Food security is central to the renaissance of ARD on development agendas, said Albert Engel, head of the rural development and agriculture division at GIZ in an online interview with the Platform. Getting the private sector on board would be crucial for making significant progress. Albert points out clearly that he appreciates the comeback of food security in particular and rural development in general. As a Platform focal point, he highlights the unique role that the Platform plays in advocating the important topic and shows some of the potentials for collaboration with the private sector.
March 2, 2012
Mobile Phones and Apps Making a Difference in the Lives of Poor Farmers
The Worldbank states that ICTs make a difference to small scale farmers:
“A farmers’ organization in Western Kenya uses mobile phones to access a digital marketplace and bypass middlemen. Now trading directly with exporters, the group is seeing dramatic increases in income. New mobile applications are also being used to provide timely information about disease outbreaks to farmers in Eastern Africa, so they can prepare and prevent the pests from affecting their livestock.
Understanding and addressing global agriculture developments—both positive and negative—are critical to improving smallholder livelihoods. These are just two examples of how the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) can improve smallholder farmers’ income and increase agricultural productivity. Expanded and increasingly affordable connectivity and tools, especially mobile phones, as well as advances in data storage and open access, have made ICT relevant to agriculture.”
Have a look at the Worldbank news-item.
February 6, 2012
FAO Forestry App
FAO’s Forestry Department has launched the Organization’s first multimedia app, designed to bring its work on forests and forestry to a growing generation of iPhone and iPad users.
The ‘FAO Forestry’ App can be downloaded free from the Apple App store and provides users with news, videos, select publications, interactive maps showing world forest statistics, and a quiz, all navigable with a touch-screen wheel. It also includes a ‘donate’ button that takes users to the website of FAO’s TeleFood fundraising programme – which uses public contributions to finance small-scale agriculture, livestock and fisheries projects that help poor families achieve food security.
FAO Forestry invites students and people in public and private organizations with an interest in forestry to start downloading the app and share it with their friends and colleagues so that they can have the latest forest and forestry information at their fingertips.
The second version scheduled for mid-year will provide updated information on the forestry department’s work and allow users to donate specifically to forestry-related TeleFood projects.
August 9, 2011
Reduction of post-harvest losses ….
… an old issue is back on the agenda.
The german online news service Spiegel-online titles in the contex of the feature “Hungerkatastrophe in Ostafrika” (Famine in Eastafrica) “Bessere Verpackungen für eine bessere Welt” (Better packaging for a better world). But not only the press picks up on the topic but also international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN. They recovered the “Information Network on Post-harvest Operations” (INPhO) and published the guiding publication “Global food losses and food waste“. The Worldbank looks e.g. into “Missing Food: The Case of Postharvest Grain Losses in Sub-Saharan Africa“. The “UN calls for better grain storage to reduce Africa’s post-harvest losses“. Eversince scientist are working on the issue and point out its importance, e.g. Hodges, Rick, Buzby, J.C. and Bennett, Ben (2011): Postharvest losses and waste in developed and less developed countries: opportunities to improve resource use.
Beyond this more and more national, regional and subregional efforts take of:
- Rwandan research will boost agricultural productivity
- Sub-regional workshop on post-harvest loss reduction in West Africa (31 May – 3 June 2011. Accra, Ghana)
- Government introduced schemes to reduce post-harvest losses
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is just evaluating steps which possibly could be taken from the German side.
July 21, 2011
Hunger in Afrika
Wem nützt der Kriseneinsatz der Hilfsorganisationen?
Dürre, Hunger, Bürgerkrieg – die drei großen Plagen Afrikas gehen wieder um. Im Osten des Kontinents seien 12 Millionen Menschen von Hunger bedroht, erklären die Sprecher von UNICEF, Oxfam und dem Welternährungsprogramm der Vereinten Nationen. Martin Durm diskutiert im SWR2 Forum mit drei ausgewiesenen Ostafrika-Kennern die Rolle der internationalen Hilfsorganisationen und das Ausmaß der Krise am Horn von Afrika.
Es diskutieren:
Wim Dohrenbusch, langjähriger Afrika-Korrespondent der ARD
Prof. Dr. Cord Jakobeit, Politikwissenschaftler an der Universität Hamburg
Ralf Südhoff, Leiter des UN- Welternährungsprogramms Deutschland in Berlin
Link zur Diskussion: SWR2 Forum
June 9, 2011
Dutch food & feed industry buys 85,000 tons of first responsibly produced soy
The Dutch food and feed industry has bought the first batch of soy produced according to the principles of the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS). This first ever market uptake of 85,000 tons serves as an important example for businesses worldwide, who can now also begin to purchase responsibly produced soy.
Read more: RTRS Press release & Unilever press release
General information on the Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) can be found on the RTRS website www.responsiblesoy.org.
The development of the standard was supported by the GIZ Programme for Social and Environmental Standards
June 7, 2011
Nachhaltige Palmölproduktion
Die FAZ berichtete über das “Forum für nachhaltiges Palmöl”, das von der GIZ mitinitiiert wurde:
Klimawandel: Handel rückt Herstellung von Palmöl in den Fokus. Palmöl gilt als Gefahr für den Regenwald und Treiber des Klimawandels. Deutsche Unternehmen wollen reagieren und ihre Lieferketten umstellen. Henkel, Rewe und Unilever initiieren dafür ein „Forum für nachhaltiges Palmöl“, andere folgen.
http://www.faz.net/artikel/C31151/klimawandel-handel-rueckt-herstellung-von-palmoel-in-den-fokus-30433405.html
January 29, 2011
Grimmepreisnominierung
Der Dokumentarfilm HUNGER, der mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (ehemals GTZ) von der EIKON-Gruppe produziert wurde, ist für den 47. Grimme-Preis in der Kategorie Information und Unterhaltung nominiert worden. HUNGER von Marcus Vetter und Karin Steinberger erzählt, wie Menschen, Gruppen und Organisationen darum ringen, eine der schlimmsten sozialen, politischen und ökonomischen Tragödien unserer Tage zu lösen: den Hunger in der Welt. In fünf Ländern, oft jenseits der Grenzen von Zivilisation und menschenwürdiger Existenz, stellen der Autor und Regisseur Marcus Vetter und die Journalistin Karin Steinberger die Frage, warum bisher viele Konzepte von Entwicklungspolitik versagt haben.
Marcus Vetter hat für seine Dokumentationen bereits zahlreiche Preise (u. a. Deutscher Fernsehpreis, Grimme-Preis) erhalten. Karin Steinberger arbeitet für die Süddeutsche Zeitung und wurde für ihre Reportagen mehrfach ausgezeichnet, darunter mit dem Medienpreis für Menschenrechte.
Hunger ist eine Produktion der EIKON Südwest im Auftrag des SWR.
Buch: Marcus Vetter und Karin Steinberger
Regie: Marcus Vetter
Kamera: Thomas Mauch, Marcus Vetter
Schnitt: Saskia Metten
Musik: Peter Scherer
Produktion: EIKON Südwest, Ernst Ludwig Ganzert, Ulli Pfau
Redaktion: Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomri, Peter Latzel
Erstausstrahlung: Montag, 25.10.2010., 22.45 Uhr
Sendelänge: 89 Min.
Hintergrund: www.swr.de/hunger
Fachinformationen zum Film: rural.development@giz.de
December 4, 2009
Weizen statt Schlafmohn
Bessere Bewässerungsanlagen, bessere Straßen, ein funktionierendes Mobilfunknetz – all dies trägt dazu bei, dass die Bauern in Afghanistan sich vom Schlafmohn abwenden.
Talk-A: Talk Agriculture & Rural Development 