About Danielle Nierenberg

Recent Posts by Danielle Nierenberg

Listening to Farmers’ Voices: An Interview with Eugenio Tisselli Vélez

Sauti ya wakulima (“Voice of the Farmers”) is a collaborative, multimedia database that brings together the knowledge and experience of farmers in the Bagamoyo District in Tanzania. The project was started in March 2011, and is currently being sponsored by the North South Center of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and supported by the Department of Botany of the University of Dar es Salaam and the Z-node research initiative of University of Applied Arts in Zurich.

Using a laptop computer and smartphones, five men and five women gather weekly in Chambezi to document their daily practices, record their observations, and interview other farmers. The information collected is then published to a research blog website, which is accessed by the participants during weekly face-to-face meetings. This information is also available to researchers, agricultural officers, and policy-makers, thus helping to shape action around agricultural issues.

Eugenio Tisselli Vélez helped to initiate Sauti ya wakulima, and is currently the project’s general coordinator and IT person. He recently took the time to speak with Nourishing the Planet about Sauti ya wakulima and the lessons the world can learn from these African farmers.

The value of using technology to assist farmers and agricultural practices has only relatively recently gained attention. How did you become involved?

My involvement in Sauti ya wakulima is the fruit of two convergent interests. On one hand, I have always been interested about food and sustainability. I have studied this topic for some time, and I greatly value small-scale agriculture as a feasible and sustainable way for feeding ourselves in the future. On the other hand, during the last 7 years I have collaborated on projects that help groups use mobile phones and the Internet to express their issues and share their experiences. In 2011 there was the possibility of starting a new project with farmers in Tanzania and mobile phones, so I just went for it.

What inspired you to initiate the Sauti ya wakulima project? What role do you currently play?

In the beginning, I knew very little about the specific situation of agriculture in Tanzania. I began learning about it by reading reports, but the real inspiration came when we visited the fields. During an intensive week in 2010, we visited many farms in the area of Bagamoyo and interviewed the farmers. It was clear that something was changing: all of the farmers told us that the short rain season had practically disappeared. There was much less water in general, and their wells were running dry. Because of this drought, new pests and diseases were appearing. That’s when it became clear to me that a multimedia tool that allowed farmers to communicate their observations on climate change through images and voice recordings would be useful. Sometimes we can understand complexity much better if it is narrated by those who are in its midst. I was also very encouraged when I saw the great familiarity with which the farmers had adopted and appropriated mobile phones as a tool for their practices.

Why did you choose to work with the farmers in Chembezi? Did they contact you, or did you approach them?

We first made contact with Dr. Flora Ismail from the Department Of Botany of the University of Dar es Salaam. Our sponsor, the North South Center of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, had worked with her before. Dr. Ismail is currently overseeing a number of research projects that are being carried out in pilot plots at the agricultural station in Chambezi. We approached the farmers who periodically gathered at the station and presented the project to them. They already knew one another since their farms are all in the area; some of them have formed a cooperative that manufactures and sells coconut oil. This became a very important factor for our project, because the farmers were already engaged as members of a community in Chambezi.

Before Sauti ya wakulima, how was agricultural knowledge spread in the Chembezi area? Has the government ever played a role in assisting farmers, i.e. through agricultural extension agents?

There is an agricultural office in Bagamoyo, which serves farmers in the nearby areas. They provide extension services, information and are also very active in the development of hybrid crops which are more resistant to drought or pests. Mr. Hamza Suleyman is the extension officer for the Chambezi group. Through his research, he has developed a variety of cassava with greater water efficiency. He is seen by the farmers as a reliable and friendly source of information, and is also the coordinator of Sauti ya wakulima. Every Monday, Mr. Hamza meets the farmers at Chambezi and, among other things, he uses his laptop and his 3G modem to browse the project’s website together with the farmers. He also assists the farmers on how to use the smartphones, and sees that the two available ones are shared equally among all.  Extension officers are not only giving agricultural advice to the farmers, but also teaching them some Internet basics!

What have the farmers shared with you about their experiences with Sauti ya wakulima?

