Elderly poverty in Cambodia is widespread. HelpAge Cambodia reports that, in Cambodia, “one out of four older people live below the poverty line” and more than “80% of older people live in rural areas with limited infrastructure and resources.”
Introductory Statistics
Cambodia has an inadequate social security net with a very limited pension system, only extending to those who worked in the public sector. As such, many elderly people have no financial security and continue working despite health problems, often in labor-intensive jobs.
This problem is also exacerbated by the fact that the elderly literacy rate in Cambodia among people 65 and older stood at only 53.1% as of 2015, impacting the elderly population’s ability to retire reasonably well.
Of note, older persons in Cambodia experienced and survived genocide between 1975 and 1979 at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and prior to this, the Cambodian civil war in 1970. Research reveals that the genocide led to the deaths of 75% of Cambodia’s educators and 96% of university students. The loss of teachers led to a whole generation of Cambodian children missing out on education. For this reason, today, a large portion of Cambodia’s elderly are illiterate.
The coronavirus pandemic also had an overwhelming impact on elderly poverty in Cambodia. A 2021 study conducted by HelpAge aimed to uncover the impacts of the pandemic on older Cambodians. About 55% of study participants said the pandemic impacted their overall family income, citing reasons such as job losses or reduced earnings of their children and delayed or significantly reduced remittances.
Additionally, 72% of participants confirmed that they did not receive adequate food support to meet their minimum needs and 85% said they did not receive adequate support to obtain necessary medications.
The Aging Population and the Social Security Net
As with many other areas around the world, an aging population comes with disadvantages. For example, “a decline in the working-age population and a surge in health care costs.” Additionally, large numbers of elderly people depend on small numbers of working-age people to fund “higher health costs, pension benefits and other publicly funded programs” through taxes, Investopedia explains.
Aging populations are often more dependent on government support, posing a problem in Cambodia as the elderly do not receive adequate support from a social assistance program. The Cambodian government does not provide social assistance programs that specifically target the elderly, although there are social assistance programs targeting poorer households. However, these programs tend to exclude impoverished older people who do not have the correct identification or documentation.
Efforts Underway to Address Elderly Poverty in Cambodia
In July 2022, the Cambodian government launched a social security pension fund for private sector employees, which will work as a future prevention measure for elderly poverty. This follows the attempted implementation of this pension scheme in 2019, which came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In terms of NGOs, Habitat for Humanity Cambodia partners with vulnerable groups, including older persons, to build affordable safe housing with elements “that focus on water and energy efficiency.” Through its efforts, since 2003, Habitat Cambodia “has enabled [more than] 22,000 families to build strength stability and self-reliance through shelter.”
HelpAge is an organization working toward improving the lives of older people across the world. With a specific country office in Cambodia, HelpAge has partnered with Cambodia’s Ministry of Health since 1992. Its projects involve building “age-inclusive and disaster-resilient communities in Cambodia.” Its first activities in Cambodia were associated with “eye care delivery” for elderly people.
With commitment, the government and NGOs can address elderly poverty in Cambodia through improved social security measures, ensuring a better quality of life for older people.
– Priya Maiti
Photo: Flickr
Somalia’s Debt Relief With the IMF’s Assistance
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff voted in October 2022 to put a vote through to the executive board that, if approved, will grant $10 million to Somalia for debt relief. The new IMF vote is not Somalia’s first time receiving debt relief, but it represents foreign investment expectations for the East-African country. The IMF staff-level agreement combined with other recent foreign debt relief aid can help Somalia’s burdensome debt drop from $5.2 billion to $550 million by the end of 2023.
Somalia’s Economic Strife
Countless factors stress Somalia’s need for debt relief. Somalia’s government and politics fractured in 1991, with an ensuing civil war, leaving Somalia with a government representative of a non-unified nation. Somalia had no proper representation of the various political and regional differences, meaning the nation fell behind the rest of the world in economic development. The issues surrounding Somalia’s critical workforce and agriculture exports represent the financial struggles best.
