Post Tagged with: "agriculture"
She Feeds the World
Here are some stills from a recent whirlwind assignment with CARE in Peru, where I had the chance to document the lives of some of the women participating in PepsiCo Foundation’s She Feeds the World Initiative. In just four days, we visited women and their families who are working in the agriculture sector across the country from the scrub-desert far north of the country, to the tropical savannas of Sullana, to Lima’s chilly suburbs built along the dunes lining the Pacific. The village of Salitral is a farming hub for the banana industry. The women at the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Salitral spotted a business opportunity when they saw cartons of over-ripe bananas being discarded by the farms each day. These too-ripe-to-eat bananas are perfect for making banana jam, a delectable jelly that’s usually spread on toast, cakes or cookies. The She Feeds the World initiative gave these ladies[…]
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Open Sesame
It’s one thing to increase the crop yields of vulnerable, smallholder farmers in a climate-challenged corner of the world. Lots of organizations are working – and bearing fruit – in this capacity. It’s another thing entirely to transform these smallholder farmers into major agricultural producers, connect them with buyers, and strengthen the value chain of a commodity for an entire region. In my most recent assignment with Lutheran World Relief, I was commissioned to take a brief look at the SESAME project, a US Department of Agriculture-funded initiative that works not only to increase the quality and volume of sesame farmers in Burkina Faso, but also to strengthen the cooperative system in sesame growing regions of the county. By working in cooperatives, everyday farmers can negotiate higher prices, streamline quality, access inputs and enhance overall market conditions, all of which create a sustainable, private-sector led framework for the sale[…]
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Habbanaye: Goat Whispering in the Sahel
Every day the Sahara Desert gets a little bit bigger. Millimeter by millimeter, the desert encroaches on the people of the Sahel, the biogeographic zone in west and central Africa that transitions between the vast desert to the north and the fertile savannah to the south. For most people who find their homes here, living off the land becomes all the more difficult year after year. In an earlier post I talked about ways that farmers are rejuvenating their land through Lutheran World Relief’s CORE II project (Community-Led Food Crisis Recovery in the Sahel). This is a necessary undertaking to boost agricultural productivity, but is also one that takes time. In addition to maintaining fertile fields, survival in this climate-volatile region also depends on one’s ability to diversify income. Cue the goats! Livestock production can be a lucrative and sustainable income for poor farmers. Goats in particular are[…]
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Reclaiming the Land
Many people in the developing world have no choice but to make a living as subsistence farmers in extremely adverse conditions. In the West African Sahel, desertification threatens the food security and livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. Lutheran World Relief’s agricultural projects help these farmers to rejuvenate their land and mitigate drought through the use of water harvesting and organic farming techniques. Vast swaths of barren land have been brought back to life through these interventions. This is a bold claim, but my drone helps to prove it!
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Door to Door Vets in Niger
Healthy livestock can mean make-or-break for those who rely on them for their livelihoods in the developing world. In addition to distributing livestock to vulnerable women in Niger, LWR ensures that these income-boosting assets remain healthy and productive for years to come. They do this by training para-veterinarians who make house calls throughout the communities where the project is implemented. In the video story above, Boubacar is one such vet who allows us to accompany him on his rounds for the day.
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First Chocolate from Uganda
While we’re on the subject of cocoa (see my previous post) I had an opportunity recently to photograph the work of Uganda’s first and only chocolate producer, Pink Foods Industries. While farmers have been cultivating cocoa in this East African nation for decades, Pink Foods is the first Ugandan company to process the beans into a finished consumer product. My client, Shared Interest, is financing the expansion of the company into a bigger processing center. As a fair trade ethical investment firm, Shared Interest was certainly more concerned with seeing the people behind the product, rather than the product itself. Once these pods are harvested, they’re split open to reveal a white, sweet, fleshy fruit, delicious to the taste, enveloping the cocoa beans. Many farmers make a habit of savoring this fruit as they work. Once this sweet flesh is removed, the beans are spread out in the sun, fermented, roasted,[…]
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Cocoa Farming in Indonesia
Here’s some recent stills shot for the Millennium Challenge Corporation on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. These showcase the organization’s triumphs in strengthening the nation’s cocoa value chain through the Green Prosperity Project. Various scenery from the island shot from a plane, boat and/or airport is also included.
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Lutheran World Relief in Kenya
Here are some highlights from my recent assignment in Kenya with Lutheran World Relief. The project I was documenting seeks to impart the skills of conservation agriculture to farmers who live in extremely arid areas of the country. Techniques like digging zai pits, terraced farming, and other water-harvesting methods allow farmers to make the most of the little rain that does fall, enabling them to move beyond the subsistence level and into making an income. What’s a zai pit? Watch the short video below: In total I shot five video stories, one each day, and a few stills as well. You can say it was exhausting, but not nearly as much as what these farmers do, working their fields every day to reap what they can from the land.
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Fifty Shades of Green
Take an aerial tour through the evergreen mountains, tea fields and villages of Fort Portal and Bundibugyo districts in western Uganda. You won’t get a better view of the area without chartering a helicopter. I shot this with my drone in between assignments in Zambia and Georgia last month while on a road trip to visit friends.
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