Farmers have used and shared the smartphones to create a body of multimedia documentation. Initially, we suggested the farmers use the phones to publish images and voice recordings of their observations related to changes in climate. However, they were not limited by this initial request, and soon they began to appropriate the tools and publish other things. In a recent interview with the farmers, they expressed their satisfaction with the project, and described it in their own terms. For some, the project had been a good way to strengthen community bonds, as they find themselves talking about issues that they hadn’t discussed before. They discovered that their peers held important fragments of agricultural knowledge which were probably latent. Because of this discovery, they see Sauti ya wakulima as a tool for mutual learning. But this process of learning has not been limited to the exchange that happens within the Chambezi group. The farmers have used the smartphones to interview other farmers who are not within the group, expanding thus their social network. They have even showed Sauti ya wakulima in agricultural shows at Morogoro [a city in the southern highlands of Tanzania] and Dar es Salaam [the country’s capital]. One of the participants said that the project made them proud, because other farmers perceived them as “being very advanced”. And they were also satisfied with their newly-acquired knowledge about ICT. A woman from the Chambezi group said: “I have realized that fancy phones and computers are not only for the rich people in towns. They are also tools that can help us.”

What have been some of the biggest challenges and greatest successes? Have you been surprised at all by some of the results or aspects in this process?

The main tangible result of Sauti ya wakulima is the online, multimedia knowledge base created by farmers. The project’s main focus, as expressed by the farmers themselves, is that of mutual learning. In this light, a number of important learning experiences have taken place. For example, one of the farmers realized that he was not planting maize correctly because of a picture taken by one of his colleagues. He changed his technique and had a successful harvest. An experience like this might be considered as a small success, but I think it points towards very bright possibilities. If the project could be expanded so that it could involve more farmers in different areas, the knowledge base and its potential as a source for learning would greatly increase. And that is precisely our biggest challenge, to expand the project and make it sustainable.

What do you see for the future of technology in agriculture?

I hope that we can all learn from the African farmers. Our ways of feeding ourselves are unsustainable and are, in fact, contributing to the degradation of our ecology. We must not only return to farming techniques which are more respectful with the environment, but we must also give small-scale farming a central value within our societies. Since the Industrial Age, we have systematically devalued small-scale farming, and have thus turned agriculture into an industry and a business. Clearly, this can’t continue. We must literally return to the land. Sauti ya wakulima hopes to make visible the knowledge held by the farmers in Bagamoyo, so that we can also learn.

Contributed by Jenna Banning

Somalia Still Struck With Starvation and Security Issues

Six months after famine struck the Horn of Africa, leaving 12 million people at risk of starvation, the situation in Somalia is still dire. Although the designation of famine in some areas of the country has been lifted, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), a collaboration of 14 leading U.K. aid agencies, says that there are four million people still in urgent need of aid in a drought that has already killed tens of thousands.

The famine designation has been lifted in the Bay, Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions in southern Somalia, but rates of malnutrition and death remain extremely high. Throughout the rest of the country, millions of people continue to suffer despite £75 million (approximately USD $115 million) in aid money raised recently by the DEC. Many have been forced to abandon their homes, and flee to refugee camps.

Islamic Relief, one of the DEC’s member charities is calling for “more international aid and an increased diplomatic effort,” so that those displaced and affected by the famine can receive the food supplies and medical attention they need and finally begin to rebuild their lives.

Security is an added issue in the region. Militants known as al Shabab have taken over major cities and interfered with the delivery of emergency food and aid supplies. Government and African Union forces are fighting to rid the Shabab from the region, to finally achieve peace and stability in a time of great distress.

Because the situation in Somalia is given little attention from the media and international community, millions of people remain victim to immense suffering. The famine is far from over, and those affected need help and support now more than ever.

To find out more about how you can help those affected by famine, please go to: The World Food Programme, CARE, or UNICEF.

To read more about the famine in the Horn of Africa, please go to: The Continuing Famine in the Horn of Africa, Where is there a Famine? and Somalia’s Agony Tests Limits of Aid.

by Leah Baines

Hungry For Food Security

The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change (CSACC), a roundtable of senior natural and social scientists from across the globe, recently released its Summary for Policymakers. The commission is working to promote concrete policy recommendations toward achieving food security in the face of climate change, and its summary is a synthesis of its final report, due in early 2012. Aimed at global policymakers at the recently concluded United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban and the upcoming Rio+20 Earth Summit, CSACC hopes to bring agriculture into discussions of climate change mitigation.