A secondary key issue is Somalia’s reliance on agriculture. As of 2020, about 80% of the workforce was in agriculture, but seven out of 10 Somalians live in poverty. The high poverty rate of the agrarian-based Somalians partially stems from the intense droughts beginning in the 2018 rain season and locust outbreaks destroying crops. The agricultural difficulties resulted in the intense starvation of more than 213,000 Somalians. The food shortage Somalians are navigating worsened when the war in Ukraine broke out and caused food prices to skyrocket worldwide. The soaring food prices are exacerbating Somalia’s strained food supply further.
Despite the constant changes in Somalia for three decades, Somalia’s debt relief has become an attainable goal as Somalia’s government changed and moved towards new economic policies. The new policies helped Somalia return to the global stage and become a viable partner and economically reliable international force.
The Way Somalia’s Economy Has Recovered So Far
Somalia’s debt relief path truly began when Somalia implemented its Provisional Constitution of 2011, formed an internationally recognized Federal government and created five Federal Member States. The member states recognize the regional differences and political expectations that vary from region to region, creating partial unity towards a common goal. The new government drafted a series of economic reforms that created local economic flow. Economic reforms throughout Somalia provided the government with the framework to maintain financial stability and begin international operations once more.
Since the new government came into power, Somalia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has steadily improved. Despite factors like the food shortage and agricultural struggles, Somalia’s GDP has held firm but quickly drained. About 96% of Somalia’s GDP goes towards paying off its $5.2 billion national debt. Thankfully, the remarkable economic improvements by Somalia reached the decision point for the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative. The World Bank and IMF are the driving forces behind the HIPC, and both recognize the efforts of Somalia’s government, thus beginning the process of qualification for the HIPC in March 2020. The HIPC helps numerous nations pair debt. Decreasing debt is pertinent for reducing poverty rates because the freedom from debt allows for spending on social services that support the most vulnerable citizens.
A country is qualified for the initiative’s assistance after a multi-step process. The country in question must be eligible for loans from the World Bank and IMF, have a track record of economic-reform policies, and have a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The nation in question then must meet the completion point. The HIPC grants additional economic relief that pares down debt without providing other loans to pay back. Somalia’s debt relief has not been easy to achieve. However, Somalia should reach the completion point soon, decreasing its debt from $5.2 billion to $500 million.
The IMF’s Staff-Level Agreement and Its Assistance
The IMF’s staff-level agreement for Somalia’s debt relief is another crucial step towards a more stable economy with decreased poverty rates. The next step is an agreement by the IMF’s executive board that authorizes releasing the $10 million to Somalia. The IMF’s mission chief Laura Jaramillo expressed the IMF’s confidence in Somalia and that the IMF is impressed by the continued economic recovery that Somalia has managed to accomplish. The new deal might not seem like much compared to the hopeful debt paring by the HIPC, but that relief will not likely reach Somalia until the end of 2023.
Assistance for Somalia’s debt relief would mean that Somalia can decrease the amount of its GDP that pays off the country’s debt, which is overwhelming. Spending so much on Somalia’s debt means the government has limited resources to tackle everyday problems, and $10 million from the IMF can be incredibly handy. The IMF’s new debt relief plan for Somalia indicates the growing confidence foreign investors have in Somalia, meaning more economic stability and debt relief might be on their way.
– Clara Mulvihill
Photo: Flickr
Urgent Need to Help Victims of Flooding in Nigeria
The 2022 floods are the worst in a decade and come at an already distressing time for Nigeria as its northern states have been experiencing widespread violence, forcing 3 million from their homes. An article appearing in The Guardian in 2020 highlights the dire state of drainage and infrastructure which exacerbates the problem. The article states “From Lagos Island to the mainland, the absence of a good drainage system is evident in the many roads that the floods have washed away…” The Nigerian government has also accused neighboring Cameroon of sending extra water from its annual release of the Lagdo dam, according to AP News.
