Archive for category: Developing Countries

Information and stories about developing countries.

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Things to Know About Child Poverty in Costa Rica

child poverty in costa ricaDespite being one of the most progressive countries in Latin America in terms of free education, no military and access to health care, there are still many people living in poverty in Costa Rica and the youngest people are oftentimes hit the hardest. More than 65% of impoverished Costa Ricans are younger than 35 years old and children younger than age 18 make up the largest group of the impoverished. Additionally, many of the children facing child poverty in Costa Rica are Indigenous. When it comes to children, issues include child labor, child mortality and disparities in education.

4 Things to Know About Child Poverty in Costa Rica

  1. Primary school in Costa Rica is free and mandatory. Free primary level education gives many children access to the education system. However, many children who come from impoverished families or rural areas miss out on education because they need to work to provide for their families. In 2020, 316 primary-aged children were not attending school and about 4% of lower secondary school-aged children were out of school. As a country that is a major producer of coffee, agricultural work and harvesting is a priority in Costa Rica. In fact, during the coffee bean harvest, the teachers and students in impoverished regions in Costa Rica go to the farms to work in order to afford school supplies.
  2. Costa Rica has a large number of child trafficking victims. In 2011, Costa Rica noted 36,000 orphans. Due to lacking family structures or dysfunctional families, many vulnerable children are at risk of exploitation, drug abuse and gang violence.
  3. Low child mortality rates. Costa Rica has the longest life expectancy in Latin America and an effective health care system and has also made strides in child mortality. In 2020, the mortality rate of children younger than 5 stood at 7.9 per 1,000 lives births, according to World Bank data, down from 96 in 1960. Child mortality rates are higher among children who are born into families living below the poverty line, Indigenous families or rural families.
  4. Violence against children in Costa Rica is a concern. In fact, Costa Rica noted about 700 sexual violence cases in 2009, according to Humanium, though organizations believe many more cases go unreported. The physical and psychological abuse and violence that children endure have serious consequences for their development and health.

SOS Children’s Villages

SOS Children’s Villages initially started with a commitment to caring for orphaned or abandoned children throughout the world. There are SOS Children’s Villages in three cities in Costa Rica: San José, Limón and Cartago. SOS Children’s Villages aim to address child poverty in Costa Rica.

The organization provides Costa Rican children with daycare, education, medical services and vocational training, sports facilities and playgrounds. SOS Children’s Villages takes in children whose parents cannot take care of them. The organization has a comprehensive approach: preventing child abandonment, offering long-term care for children in need and empowering young people with the resources to reach their full potential.

The organization’s YouthCan! program trains adolescents to enhance their skills and competencies in order to achieve employment. In Costa Rica, where almost 100,000 young people faced unemployment in 2016, the youth development program lasts for three to 12 months. The program consists of life skills training, employability training and helping the youth find jobs and further training opportunities.

Through organizations like the SOS Children’s Villages, child poverty in Costa Rica can reduce.

– Naomi Schmeck
Photo: Flickr

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Investing in Africa’s Music Industry

Africa’s Music IndustryIn April of 2020, the world’s most popular music streaming platform and one of the world’s biggest independent recording companies inked a new global licensing deal that will allocate more resources to new and existing entertainment markets in Africa. Spotify Music and Warner Music Group are working together to create new opportunities for artists to achieve international success in various countries, but Warner Music group is focusing on elevating the music streaming sector in Africa by investing in Africori, “a leading digital music platform for African artists and record labels.” Investing in Africa’s music industry could potentially contribute to lifting the continent out of poverty.

Warner Music Group Elevates Africa

Spotify has been available in Africa since 2018 in countries like Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and Tunisia. While the company has hinted at future expansion in more African countries, its current licensing deal with Warner Music Group is working to elevate its global initiatives for Warner Group artists to grow the music industry worldwide.

Warner Music Group’s investment in Africori will make this possible by promoting existing African artists abroad, being able to sign global licensing deals with new artists and tap into a market that can provide opportunities for rising African stars. The main reason for investment will be to make African artists global by marketing their music to a global audience and giving newly signed artists the resources they need to grow their brand over time.

