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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/subsistence-agriculture/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:17:25 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>News on Subsistence Agriculture</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/subsistence-agriculture/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Angola’s peatlands highly underestimated, new study suggests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>21 Aug 2026 17:28:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Victoria Schneider]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/21170945/NS111981040_NGSOWP16_Zach-Vincent_0316_River-Expedition_Days-12-13-14_DJI_0023-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=326922</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Angola, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Economics, Ecosystems, Environment, Freshwater, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Oceans, Research, Subsistence Agriculture, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Southwestern African nation of Angola has much more peatland than previously thought, new research suggests. In a study published on August 20 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, researchers mapped out peatlands in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT). This vast landscape stores and regulates freshwater in central Angola and feeds freshwater systems [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Southwestern African nation of Angola has much more peatland than previously thought, new research suggests. In a study published on August 20 in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, researchers mapped out peatlands in the Angolan Highlands Water Tower (AHWT). This vast landscape stores and regulates freshwater in central Angola and feeds freshwater systems across southern Africa including the Okavango Basin. The researchers estimate that overall peatlands cover between 2.28–2.94 % of the of the AHWT. They found 8,662 km² (3,344 square miles) of peatland cover with high certainty (81–100% probability) and 11,167 km² (4,311 square miles) with low certainty (51–100% probability). Peatlands are areas of land where the surface layer consists of plant material that has partially decomposed. According to the study, they cover around three per cent of the world’s land surface but are estimated to store up to a third of the world’s soil carbon. In October 2025, Angola designated an area of 53,000 km² (20,463 square miles) in the AHWT as the country’s first Ramsar Site or Wetland of International Importance. The site was selected due to its sponge effect which absorbs, retains, filters, and ultimately supplies freshwater into the rivers that carry water to wetlands far and wide. A water tower is a highland area that produces a large amount of water, relative to its spatial scope. Study author Mauro Lourenço collecting the peat material during the research for this study. Image courtesy of Jennifer Guyton. One of them is the Okavango Delta in&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/angolas-peatlands-highly-underestimated-new-study-suggests/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-326922</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>How Sri Lanka’s heirloom rice can preserve Indigenous farming and help manage disease</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-sri-lankas-heirloom-rice-can-preserve-indigenous-farming-and-help-manage-disease/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-sri-lankas-heirloom-rice-can-preserve-indigenous-farming-and-help-manage-disease/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Aug 2026 09:47:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/08092106/3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325663</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indian Ocean, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Culture, Ecosystems, Environment, Farming, Industrial Agriculture, Research, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[WASGAMUWA, Sri Lanka – Prior to the 1940s and the Green Revolution, Sri Lankan paddy farmers cultivated traditional rice, locally known as purana haal. These rice cultivars were resilient and known to possess various nutritional and medicinal properties yet were soon replaced by new improved rice varieties to obtain better quality and bigger yields. Karu [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[WASGAMUWA, Sri Lanka – Prior to the 1940s and the Green Revolution, Sri Lankan paddy farmers cultivated traditional rice, locally known as purana haal. These rice cultivars were resilient and known to possess various nutritional and medicinal properties yet were soon replaced by new improved rice varieties to obtain better quality and bigger yields. Karu Herath, an heirloom paddy farmer in the village of Dunuwila, bordering the Wasgamuwa National Park located within the Matale and Polonnaruwa districts, has cultivated heirloom paddy varieties for the past 27 years. He told Mongabay that fewer than 30 varieties remain out of the estimated 2,500 varieties of heirloom rice that once existed, a claim supported by rice researchers. According to researchers, many of these rice varieties are long-aged, tall and low-yielding. Therefore, traditional farmers would only cultivate them during one harvesting cycle, known as the Maha season, which runs from September through March. With the introduction of new, improved rice varieties and fertilizers after the 1940s, Sri Lanka lost much of its Indigenous rice varieties and traditional knowledge of Indigenous farming practices. Image courtesy of Pethum Bandara. Herath follows this practice and cultivates only during the monsoon season. “During the Yala season [May to August], when it’s dry, we let the soil recover and grow heirloom cereals and vegetables such as kurakkan [finger millet] and mung [mung bean],” he said. “This draws different nutrients and requires less water than rice. This was the traditional land use system, which was changed by British colonialists who&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-sri-lankas-heirloom-rice-can-preserve-indigenous-farming-and-help-manage-disease/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/how-sri-lankas-heirloom-rice-can-preserve-indigenous-farming-and-help-manage-disease/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325663</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Global hunger levels fall but Africa still lags behind, UN report finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Aug 2026 13:22:06 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/08/04112439/HarvestingSorghum_Sudan2011_AfricaRenewalFlickrBYNCSA2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325306</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Commodity agriculture, Economics, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Research, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In its latest report on food security and nutrition around the world, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says the number of people facing hunger globally has declined for the third consecutive year, but Africa still has the highest number of people with insufficient food. The FAO report estimated that 20% of Africans faced hunger [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In its latest report on food security and nutrition around the world, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says the number of people facing hunger globally has declined for the third consecutive year, but Africa still has the highest number of people with insufficient food. The FAO report estimated that 20% of Africans faced hunger in 2025, compared to just 6% in Asia, and nearly 5% in Latin America and the Caribbean. The FAO report says the number of people facing hunger globally fell from 8.6% in 2022 to 7.8% in 2025. It further estimates that in 2025, hunger affected 14 million people less than in 2024 and 43 million less people than in 2022. In 2030, the report projects between 510 and 520 million people will be food insecure worldwide and more than half of them (56%) will be in Africa. Dry lakebed in Mabalane district, Mozambique: climate shocks are amongst the reasons for food insecurity in Africa. Image by Aurélie Marrier d&#8217;Unienville / IFRC via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). “While the prevalence rate of undernourishment slightly stabilized at 20.0% in 2025, demographic pressure actually pushed the absolute number of hungry people [in Africa] to a record 309 million, surpassing Asia for the first time,” David Laborde, director of the FAO’s Agrifood Economics Division, told Mongabay via email. Laborde said that severe cuts to development aid, armed conflict, and climate shocks have hindered food production on the continent over the past decade. Erratic rains and rising temperature have affected&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/08/global-hunger-levels-fall-but-africa-still-lags-behind-un-report-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325306</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sri Lanka prepares for impending El Niño with traditional and new approaches</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sri-lanka-prepares-for-impending-el-nino-with-traditional-and-new-approaches/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sri-lanka-prepares-for-impending-el-nino-with-traditional-and-new-approaches/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jul 2026 13:05:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kamanthi Wickramasinghe]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Dilrukshi Handunnetti]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/31104448/2-4-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=325032</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, South Asia, and Sri Lanka]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Conservation, Crops, Disasters, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Industrial Agriculture, Rice, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Traditional Knowledge, Water, and Water Scarcity]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Even though Sri Lankan authorities are preparing to face an impending El Niño phenomenon, Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Suwandarathne feels that the country may not be impacted as forecasted. A second generation farmer from Thalangama in the Colombo District, Suwandarathne knows about weather and has been leading an agricultural revolution by promoting the cultivation of heirloom varieties [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[COLOMBO — Even though Sri Lankan authorities are preparing to face an impending El Niño phenomenon, Rathnayaka Mudiyanselage Suwandarathne feels that the country may not be impacted as forecasted. A second generation farmer from Thalangama in the Colombo District, Suwandarathne knows about weather and has been leading an agricultural revolution by promoting the cultivation of heirloom varieties of rice. According to him, it is normal to experience a dry spell between July and September as forecasted. This period coincides with the Yala season, one of two paddy harvesting seasons in Sri Lanka. “By August, the dry period begins, and we need a dry season to obtain the harvest,” he told Mongabay. “We then conduct culturally significant events praying for rains. This is the cycle during the Yala season. Then again from December to March, there’s a drought season, which coincides with the Maha season. Long dry spells occur every four to seven years. But now, we have changed these harvesting cycles,” he said. The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) monthly global seasonal climate update indicates an 80% probability of a rapid development into a strong El Niño event between July and September 2026. WMO Secretary General Celeste Saulo said that it would “intensify chances of drought and heavy rainfall and the risk of heatwaves on land and marine heatwaves in many regions of the world.” “When going by initial predictions, the time period for developing a very strong El Niño was between November 2026 and January 2027,” Ajith Wijemannage, head of the Meteorology&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/sri-lanka-prepares-for-impending-el-nino-with-traditional-and-new-approaches/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-325032</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Small-scale farming, logging eclipse megaprojects as top threats to Tapanuli orangutan