Flooding Exacerbates Food Insecurity in Nigeria
Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and has seen rapid urbanization in recent years, with over 211 million residents in 2021. As the country continues to expand, more economic potential is possible, though the wounds of colonial oppression still exist.
In addition to loss of life and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, the floods have also disrupted food supplies. Roads blocked by the river have halted trucks bringing in supplies to communities affected by the disaster. Thankfully, President Muhammadu Buhari announced that 12,000 metric tons of grain will be distributed among victims of flooding, though much more will be needed to provide adequate aid to victims of flooding in Nigeria.
“In the same region, more than 4 million people are projected to continue experiencing acute food insecurity amid the worsening global food crisis,” according to the U.S. Mission in Nigeria.
There is also an increased risk of waterborne illnesses and diseases including cholera. Cholera outbreaks were already declared in August and September across the Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states, where at least 7,750 cases were recorded.
Aid to the Country
During 2020 and 2021, the U.S. sent more than $500 million in relief to the country. In October 2022, the U.S. approved $1 million in immediate aid to the country, which will greatly help the situation by providing organizations on the ground to set up temporary housing and gain access to more relief commodities.
The EU is another donor, sending €58 million to Nigeria to fund food assistance and food rations for families in 2022.
Organizations like the Internation Rescue Committee, also help to bridge the gap by delivering clean water and food, as well as providing health and education services across the country.
Though much more funding will be necessary to adequately resolve the crisis flooding has caused, this is a huge help to those in need. The health and growth of developing nations such as Nigeria are essential to the development of the global economy.
– Shane Chase
Photo: Flickr
Providing COVID-19 Vaccines to Madagascar
Madagascar, like much of the world, has dealt with disinformation, confusion, disrupted supply chains and health crises from the pandemic. Additionally, like much of the developing world, Madagascar remains largely unvaccinated. In fact, the country has administered only enough doses to vaccinate between 4-5% of the population. However, international organizations are working to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Madagascar.
An Inside Voice
In an interview with The Borgen Project, Pierre Ranjakamanana, a 21-year-old student from Antananarivo, stated that the pandemic “badly affected the country in many ways, especially people from poor backgrounds.” The government-imposed lockdowns and curfew impacted Antananarivo’s many independent vendors, who often rely on daily income to make ends meet. Ranjakamanana recalled that “people were desperate due to the fact that they had to stay at home for two weeks.”
“All of us were panicking because we heard on the news that COVID-19 had killed many people in China. Then, we started thinking of ways not to get the virus, so we drank hot water tea with ginger and lemon in it, washed our hands every single time, and decided not to go outside.” He also remembered that while some took the virus very seriously, others “did not really believe in the virus because they believed that COVID-19 is like a normal disease like headache, fever and all that, so there is no point in panicking.”
Debunking the “Tea”
One of the biggest challenges during the pandemic was overcoming misinformation and acquiring COVID-19 vaccines for Madagascar. Madagascar’s President Rajoelina has promoted an herbal tea that the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research developed as a COVID-19 cure. Called “Covid-Organics,” it is based on the artemisia plant, an important source of anti-malarial drugs. However, there is no evidence that tea has any effect on COVID-19. Still, the country has shipped thousands of doses to different countries, tried to develop an injectable version, and distributed the tea to schools, threatening students with expulsion if they did not drink it.
Efforts to Vaccinate Madagascar
Thankfully, international organizations are distributing vaccines and medical equipment to Madagascar. COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) and the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) are organizations that acquire, organize and distribute COVID-19 vaccines to the developing world and Africa, respectively. The U.S. State Department has given 1.7 million doses to these organizations, 74% of Madagascar’s total so far.
In 2021, the World Bank gave $100 million to Madagascar to help the country acquire and distribute more vaccines. If implemented smoothly, the initiative should vaccinate about 5.6 million people, as well as support the infrastructure that will continue to vaccinate the population. Some COVID-19 vaccines must be kept on ice, which vastly increases the logistics of distribution.
UNICEF is also working to provide COVID-19 vaccines to Madagascar, supporting the government’s goal of vaccinating 9 million people before the end of 2022. UNICEF’s main work is buying vaccines and supporting and setting up clinics and distribution centers.
