Nigeria is a business-oriented economy, with an estimated 37 million micro, small and medium-sized companies (MSMEs). The entrepreneurial economy contributes roughly 48 percent of the country’s gross domestic product and employs over 60 million people, making Nigeria the largest economy in the sub-Saharan region.
Although these numbers look promising, few businesses are successful in obtaining loans from financial institutions. According to The Credit Crunch, a joint report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), of the 840 MSMEs surveyed in Nigeria, only 31 percent successfully obtained a loan from a bank or microfinance institution. MSMEs are often burdened by a myriad of challenges like multiple taxation systems and high costs. The risks associated with credit access in Nigeria stem from many causes.
Lack of Collateral
To secure a loan from financial institutions, collateral is one of the prerequisites. This protects the lending bank in case the borrower defaults on the loan. For MSMEs looking for small business loans, inadequate collateral is a major reason for not receiving loans.
Secure land is the most common collateral for banks in Nigeria, but only 5 percent of the land is formally titled, mostly consisting of urban land or commercial farms. Low-income households own a large portion of rural land, which does not have validated titles.
This acts as a major obstacle for microenterprise owners and low-income households that are keen to obtain affordable credit from formal financial institutions. Many analysts argue that the provisions and implementations of the Land Use Act of 1978 are largely responsible for limiting the authenticated titling of rural land. Since banks ask for land or buildings as collateral in 98 percent of loan applications, low-income loan seekers remain unable to secure loans.
But efforts are being made to allow greater use of moveable and reputational collateral in bank loans. The CBN recently established the National Collateral Registry to improve credit access in Nigeria. Additionally, it is supporting the development of a modern credit reporting system in Nigeria with backing from the World Bank.
No Awareness of Credit Reporting System
Many borrowers are unaware of their credit history, and despite having a good credit record, they are reluctant to apply for loans simply because they do not meet the collateral requirements.
This becomes a concern for borrowers, particularly rural dwellers looking for microloans for their small businesses. They have been reluctant to approach banks for loans, which in turn has slowed down the entrepreneurial growth of small businesses that may have had a promising growth but could rarely take off due to a lack of financing.
The country remains a part of a large-scale campaign, the Credit Reporting and National Collateral Registry Education and Awareness Campaign. The campaign’s goal is to create awareness of credit tools through the collateral registry and the credit reporting system and is a collaborative initiative of the CBN and IFC. Such efforts promise to promote responsible lending and borrowing among those borrowers.
CBN has also teamed up with other stakeholders to promote the Credit Awareness campaign. The campaign promises to educate consumers on rural financial services and shares information on issues that will improve and allow greater appreciation of the rights and responsibilities of microfinance institutions and other financial institutions, along with their clients and stakeholders. Subsequently, Credit Awareness Nigeria plans on launching another public campaign on credit awareness and financial literacy to bring together microfinance practitioner institutions, development partners, stakeholders and clients of microfinance institutions.
No Interaction with Financial Institutions
Of those surveyed, less than a third of MSMEs successfully acquired loans for their businesses. A reason for this is that rural borrowers do not have an established relationship with banks. Due to their lack of interaction with financial institutions, rural borrowers fail to understand the conditions of getting a loan or the required loan application procedures. This also causes problems for rural dwellers who do not have a credit history, resulting in borrowers resorting to informal savings and reinvested profits.
Nigerian Businesses Remain Hopeful
While there remain considerable concerns about inadequate credit access in Nigeria, not all hope is lost. MSMEs overall have confidence in Nigeria’s economy and feel that economic growth will improve in the next five years as financial lenders become more willing to lend to smaller-scale businesses.
Nigeria is one of the 25 priority countries to become a part of the World Bank Group’s Universal Financial Access 2020 initiatives. The World Bank project aims to extend access to financial services to all adults by 2020. Moreover, many projects are joining hands to ensure that the rural dwellers get credit access, with programs being introduced to overhaul the obsolete land registration system and paving way for more credit options for rural farmers.
– Deena Zaidi
Photo: Flickr
Credit Access in Nigeria Growing as Obstacles Are Addressed
Although these numbers look promising, few businesses are successful in obtaining loans from financial institutions. According to The Credit Crunch, a joint report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), of the 840 MSMEs surveyed in Nigeria, only 31 percent successfully obtained a loan from a bank or microfinance institution. MSMEs are often burdened by a myriad of challenges like multiple taxation systems and high costs. The risks associated with credit access in Nigeria stem from many causes.