habitat</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jul 2026 11:24:36 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Hans Nicholas Jong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/03/12041811/Orangutan_Tapanuli_Anakan-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323335</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Global, Indonesia, North Sumatra, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Animals, Apes, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Business, Conservation, Crime, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Drivers Of Deforestation, Endangered Species, Forest Loss, Forestry, Great Apes, Habitat, Habitat Loss, Illegal Logging, Industrial Agriculture, Logging, Mammals, Orangutans, Primates, Protected Areas, Subsistence Agriculture, Tropical Deforestation, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Large infrastructure projects have long dominated debate over the future of Indonesia&#8217;s Batang Toru ecosystem, the main stronghold of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. But a new study suggests that while those projects have accelerated forest loss, the greatest direct threat to the ape&#8217;s habitat now comes from a much less visible source: [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JAKARTA — Large infrastructure projects have long dominated debate over the future of Indonesia&#8217;s Batang Toru ecosystem, the main stronghold of the critically endangered Tapanuli orangutan. But a new study suggests that while those projects have accelerated forest loss, the greatest direct threat to the ape&#8217;s habitat now comes from a much less visible source: the cumulative impact of small-scale agriculture and logging. Recently published in the journal Biological Conservation, the study combines satellite imagery, causal inference, and years of ethnographic fieldwork — including interviews with local communities — to assess the drivers of forest loss in Batang Toru. Home to an estimated 716 Tapanuli orangutans (Pongo tapanuliensis), Batang Toru lost 7,659 hectares (18,925 acres) of forest — about 5% of its forest cover — between 2000 and 2023, the researchers found. Forest loss accelerated markedly after 2012, increasing at a rate significantly higher than historical trends would have predicted. The shift coincided with the development of three major extractive projects in the landscape: the Martabe gold mine, the Batang Toru hydropower project, and the Sarulla geothermal project. Using a counterfactual analysis, the researchers estimated that Batang Toru lost an additional 3,472 hectares (8,579 acres) of forest after the projects began, compared with what would have been expected had they never happened. At the same time, however, the researchers found that small-scale agriculture and logging accounted for roughly 70% of direct forest loss in the landscape during the same period. The findings suggest that while large-scale development projects remain an&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/small-scale-farming-logging-eclipse-megaprojects-as-top-threats-to-tapanuli-orangutan-habitat/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323335</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Malawi agroecologists see opportunity in Gulf fertilizer supply disruption</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malawi-agroecologists-see-opportunity-in-gulf-fertilizer-supply-disruption/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malawi-agroecologists-see-opportunity-in-gulf-fertilizer-supply-disruption/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2026 14:04:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Charles Mpaka]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/03135918/5549095911_375e8f47bf_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322462</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Malawi, and Southern Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, climate finance, Conservation, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Finance, Industrial Agriculture, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the first rays of the sun streak through the misty morning early in June, James Singano spits into his right hand for a good grip of the hoe handle. With one swing, he brings down a shrub. Malawi’s farming season is five months away, but Singano has started clearing the land where he inter-crops [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the first rays of the sun streak through the misty morning early in June, James Singano spits into his right hand for a good grip of the hoe handle. With one swing, he brings down a shrub. Malawi’s farming season is five months away, but Singano has started clearing the land where he inter-crops maize, a staple food here, with pigeon peas. He is one of the more than 4 million smallholder farmers that depend on subsistence farming and contribute significantly to national food security by producing 80% of Malawi&#8217;s annual maize harvest. Most of them farm on less than a hectare. From his farm in the outskirts of Blantyre City in Southern Malawi, Singano’s maize harvest varies between 400kg and 600kg annually, which hardly feeds his family of six for a year. He says the land’s yield has consistently over the last 21 years, since he inherited it from his parents. “They (parents) did not need fertilizer to produce enough maize for our family,” he says, sweeping off the shrub he has cut with his bare foot onto a heap of grass nearby. “These days, farming is a lot of toil for very little harvest because the soil isn’t producing as much and fertilizer is getting harder to afford.” Maize is staple crop in Malawi and its production is heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers. Malawi imports over 90 percent of the over 400,000 tons of fertilizers it consumes annually – Image by Charles Mpaka for Mongabay. Soils losing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malawi-agroecologists-see-opportunity-in-gulf-fertilizer-supply-disruption/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/malawi-agroecologists-see-opportunity-in-gulf-fertilizer-supply-disruption/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322462</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Running on empty: How the gulf war is threatening Kenya’s food security</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/running-on-empty-how-the-gulf-war-is-threatening-kenyas-food-security/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/running-on-empty-how-the-gulf-war-is-threatening-kenyas-food-security/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Jul 2026 13:28:37 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Achieng’ Otieno]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/03132332/72-year-old-Peter-Kitur-at-his-farm-in-Kipkeikei-Trans-Nzoia-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=322457</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Science, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Governance, Industrial Agriculture, Natural Resources, Science, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Philip Kitur walks through a neat row of maize stalks, with budding leaves painting a picture of a bountiful harvest. The 71-year-old has a 41-acre parcel at Kipkeikei village in Trans-Nzoia County. However, hidden behind Kitur’s smile is the fear of losing a significant yield if he does not access fertilizer. “The crop is due [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Philip Kitur walks through a neat row of maize stalks, with budding leaves painting a picture of a bountiful harvest. The 71-year-old has a 41-acre parcel at Kipkeikei village in Trans-Nzoia County. However, hidden behind Kitur’s smile is the fear of losing a significant yield if he does not access fertilizer. “The crop is due for top dressing, but I have not accessed urea, without which I may lose up to 30% of my harvest,” he told Mongabay. Mutahi Kagwe, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture, says the country has adequate stocks of fertilizer, including 2 million bags for top-dressing. He says Kenya is working around finding alternative sources for the fertilizer to ensure food security in spite of global shocks triggered by the tension between Iran and USA. “While we cannot preempt or predict how long the conflict in the Middle East will take, we have had conversations on sourcing Urea from Algeria and fertilizer from Morocco,” Kagwe told Mongabay in an interview done virtually. A maize farm belonging to Dennis Chemonges, a farmer in Cherengani, in Kenya&#8217;s Trans-Nzoia. The crop is due for top dressing. Photo by Achieng&#8217; Otieno. Key food basket Trans-Nzoia is one of Kenya’s food baskets, especially for maize, which is a staple food. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics’ 2025 National Agriculture Production Report, Trans-Nzoia accounted for 423,156 (10.5%) of the 4,028,320 tons of maize produced in 2024. However, there has been immense strain in Kenya’s ability to sustain its maize production over&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/running-on-empty-how-the-gulf-war-is-threatening-kenyas-food-security/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/running-on-empty-how-the-gulf-war-is-threatening-kenyas-food-security/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-322457</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Strait of Hormuz crisis should catalyze African biofertilizer production (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/strait-of-hormuz-crisis-should-catalyze-african-biofertilizer-production-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/strait-of-hormuz-crisis-should-catalyze-african-biofertilizer-production-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Apr 2026 00:44:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Susan Chomba]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/23081210/44366384701_940bc33dc5_k-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=317598</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Biochar, Business, Conflict, Fertilizers, Food, food security, International Trade, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, Trade, and War]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In early mornings across rural Kenya, as the long rains approach, farmers are already at work. Fields are being cleared, seeds checked, and planting plans quietly rehearsed. But this year, alongside the usual uncertainties about soil quality, rain and pests, there is a more pressing question: will there be enough fertilizer, and will it be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In early mornings across rural Kenya, as the long rains approach, farmers are already at work. Fields are being cleared, seeds checked, and planting plans quietly rehearsed. But this year, alongside the usual uncertainties about soil quality, rain and pests, there is a more pressing question: will there be enough fertilizer, and will it be affordable? Reports from the Middle East echo through their favorite radio stations as they wonder about the war’s effect on their lives. As tensions disrupt food, fuel and fertilizer flows through the Strait of Hormuz — a key artery for global exports and imports into Iran — Africa’s dependence on imported synthetic inputs is once again exposed. For many countries, from 20% to more than 50% of fertilizer supplies originate from Persian Gulf nations. Besides the production of fertilizer, fossil fuels are also crucial for driving farming machinery such as tractors, irrigation pumps, and of course vehicles that transport food from farms to markets. Africa is aware of her vulnerability as a result of the war in Iran and the previous disruptions from COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine, which have triggered policy and economic consequences. Frameworks such as the Africa Fertilizer and Soil Health Action Plan 2024-2034 aim to reduce reliance on imports by fostering local production. Currently, the Dangote Group, which operates Africa&#8217;s largest chemical fertilizer manufacturing complex, based in Nigeria, plans to triple its production to 9 million metric tons per annum. The group is also starting the construction of a $2&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/strait-of-hormuz-crisis-should-catalyze-african-biofertilizer-production-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/strait-of-hormuz-crisis-should-catalyze-african-biofertilizer-production-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-317598</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Sharing is off the table’ as drought reshapes the culture of Ethiopia’s pastoralists</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Apr 2026 07:00:46 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kaleab Girma]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/31210152/a.