Though very little of the Malagasy population has received vaccines, it is encouraging to see the country overcoming previous hurdles in fighting the disease and finally gaining access to precious vaccines.
– Shiloh Harrill
Photo: Flickr
The Electric Vehicle Movement in India
In the densely populated country of India, the World Bank explained that the “road network is increasingly insufficient to support rapid growth in the economy.” Furthermore, “Most roads are generally in poor condition, urban traffic is clogged, public transport is unreliable and unsafe and intra-regional connectivity is inadequate.” Yet, the population requires affordable transportation to get to jobs, schools and businesses and access resources and services. The electric vehicle movement in India could be part of the solution to India’s transportation needs.
Electric Vehicles Growing in Popularity
The United Nations Development Programme reported that, in 2020, 16.4% of the population in India lived in multidimensional poverty and 18.7% of the population faced risks of falling into multidimensional poverty. In a country with a high population density and many people enduring conditions of poverty, electric vehicles present an affordable transport solution. With a median income of $2,400 for the average family in India, conventional cars are financially out of reach for many households.
In India specifically, two and three-wheel electric vehicles are most popular due to their low cost and ability to easily navigate the country’s congested streets. According to the New York Times, in India, one can purchase an electric scooter or three-wheel rickshaw for just $1,000.
The FAME Program
The main way the Indian government is trying to get the electric vehicle movement in India going is through a subsidy program. In 2015, India launched the first phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in India. The first phase of FAME came to an end in 2019. The second phase then began and will end in 2024.
Under the first phase of FAME, 285,000 purchasers of electric/hybrid vehicles received 360 billion rupees worth of subsidies to make these purchases more accessible. The government redesigned phase two of FAME for the “faster proliferation of electric vehicles by lowering the upfront costs.” The second phase of the program has budgetary support of 10,000 crores.
In 2013, India announced the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), a strategy to move toward fuel security “by promoting hybrid and electric vehicles in the country.” As part of this strategy, India launched the FAME program to accelerate the manufacturing and adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles across India.
Other Benefits of the Electric Vehicle Movement in India
Other than just economic benefits, electric vehicles also present an “environment-friendly public transportation option for the masses.” Because air pollution is a significant issue in India, lower emissions from electric vehicles will contribute to better air quality. The FAME program will lead to the establishment of an electric charging infrastructure, which will make electric charging stations more accessible to users. Through FAME, the government sanctioned 520 charging stations in the first phase. In the second phase, by February 2022, the government sanctioned 2,877 charging stations across 68 cities.
Business Perks for Others
Along with the country’s economy, businesses are benefiting from the electric vehicle movement in India. With the Indian government taking a lead in the movement, others are taking action too. Small companies and startups have turned to the subsidy program and are also gearing their businesses toward e-vehicle transportation or services.
One example is SMV Green Solutions, which Naveen Krishna started “to provide affordable, clean and safe mobility means for both drivers and commuters in the last mile transportation.”
Looking to the Future
The movement goes further than just electrifying vehicles — it boosts many people’s livelihoods by providing business opportunities and improving mobility. The idea is spreading through the example of India’s government and other startup companies that are making way for electric vehicles. Electric vehicles may be an effective solution for addressing transportation needs in growing nations.
– Marynette Holmes
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
New USAID Program Seeks to Combat Food Insecurity in Haiti
Background on Food Insecurity in Haiti
Haiti has grappled with a growing need for humanitarian assistance in recent years. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reported many key drivers of food insecurity, including the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that shook the island nation in August 2021. Reduced rainfall and harvests in 2021 led to income loss among farmers, while insufficient government assistance and a general economic decline in the country due to rising inflation rates, depreciation of the Haitian gourde against the U.S. dollar and the economic blowback of the COVID-19 pandemic have only compounded the issue.
These factors left an estimated 4.3 million people facing crisis levels of food security by the end of 2021, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET).