Lack of Collateral
To secure a loan from financial institutions, collateral is one of the prerequisites. This protects the lending bank in case the borrower defaults on the loan. For MSMEs looking for small business loans, inadequate collateral is a major reason for not receiving loans.
Secure land is the most common collateral for banks in Nigeria, but only 5 percent of the land is formally titled, mostly consisting of urban land or commercial farms. Low-income households own a large portion of rural land, which does not have validated titles.
This acts as a major obstacle for microenterprise owners and low-income households that are keen to obtain affordable credit from formal financial institutions. Many analysts argue that the provisions and implementations of the Land Use Act of 1978 are largely responsible for limiting the authenticated titling of rural land. Since banks ask for land or buildings as collateral in 98 percent of loan applications, low-income loan seekers remain unable to secure loans.
But efforts are being made to allow greater use of moveable and reputational collateral in bank loans. The CBN recently established the National Collateral Registry to improve credit access in Nigeria. Additionally, it is supporting the development of a modern credit reporting system in Nigeria with backing from the World Bank.
No Awareness of Credit Reporting System
Many borrowers are unaware of their credit history, and despite having a good credit record, they are reluctant to apply for loans simply because they do not meet the collateral requirements.
This becomes a concern for borrowers, particularly rural dwellers looking for microloans for their small businesses. They have been reluctant to approach banks for loans, which in turn has slowed down the entrepreneurial growth of small businesses that may have had a promising growth but could rarely take off due to a lack of financing.
The country remains a part of a large-scale campaign, the Credit Reporting and National Collateral Registry Education and Awareness Campaign. The campaign’s goal is to create awareness of credit tools through the collateral registry and the credit reporting system and is a collaborative initiative of the CBN and IFC. Such efforts promise to promote responsible lending and borrowing among those borrowers.
CBN has also teamed up with other stakeholders to promote the Credit Awareness campaign. The campaign promises to educate consumers on rural financial services and shares information on issues that will improve and allow greater appreciation of the rights and responsibilities of microfinance institutions and other financial institutions, along with their clients and stakeholders. Subsequently, Credit Awareness Nigeria plans on launching another public campaign on credit awareness and financial literacy to bring together microfinance practitioner institutions, development partners, stakeholders and clients of microfinance institutions.
No Interaction with Financial Institutions
Of those surveyed, less than a third of MSMEs successfully acquired loans for their businesses. A reason for this is that rural borrowers do not have an established relationship with banks. Due to their lack of interaction with financial institutions, rural borrowers fail to understand the conditions of getting a loan or the required loan application procedures. This also causes problems for rural dwellers who do not have a credit history, resulting in borrowers resorting to informal savings and reinvested profits.
Nigerian Businesses Remain Hopeful
While there remain considerable concerns about inadequate credit access in Nigeria, not all hope is lost. MSMEs overall have confidence in Nigeria’s economy and feel that economic growth will improve in the next five years as financial lenders become more willing to lend to smaller-scale businesses.
Nigeria is one of the 25 priority countries to become a part of the World Bank Group’s Universal Financial Access 2020 initiatives. The World Bank project aims to extend access to financial services to all adults by 2020. Moreover, many projects are joining hands to ensure that the rural dwellers get credit access, with programs being introduced to overhaul the obsolete land registration system and paving way for more credit options for rural farmers.
– Deena Zaidi
Photo: Flickr
Hydroelectric Power a Key Part of Infrastructure in Lesotho
In the middle of South Africa lies the small, mountainous country of Lesotho. The landlocked country, also known as the Kingdom of Lesotho, gained independence from British rule in 1966.
Lesotho is a poor country with a gross income of $570 per capita and a life expectancy of 51 years for men and 56 years for women. Infrastructure in Lesotho has its strengths and weaknesses; while the country may lack secure road infrastructure, it has one natural resource that has proved profitable through the years.
Road Transportation
The main transportation infrastructure in Lesotho is an 8,000 km road system, which accounts for 70 percent of the country’s transport system. The vast majority of the roads are made of gravel or earth; a smaller percentage is paved. The gravel and earth roads are often vulnerable to extreme weather conditions and the hilly, winding roads make navigating through Lesotho quite difficult. One of Lesotho’s biggest issues with road transport is a lack of safety. The country has an exceptionally high number of road incidents, especially in poor weather conditions.