-BANNER-UF146DY-00262634-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=316668</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Pastoralists in a Changing World]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Cattle, Climate, Climate Change, Culture, Drinking Water, Drought, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Food, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Livestock, Pasture, Social Conflict, Subsistence Agriculture, Water, and Weather]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JIJIGA, Ethiopia — The land here used to speak. At dawn in Kebribeyah district, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia, the plains stretch wide beneath a pale sky, with dusty shades of brown and yellow broken by thorny acacia trees and the slow movement of livestock across the horizon. For generations, pastoralists learned to read the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JIJIGA, Ethiopia — The land here used to speak. At dawn in Kebribeyah district, Somali Regional State, eastern Ethiopia, the plains stretch wide beneath a pale sky, with dusty shades of brown and yellow broken by thorny acacia trees and the slow movement of livestock across the horizon. For generations, pastoralists learned to read the landscape. The arrival of seasonal winds, the timing of the rains, and the alignment of stars all carried meaning. Mohamoud Sulub, a 50-year-old livestock herder, grew up relying on these signs in Guuyow village. They told him when to move his herd and when to stay. He knew his neighbors would, in hard times, understand them, too — and help when needed. That knowledge is now failing him. This year, Mohamoud says, there is simply nowhere to go. “The land is all drought,” he tells Mongabay. The father of six has spent his entire life herding animals across this arid landscape, as his father did before him. Today he keeps 40 goats and sheep, five cows and six camels. “When the rains are good, the land is fine and there is no need to move,” he says. “But during drought, we migrate.” In this photo taken Sunday, Sept. 3, 2017, dust clouds blow across the parched landscape in the Danan district of the Somali region of Ethiopia, which hasn&#8217;t seen significant amounts of rain in the past three years. Image by AP Photo/Elias Meseret. For generations, pastoralists like Mohamoud relied on mobility and strong social&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/04/sharing-is-off-the-table-as-drought-reshapes-the-lives-of-ethiopias-pastoralists/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-316668</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Vanuatu communities move to protect taro, an ancestral climate-resilient crop (analysis)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jan 2026 18:50:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Kidd]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/01/26182316/Richard-Rojo3-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=313365</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Oceania, Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Vanuatu]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Analysis, Climate Change, Commentary, Disasters, Food, food security, Islands, Plants, Storms, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Sustainable Development]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The packed-earth trail winds through the dense and tangled forest of Vanuatu, the ocean crashing just meters to our right. Richard Rojo’s feet don’t mind the stones and stumps, and he carries a bush knife and a repurposed rice sack. It’s a path well-trodden for Rojo, who’s lived here in the village of Tasmate on [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The packed-earth trail winds through the dense and tangled forest of Vanuatu, the ocean crashing just meters to our right. Richard Rojo’s feet don’t mind the stones and stumps, and he carries a bush knife and a repurposed rice sack. It’s a path well-trodden for Rojo, who’s lived here in the village of Tasmate on Vanuatu’s remote west coast of Espiritu Santo Island as a subsistence farmer and fisher all his 40-ish years. I walk-jog to keep up with him as he talks to me over his shoulder, idly whacking at an occasional vine with his knife. We’ve been traveling together a few days now in his open boat up and down this coast, on a reporting trip with the Sunset Santo Environmental Network (SSEN) team so I can see for myself the way villages here are threatened by climate change. We walk for about 10 minutes as I pepper Rojo with questions. We pass towering trees covered with epiphytic plants and wade across a river before popping out into a clearing the size of a few soccer pitches. Coconut palms edge the far side and, in front of us, earthen berms enclose a shallow rectangular pool maybe 5 by 50 meters (roughly 16 by 164 feet). Inside are rows and rows of chest-high plants with heart-shaped leaves: Colocasia esculenta, or water taro. Rojo sets down his knife and bag and wades into the pool. “I will go replace some that are dying like this one,” he says, finding his&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/01/vanuatu-communities-move-to-protect-taro-an-ancestral-climate-resilient-crop-analysis/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-313365</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Fighting for food sovereignty at COP30: Interview with GRAIN’s Ange-David Baïmey</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/fighting-for-food-sovereignty-at-cop30-interview-with-grains-ange-david-baimey/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/fighting-for-food-sovereignty-at-cop30-interview-with-grains-ange-david-baimey/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Nov 2025 17:09:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/20165642/Farmers_YangambiDRC_AxelFassioCIFORBYNCND2.0-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309913</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Negotiating Africa's Energy Future]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Policy, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Governance, Industry, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[At the COP30 climate summit currently underway in Belém, Brazil, adapting to climate change impacts is a major focus of discussions. This is particularly the case for delegates from Africa, where agriculture, on which the majority of the continent’s people rely for their livelihoods, is directly affected by erratic and extreme weather and rising average [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[At the COP30 climate summit currently underway in Belém, Brazil, adapting to climate change impacts is a major focus of discussions. This is particularly the case for delegates from Africa, where agriculture, on which the majority of the continent’s people rely for their livelihoods, is directly affected by erratic and extreme weather and rising average temperatures. The NGO GRAIN works with farming communities in Africa and elsewhere to protect their food sovereignty, especially in the face of industrial agricultural models that shift production toward commercial seeds, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and commodity crops. GRAIN’s program coordinator for Africa, Ange-David Baïmey, sat down with Mongabay’s Yannick Kenné to explain the group’s participation at COP30, where it’s less interested in the formal negotiations than in the space created to exchange information about climate change adaptation strategies with like-minded civil society groups and push for climate justice. The following interview has been translated from French. Ange-David Baïmey, Africa program coordinator for the NGO GRAIN. Image courtesy of Ange-David Baïmey. Mongabay: What does climate justice mean for GRAIN? What does it mean for the communities you work with in Africa? Ange-David Baïmey: For us at GRAIN, climate justice means taking into account the realities of grassroots communities. Various actors are trying to advance a climate justice agenda in a particular way, but for us, this has its limits. When we talk about climate justice, it means ensuring that the communities most affected by its impacts can find solutions to their problems. When we talk&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/fighting-for-food-sovereignty-at-cop30-interview-with-grains-ange-david-baimey/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/fighting-for-food-sovereignty-at-cop30-interview-with-grains-ange-david-baimey/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>From waffle gardens to terraces, Indigenous groups revive farming heritage in America’s deserts</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Nov 2025 16:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Justin Catanoso]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/18160138/RS-harvesting-corn-e1763482162234-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309750</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[North America and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Climate Change, Culture, Deserts, Drought, Farming, Food, food security, Indigenous Peoples, Subsistence Agriculture, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In 1985, with two young daughters and little money, Roxanne Swentzell, a Native American sculptor and ceramic artist, returned from her studies in Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, to her Santa Clara Pueblo community in New Mexico state. Her art was years away from producing real income, so she took to the land [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In 1985, with two young daughters and little money, Roxanne Swentzell, a Native American sculptor and ceramic artist, returned from her studies in Portland, in the U.S. state of Oregon, to her Santa Clara Pueblo community in New Mexico state. Her art was years away from producing real income, so she took to the land to sustain herself and her girls. “I had this dry patch in the high desert, nothing but a driveway really,” recalls Swentzell, who was just 23 at the time. “I started making it into a homesite, a farm I could cultivate to feed my family. And in time, a little forest.” To grow corn and squash, onions and garlic, beans, berries and amaranth grains, Swentzell tapped into the ancient, dry-farming traditions of her people in the southwestern U.S., where sunshine is as abundant as rain is scarce. These proven, age-old farming techniques — applicable to many other parched, arid regions affected by climate change — have deep and expanding roots among Hopi and Navajo tribes in Arizona while experiencing a resurgence among the Pueblos (Indigenous tribes) of New Mexico through groups such as the Traditional Native American Farmers Association (TNAFA) and the Hopi Tutskwa Permaculture initiative. During Native American Heritage Month in November, Mongabay spoke with the leaders of these groups about their traditional farming techniques and how they can be replicated in increasingly dry regions around the world. In Santa Fe, saving traditional seeds native to the Southwestern US high desert, such as these&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/from-waffle-gardens-to-terraces-indigenous-groups-revive-farming-heritage-in-americas-deserts/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309750</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Karen community fighting corn and coal for clean air in northern Thailand</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Nov 2025 02:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/06011059/f9172231-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308913</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Bioenergy, Coal, Crops, Deforestation, Fires, Flooding, Food Industry, Fossil Fuels, Governance, Indigenous Peoples, Industrial Agriculture, Land Rights, Mining, Public Health, Rivers, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainable Development, and Water Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MAE CHAM/OMKOI, Thailand — Rain lashed down in the northern Thai village of Nong Krating as Sawattiphon Wongkasettakon described the worsening air pollution that sweeps in through the mountains here each year. “It didn’t used to be so bad, but in the last three years it’s become impossible to ignore,” Sawattiphon, a former deputy chief of the village, told Mongabay