In 2022, conditions only worsened with rising costs attributed to the conflict in Ukraine. Haiti is particularly vulnerable to shocks in the global food and fuel markets due to its heavy reliance on imports. Furthermore, the threat of the ongoing Atlantic hurricane season looms over the economically fragile nation.
A Stronger Haiti
At the International Event for the Financing of the Reconstruction of the Southern Peninsula of Haiti, USAID Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman revealed their 5-year plan to combat Haiti’s struggle with food insecurity. The conference’s objective was to expand international attention and support to Haiti in response to the 2021 earthquake that caused close to $2 billion in damages across the nation. The project, Ayiti Pi Djanm, initially titled in Haitian Creole, translates to “A Stronger Haiti.”
The USAID program in Haiti is projected to reach nearly 90,000 Haitians across the Nord-Est and Sud departments with integral support. The efforts will include:
USAID will partner with international NGO Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to bring this program to fruition. Led by CRS, the project will focus on private sector investments to support local production of food crops, both to reduce food insecurity and foster opportunities for agricultural livelihood.
USAID and Earthquakes
Since the devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 2010, USAID has been Haiti’s top donor, contributing around $5 billion in aid. Relief, recovery and long-term reconstruction assistance in 2010 included search and rescue efforts, the launch of emergency shelters and the construction of educational facilities. These past USAID programs in Haiti have been integral to the nation’s disaster response and economic stability in the face of new challenges.
In 2021, the U.S. Government provided almost $105 million towards disaster response and risk reduction, including over $92 million from USAID.
CRS has partnered with USAID Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) since its outset in 1954, supporting BHA growth through advocacy to Congress and the White House. Together, these organizations have been successful in implementing emergency and ongoing efforts to tackle food insecurity in Haiti as well as other nations across the globe.
– Carly Ryan Brister
Photo: Unsplash
Elderly Poverty in Cambodia
Introductory Statistics
Cambodia has an inadequate social security net with a very limited pension system, only extending to those who worked in the public sector. As such, many elderly people have no financial security and continue working despite health problems, often in labor-intensive jobs.
This problem is also exacerbated by the fact that the elderly literacy rate in Cambodia among people 65 and older stood at only 53.1% as of 2015, impacting the elderly population’s ability to retire reasonably well.
Of note, older persons in Cambodia experienced and survived genocide between 1975 and 1979 at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, and prior to this, the Cambodian civil war in 1970. Research reveals that the genocide led to the deaths of 75% of Cambodia’s educators and 96% of university students. The loss of teachers led to a whole generation of Cambodian children missing out on education. For this reason, today, a large portion of Cambodia’s elderly are illiterate.
The coronavirus pandemic also had an overwhelming impact on elderly poverty in Cambodia. A 2021 study conducted by HelpAge aimed to uncover the impacts of the pandemic on older Cambodians. About 55% of study participants said the pandemic impacted their overall family income, citing reasons such as job losses or reduced earnings of their children and delayed or significantly reduced remittances.
Additionally, 72% of participants confirmed that they did not receive adequate food support to meet their minimum needs and 85% said they did not receive adequate support to obtain necessary medications.
The Aging Population and the Social Security Net
As with many other areas around the world, an aging population comes with disadvantages. For example, “a decline in the working-age population and a surge in health care costs.” Additionally, large numbers of elderly people depend on small numbers of working-age people to fund “higher health costs, pension benefits and other publicly funded programs” through taxes, Investopedia explains.
Aging populations are often more dependent on government support, posing a problem in Cambodia as the elderly do not receive adequate support from a social assistance program. The Cambodian government does not provide social assistance programs that specifically target the elderly, although there are social assistance programs targeting poorer households. However, these programs tend to exclude impoverished older people who do not have the correct identification or documentation.
Efforts Underway to Address Elderly Poverty in Cambodia
In July 2022, the Cambodian government launched a social security pension fund for private sector employees, which will work as a future prevention measure for elderly poverty. This follows the attempted implementation of this pension scheme in 2019, which came to a halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In terms of NGOs, Habitat for Humanity Cambodia partners with vulnerable groups, including older persons, to build affordable safe housing with elements “that focus on water and energy efficiency.” Through its efforts, since 2003, Habitat Cambodia “has enabled [more than] 22,000 families to build strength stability and self-reliance through shelter.”