What is Africori?

Africori is an African digital music platform that is involved in almost every method of artist promotion. Its services include marketing, publishing, artist development, video distribution and booking artists around the globe. It was launched in 2009 “in response to the lack of opportunities available for African artists,” who now aim to make Africa a global source of inspiration. Africori already distributes to more than 200 domestic and international platforms because of their unique understanding of the African market.

This investment will transform Africa’s music industry by filling hundreds of job opportunities that are needed to manage global artists.

Investing in Africa’s creative minds has the potential for a big return for Warner Music Group as Africa’s music and entertainment sector is on course to reach 177.2 billion African rands of revenue in 2022, which equals $11.5 billion.

5 Reasons to Invest in Africa’s Creative Minds

With the investment deal being highly publicized, this move can inspire other U.S. or international entertainment groups to invest more in Africa’s music industry and entertainment sector.

  1. Music is a driving factor to economic success. Besides the artists themselves bringing in a high amount of revenue, a booming entertainment sector can create a multitude of jobs from publicists, directors, dancers, managers, set designers and more. Africa’s music sector is currently on the rise compared to many countries that already have established major entertainment deals.

  2.  Artist success leads to other business ventures. This could mean brand deals and sponsoring artists with products. Artists can partner up with African product companies, clothing companies, social media and more, to simultaneously promote themselves and other businesses.

  3. African artists are cultural magnets and trendsetters. Brian Nadra, an African musician labeled “an artist to watch in 2020” was called “an ambassador of East-African pop culture” in a region where there have not been many successful male singers. African artists are already being noticed globally which opens the door for new artists to achieve that same title.

  4. Africa’s music streaming platforms are on the rise. Currently, smartphone usage in Africa is estimated to grow exponentially in the next few years. Widespread smartphone usage will increase revenue per stream, platform subscriptions and music video views.

  5. Alleviating poverty in Africa. Growing the music scene in underdeveloped African countries can give people hope and an opportunity to pull them out of poverty. Many artists do not reach their goals because they lack the proper team or funding to continue to do so. Receiving funding to improve development gives communities a chance to prosper.

Africa’s creative minds have proven to be an untapped source of talent and inspiration. Africa’s music industry has the potential to grow itself and many other areas of the business to support artists for years to come. Warner Music Group’s decision to invest in Africori is just the beginning of supporting Africa’s ability to prosper.

– Julia Ditmar
Photo: Flickr

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Renewable Energy in Costa Rica

Renewable Energy in Costa RicaThe country of Costa Rica has an abundance of natural resources available. The particularly abundant renewable resources that Costa Rica uses in great quantity are wind and hydro energy. Costa Rica has embraced renewable energy and benefits from it in a multitude of ways, but there are also some less obvious ways the nation benefits from renewable energy.

Renewable Energy in Costa Rica

Renewable energy has helped small business owners and farmers. This would explain why so many of them are supportive of renewable energy. Since deforestation has largely come to a standstill because of renewable energy, the biodiversity in Costa Rica is able to remain. Costa Rica’s mass only makes up 0.03% of the Earth. Nonetheless, 6% of the Earth’s natural wealth and biodiversity is located within Costa Rica.

It is this biodiversity that has become so useful to the farmers of Costa Rica. Biodiversity reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides that the farmers would normally use. Other natural resources can be used for farming as well. Cacao shells, for example, can be used for mulch and farmers can use logs to make the soil richer.

Renewable Energy Helps Tourism

Tourism also benefits from renewable energy in Costa Rica and plays an extremely important role in Costa Rica’s economy. Tourism alone brings in about $1 billion to the country and employs around 155,000 people. This is a substantial amount of people in a country home to about 4 million people. Renewable energy indirectly helps protect tourism in Costa Rica, in particular, ecotourism. By protecting these natural resources, Costa Rica ensures that people will continue to visit the country to see the beauty of its natural and conserved environments.

The Los Santos Wind Power Project

Renewable energy has also helped small and local communities in many ways. Los Santos is one such area seeing these positive impacts. Los Santos particularly benefits from the use of wind energy as the area is one of the windiest regions within Costa Rica. Currently, the Lost Santos Wind Power Project is installing wind turbines in the region.