on the porch of his home in August. “The sky gets dark, it’s uncomfortable when we breathe. It blows in from the maize farms.” Farmers in the region straddling northern Thailand, Myanmar’s Shan state and Laos grow maize to supply Thailand’s booming animal feed industry. Every year before the planting season, they set controlled fires to clear their fields of crop stubble left over from the harvest. The result: surging air pollution that sends the region’s towns and cities shooting up the rankings of the world’s most polluted places every February-April, when the burning peaks. To fix the problem, Thai leaders have tried everything from threatening to cut farmer subsidies and restricting where they can plant maize, to promoting alternative livelihoods and introducing microbial sprays for stubble decomposition. But nothing seems to break the cycle of seasonal haze, which still reaches levels more than 14 times higher than what’s considered safe by the World Health Organization. In Omkoi district, which encompasses Nong Krating village in Chiang Mai province, local officials decided years ago that enough was enough. In 2017, fearing the loss of the forests in which residents forage for herbs&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/karen-community-fighting-corn-and-coal-for-clean-air-in-northern-thailand/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308913</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Witch Hunt: Virulent fungal disease attacks South America’s cassava crop</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Nov 2025 16:20:23 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gloria Dickie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Glenn Scherer]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/04133603/0-Amazon64_lo_2_5658784964-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=308791</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Planetary Boundaries]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Asia, Brazil, French Guiana, Laos, Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Climate, Climate Change, Commodity agriculture, Conservation, Crops, Diseases, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Fungi, Indigenous Peoples, Rainforests, Subsistence Agriculture, and Traditional People]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As smallholder farmers in French Guiana walked their fields in 2023, they noted a disturbing pattern. Their healthy cassava plants, once green and thriving, had begun to turn yellow. Leaves wilted, stalks withered, and small shoots looking like broomsticks sprouted from the plants. When they dug up their harvest, instead of unearthing large foot-long bunches [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As smallholder farmers in French Guiana walked their fields in 2023, they noted a disturbing pattern. Their healthy cassava plants, once green and thriving, had begun to turn yellow. Leaves wilted, stalks withered, and small shoots looking like broomsticks sprouted from the plants. When they dug up their harvest, instead of unearthing large foot-long bunches of cassava, they found only stunted roots. The farmers reported the crisis to agricultural authorities, desperate to find a cure for their threatened crop. When international scientists arrived in 2024 to investigate the blight, they recognized their foe immediately. The witch had arrived in Latin America. Witches’ broom disease is a fungal pathogen, Ceratobasidium theobromae, that has been wreaking havoc on cassava crops in Southeast Asia for more than a decade, crippling yields and fueling economic hardship across that region. Plant scientists had hoped to contain the fungal pathogen to Asia. But since its arrival in South America in 2023, the disease — which attacks the plant’s vascular system — has spread into at least three Amazonian nations: It arrived first in French Guiana, is likely in Suriname, and is now sweeping through cassava production regions in the neighboring northern Brazilian state of Amapá, where it has decimated entire fields, and is also present in Pará state. Cooking cassava in Brazil. Cassava, also known as manioc and yuca, and for its tapioca flour, is native to South America, and an excellent source of carbohydrates. Image by Dennis G. Jarvis via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/witch-hunt-virulent-fungal-disease-attacks-south-americas-cassava-crop/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-308791</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Burkina Faso’s women farmers reviving the land with fertilizer trees</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/burkina-fasos-women-farmers-reviving-the-land-with-fertilizer-trees/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/burkina-fasos-women-farmers-reviving-the-land-with-fertilizer-trees/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Sep 2025 14:35:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yvette Zongo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Christophe Assogba]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/25140012/image1-1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306582</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Burkina Faso, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Community Development, Conservation, Crops, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Food, food security, Gender, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Women In Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CASSOU, Burkina Faso — With her daba in hand, her back bent from decades in the fields, Maan — meaning “grandmother” in the local Nuni language of Burkina Faso’s Centre-Ouest region — isn’t ready to put down her hoe just yet. On this July afternoon, as the sun blazes overhead, the septuagenarian works cheerfully alongside [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CASSOU, Burkina Faso — With her daba in hand, her back bent from decades in the fields, Maan — meaning “grandmother” in the local Nuni language of Burkina Faso’s Centre-Ouest region — isn’t ready to put down her hoe just yet. On this July afternoon, as the sun blazes overhead, the septuagenarian works cheerfully alongside her 8-year-old grandson, weeding her plot near Cassou, a rural commune of some 54,000 inhabitants where she was born. The 2-hectare (5-acre) plot, which Maan Alima Tagnan inherited from her late husband, sustains her small family. For years, she has cultivated a mix of crops here. What draws the eye, however, is the unusual layout: carefully spaced rows of young trees alternating with mature ones, thriving among cowpeas, millet and other crops now nearing harvest. Maan Alima Tagnan under one of the trees she has planted in her field. Image by Yvette Zongo for Mongabay. This is agroforestry polyculture using “fertilizer trees,” an ancestral technique that the Association for the Promotion of Fertilizer Trees, Agroforestry and Forestry (APAF) has revived and modernized by introducing new varieties of nitrogen-fixing trees. “We haven’t invented anything — it’s nothing new to plant trees in fields to enrich the soil,” Firmin Hien, deputy executive director of APAF-Burkina Faso, tells Mongabay. “Our parents used to do it too, but people abandoned the practice with the arrival of chemical fertilizers.” His remarks are echoed by Cheick Zouré, a specialist in the rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University in Burkina&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/burkina-fasos-women-farmers-reviving-the-land-with-fertilizer-trees/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306582</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Growing trees on farms boosts nutrition in rural Malawi</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/growing-trees-on-farms-boosts-nutrition-in-rural-malawi/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/growing-trees-on-farms-boosts-nutrition-in-rural-malawi/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Sep 2025 13:19:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/09/16232336/baobab1-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=306090</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Malawi]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Food, food security, Forests, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Health, Hunger, Public Health, Subsistence Agriculture, and Trees]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Planting fruit trees on farms improves dietary quality, according to new research from Malawi that tracked nearly 1,000 households over 10 years. The study, published in Conservation Letters, found that families who had trees on their farms ate more fruits and vegetables than those without trees. The research examined data from 936 households across Malawi [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Planting fruit trees on farms improves dietary quality, according to new research from Malawi that tracked nearly 1,000 households over 10 years. The study, published in Conservation Letters, found that families who had trees on their farms ate more fruits and vegetables than those without trees. The research examined data from 936 households across Malawi between 2010 and 2020, using surveys from the World Bank&#8217;s Living Standards Measurement Study. Families with trees on their farms had a 3% increase in vegetable consumption compared with those without trees. For every additional tree species a household owned, fruit consumption increased by 5%. While these percentages may seem modest, they represent meaningful progress given the extremely low baseline consumption levels. The World Health Organization recommends eating 400 grams (14 ounces, or five servings) of fruits and vegetables daily, but the study found rural Malawians averaged only 51 g (1.8 oz) of fruit per person each day. Many people in sub-Saharan Africa don&#8217;t eat enough fruits and vegetables. In Malawi, about 18% of the population is undernourished, and vitamin deficiencies are common. &#8220;These are small effect sizes, but the positive relationship demonstrates that having on-farm trees may improve fruit and vegetable consumption for rural smallholders,&#8221; Charlotte Hall, the study&#8217;s lead author and a lecturer at the University of Stirling in Scotland, told Mongabay. An important caveat of the study is that most households were surveyed during the dry season when fewer trees produced fruit. However, researchers &#8220;still found a relationship between having trees on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/growing-trees-on-farms-boosts-nutrition-in-rural-malawi/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/09/growing-trees-on-farms-boosts-nutrition-in-rural-malawi/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-306090</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the Pan Amazon, inequality and informality fuel informal economies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-the-pan-amazon-inequality-and-informality-fuel-informal-economies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-the-pan-amazon-inequality-and-informality-fuel-informal-economies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jan 2025 18:00:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Timothy J. Killeen]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mayra]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/22054810/brasil_055-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293227</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Perfect Storm in the Amazon]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Deforestation, Ecosystems, Farming, Forest Destruction, Governance, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Law Enforcement, Migration, Mining, Poverty, Rainforests, Subsistence Agriculture, and Threats To Rainforests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the main social and economic challenges facing Amazonian countries is inequality.  Although the standard of living of the lower economic strata is better now than at any time in history, tens of millions of people in Amazonian countries are either poor or live on the margin of poverty. Worse still, they face real [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the main social and economic challenges facing Amazonian countries is inequality.  