In 2010, the Lesotho government elected to participate in the Decade of Action for Road Safety initiative developed by the United Nations. Member states are to adhere to the five pillars of the initiative, which are road safety management, safer roads, safer vehicles, safer road users and improved post-crash response. The initiative will focus largely on improving the quality of existing roads and building more paved roads throughout the country.
The project aims to decrease the number of road incidents by 50 percent in 2020, the final year of the initiative.
Water and Dams
As far as providing potable drinking water, Lesotho is comparable to most other countries in southern Africa. Lesotho does reasonably well with providing water to the rural population; however, issues of access and distance to drinking water still remain. However, with Lesotho’s numerous rivers, the country has no shortage of water overall. In fact, the water may prove profitable in the very near future.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project was established by the signing of a treaty between South Africa and Lesotho in 1986. The initiative relies on the creation of numerous dams along the Lesotho rivers and tunnels that will deliver water to South Africa. The dams will also provide hydroelectric power for Lesotho.
The project was established by the signing of a treaty between the two countries in 1986. Phase I of the project, which was completed in 2003, involved the construction of two dams: the Katse and the Mohale. The second construction of Phase I was a hydropower station that will provide hydropower energy to improve the access to and quality of electricity throughout the country. Phase II is still in progress and its projected conclusion is not until 2024.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project should benefit the overall infrastructure in Lesotho and contribute to the country’s income. Taking advantage of this abundant resource can be of great benefit to the country’s impoverished people and improve their lives greatly in the future.
– Danielle Poindexter
Photo: Flickr
5 Development Projects in Tonga
Tonga is a country comprised of 170 islands in the South Pacific, located close to Fiji and American Samoa. The island nation has a relatively high unemployment rate. This, coupled with an economy largely dependent on agricultural means of making money, has led to the creation of various development projects in Tonga. In recent years, these projects have improved stability in different aspects of the country.
Education
In 2012, the Peace Corps began a development project in Tonga designed to teach English as a foreign language. Aside from teaching English, the project’s larger goals are to improve the Tongan education system through the utilization of more computers and other technology. It also assists Tongan teachers in discovering new methods of teaching that are more student-centred. In addition, the project focuses on helping students develop healthy lifestyle habits. These lifestyle lessons are taught as part of the English language curriculum.
Growth Development
One of the more recent development projects in Tonga began in April 2017. The World Bank approved $5 million for policy reforms in the island nation. According to a press release on the World Bank website, these reforms aim to “improve the management of public finances, boost government accountability and encourage a more dynamic and inclusive economy.”
Climate Change
In 2013, the Asian Development Bank launched the Climate Resilience Sector Project in Tonga. This projects helps strengthen the country in the face of increasingly dangerous threats from climate change. The project finances low cost solutions which are executed at the local community level. Aside from this, the Asian Development Bank is also working with the Tongan government to create more renewable energy. By 2020, Tonga hopes to get 50 percent of its energy from renewable sources.
Environmental Protection
In July 2014, the United Nations Development Programme’s Pacific Office in Fiji created a project with the intention of protecting the ecosystem of the Fanga’uta Lagoon Catchment on Tongatapu Island. The project’s three main goals are to improve management of the lagoon, introduce an environmental management plan and educate local communities and national stakeholders about the role of the lagoon ecosystem and the benefits of protecting it.
Improved Healthcare System
The Australia-Tonga Aid Partnership, created in 2016, is a project where the Australian government provides funding each year to assist development projects in Tonga. Just last year, Tonga received around $30.4 million in aid from Australia. In particular, one of the projects that utilizes this funding is the Tonga Health System Support Program.
Phase One of the program began in 2009. Following this, Phase Two of the program started in March 2015. The objectives of the program are to stop the progression of noncommunicable diseases, generally advance health care services across the nation, provide enhanced mental health services, improve gender equality and provide access to universal health care.
Tonga has begun to experience a flourishing tourism industry that is becoming a main source of income for the nation. As a result of these five development projects in Tonga, the country can maintain economic, environmental and social stability as it continues to progress.
