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Uganda: Urban residents turn to vegetables and chickens to improve their lives
Ruth Nalunkuma sits on her front doorstep and gazes at her kitchen garden. The 47-year-old mother of five grows fruit and vegetables in a garden outside her tiny home in Kigoowa, a suburb eight kilometres northeast of central Kampala. Mrs. Nalunkuma says, “I grow spinach, pumpkin, passion fruit, onions, spinach and dodo [amaranth] in my…
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Tanzania: Small-scale farmers speak up for better market access
Digging her hands into the soil, Juliana Amadeus pulls up a fistful of onions with green, leafy stems. As the wind picks up, the onions’ pungent aroma wafts across the one acre farm. Ms. Amadeus drops the onions on to a large pile. Another woman picks up the onions and, one-by-one, hacks off the roots…
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South Sudan’s Hip Hop Artists Call for Peace and Reconciliation Through the Unhip Practice of Farming
JUBA, Aug 28 2014 (IPS) – “What is the benefit when children are crying and people are dying due to hunger? There is no need to cry when you have the potential to dig,” sings Juba-based dancehall reggae group, the Jay Family, in their latest single “Stakal Shedit,” which means Work Hard in Arabic. In…
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Uganda: Farmer Profits By Branching Out Into Selling Sweet Potato Vines
Perpetua Okao pulls a ringing mobile phone out of her pocket. She responds to the caller, “Yes, I may still have some vines. How many do you need?” Mrs. Okao tucks the phone back into her pocket. She explains: “I’m the chairperson of Atego Farmers Women’s Group. We’re not only women farmers. We also have…
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War Veterans Planting for Peace in South Sudan
JUBA, Aug 21 2014 (IPS) – Along the fertile banks of sub-Saharan Africa’s White Nile, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile River, a war veteran’s co-op is planting for a food secure future in South Sudan, a country potentially facing famine. Wilson Abisai Lodingareng, 65, is a peri-urban farmer and founder of…
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Ethiopia’s “Terrorist” Journalists and Bloggers
NAIROBI, Kenya – A cursory glance at the headlines shows that Ethiopia has one of Africa’s fastest growing economies. But the noise generated by the hyperbolic international media is drowning out the critical voices. Political opposition is being strangled by the authorities as activists and journalists are arrested and thrown into jail at a dizzying…
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South Africa: Young reporters learn the ropes at school
Since 2010, South Africans have celebrated Nelson Mandela International Day to mark Mandela’s birthday. Many people in the country, both young and old, honour his legacy on July 18 by volunteering and performing community service. Sibusiso Mazibuko spent Mandela Day planting crops in the garden of a childcare centre in Tembisa township, north of Kempton…
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Kenya’s Own ‘Erin Brockovich’ Changes Lives of Girl Survivors of Sexual Abuse
MERU, Kenya, Aug 11 2014 (IPS) – Surrounded by endless rows of green tea plants, Mary carefully picked a leaf and placed it into a basket next to her. It seemed like an ordinary day at work for the 13-year-old girl from Meru, in central Kenya. After work she escaped to the adjacent farm for…
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Uganda: Woman broadcaster scatters seeds of understanding via the radio
A car approaches Omwonya village, splashing through potholes and shuddering across the undulations of the wet and muddy road. Dozens of farmers have gathered in welcome. As they spot broadcaster Sarah Adongo in the car, women begin to ululate and dance. As she steps out of the vehicle, the men join in with rapturous applause.…
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Adam Bemma 