“Efforts to alleviate the worst effects of climate change cannot succeed without simultaneously addressing the crises in global agriculture and the food system,” said Dr. Bruce Campbell, director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, which convened the independent commission in February 2011.

The global food system is plagued with structural issues: a billion are hungry while another billion over-consume, and inefficient practices cause tremendous amounts of waste and make agriculture the single biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. As the world’s population grows, the tastes of an ever-expanding middle class lean towards consumption of resource-intensive protein-heavy diets, and climate change threatens to disrupt much of the world’s arable land, the food system could reach critical thresholds. “Food insecurity produces widespread human suffering, even in the world’s wealthiest countries, as well as political and economic instability, so it is clear the status quo is not an option,” said Commissioner Professor Tekalign Mamo, Advisor to the Ethiopian Minister of Agriculture.

The Commission is determined to convey to policymakers the interdependence of the global food system. All levels of society, from local to global, must be engaged if the world is to mount an adequate response to the looming threats. There are three limits within which the food system must operate: the quantity of food that can be produced on available land under a given climate; the quantity of food needed by a growing population; and the contribution of food production to climate change. Using evidence gathered from programs and initiatives already in place around the world, the Commission seeks to illuminate the policies that will nudge the world into a “safe zone,” where needs are sustainably met.

Their summary declares seven key areas for action that focus on integrating, investing, and intensifying sustainable agriculture policies, such as making “fast start” funds available and building transparency in food markets. They also highlight the need to focus on the most vulnerable communities, promote balanced diets, reduce waste and food loss, and develop comprehensive information systems. None are quick fixes, and will require multi-year commitments of financial and technical assistance. Agriculture, in other words, must become a new and lasting global priority.

Projects from a number of countries are showcased in the summary, all examples of avenues to promote the necessary adjustments at all levels. In Ethiopia, the Productive Safety Net Program provides transfers of cash and food to chronically food-insecure families in exchange for labor on public works projects. In France, public health legislation mandated in the inclusion of more nutritional information on food packages, and seeks to nudge consumers away from deleterious and wasteful habits. In Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, the East Africa Dairy Development Project is helping small dairy farmers gain greater access to markets and reduce postharvest losses.

The Committee’s final report will feature extended, detailed discussions of their policy recommendations, and will be a tremendously useful guide to the way forward. “There is no one-size-fits-all solution,” said Commission Vice-Chair Dr. Mohammed Asaduzzaman, Research Director at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, “but we know that success depends on a combination of investment, innovation and deliberate effort to empower the world’s most vulnerable populations.” To obtain real changes that will achieve a secure food system and a stable environment, all must share commitment.

by Jeffrey Lamoureux.

For more information on climate change and food security, see: Community Livelihood Strengthens Food Security at Grass Root Level, Four Billions New Reasons Why Food Will Become a Local Government Issue, Bridging the Gap in Climate Change Strategies, Agricultural Development Key to Ending Hunger in Africa.

 

Green Revolution 2.0

Bill Gates released his 2012 annual letter, stressing the need for agricultural innovation to further international development. He has written annual letters since 2009, each of which outlines the key areas of focus for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for that year. Gates discusses the need for continued effort for other global health issues, including Polio vaccination, family planning programs, and HIV/AIDS prevention approaches. For all of these global health issues, he explains that, “Innovation is the means, and equity is the end goal” for the Foundation. Each letter has highlighted innovation as a means to greatly improve the world.

His call for new solutions comes at a time when roughly 15 percent of the world population—1 billion people—are living in extreme poverty. Gates explains that, despite not having enough food for their families to eat, many of these people are small farm owners. In developing countries, malnutrition is a contributing factor in over half of all deaths of children under the age of five. Additionally, over 270 million children “are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency,” seriously hampering their growth and development.

Gates states the need to build upon the work of the “Green Revolution” in the 1960s and 1970s, when existing technologies on irrigation, improved seed varieties, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer were spread to farmers in developing countries. Governments today, he says, are paying less attention to and spending fewer resources on agriculture in their countries. The world spends US$3 billion per year on researching major crops, and very little of that funding is directed toward the needs of small-scale farmers.