Although the standard of living of the lower economic strata is better now than at any time in history, tens of millions of people in Amazonian countries are either poor or live on the margin of poverty. Worse still, they face real and palpable barriers to improving their economic situation. The recent pandemic and subsequent economic turmoil have constrained the ability of governments to pursue policies that mitigate inequality via revenue transfers and subsidies and, more importantly, to invest in educational reforms that might change the structural impediments to social mobility. Poverty in Latin America is a legacy of a deeply stratified society that is a product of class, ethnicity and geography. In Brazil, people of color from the northeast (Nordestinos) are much more likely to be poorer and less educated than their white compatriots from the south and southeast. In the Andes, elites tend to be of European extraction or have a mixed ethnic background and a strong identification with Western cultures, while the less affluent are Quechua or Aymara communities from the high Andes. In the mid-twentieth century, poverty and inequality led to political instability that spawned socialist and nationalist political movements. Economic experimentation and mediocre governance worsened the situation, and the subsequent economic volatility caused poverty levels to increase over several decades. Entrenched poverty and the lack of opportunity drove millions of people to seek a better life on the Amazonian frontier. The offer&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-the-pan-amazon-inequality-and-informality-fuel-informal-economies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/in-the-pan-amazon-inequality-and-informality-fuel-informal-economies/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293227</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sustaining a 400-year-old Ethiopian farming tradition: Interview with elder Gehano Guchoir</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-elder-sustaining-a-400-year-old-ethiopian-farming-tradition-interview-with-gehano-nekayto/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-elder-sustaining-a-400-year-old-ethiopian-farming-tradition-interview-with-gehano-nekayto/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Jan 2025 06:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Solomon Yimer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/16172516/20241119_100728-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=293052</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Environment, Farming, Regenerative production landscapes, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KONSO, Ethiopia — Across rugged highlands, terraces crafted from stone and earth stretch over steep hillsides like giant ripples of water. They’re part of a 400-year-old agricultural system in southern Ethiopia that’s recognized as a U.N. World Heritage Site and enabled the region’s Konso farmers to thrive in a place that’s otherwise dry, arid and [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KONSO, Ethiopia — Across rugged highlands, terraces crafted from stone and earth stretch over steep hillsides like giant ripples of water. They’re part of a 400-year-old agricultural system in southern Ethiopia that’s recognized as a U.N. World Heritage Site and enabled the region’s Konso farmers to thrive in a place that’s otherwise dry, arid and harsh. For 97-year-old Gehano Guchiro Nekayto, these terraces aren’t just a method of farming; they’re the lifeblood of his community and represent a vital connection to land and cultural identity. A father of 10 and grandfather of 15, Gehano has worked the land in the ward, or kebele, of Mechelo for the past eight decades. He’s cultivated a variety of crops, including soybeans, sorghum and fruit trees. Also a skilled craftsman, Gehano learned to build these terraces from his father, who himself learnt it from his elders. Today, Gehano’s small farm, located in the semiarid, high-altitude hills of the zone named after his people, continues to thrive despite the challenging environment and climate change impacts. The terraces, passed down through generations, are crucial for maintaining soil fertility, preventing erosion and conserving water. Rainwater harvested in drainage basins and runoff diverts from paths and roads to irrigate the terraces, allowing water to nourish crops during wet and dry season alike, and ensuring the land’s sustainability. Through these techniques, the Konso have developed a farming system that allows them to maintain agricultural productivity despite the harsh conditions, says Kussie Belay, head of the district agricultural office. “Farming&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-elder-sustaining-a-400-year-old-ethiopian-farming-tradition-interview-with-gehano-nekayto/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/the-elder-sustaining-a-400-year-old-ethiopian-farming-tradition-interview-with-gehano-nekayto/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-293052</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cameroon aims to double cacao, coffee production, yet also save forests</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Jan 2025 18:24:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Yannick Kenné]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/01/14135101/GP0STOUSZ_Low-res-with-credit-line-800px-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292909</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Cameroon, Central Africa, and Congo Basin]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[agribusiness, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Business, Conservation, Deforestation, Development, Economics, Environment, Farming, Food Industry, Food Prices, Forests, Industrial Agriculture, Land Use Change, Subsistence Agriculture, and Sustainability]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon’s government says it plans to invest heavily in agriculture over the next decade and combine economic growth and sustainable development, while preserving its forests. A recent agreement signed between the government and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) will invest $60 million toward achieving these aims. But the country has lost an average of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Cameroon’s government says it plans to invest heavily in agriculture over the next decade and combine economic growth and sustainable development, while preserving its forests. A recent agreement signed between the government and the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) will invest $60 million toward achieving these aims. But the country has lost an average of 110,000 hectares (about 272,000 acres) of forest per year since 2013 — in 2023, forest loss spiked to 204,000 hectares (504,000 acres) — casting doubt on claims it’s possible to both double commercial cacao and coffee production and reduce deforestation. According to data from forest monitoring platform Global Forest Watch, Cameroon lost more than 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of forest between 2001 and 2023, primarily due to logging, mining and agriculture. A June 2024 study published in the journal PLOS ONE identified cacao cultivation as one of the drivers of deforestation in the Congo Basin and in Cameroon in particular. Its authors suggested mitigation measures such as agroforestry systems, combined with better land planning and incentives for sustainable agricultural and forestry practices, as ways to reduce the risks of deforestation linked to cacao. Ndomon Albert working on a cacao plantation in Essam village, Molongo. According to Saïdou Hamadou, a CAFI team member in Cameroon, “the partnership aims to promote sustainable intensification and increased productivity of family and industrial agriculture on existing agricultural land.” Image © John Novis/Greenpeace. / Greenpeace. According to the letter of intent signed in October 2024, the $60 million fund&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/01/cameroon-aims-to-double-cacao-coffee-production-yet-also-save-forests/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292909</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As climate change upends Ethiopia’s pastoral wisdom, adaptations can help</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-climate-change-upends-ethiopias-pastoral-wisdom-adaptations-can-help/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-climate-change-upends-ethiopias-pastoral-wisdom-adaptations-can-help/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Nov 2024 14:33:51 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Solomon YimerSonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/26142049/20240807_110143-2222-scaled-e1732636774561-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290719</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Ethiopia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Animals, Climate Change, Community-based Conservation, Drinking Water, Drought, Economics, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Grasslands, Indigenous Peoples, Subsistence Agriculture, Technology, Traditional Knowledge, and Water]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[JIGJIGA, Ethiopia — In his late 60s, Abdi Ahmed gears up the strength for a new day as a nomad moving around with his cattle and 19 children. The pastoralist life, where he wanders eastern Ethiopia looking for water and grazing grounds for his livestock, is his only source of income to support the family. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[JIGJIGA, Ethiopia — In his late 60s, Abdi Ahmed gears up the strength for a new day as a nomad moving around with his cattle and 19 children. The pastoralist life, where he wanders eastern Ethiopia looking for water and grazing grounds for his livestock, is his only source of income to support the family. “Animal rearing is all I know,” Ahmed says. “I’m happy with it since it’s the way my father raised me. And it’s the only skill and knowledge I have for a living.” Over the years, Ahmed’s way of life has changed drastically as frequent droughts have taken a heavy toll on pastoralists in the Somali region of southeastern Ethiopia. Some have been forced to seek new jobs or side hustles as water or pasture become scarce. &#8220;In 2021, we faced one of the worst droughts. For 14 months, it didn’t rain at all,” Ahmed tells Mongabay. Many of his livestock died; from more than 100 head of cattle, Ahmed now has just 12. Abdi Ahmed, in his late 60s, continues his pastoral life in Guyo Kebele, Somali Region, supporting his 19 children through a lifetime of nomadic herding. Image by Solomon Yimer. As dry weather conditions intensify, studies suggest that mixing traditional knowledge with innovative strategies can help pastoralists adapt to droughts and floods in the region. Since time immemorial, pastoralists have depended on Indigenous strategies including mating calendars, herd mobility and diversification, traditional rotational grazing systems, and weather forecasting to prepare for drought conditions.