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Better Health for Better Productivity

Mar 31st, 2016 • by Sara Gustafson

Burkina Faso faces persistent high morbidity rates due to malaria, respiratory infections, malnutrition, diarrheic diseases, and HIV/AIDS, according to the country’s Ministry of Health. These health burdens can negatively impact the agricultural labor productivity of rural households by reducing both available labor and farming know-how.

Credit and Agricultural Productivity: Finding the Connection

Mar 29th, 2016 • by Sara Gustafson

Although Uganda has favorable agro-ecological conditions for farming, the country’s agricultural yields remain lower than the global average. For example, Irish potato yields in Uganda average 4.7 mt/ha, only 23 percent of global average yields; rice productivity is also low at 2.5 mt/ha, half the global average. A new study from the Uganda Strategy Support Program (USSP) on rice and potato farmers finds that increasing farmers’ access to credit can improve agricultural productivity – but not necessarily through the channels one might expect.

Decreased Harvests, Rising Prices Mean Hunger across Southern and Eastern Africa

Mar 24th, 2016 • by Sara Gustafson

The unusually strong 2015-2016 El Niño cycle has caused widespread drought throughout southern and eastern Africa, triggering delayed planting and crop failures, particularly in South Africa , Mozambique , Malawi, Botswana, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. The drought, coupled with recent record-high temperatures, could drive as many as 36 million people into increased hunger in the region, according to an article in The Guardian .

Drought in Southern Africa Threatening Food Security

Mar 22nd, 2016 • by Sara Gustafson

FEWS Net has released a special report with a series of maps illustrating the extent and severity of the ongoing drought in southern Africa. The drought, driven by the 2015-16 El Niño cycle, has limited crop production throughout the region, worsening food insecurity during the lean season and making it likely that food insecurity will continue throughout the remainder of the year.