The support from these organizations will help Tonga combat increasing environmental risks that the country will face from climate change. Through these programs, Tonga will only continue to grow and further advance their infrastructure.
– Jennifer Jones
Photo: Flickr
The Success of Humanitarian Aid to Vanuatu
Vanuatu is an island nation located in the South Pacific, west of Fiji. One of the major problems Vanuatu faces is cyclone storms, which are tropical storms that create a heavy circulation of strong winds, thunderstorms and severe rain. Following such disasters, humanitarian aid to Vanuatu is critical.
Recently, in 2015, Vanuatu suffered one of the worst cyclones yet. Cyclone Pam was the second most intense cyclone in the South Pacific Ocean and one of the worst natural disasters in Vanuatu to date. During Cyclone Pam, winds exceeded 185 miles per hour, destroying 90 percent of the country’s infrastructure. As a result of this disaster, the success of humanitarian aid to Vanuatu was essential during this time and thereafter.
The Airbus Helicopters Foundation
Following the natural disaster, helicopters carrying aid was one success of humanitarian aid to Vanuatu. Having most of the infrastructure completely destroyed, helicopters were the best way to reach the communities in need. The Airbus Helicopters Foundation worked with the French Foreign Affairs Ministry Crisis Center. Together, they distributed humanitarian aid to people affected by the cyclone, including medical supplies and food.
The Airbus Helicopters Foundation also worked with numerous stakeholders to send helicopters to humanitarian workers. These workers would then get the supplies to the communities in the most desperate areas. They partnered with Garden City Helicopters from New Zealand in order to provide even more helicopter assistance to Vanuatu people in need.
Australian Government Assistance
One of the main humanitarian aid contributors during this disaster was Vanuatu’s neighbor, Australia. The Australian government committed $35 million after Cyclone Pam, between 2015 and 2018. The aid focuses on long-term recovery support and is delivered through the assistance of the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu. The recovery plans include:
These improvements will be focused on Shefa and Tafea, the provinces where nearly 90 percent of damage and destruction occurred after Cyclone Pam.
Israeli Assistance
Israel also helped the success of humanitarian aid to Vanuatu by sending food to feed 2,000 of the Island’s residents for the length of one month after Cyclone Pam hit. Food scarcity became a problem after the disaster as approximately 70 percent of Vanuatu’s crops were destroyed.
The food was a porridge in powder which was high in nutrients and helped people retain a healthy diet during the crisis. Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation in the Foreign Ministry sent food aid, which was then delivered locally by the Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid.
In addition to the food aid, volunteers from Israel stayed behind to help the local population. They renovated water systems and reestablished medical and mental health systems for the community.
The success of humanitarian aid to Vanuatu is just one of many examples where aid has helped thousands of people recover after a crisis occurs.
– McCall Robison
Photo: Flickr
Efforts to Improve Sustainable Agriculture in Venezuela
Agriculture is one of the most vital and ever-changing foundational blocks of a country, and can change due to environmental or man-made change. In Venezuela, food scarcity is a major issue in urban areas; thankfully, sustainable agriculture in Venezuela may make a huge difference in bringing food security to inner-city and rural areas. With the ever-changing weather conditions and political upheaval, though, Venezuela may not be able to maintain the sustainable agriculture market it is currently trying to build.
Sustainability Plan
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United States, Venezuela has a six-year sustainability plan for agriculture in the region. It focuses on four major areas of sustainable agriculture in Venezuela: Supporting sustainable agricultural development, supporting initiatives aimed at achieving food security and sovereignty, supporting adaptation to climate change, risk management and preservation of the environment and promoting the Latin America and the Caribbean Without Hunger initiative and support to the South-South cooperation.
The government has a total of $22,650,000 allotted to be distributed among these four areas. However, these only touch the surface of efforts to protect and increase sustainable agriculture in Venezuela.
Agricultural Production
The Venezuelan Embassy to the United States has shared fact sheets on agriculture in the area. In 2012, they reported that nearly 64 percent of Venezuelans live in urban areas, and that with the increase of movement to cities and other rapidly modernizing areas, the amount of available produce and farming capability decreased. To combat such statistics, the Venezuelan government has not only increased the amount of agriculture-protective policy, but has also supported the development of 191 agricultural production units in major cities across the country.
