Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

When forests are cleared in West Africa for firewood or for farmland, the Dika trees are, more often than not, left untouched. Farmers have too much to gain from harvesting the tree’s fruits and seeds to burn or discard a Dika found in the wild.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet

In Cameroon, one of the foods that grows best is cassava. But farmers struggle with low yields because of pests and diseases that damage crops, making each harvest much more labor intensive than they are worth. “Farmers are spending more on planting materials and field maintenance to grow cassava and they are unable to make profit from the poor harvests,” says Emmanuel Njukwe, Chief of Service for the Crop Improvement and Utilization Unit at The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). “They are fighting an expensive battle against pests and diseases.”

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

While the coast of The Gambia is a popular—and economically thriving— tourist destination for European vacationers, the inland portion of the country provides little means for young men to make a living. Many leave their villages for the coast or even other countries, in hopes of making more money in urban areas

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

In 2004 Peter Njodzeka founded the Life and Water Development Group Cameroon (LWDGC) with a rather simple goal. “ I wanted to see the people in my area have clean water,” he said. “And we kept expanding. That’s how it started.”

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Sorghum is Africa’s contribution to the world’s major food crops, with only rice, wheat, maize, and potatoes playing a larger role. Collectively, these five crops provide over 85 percent of all human energy. Sorghum was eaten in Egypt 4,000 years ago, and today is Africa’s second most important cereal. Ethiopia is the center of the crop’s diversity and sorghum is still an important staple food for most of the Horn of Africa. It has long been a staple food in South Asia,brought by traders as many as 20 centuries ago.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Throughout the Sahel, recurrent drought since the late 1960’s is turning once crop covered land into desert. And the sand is spreading. Picked up by wind, dunes created by soil particles from the West African coastline and the Sahel are covering villages, roads, crops, and irrigation systems, making it increasingly difficult to farm and maintain infrastructure.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Egusi, a wild member of the gourd family, has the potential to spread its popularity on the global market nearly as quickly as it grows. Native to parts of Western Africa, this peculiar looking plant can grow just about anywhere, from humid gullies, to dry savannahs, to tropical highlands –making it possible source of food for farmers in even the worst conditions.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Around 1 million people in South Africa—the majority of whom are recent arrivals from the former apartheid homelands, Transkei and Ciskei— live in the shacks that make up Khayelitsha, Nyanga and the area surrounding the Cape Flats outside Cape Town. Just under half, or 40 percent, of the population is unemployed, while the rest barely earn enough income to feed their families.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

Though rarely consumed in the West, millet is a staple grain for much of the world’s population, particularly in South Asia and East Africa, and has been cultivated for thousands of years. The African native variety, finger millet, likely originated from the highlands of Ethiopia and Uganda and is one of the most nutritious all of the world’s major cereal crops. It can be used to make porridge, bread, malt, animal feed, popped millet (like popcorn), Ethiopian liquor called arake, and even beer.

Crossposted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet.

This is the second part in a two-part interview with Steve Osofsky, Director of Wildlife Health Policy for the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). In this first part of the interview, Osofsky explains Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) and how small-scale farmers can benefit from the conservation of wildlife. To read the first part of this interview see: Finding Common Ground to Improve Livelihoods and Conserve Wildlife.