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/as-climate-change-upends-ethiopias-pastoral-wisdom-adaptations-can-help/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290719</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Borneo’s ‘omen birds’ find a staunch guardian in Indigenous Dayak Iban elders</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/borneos-omen-birds-find-a-staunch-guardian-in-indigenous-dayak-iban-elders/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/borneos-omen-birds-find-a-staunch-guardian-in-indigenous-dayak-iban-elders/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 Nov 2024 16:09:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonam Lama Hyolmo]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/11/15123532/4-Dayak-elder-with-a-young-member-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=290167</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation and Religion]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Anthropology, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Culture, Endangered Species, Environment, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Religions, Subsistence Agriculture, Traditional Knowledge, Traditional People, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Deep in the rainforests of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, the piercing calls of birds reverberate to the rhythm of the gushing Utik River that has long nourished wildlife and the lifeways of the Dayak Iban people. For others, the bird calls might not warrant attention, but here, members of the tribe pause to listen for [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Deep in the rainforests of Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, the piercing calls of birds reverberate to the rhythm of the gushing Utik River that has long nourished wildlife and the lifeways of the Dayak Iban people. For others, the bird calls might not warrant attention, but here, members of the tribe pause to listen for what they believe are the omens and warnings from spirits. In recent decades, songbird populations have declined in the country due to deforestation and the songbird trade. However, in the face of this declining biodiversity, the Dayak Iban of Sungai Utik village continue to care for a Paris-sized swath of rainforest and maintain customary laws to protect what they call their “omen birds.” These include species like the white-rumped shama (Copsychus malabarincus), scarlet-rumped trogon (Harpactes duvaucelii) and Diard’s trogon (Harpactes diardii), whose songs reverberate over the treetops of Borneo’s forests. “The culture of listening to omen birds is getting rare now, but we still view the birds as messengers in Sungai Utik,” says Hermanus Husin, 66, a Dayak elder from Sungai Utik. Omen birds are sacred species that bring messages, he says. “To protect these birds, we know that we have to protect their homes: the forests.” For generations, the Iban of Sungai Utik have maintained their stewardship of the land, for which they were recognized with an Equator Prize from the United Nations Development Programme in 2019. The elders have physically defended thousands of hectares of lush Bornean rainforest against illegal logging, oil palm&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/borneos-omen-birds-find-a-staunch-guardian-in-indigenous-dayak-iban-elders/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/11/borneos-omen-birds-find-a-staunch-guardian-in-indigenous-dayak-iban-elders/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-290167</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Weather whiplash’ cycles of floods &#038; droughts imperil Nigerian farming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/weather-whiplash-cycles-of-floods-droughts-imperil-nigerian-farming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/weather-whiplash-cycles-of-floods-droughts-imperil-nigerian-farming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>15 May 2024 16:15:58 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tarinipre Francis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Karen Coates]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/05/13094232/dc03637d-f84d-4d91-9f3c-2de025553e38-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=281987</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Y. Eva Tan Conservation Reporting Fellowship]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, Nigeria, and West Africa]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Environment, Environmental Policy, Farming, Fellows, Flooding, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Growers in Nigeria are suffering huge losses due to a disruption of farming seasons caused by unusual and extreme weather conditions. Mallika Nocco, an assistant professor and extension specialist in agricultural water management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called this “weather whiplash,” a pattern in which extreme weather conditions are recorded in quick succession of [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Growers in Nigeria are suffering huge losses due to a disruption of farming seasons caused by unusual and extreme weather conditions. Mallika Nocco, an assistant professor and extension specialist in agricultural water management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, called this “weather whiplash,” a pattern in which extreme weather conditions are recorded in quick succession of one another — increased maximum temperatures followed by lower temperatures, heavy rainfalls and floods transitioned into dry spells and vice versa. A map showing the European Commission Humanitarian Response (ECHO) to flooding in Nigeria, Cameroon and Chad in 2022. Image by ERCC &#8211; Emergency Response Coordination Centre via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-4.0). “This is what we mean by weather whiplash,&#8221; said Nocco, who was a panelist at an April 9 climate change and agriculture webinar organized by SciLine, a journalist research service through the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “It’s a collision of these unexpected conditions and this rapid back-and-forth swing in weather. What that means, in terms of productivity … flooding, following drought, it can disrupt planting. It can disrupt water transfering cycles, any sort of preseason activities. Drought, obviously, can further stress areas that don’t have irrigation, or areas that have irrigation and limited water resources. In an interview with Mongabay, Rosemary Obi, a farmer from Bayelsa in southern Nigeria, described the conditions Nocco explained as the current reality there. It is almost impossible to farm in Bayelsa now, she said. “The rains come very late. We are experiencing very dry&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/weather-whiplash-cycles-of-floods-droughts-imperil-nigerian-farming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/weather-whiplash-cycles-of-floods-droughts-imperil-nigerian-farming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-281987</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In highly urbanized Japan, city farmers are key to achieving organic goal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-highly-urbanized-japan-city-farmers-are-key-to-achieving-organic-goal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-highly-urbanized-japan-city-farmers-are-key-to-achieving-organic-goal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Apr 2024 14:53:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Annelise Giseburt]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[agroecology]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/04/10134637/bee-in-tokyo-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=280786</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, East Asia, and Japan]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Cities, Climate Change, Ecology, Environment, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and urban ecology]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[TOKYO — The train to the farm rose from Tokyo’s labyrinthine subway network, revealing a hodgepodge of gray and tan buildings stretched on either side. The world’s largest metropolitan area, better known for crushing rush hours and gleaming lights, seemed an unlikely place for anyone to be growing organic vegetables. But only a few minutes’ [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[TOKYO — The train to the farm rose from Tokyo’s labyrinthine subway network, revealing a hodgepodge of gray and tan buildings stretched on either side. The world’s largest metropolitan area, better known for crushing rush hours and gleaming lights, seemed an unlikely place for anyone to be growing organic vegetables. But only a few minutes’ walk from the station, past apartment buildings and convenience stores, the Hasune Farm was buzzing with life (especially its beehives). The owners and volunteers moved between a produce stand-slash-workspace and rows of late-winter produce. When the people weren’t looking, brown-eared bulbuls (Hypsipetes amaurotis) darted into the field to find a morsel. Behind the workspace stood rainwater tanks and a nursery for seedlings. Between the rows of vegetables, grasses and groundcovers grew alongside their edible counterparts. The Hasune Farm is one glimpse of a possible future for urban agriculture in Japan. The Japanese government aims to convert at least 25% of all farmland to organic by 2050, a significant jump from just 0.5% in 2020. (Globally, 1.6% of farmland was organic as of 2021.) The pockets of agriculture in Tokyo are key examples of how Japan could achieve its goal. In recent years, Tokyo farmers, community members and administrators have been working to make such farmland a valuable part of the urban environment through promoting agroecology, such as low-carbon, circular food economies and biodiversity. That said, Tokyo’s farmland has been steadily shrinking due to low profitability and a history of strict taxes. In 2021, farmland comprised 2.9％&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-highly-urbanized-japan-city-farmers-are-key-to-achieving-organic-goal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/in-highly-urbanized-japan-city-farmers-are-key-to-achieving-organic-goal/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-280786</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Squeezed-out Amazon smallholders seek new frontiers in Brazil’s Roraima state</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/squeezed-out-amazon-smallholders-seek-new-frontiers-in-brazils-roraima-state/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/squeezed-out-amazon-smallholders-seek-new-frontiers-in-brazils-roraima-state/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Mar 2024 11:00:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Avener PradoRodrigo PedrosoSam Cowie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/01131142/Roraima-Pulitzer-7-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278436</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Conflict, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Farming, Fishing, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Natural Resources, Rainforests, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As infrastructure projects and soy plantations pump up land values in the Brazilian Amazon, smallholders are selling up and moving to more distant frontiers, perpetuating a cycle of displacement and deforestation.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CAROEBE, Brazil — Onésio Nascimento has worked the land his whole life, moving from one Brazilian farming frontier to the next. During the coronavirus pandemic, he sold 20 hectares (50 acres) of land in northwest Mato Grosso state and used the money to buy 100 hectares (250 acres), more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) deeper north into the Amazon, in south Roraima state. Today, he grows cassava and bananas on his land, an hour’s drive down a bumpy dirt road, flanked by small herds of cattle, which turns to mud during the rainy season and that loggers use to extract valuable Amazon hardwoods from nearby pristine forest. On a late October afternoon, during the severe 2023 Amazon drought, his patch of land sat burning; he’d set it on fire deliberately so he could clear space to plant more crops. “There was nothing when I arrived, it was all forest,” he told Mongabay. “We had to work a lot.” Even in this far-flung part of the Amazon, 59-year-old Nascimento isn’t alone as an “outsider.” Almost all of his neighbors on dirt road 34, in the banana and timber town of Caroebe, migrated from other Amazon states such as Mato Grosso, Rondônia and Pará, attracted by cheap land. Dirt road 34, in Caroebe, south Roraima, turns to mud during the rainy season and is used by loggers to extract valuable Amazon hardwoods from nearby pristine forest. Image by Avener Prado for Mongabay. In recent years, infrastructure megaprojects, large-scale cattle farming operations and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/squeezed-out-amazon-smallholders-seek-new-frontiers-in-brazils-roraima-state/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/squeezed-out-amazon-smallholders-seek-new-frontiers-in-brazils-roraima-state/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278436</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Breadfruit’s low carbon storage could be offset by fast growth, study finds</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/breadfruits-low-carbon-storage-could-be-offset-by-fast-growth-study-finds/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/breadfruits-low-carbon-storage-could-be-offset-by-fast-growth-study-finds/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 Mar 2024 17:56:14 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Claudia Geib]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/07/06110504/breadfruit-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=279457</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Global, Hawaii, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, carbon, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Climate Justice, Conservation, Environment, Farming, Food, food security, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Nature-based climate solutions, Soil Carbon, Solutions, and Subsistence Agriculture]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On a hotter