These agricultural production units aim to help communities become self-sustaining in their local agriculture, and offer the ability to grow and collect fresh fruits and vegetables in a majorly commercial area. These units are supported by the Agro-Ciudad program, an organization which focuses on helping provide healthy and environmentally friendly food products for the schools, businesses, universities and communities that have adopted the program.
Meaningful Impacts and Political Climates
According to the fact sheet, the Agro-Ciudad aided 1,600 people and over 12,306 producers in the growth of their community produce. In addition, Agro-Ciudad helped create several workshops to teach local groups about all of their opportunities for growing produce in their area.
With so many opportunities to support sustainable agriculture in Venezuela, it is also not surprising that people are incredibly passionate about protecting the innovations against a volatile political culture. According to the Council of Foreign Relations, on July 30, 2017, President Nicolas Maduro won his election undisputedly, and moved to make a political coup almost immediately.
With Maduro in complete control of the government, changes impacting agriculture in Venezuela have yet to play out. Overall, sustainable agriculture in Venezuela is emerging, but the question of whether or not it will last within a new political sphere requires time to determine.
– Molly Atchison
Photo: Flickr
The Effects of Overcrowding and the Behavioral Sink Theory
A high population density may, in some instances, lead to inconveniences. Some of these inconveniences, like traffic and crowded sidewalks, are frustrating while others, such as a lack of resources, may be dangerous. Ethologist John B. Calhoun studied the effects of increased population density on the behavior of mice and concluded his studies with the theory of the behavioral sink. The theory is still largely contested and influences studies of human behavior, and this article will seek to answer the questions: what is a behavioral sink and how valid is the theory?
The Experiment
At the start of the study, Calhoun crafted a utopia where the mice could thrive in a secluded space and reproduce without a fear of predators or a lack of resources.
The mice utopia quickly spiraled into chaos once overcrowding commenced. In the worst instances of overpopulation, pregnant female mice experienced a higher number of miscarriages and mothers were losing track of their children. Other mice resorted to fighting when in direct contact with other mice for prolonged periods.
The strange actions of the group of mice are assumedly correlated with the heightened population; this relationship is then referred to as “behavioral sinks.” Calhoun reported the results of his mice experiment in the 1962 issue of Scientific American, and the concept of the behavioral sink soon garnered the attention of the public.
The Controversies
The work eventually proved controversial for a few reasons: first, the behavior of mice cannot be used independently to understand the behavior of humans; second, when scientists tried to study the behavioral sink theory in humans, they had to decide which human behaviors they would consider similar to the unusual behavior of the mice. For instance, some mice exhibited different sexual behaviors ranging from asexuality to bisexuality; and third, in order to detect this behavior in human beings, some researchers used STDs and illegitimacy as equivalents, an obviously offensive comparison.
The other controversy involved further experiments that proved the theory of behavioral sink did not hold up in human populations. Psychologist Jonathan Freedman conducted a similar, but significantly more humane, experiment with students to observe their behavior in situations of overcrowding in which he found no negative effects of overcrowding, but instead of over-socialization.
The Results
“Rats may suffer from crowding; human beings can cope,” stated Freedman in regards to Calhoun’s findings.
The theory played on the anxieties of those who disliked crowded areas, which were often people of low-income. Many felt that there was not only a higher rate of general crime in the low-income areas, but that there was also a higher chance that a crime would be committed against them. These classist conclusions led some to ask: what are the positive contributions of the behavioral sink theory?
Calhoun began to explore the importance of “spiritual space” as well as physical space, a concept that aligned pretty directly with Freedman’s theory of coping strategies. Calhoun cited creativity and art as giving people the ability to create distance between others in order to cope with overcrowding. This concept of stress related to over-socialization was a part of Calhoun’s experiments that positively influenced thought and research well after the 1970s.
– Danielle Poindexter
Photo: Flickr
The Growth of Sustainable Agriculture in Papua New Guinea
Just north of Australia in a region known as Melanesia is the island nation of Papua New Guinea, situated on the eastern side of New Guinea island. It’s one of the most culturally diverse nations on the world stage, but it’s also among the most rural with an economy that largely turns on agriculture.
Sustainable agriculture in Papua New Guinea is crucial to lifting more of its population from poverty. The Asian Development Bank reports that 39.9 percent of the country’s population lived below the national poverty line in 2009.