According to Gates, modest amounts of investment can have a significant impact on the lives of millions of people. He concludes his letter by stating that he is optimistic about the potential of innovative partnerships between the private sector, developing countries, and aid organizations to greatly improve agricultural productivity throughout the world.

By Marissa Dwyer

Creating Farms That Produce Food And Energy

In this week’s episode, we discuss how incorporating an Integrated Food and Energy System (IFES) can give rural and impoverished communities better access to food and reliable energy. Farmers can incorporate IFES in two ways–by using intercropping methods and growing food and fuel-generating crops, such as acacia trees, or by integrating livestock onto their farms and using biodigesters from their manure to generate energy.

Video: http://youtu.be/gPlSroOqNaY

To read  about IFES, see: Innovation of the Week: Creating Farms that Produce Food and Energy.

Five School Programs Feeding America’s Children

Beyond the traditional lessons on reading, writing, and math, schools across America are now teaching their students about another crucially important subject that will build the foundation for the rest of their lives: nutrition.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 17 percent of children in America are obese.  These children face higher risks of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other diseases when they become adults.

With approximately 55 million children enrolled in the U.S., schools can play a powerful role in the efforts to combat obesity. Every day, over 31 million children receive their lunches through the National School Lunch Program. These meals are subsidized the government, and made available to low-income students for free or reduced rates.  In addition, by teaching children about agriculture, cooking, and gardening, students gain a greater appreciation and understanding of where their food comes from and how it is produced. Here are five initiatives helping to teach children about nutrition across the country.

1. Louisville, Kentucky

In 2003, according to a report by the Trust for America’s Health, Kentucky had the third highest level of overweight high school students, as well as the third highest number of low-income children between two and five years old in the country. Since then, Kentucky has made significant improvements in their school lunches and nutrition programs.

One organization, The Food Literacy Project at Oxmoor Farm, runs “Experiential Educational Programs” for school and community groups that allow participants to experience farm-life first hand. Visitors may learn how to bake bread from scratch, take a tasting tour of the farm, or study how the food in their lunches is grown. The farm, based out of Louisville, Kentucky, was just awarded a mini grant from the Healthy Hometown Movement, a state government program, and will be working this year with over 200 students to teach them about vegetable farming, physical activity, and where their food comes from.

2. St. Louis, Missouri

Missouri was recently ranked as the eleventh-most obese state in the country, with 31 percent of children ages 10-17 overweight. In addition, nearly one out of every four children in the state is hungry, a figure which has been rising since 2005 and now rates fifth-worst in the country.

But in St. Louis, a number of organizations have partnered together to improve the city’s approach towards nutrition and agriculture. In one exciting example, over 60 schools have partnered with Gateway Greening to build vegetable, native, multi-sensory (which incorporate scent, touch, and sound aspects in their design), and butterfly gardens. This organization, a non-profit organization started and based out of the city, provides the resources and guidance necessary for the schools to design and run their own unique gardens for students to learn about nature, nutrition, and even sell their own produce.

3. Greeley, Colorado

Although Colorado has the lowest obesity rate in the country, two recent reports, by Health Policy Solutions and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, warn that childhood obesity in Colorado increased by 23 percent between 2003 and 2007.

The organization Cook for America has partnered with a number of school districts across the state to redesign the operations and practices of school foodservice. The city of Greeley was recently highlighted by the New York Times for its participation in the program. Greeley’s Weld County School District 6 serves over 19,000 students, the majority of whom are low-income—60 percent of students qualify for free or reduced meals. To feed these students, the district has implemented a School Food Renaissance, which includes school gardens and Farm to School programs, connecting local farmers and students.

Weld County School District 6 also will begin phasing out processed and precooked meals this year through the training and resources provided by Cook for America, with the goal of providing all meals from scratch by the beginning of next school year. These moves are helping to show that foodservice reform, typically seen as too expensive or difficult for struggling school districts, can be affordable, successful, and delicious.

4. Boston, Massachusetts

Sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), which include sports drinks and soda, are increasingly popular among teenagers, yet present significant risks to their health. SSBs currently account for approximately 13 percent of all calories consumed by youth, and are the largest source of added sugar in children’s diets.

