thurow. As Chicagoans, not only are we fortunate to have the Chicago Council in our backyard, but to also to have author Roger Thurow call our city his home. When these two come together, it’s a guaranteed
This blog is part of a series organized by The Huffington Post and the NGO alliance InterAction to call attention to the crisis in the Sahel, a region in sub-Saharan Africa where more than 18 million people face starvation and 1.1 million children under the age of 5 are at risk of dying from acute
Nigerian journalist Sam Otti, the winner of our ONE Act a Week essay contest with Roger Thurow, shares an essay on why the US should invest in agriculture in Africa. There is a popular saying in my community that if money grew on trees, several women would marry monkeys. Unfortunately, not every woman would like
ONE Regional Field Director Tzviatko Chiderov I attended a very interesting event in Chicago last week. It was held in celebration of Roger Thurow’s new book, The Last Hunger Season, and in benefit for the One Acre Fund, an organization which provides tools and resources to help smallholder farmers in rural Africa grow themselves out
Action: 46. Time: 20 minutes. Level of difficulty: Moderate This week’s ONE Act is short, simple and to the point: Pitch us an essay idea on why you think the US should invest in farming and agriculture in Africa.
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