Agriculture: The Stats
According to the World Bank, just 18 percent of Papua New Guineans live in urban areas, so farming would seem to make sense as an economic lifeline. However, the New Agriculturist notes that the nation is very mountainous, leaving just 25 percent of its land suitable for agriculture.
This presents a significant problem when it comes to developing sustainable agriculture projects in Papua New Guinea; but thankfully, new technologies stand to make a difference and boost agricultural output in the island nation.
Solar-Powered Milling Technology
According to the Papua New Guinea National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), a solar-powered rice-milling technology is being pioneered in the Morobe province; this trial began in 2017 and should continue through 2019.
This technology’s potential lies in the fact that rice has become a staple food in Papua New Guinea since its introduction about a century ago. However, it has never become a staple crop because natural milling conditions are less than ideal.
Solar-powered mills aim to replace diesel-powered ones, which are more expensive to operate and repair. If solar power proves to be a more reliable and efficient technology, rice milling and other forms of farming will likely see an expansion and provide more support to rural communities.
Boosting Sustainable Agriculture in Papua New Guinea: More Successes
This test run joins a host of efforts to improve sustainable agriculture in Papua New Guinea, including the Productive Partnerships in Agriculture Project (PPAP), which tried to benefit smallholder cocoa and coffee producers when it started in 2014.
PPAP aims to boost industry coordination, build links between local farmers and agribusiness for improved access to markets/technologies and improve infrastructure for that access. The World Bank estimates that more than 20,000 local coffee and cocoa farmers had benefitted by 2015, and farms adopting improved farming practices continues to grow.
Future Benefits
Hopefully, sustainable agriculture projects in Papua New Guinea will make farming more economical and reduce poverty levels as more citizens are able to engage with the career. Future improvements also stand to benefit women especially, who often form the backbone of the Papua New Guinea agricultural industry.
– Chuck Hasenauer
Photo: Flickr
Investment in Infrastructure in Laos Bringing Profit
Laos is one of the fastest-growing economies in Southeast Asia, with natural resources accounting for a third of the growth. Power infrastructure in Laos is under development, according to the Department of Energy Business. Two-thirds of the population in Laos has access to electricity, and the power sector is working towards sustainability and energy efficiency. By promoting sustainable power, natural resources are preserved.
The Lao government plans to establish hydropower as a source of energy for the country and export electricity to neighboring countries who are in need of electric power. The government hopes that by 2020, hydropower as an infrastructure in Laos will provide profits to combat poverty within the country.
Telecommunications as an infrastructure in Laos is another necessity that needs to be addressed. The National Academic of Sciences and Engineering Medicine wrote of the importance of telecommunication as a foundation for social and economic development as well as a vital groundwork for national security.
Telecommunication as an infrastructure in Laos is slowly gaining momentum. Laos has seen countless reforms and progress of telecommunications as an infrastructure to draw the attention of foreign investors. However, internet services have been slow, a concern that many Laotians see as a deterrent to social and economic development. Fortunately, progress is expected to continue to 2022.
In 2017, infrastructure in Laos continued to improve. The Ministry of Finance and the World Bank signed a $25 million agreement to stabilize roads through maintenance. The Lao PDR Road Sector II Project is meant to improve road infrastructure for efficiency and safety. Once roads are stabilized around Laos, rural people will be able to find safety in regards to severe weather and will not have to travel on unsafe roads.
Infrastructure in Laos is slowly making progress and providing efficient and maintained infrastructure to improve its citizens’ quality of life. These efforts will have an enormous effect on alleviating poverty and growing prosperity in the country.
– Jennifer Serrato
Photo: Flickr
A Nation on the Rise: Sustainable Agriculture in Ecuador
Ecuador is looking to improve its standard of living by putting more of a focus on sustainable agriculture.
This effort begs the question though of: what exactly is sustainable agriculture? The answer is that sustainable agriculture is the production of plant or animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment and public health of a country; or in other words, an effort that has become incredibly important in Ecuador in recent years.
One example of these extremely important developments is a farm in Ecuador that invites tourists to experience the process of farming for themselves at Rio Muchacho, an organic farm and eco-lodge located on the western coast. Open for almost 30 years, the farm began as a way to produce healthy food.
