farming Archives - Jake Lyell

Post Tagged with: "farming"

Open Sesame

July 3, 2019

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[…]

Reclaiming the Land

February 13, 2019

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!

First Chocolate from Uganda

July 22, 2018

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,[…]

Cocoa Farming in Indonesia

June 5, 2018

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.

Lutheran World Relief in Kenya

May 11, 2018

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.

Fifty Shades of Green

December 26, 2017

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.

It Takes a Chicken

October 4, 2017

In the US we love our pets. In many other parts of the world, they need them. I recently visited a few families in Kenya who depend on their chickens for their livelihood. ChildFund New Zealand’s Gifts that Grow program allows New Zealanders to buy livestock for needy families who will use them as sources of income, nutrition… and happiness.

Fair trade honey harvesters in Nicaragua

March 5, 2017

Oh honey, where is thy sting? I shot these in Cerro Negro for fair trade financier Shared Interest.

From Beans to Bank – Mt. Elgon, Uganda

December 26, 2016

Who knew that growing quality coffee was such a difficult task? In fact, cultivating a quality coffee plot can take an entire generation to perfect. So how do small farmers with limited capital and capacity ever compete in such a market? Are they doomed to sell poor-quality beans (ones that will eventually be used for low-grade instant coffee) for next to nothing, or can they polish their growing practices enough to make a pretty penny selling to the likes of Illy and Starbucks? Lutheran World Relief’s intervention throughout the coffee growing world strengthens small, local coffee cooperatives in a number of ways, to include providing access to finance and processing equipment. In the above video, however, it’s the intervention of the Community Knowledge Worker that is highlighted. These CKWs, who are trained by LWR, move from farm to farm and work up close with small farmers themselves, advising them and[…]

Feed the Future Nigeria

August 21, 2016

There’s no magic bullet when it comes to poverty alleviation, especially when working with communities for whom living off the land is their sole form of sustenance. Problems here in northwestern Nigeria are complex, and the diverse challenges create a devastating domino effect by which families are often overwhelmed. Poor agricultural production leads to malnutrition and to communities that lack income. Desertification and the expanding Sahel lead to fewer water sources and make it more difficult for communities to observe proper sanitation and hygiene practices. These factors impact everything from livelihood, to health, to education, and form the boundary between mere survival and success. Only a holistic, multi-pronged approach can address the myriad of obstacles faced here. Feed the Future Nigeria Livelihoods Project is funded by USAID and is being implemented over a period of five years by Catholic Relief Services in some of the country’s most vulnerable households. As the project enters its fourth year, staff and stakeholders are lobbying the Nigerian government to uptake and implement[…]