and hungrier planet, breadfruit is becoming a popular tree. It offers nutrient- and fiber-dense fruits that can feed a family and provide farming income, and with its long lifespan, it’s been heralded as a good way to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in trees, leaves and soil. But until [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On a hotter and hungrier planet, breadfruit is becoming a popular tree. It offers nutrient- and fiber-dense fruits that can feed a family and provide farming income, and with its long lifespan, it’s been heralded as a good way to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in trees, leaves and soil. But until recently, nobody had ever studied just how much carbon breadfruit trees could store. In a recent study published in Sustainability, researchers from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa found that the breadfruit trees growing in orchards in Hawai‘i display low carbon storage compared with similar tree species.The authors attribute this to its lightweight wood, a favorite among Hawaiians for building surfboards and canoes. But that doesn’t mean breadfruit shouldn’t be part of tropical climate solutions. “It’s easy to look at these results and say breadfruit doesn&#8217;t sequester that much carbon, but they offset that light [weight] wood with exceptional growth rates,” says co-author Noa Kekuewa Lincoln, an assistant professor of Indigenous crops and cropping systems at Mānoa. The researchers measured its carbon storage by comparing its metabolic rate with its total body mass. But Lincoln says these equations miss an important element: time. “When you look at those amalgamated equations … they&#8217;re just looking at the relationship between the size of the tree and how much carbon is stored,” Lincoln says. “The [equations] say nothing about: How long does it take for the tree to reach those sizes?” Island Harvest in Kohala, Hawaiʻi island, leverages&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/breadfruits-low-carbon-storage-could-be-offset-by-fast-growth-study-finds/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/03/breadfruits-low-carbon-storage-could-be-offset-by-fast-growth-study-finds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-279457</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Indigenous Zenú turn to ancestral seeds, agroecology to climate-proof their farming</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Feb 2024 17:32:27 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Monica Pelliccia]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Latoya Abulu]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/02/05161943/5-Remberto-Gil-shows-three-varieties-of-corn-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=278560</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Colombia, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Biodiversity, Community Development, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Culture, Farming, Food, Food Industry, Food Prices, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Traditional Knowledge]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[MONTERÍA, Colombia — “Look at the rooms in our house,” says Remberto Gil, 45, during a sweltering day last September. “During this time of the year, they are typically overflowing with freshly harvested corn to the point where we only have space to sleep in hammocks hanging over the cobs.” An Indigenous Zenú farmer, Gil [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[MONTERÍA, Colombia — “Look at the rooms in our house,” says Remberto Gil, 45, during a sweltering day last September. “During this time of the year, they are typically overflowing with freshly harvested corn to the point where we only have space to sleep in hammocks hanging over the cobs.” An Indigenous Zenú farmer, Gil lives in the Zenú reserve of San Andrés de Sotavento, a nearly 10,000-hectare (25,000-acre) piece of land that’s home to 33,000 people in northwestern Colombia. “Now, everything is empty,” he adds. “We lost around 90% of the first harvest due to drought, and the little corn we have now is smaller than usual. We had no rain during the last month, and now we can’t sow.” In the Zenú reserve, issues with the weather, climate or soil are spread by word of mouth between farmers, or on La Positiva 103.0, a community agroecology radio station. And what’s been on every farmer’s mind is last year’s record-breaking heat and droughts. Both of these were charged by the twin impacts of climate change and a newly developing El Niño, a naturally occurring warmer period that last occurred here in 2016, say climate scientists. Experts from Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies say the impacts of El Niño will be felt in Colombia until April 2024, adding to farmers’ concerns. Other scientists forecast June to August may be even hotter than 2023, and the next five years could be the hottest on record. On Jan. 24,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/02/indigenous-zenu-turn-to-ancestral-seeds-agroecology-to-climate-proof-their-farming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-278560</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>We need a better understanding of how crops fare under solar panels, study shows</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/we-need-a-better-understanding-of-how-crops-fare-under-solar-panels-study-shows/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/we-need-a-better-understanding-of-how-crops-fare-under-solar-panels-study-shows/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Jan 2024 17:09:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Ruth Kamnitzer]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Food systems]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/23130021/solar-panels-farming-india-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277910</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Europe, Global, and Netherlands]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroforestry, Alternative Energy, Clean Energy, Climate Change, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Conservation Technology, Crops, Energy, Energy Efficiency, Environment, Farming, Food, Politics, Renewable Energy, Research, Solar Power, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainable Development, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The dream of agrivoltaics is to generate your electricity and eat your edamame too. But a recent study in Agroforestry Systems shows that agrivoltaics — growing food beneath solar panels — is not so simple. Research published in September finds that overall crop yields decrease when paired with solar panels and offers a way to [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The dream of agrivoltaics is to generate your electricity and eat your edamame too. But a recent study in Agroforestry Systems shows that agrivoltaics — growing food beneath solar panels — is not so simple. Research published in September finds that overall crop yields decrease when paired with solar panels and offers a way to standardize agrivoltaic regulations so we don’t give too much valuable agricultural land over to power generation. “Electricians want more panels, farmers want less,” study author Christian Dupraz, senior scientist in agroforestry and agrivoltaism at the French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), writes in an email to Mongabay. “[The analysis] reveals that maintaining a ‘normal’ agricultural yield under PV [photovoltaic] panels is not possible, even with low GCRs [ground coverage ratios].” However, planting crops under partial shade isn’t a new idea — and can work under some conditions. Traditionally, agricultural and agroforestry systems used multilayered plantings by, for example, cultivating shade-tolerant crops such as coffee under bananas. Now, with growing demand for clean energy but a paucity of empty land, researchers are exploring how to grow crops under raised solar panels (photovoltaics) instead of trees. The idea is that the solar panels are arranged so crops still get enough light and may also benefit from protection from extreme weather such as heavy rain, frost or heat. To accomplish this, the solar panels can be arranged above or between crop rows, or in moveable systems that allow more sunlight through at certain times of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/we-need-a-better-understanding-of-how-crops-fare-under-solar-panels-study-shows/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277910</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A Mekong island too tiny for industrial farming now points to Vietnam’s future</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/a-mekong-island-too-tiny-for-industrial-farming-now-points-to-vietnams-future/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/a-mekong-island-too-tiny-for-industrial-farming-now-points-to-vietnams-future/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Jan 2024 20:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sonal Gupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/05140013/1-A-farmer-on-Con-Chim-island-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277414</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation To Climate Change, Agriculture, Climate Change, Conservation, Environment, Extreme Weather, Farming, Food, Food Industry, food security, Global Environmental Crisis, Impact Of Climate Change, Industrial Agriculture, Islands, Nature-based climate solutions, Rice, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Technology, Traditional Knowledge, Water, Water Scarcity, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[CON CHIM, Vietnam — Off the coast of Vietnam&#8217;s Tra Vinh province lies Con Chim, a tiny stretch of land where the wind sweeps in off the water, weaving through mangroves and rustling across fields of rice. This land, all 62 hectares (153 acres) of it, is a rare example of what much of the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[CON CHIM, Vietnam — Off the coast of Vietnam&#8217;s Tra Vinh province lies Con Chim, a tiny stretch of land where the wind sweeps in off the water, weaving through mangroves and rustling across fields of rice. This land, all 62 hectares (153 acres) of it, is a rare example of what much of the Mekong Delta looked like before industrial rice cultivation expanded in Vietnam more than 50 years ago. Some 220 people live here, practicing traditional rice farming and sustainable fishing methods while also welcoming tourists to their newly launched ecotourism operation. In an era dominated by climate concerns, Con Chim has quietly become a symbol of hope for a sustainable future in Vietnam. “Coming to Con Chim was like going back in time,” says Nguyen Huu Thien, a local ecologist who has dedicated his life to understanding the delta&#8217;s ecosystem. &#8220;As a conservationist, I was amazed by Con Chim, by the way of life that people could practice.