Early in its start, the farm focused on fixing the soil erosion by reforesting the hills around it; Rio Muchacho helped reforest again in Bahia about 15 years ago.
Biodiversity Encourages Sustainable Agriculture in Ecuador
Despite being a small country in South America, Ecuador is one of the top 10 most biodiverse places in the world. With over 20,000 species of plants and 1,500 species of birds, Ecuador’s forests are bursting with diverse lifeforms.
Unfortunately, Ecuador has the worst deforestation rate and environmental quality in all of South America, according to the nature website, Mongabay; in fact, logging on the western coast is to blame for the loss of so many trees.
A national forest program was created in 2002, and SocioBosque is the program Ecuador’s government introduced in 2008 and as of 2012. Since its conception, the program has protected 1.1 million hectares, or 2.7 million acres, of native ecosystems, including grasslands.
Unfortunately, though, the program has suffered in recent years due to a lack of funding. The Ministry of Environment is often unable to properly enforce the law when it comes to deforestation.
Conservation International and Farming in Ecuador
Conservation International works with SocioBosque to strengthen the land and communities; one of the ways the organization accomplishes this is by working with sustainable agriculture in Ecuador. Their way of “living green” helps over 1 million people and also prevents a large majority of citizens from experiencing poverty. Farmers rely on the land, and Conservation International works with the Ecuadorian government to protect 10 million acres of forests while also providing education on how to preserve land and become more efficient with it.
Farmers in Ecuador also work together to not only save their land but also the produce they grow. The price of food can increase dramatically in some cities by the time it reaches the end consumer. Also, local regulations can prevent farmers from selling their produce outside the Guayaquil Grocery Terminal, a place established in 2000 as a way to sell goods.
The Federation of Agriculture Centers and Peasant Organizations of Ecuador was founded in 2003 to promote a chemical-free and sustainable way of living off the land and protecting the agriculture. Through this group, farmers are able to protect their interests and the land, all while selling organic produce to schools and businesses.
The sustainable agricultural practices used by farmers include rotation of crops for healthy soil, planting trees and shrubs to protect smaller crops and reducing plowing. As a whole, sustainable agriculture in Ecuador promotes biodiversity and also minimizes pollution. Thankfully, the nation finds success in its agricultural sectors, and will most likely continue with this trend in the future.
– Nicole Moylan
Photo: Flickr
Closing the Gap: Improving Infrastructure in Myanmar
As stated in the 2013 World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report, Myanmar was ranked 146th out of 148 places for its overall quality of infrastructure. One of the most pressing issues regarding infrastructure in Myanmar is the citizens’ lack of access to electricity, transportation and communication; these are basic infrastructures and services in Myanmar that must be improved.
Infrastructure Improvement
Infrastructure in Myanmar needs to be improved because its poor quality stunts the country’s development as well as its appeal for foreign investment. The government of Myanmar developed various pieces of legislation, such as the Central Bank of Myanmar Law (2013), to address the country’s need for better infrastructure, but Myanmar does not have the capacity to improve these issues by itself. Thus, the country’s government has asked for assistance from other countries, proposing technical assistance and foreign financial investment.
Myanmar is located between China and India, two nations that are among the world’s most influential emerging markets. Due to this location, addressing the gap in infrastructure in Myanmar is essential.
A report came out around the end of last year — “Building Myanmar: Bridging the Infrastructure Gap” — that called attention to the country’s infrastructure issues. Despite infrastructure’s halting influence on Myanmar’s growing economy, the country has put forth the National Transport Master Plan (NTMP) in order to address the issues.
Current Efforts
This plan is overseen by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, which takes care of issues within the transport sector. A few of the departments that this ministry operates through are Myanmar Railways, Myanmar National Airlines (MNA), Inland Water Transport and the Road Transport Administration Department.
Additional departments used to oversee the country’s infrastructure include the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and the Myanmar Port Authority, and are meant to oversee administration and services for civil aviation and administration and regulation of the country’s coastal ports.
Despite the current infrastructure issues, the future looks bright for Myanmar in this sector. Private investment and foreign aid are in the works to improve infrastructure in Myanmar, and there exists new investment in rail and road networks, which aids the current work to reduce port congestion. With efforts like these, the future of infrastructure in Myanmar is extremely hopeful.
– Haley Rogers
Photo: Flickr