HelpAge is an organization working toward improving the lives of older people across the world. With a specific country office in Cambodia, HelpAge has partnered with Cambodia’s Ministry of Health since 1992. Its projects involve building “age-inclusive and disaster-resilient communities in Cambodia.” Its first activities in Cambodia were associated with “eye care delivery” for elderly people.
With commitment, the government and NGOs can address elderly poverty in Cambodia through improved social security measures, ensuring a better quality of life for older people.
– Priya Maiti
Photo: Flickr
Educational Poverty in Italy
People tend to associate educational poverty with less developed nations. Although Italy is a developed country, according to research in 2006, the education level among Italians ranked as one of the lowest among the OECD countries: average Italian adults only attained just over 10 years of education. The situation remains similar after a decade — according to the 2015 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), Italy’s “attainment rates in upper secondary and tertiary education” did not reach the OECD average. The figures suggest that educational poverty in Italy is a pressing issue because it directly contributes to and accentuates poverty among the population, in particular, among children. Understanding the urgency of tackling educational poverty in Italy, the Italian branch of the international organization Save the Children partnered with an Italian banking group, Credem, to strengthen educational development among disadvantaged children.
Child Poverty and Educational Poverty
Child poverty and educational deficiency have an intricate relationship. In 2021, about 1.3 million children in Italy lived in conditions of absolute poverty, according to the Italian National Institute of Statistics.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated educational poverty in Italy due to a lack of technology to access remote education. According to UNICEF, in a survey of 1,028 families conducted during the lockdown in Italy in June 2020, about 27% of households did not have access to “suitable technology” and about 30% of parents reported a lack of time to “support their children with remote learning” due to work and other responsibilities. Across the world, this inaccessibility and disruptions to education have caused learning losses among children.
Without an education, children are unable to attain the skills and knowledge required to access higher-paying, skilled jobs, meaning cycles of poverty continue.
Credem explains that child poverty severely affects “the educational development of many children and adolescents: it compromises their performances at school, reduces their ability to learn and develop skills, talents and aspirations and deprives them of sources of stimulation.” This impacts both their mental and physical well-being, social abilities and future opportunities.
Save the Children Italia and Credem
In 2014, Save the Children Italia launched a project called “Illuminiano il futuro,” meaning “They light up the future.” In collaboration with Credem, a local bank group that had been in partnership with the organization for more than a decade at the time, the two-part project targeted impoverished children in Italy between the ages of 6 and 16. The two parts consisted of:
Every country has social issues. In Italy, educational poverty is one. The lack of education among the population also reveals the increasing child poverty in the country. In fact, the two have an inseparable relationship. Understanding that children are the future of Italy, Save the Children Italia and Credem worked together to tackle the issue. By setting up socio-educational centers across Italy, Save the Children and Credem encouraged children to believe in themselves and their futures.
– Mimosa Ngai
Photo: Flickr
5 Charities in the Central African Republic
5 Charities in the Central African Republic
Overall, the work of these five organizations has been integral in the elevation of underprivileged communities plagued by food and health crises, civil war and poor literacy rates.
– Namra Tahir
Photo: Flickr
Addressing Malnutrition in Tunisia
A Dependency on Imports
A 2019 article by Aymen Amayed says “Tunisia is not self-sufficient in terms of food production: more than 50[%]of the food the country consumes is imported.” Although the importing of food products allows Tunisia to meet the country’s food needs, and even though the government provides subsidies for specific basic food products, affordability is still an issue. Amayed explains that “because many agricultural inputs such as seeds and fertilizers are imported, locally produced food is also subject to price pressure and fluctuation related to currency exchange rates and other uncertainties of international trade.” Also, the planting of imported seeds and trees depletes local varieties of crops.