Yet in Boston, consumption of these drinks has actually gone down, according to the CDC. In 2004, Boston public schools passed a policy restricting sales of SSBs in schools. In a study conducted by the CDC, researchers analyzed consumption of SSBs in Boston high schools between 2004 and 2006, and compared them to national trends. The report found that while there was no change in consumption nationally, high school students in Boston’s public schools drank significantly less soda and other sugar-sweetened drinks. Following these findings, the Massachusetts Public Health Council issued new nutrition standards to take effect in 2013 that will eliminate sodas and other foods (including those with artificial sweeteners and trans fats) off school campuses statewide . As Angie Cradock, the report’s lead author, states, “This study shows that a very simple policy change can have a big impact on student behavior.”

5. Wilmington, Delaware

Twenty-eight percent of adults in Delaware are obese, according to the CDC, and childhood obesity is 33 percent. But battling obesity in Delaware has seen some progress recently – the rate of children classifying as overweight or obese has leveled off in the past years, defying the national trend.

Healthy Foods for Healthy Kids is a small non-profit based out of northern Delaware that partners with schools in the area to build school vegetable gardens. Created in 2005, the organization now works with students in every grade level in 11 schools. Through the “Education Cultivation” program, students plant, grow, and eat the vegetables from their gardens, learning valuable lessons about nutrition and science.

According to a report co-authored by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association, and the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education, “Enjoying and learning about food in childhood promotes good nutrition habits for a lifetime.” Through the efforts of schools and programs like these, children in America are now being provided with the lessons necessary to build a healthier future.

By Jenna Banning

How To Change The Way We Eat

Tomorrow, TEDxManhattan will be hosting a panel discussion on steps needed to change the way we eat.

The panel will feature president of the board of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and former director of Iowa State University’s Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Fred Kirschenmann and Senior Advisor at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, David Wallinga, among other experts.

Although the event is already sold out, you can view the livestream here. Click here for more program details.

 

Cañihua: Quinoa’s Little Cousin Packs a Nutritional Punch

Many areas in the Andean highlands of Peru and Bolivia are above 3800 meters in elevation. These highlands regularly experience extreme fluctuations in temperature—around 30°C (86°F)—and often  drop well below freezing at night. The area is also prone to drought, due to erratic mountain weather patterns and a winter dry season. It takes a special range of crops to feed the inhabitants of such an environment.

The Chenopodium genus is known as the “goosefoots,” and is comprised of some 150 species. Two of these species are Quinoa and its lesser-known cousin, Cañihua. Specialized to grow at high elevations, Cañihua has been a staple crop in the Andean highlands for thousands of years.

Farmers in Peru and Bolivia produce almost all of the Cañihua grown in the world, but exports are minimal. At one time, much of South America, especially along the Andes Mountains, thrived on Quinoa and Cañihua, but the introduction of barley and wheat by Europeans caused a shift in agricultural production.

Still, these new cereal crops are usually difficult to grow at high elevations, as they are sensitive to frost and lack of rainfall, so some communities still rely on Cañihua for food. The plant is sown in the fall and can withstand night frosts, temperatures up to 28°C (82°F), or extended drought.

In addition to its hardiness, Cañihua is notable for the usefulness of the entire plant. Its leaves can be cooked and eaten like spinach and the entire plant can be dried and used as feed for livestock. Cañihua seeds contain up to 19 percent protein and are rich in amino acids. The seeds are also free from the high levels of saponins –a potentially toxic substance—that require special treatment in Quinoa. Cañihua seeds are primarily processed by lightly roasting them and then grinding them into flour, called Cañihuaco, which can be used in soups, drinks, breads, or even eaten on its own.

While Cañihua production could be increased to diversify diets, it is hampered by several factors. Its habitat is restricted to high elevation areas and it is not fully domesticated, resulting in inconsistent grain ripening. While this encourages broad genetic diversity, it has made large-scale harvesting very time- and labor-intensive. Nevertheless, Cañihua’s high nutritional value and resiliency could make it a valuable crop for high-altitude regions around the world.

Do you know of other crops that are perfectly suited for a particular region? How can we encourage local communities to grow indigenous crops that will flourish there?

Isaac Hopkins is a research intern with the Nourishing the Planet project.

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