&#8221; Thien recalls his own childhood in a delta village, where he learned the ropes of farming and fishing. Back then, he says, money was scarce, but life was abundant, defined by clean water, plentiful fish and — always — rice. But today, even with more money in their pockets, they can&#8217;t buy what they once had. &#8220;It was a paradise that&#8217;s now lost,&#8221; Thien says. Today, climate challenges like droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and high salinity affect rice farming in the Mekong Delta. And after five decades of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/a-mekong-island-too-tiny-for-industrial-farming-now-points-to-vietnams-future/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277414</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Sumatra coffee farmers brew natural fertilizer as inflation bites</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/sumatra-coffee-farmers-brew-natural-fertilizer-as-inflation-bites/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/sumatra-coffee-farmers-brew-natural-fertilizer-as-inflation-bites/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jan 2024 02:57:28 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Themmy Doaly]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/01/03141804/Rumah-Persemaian-Gapoktan-Sumber-Makmur--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=277319</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Lampung, Southeast Asia, and Sumatra]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Agroecology, Agroforestry, Coffee, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Environment, Farming, Fertilizers, Governance, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Industrial Agriculture, Palm Oil, Plantations, Pollution, Solutions, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[BATUTEGI FOREST, Indonesia — Like millions of small farmers across Indonesia, Sri Atmiatun’s family has shouldered higher fertilizer prices, cost-of-living hikes, and increasingly extreme weather in recent years. The river basin in Batutegi Forest, near the southern coast of Sumatra’s Lampung province, ran almost dry after a months-long drought across much of Indonesia, which was [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[BATUTEGI FOREST, Indonesia — Like millions of small farmers across Indonesia, Sri Atmiatun’s family has shouldered higher fertilizer prices, cost-of-living hikes, and increasingly extreme weather in recent years. The river basin in Batutegi Forest, near the southern coast of Sumatra’s Lampung province, ran almost dry after a months-long drought across much of Indonesia, which was exacerbated by El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole climate patterns. Chemical fertilizer prices have retreated from all-time highs recorded in 2022, but potash and other fertilizers remained expensive through 2023 by historical standards, compounding pressures for farmers in low- and middle-income countries. Generations of farmers around Batutegi here have grown coffee. However, Batutegi farmers say they’ve recorded declining yields as the quality of the soil here has deteriorated. In response to these pressures, Sri Atmiatun and other farmers in Batutegi have repurposed farm waste to lessen their reliance on expensive chemicals and, hopefully, to boost yields. “The last time we made organic fertilizer we produced around 2 tons,” Sri told Mongabay Indonesia, as she handled a clutch of bottles containing the community’s latest batch. The river basin in Batutegi Forest ran almost dry after a months-long drought, which was exacerbated by El Niño and positive Indian Ocean Dipole climate patterns. Image by Themmy Doaly/Mongabay Indonesia. Batutegi farmers say they’ve recorded declining yields as the quality of the soil here has deteriorated. Image by Themmy Doaly/Mongabay Indonesia. From the ground up Every day here in Batutegi, dozens of farmworkers like Sri make the journey from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/sumatra-coffee-farmers-brew-natural-fertilizer-as-inflation-bites/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-277319</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Laos, forest loss and carbon emissions escalate as agriculture intensifies</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/in-laos-forest-loss-and-carbon-emissions-escalate-as-agriculture-intensifies/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/in-laos-forest-loss-and-carbon-emissions-escalate-as-agriculture-intensifies/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Dec 2023 15:52:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/12/12153454/Banner_RAB-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=276628</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Laos, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Biodiversity, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Sequestration, Conservation, Crops, data, Deforestation, Environment, Farming, food security, Forest Carbon, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, LiDAR, Montane Forests, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the government of Laos continues to prioritize a hydropower-heavy agenda to generate export revenues while striving toward greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, it may be overlooking soaring carbon emissions from intact forest loss right under its nose. A new study published in Environmental Research Letters indicates a recent expansion and intensification of shifting cultivation [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the government of Laos continues to prioritize a hydropower-heavy agenda to generate export revenues while striving toward greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, it may be overlooking soaring carbon emissions from intact forest loss right under its nose. A new study published in Environmental Research Letters indicates a recent expansion and intensification of shifting cultivation in Laos, resulting in direct loss of forests, degradation of important carbon sink ecosystems, and substantial increases in carbon emissions. The findings build on research published earlier this year that used satellite data to map the extent of shifting cultivation in Laos between 1991 and 2020, revealing that it affected roughly one-third of the total land area of Laos over the past three decades. Shifting cultivation is a type of rotational farming typically practiced by small-scale subsistence farmers. Also known as swidden agriculture, it involves clearing and burning a plot of land to fertilize the soil for growing crops. After a short period of cultivation, the land is left fallow and the farmer moves on to a new patch, affording the vegetation time to regenerate. “Shifting cultivation is an important land use in the tropics, but it has a number of negative consequences like carbon emissions, biodiversity loss and it can even spread wildfire if it’s not controlled very well,” Shijuan Chen, a postdoctoral associate at Yale University and lead author of both studies, told Mongabay. Recently cleared land within a shifting agriculture system on steep ground in India. Image by Rohitjahnavi via Wikimedia Commons&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/12/in-laos-forest-loss-and-carbon-emissions-escalate-as-agriculture-intensifies/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-276628</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Calls grow to repurpose land squandered in Cambodia’s concession policy</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-grow-to-repurpose-land-squandered-in-cambodias-concession-policy/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-grow-to-repurpose-land-squandered-in-cambodias-concession-policy/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>08 Nov 2023 02:34:47 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Gerald Flynn]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[global forests]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/11/08001532/RESIZED-Economic-Land-Concessions_Cambodia_Mongabay_Oct-2023-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=275134</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Cambodia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Afforestation, Agriculture, Agroforestry, Corruption, Culture, Deforestation, Degraded Lands, Drivers Of Deforestation, Farming, forest degradation, Forest Destruction, Forest Loss, Governance, Illegal Logging, Illegal Trade, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Industrial Agriculture, International Trade, Land Conflict, Land Grabbing, Land Reform, Land Rights, Land Use Change, Landscape Restoration, Logging, Mongabay Data Studio, Protected Areas, public lands, Rainforests, Reforestation, Regenerative production landscapes, Restoration, Rewilding, Subsistence Agriculture, timber trade, and Tropical Deforestation]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — “Make the bosses rich in Cambodia,” then-prime minister Hun Sen said at the 2012 inauguration of a sugar refinery in Kampong Speu province. “If a country has no millionaires, where can the poor get their money from?” This underscored the ideology at the heart of the policy of economic land concessions, or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHNOM PENH — “Make the bosses rich in Cambodia,” then-prime minister Hun Sen said at the 2012 inauguration of a sugar refinery in Kampong Speu province. “If a country has no millionaires, where can the poor get their money from?” This underscored the ideology at the heart of the policy of economic land concessions, or ELCs, which promised benefits for all by handing vast swaths of the country to a handful of elites to develop, mostly for agroindustry. The sugar refinery where Hun Sen gave this speech belonged to one his closest advisers, Ly Yong Phat — a ruling party senator with a sprawling business empire and a well-documented history of environmental vandalism. The senator’s sugar refineries and the ELCs he was granted for the development of plantations now sit dormant and fallow. The irreplaceable ecosystems that once occupied Ly Yong Phat’s ELCs are long gone. So are the thousands of families who were evicted to make way for the plantations. While many of the evictees temporarily found day-laborer work on the plantations, there was no compensation for the family farms that were lost. Then, when Cambodia’s sugar business became embroiled in the so-called Blood Sugar scandal — an advocacy campaign that targeted European buyers and Australian financiers of Cambodian sugar due to rights abuses linked to tycoons like Ly Yong Phat — the refineries unceremoniously fell silent, leaving former residents with no land and no work. In December 2022, a fire burned through a forest within the 9,059-hectare Chinese-owned&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/11/calls-grow-to-repurpose-land-squandered-in-cambodias-concession-policy/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-275134</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Roraima, Indigenous communities forge sustainable solutions amid threats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/in-roraima-indigenous-communities-forge-sustainable-solutions-amid-threats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/in-roraima-indigenous-communities-forge-sustainable-solutions-amid-threats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Sep 2023 13:14:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Amanda Magnani]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Alexandre de Santi]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Amazon]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2023/09/18142830/Amanda-Magnani_-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=273396</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Indigenous Peoples and Conservation]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Amazon, Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agroecology, Conflict, Conservation, Environment, Farming, Fishing, Forests, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Land Conflict, Land Rights, Natural Resources, Rainforests, Subsistence Agriculture, Sustainability, Sustainable Development, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Sustainable farming, mercury-free fishing and circular trade are among the strategies Amazon Indigenous peoples have been developing to survive in one of the most hostile states for Indigenous people in Brazil.]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[NOVO PARAÍSO, Brazil – Under the scorching sun and blue sky, the freshly weeded cassava fields offer no shade to hide in this piece of the Amazon Rainforest. It’s winter, time for planting. As the days go by, most in excess of 30° Celsius (86° Fahrenheit), heavy rains to come will make the seeds sprout. The cassava crops through which Maria Loreta Pascoal now walks are the livelihood of the Indigenous community of Novo Paraíso, where she has been the tuxaua, or chief, since being elected in late 2022. “All of us in the community are farmers,” Pascoal tells Mongabay. “This is how we cultivate our subsistence.” Life in Novo Paraíso, located in the Manoá-Pium Indigenous Territory in the Brazilian state of Roraima, relies heavily on the production and trade of cassava flour. Some nine months from today, the cassava plants that now barely scrape the tuxaua’s heels will be ready for harvesting and handling. Demarcated and homologated, or officially recognized by presidential decree, in 1982, Manoá-Pium covers an area of less than 44,000 hectares (109,000 acres). It’s home to seven communities with a combined population of more than 3,900 people, all of whom depend on family farming. On the hour-long drive from Boa Vista, capital of Roraima, to Novo Paraíso, changes in the landscape are striking. Most of the preserved areas along the road are covered by the lavrado, a savanna-like vegetation. Pascoal’s community, however, is an exception: it’s coated in tall, thick, dark-green trees — what you’d imagine&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/09/in-roraima-indigenous-communities-forge-sustainable-solutions-amid-threats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-273396</doi>				</item>
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