Extreme weather patterns also exacerbate the situation. Tunisia’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) document created in 2015 predicts that droughts will decrease the land area used for cereal crops by 200,000 hectares and will reduce the land area for arboriculture by 800,000 hectares by 2030. There will be a 30% decrease in “available land area for rain-fed cereal production,” resulting in the country’s GDP shrinking by 5-10% by 2030.
Impacts of the Russia-Ukraine War on Malnutrition in Tunisia
Due to the war in Ukraine, food dependence in Tunisia has become a major issue. The impacts of the war in Ukraine on the global food system have long-term consequences. Tunisia’s current food insecurity issues originate from “agricultural, economic and social policies introduced by successive governments since independence and which are directly related to global food systems,” Arab Reform Initiative says. For example, instead of strengthening the production of local cereal crops, Tunisia’s government increased cereal imports.
Despite the problems related to malnutrition in Tunisia, the WFP is working to help the government address these issues through the Tunisia Country Strategic Plan (2022–2025). The WFP will help to strengthen and expand state-run school feeding programs with the goal of reaching 260,000 vulnerable Tunisian children.
The government acknowledged the importance of school feeding programs in improving education, nutritional and developmental outcomes; therefore, in 2019, it expanded the budget for the school feeding program to $16 million annually. Furthermore, the “WFP is providing technical assistance in establishing a national food security monitoring system that can inform efforts to make the national social protection system and safety nets more inclusive and shock-responsive.” The Strategic Plan aims to accomplish two main outcomes:
Through continued reform commitments from the Tunisia government, hunger in Tunisia can reduce.
– Olga Petrovska
Photo: Flickr
New App Designed to Improve Agriculture in Kyrgyzstan
Causes of a Bad Harvest
Bad harvests can occur due to a wide variety of completely random influences, which can be exacerbated by a lack of infrastructural technologies that could assist farmers in preventing bad harvests from occurring when they are preventable. Notably, extreme weather patterns have hurt harvests in recent years including the harvest of 2020 when snow in the walnut’s budding season led to a dramatic decrease in yield that year.
In 2022, in addition to changing weather patterns, overgrazing by nearby livestock has caused devastating effects on the walnut harvest. Many Kyrgyz herd cattle and sheep as their primary source of income. This livestock requires a lot of food and when nearby pastures are overgrazed, the shepherds need to lead their herd elsewhere. The massive walnut grove provides shelter from the intense heat, as well as plenty of food for the herds, so it becomes an obvious choice for livestock herders.
Effects of a Bad Harvest on Agriculture in Kyrgyzstan
Some families depend entirely on the land as both a source of income and food. Because of this dependence, when a particularly bad harvest occurs the farming families must either settle for significantly lower selling prices or sell fewer walnuts in favor of keeping more for consumption.
New “Pasture Monitoring” App to Boost Agriculture in Kyrgyzstan
In 2022, in an effort to aid both walnut farmers and livestock herders in protecting their main sources of income, a Kyrgyz environmental protection organization, CAMP Alatoo, created and began the testing of a new app called “Pasture Monitoring.” This app, which functions in English, Kyrgyz and Russian, allows livestock herders to input information and photographs about their pastures.
The app then compiles the data and sends it to a team of experts made up of members of the Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Agriculture, the Water Resources and Regional Development of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Design Institute of Land Management. The Pasture Monitoring app also allows environmental experts to send recommendations directly to the herders on how they can individually improve the quality of their pasture. Additionally, government officials can access this information at any point in the future when making decisions regarding the development of these lands on a larger scale.
As livestock herders begin to implement the recommendations of the environmental officials, they will be able to more sustainably allow their herds to graze on their own pastures without needing to utilize the massive walnut grove near Arslanbob. Consequently, walnut farmers will no longer need to worry about livestock encroaching on and damaging their livelihoods. As of October 2022, the new farming app has commenced testing in the Aksy and Bazar-Korgon districts with the goal of boosting agriculture in Kyrgyzstan.
– Chris Dickinson
Photo: Flickr