The project has built enough windmills in the area that the region is able to generate 12.75 MW of wind energy, provide 50,000 inhabitants with electricity and prevent around 15,000 tonnes of carbon from releasing into the atmosphere each year. The project can then sell the energy produced by the wind turbines to the government. The money that is earned can go toward helping the local community. For example, the profit from selling energy that is produced can go toward the construction of new schools. Additionally, the installation of wind turbines will also create new jobs for people. To keep turbines functioning and ensure they receive repairs when needed, technicians must be available to work on them.

Renewable Energy, Renewable Hope

Renewable energy in Costa Rica is beneficial for a multitude of reasons, as set out above. The money from the generation of renewable energy can go toward helping small communities. The tourism industry in Costa Rica will continue to thrive, and because the environment will remain undamaged, so will the amount of biodiversity that helps farmers.

– Jacob E. Lee
Photo: Flickr

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Efforts to Reduce Pollution in the Ganges River

Ganges RiverMore individuals depend on the Ganges River in India than there are people in the United States. More than 400 million people live at the basin of the Ganges, making it one of the most important natural water resources in the world. A holy river in the Hindu faith, the Ganges River (or Ganga) is used to bathe, cook, wash clothes, conduct funerals and more. Entire businesses along the basin depend on the river, adding an economic dependence to it as well. Due to this immense usage, pollution has run rampant. The Ganga Action Parivar estimates that “2.9 billion liters of wastewater from sewage, domestic and industrial sources are dumped” in the river every single day. Pollution reduction in the river is a top priority to prevent hundreds of millions of Indians from facing water insecurity.

The World Bank Assists

In 2011, the World Bank targeted the Ganges River pollution issues by launching the National Ganga River Basin Project (or NGRBP). A $1 billion initiative, the NGRBP looked to create bank investments in the water sanitation department and develop better waste management control in India. While this did prove to be a step in the right direction, the Ganges still saw a rise in pollution. India’s inability to properly dispose of waste outpaced the World Bank’s project. After nine years, the World Bank looked to bolster its contribution to the fight to save the Ganges as more and more Indians were becoming sick. In June 2020, the Second Ganga River Basin Project received approval from World Bank directors despite the bank focusing on COVID-19, proving how dire the situation at the basin truly is. An 18-year commitment, this second NGRBP adds another $380 million to clean up the Ganges until 2038.

Ganga Action Parivar’s Impact

Along with international help from the World Bank, India also made pollution control a national issue. An array of agencies have come about in India centered around the purification of the Ganges. For over a decade, the Ganga Action Parivar (GAP) has taken a diplomatic approach to fight water pollution. Through communication with government officials, media outlets and fundraising, the GAP looks to bring awareness to the issue and demand action from within India. In 2016, the GAP launched the National Ganga Rights Act and began asking for support for it. The act detailed how there are both natural environmental and human rights on the line with the continued pollution of the Ganges River. More than just a body of water, the Ganges is an epicenter of religion, prosperity and life. Creating a natural rights act helps to ensure that action will mobilize to protect the water resource and that is exactly what the GAP has set out to do.

The Year 2020 and Beyond

The year 2020 has been a promising year for pollution reduction in the Ganges River. The World Bank launched and financed its second project centered around cleaning the water back in June 2020. New research suggests that there has also been a natural cleansing that has taken place over the past few months. Since COVID-19 forced India to shut down, the Ganges’ usage has dropped. In a video released by BBC News, just a mere 10% drop in usage throughout the pandemic has led to significant improvement in the sanitation of the Ganges. For years now, India’s government has been trying to find ways to heal the Ganges. While India and the world fight the COVID-19 virus, the Ganges River is healing. Once the lockdown ends, the work of the World Bank and GAP will be vital to keep the momentum going. If pollution rates continue to climb, India will have a water crisis on its hands. Sanitizing and protecting the Ganges is instrumental in helping India reduce its poverty rates and preserving a crucial water resource.

– Zachary Hardenstine
Photo: Flickr

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Progress: The 2020 Global Hunger Index Results

2020 Global Hunger Index resultsCalculating world hunger statistics is no easy task. The United Nations estimated that in 2018, more than 820 million people suffered from food shortages all around the globe. The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool developed by Concern Worldwide and Welthungerhilfe to annually assess world hunger trends in developing nations. The organization uses child mortality rates, youth undernutrition numbers and food supply totals provided by agencies such as the United Nations, World Health Organization and UNICEF, to produce a hunger index for each nation. Depending on a nation’s index, the country is placed on a scale of hunger severity of low, moderate, serious, alarming and extremely alarming. The 2020 Global Hunger Index results are now available and show promising developments for sub-Saharan Africa.

2020 Global Hunger Index Results

In the 2020 Global Hunger Index, 11 nations are rated as alarming, 40 are serious, 26 are moderate and 48 are low. This means that the index considers no country as extremely alarming when it pertains to hunger. While there is still much work to do to feed the world, the 2020 GHI results are hopeful. Both the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had previous ratings of extremely alarming but have experienced drastic improvements over the last year. Action Against Hunger works tirelessly in both the CAR and DRC and deserves recognition for the status improvements.

Hunger in the Central African Republic (CAR)

Fighting hunger in the Central African Republic became a priority of Action Against Hunger in 2006. Currently, more than 450 team members are present in the CAR helping to secure food and water for the most vulnerable communities. In just 2019 alone, Action Against Hunger provided these vital resources for 342,516 CAR citizens. The work has allowed the CAR to move out of the hunger category of extremely alarming. A majority of people living in the CAR are almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid for survival. If the 2020 Global Health Index category change is to remain a permanent one, Action Against Hunger is part of the reason why.

Hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is another African nation to see improvement in its 2020 Global Hunger Index status. Similar to the CAR, Action Against Hunger has become an integral part of ensuring food accessibility for the DRC’s impoverished communities. The global nonprofit has worked in the DRC for almost 25 years and now deploys 472 team members to carry out humanitarian relief. Food, medical supplies and water sanitization are necessary for the Congolese to survive. Within the past year of 2020, 1.2 million people in the DRC received help from Action Against Hunger. That means that more than 10% of the DRC’s population depends on Action Against Hunger to live. The GHI improvement for the DRC stands as a testament to more than two decades of Action Against Hunger’s work.

Zero Hunger

The 2020 Global Hunger Index results are only a snapshot of where the world is in the fight against hunger. There are still hundreds of millions of people suffering from food insecurity. However, the GHI results show hope that food shortages may someday be a thing of the past. With Action Against Hunger and similar organizations helping to fight hunger, the world is making strides in the area of global hunger.

– Zachary Hardenstine
Photo: Flickr

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Entrepreneurship: Initiatives Help Yemeni Women

Help Yemeni WomenOn top of the constant violence occurring in Yemen, almost 13% of the population face unemployment. Most women in Yemen work as homemakers, but a 2012 study, Measuring Women’s Status in Yemen, shows that almost one in two women (47%) would like to start their own business. Initiatives in Yemen offer women free business training, skills training and loans to help Yemeni women generate an income.

The Small and Micro Enterprises Promotion Service Agency (SMEPS)

SMEPS came to Yemen in 2005 and works to enhance the lives of Yemeni citizens through the creation of jobs and skills training. SMEPS has taught Yemeni women the best growing, harvesting and post-harvesting techniques for coffee beans. Yemeni women helped create a coffee that entered the gourmet market at a premium price. SMEPS also helped coffee farmers in Yemen. The aim was to create business resilience by expanding the production of farmers through improving the value chain by using modern technologies and better farming methods.

In 2010, SMEPS partnered with The International Labour Organization (ILO) to provide business training for women entrepreneurs. ILO came to Yemen in 1965 and has created opportunities for citizens to rise out of poverty. In one year, the workshops targeted around 500 Yemeni women who had taken out a loan to either start a small business or expand their existing businesses. The second phase of the program aims to reach 2,000 more women. Results indicate that after the training courses, the women had a higher level of business knowledge and competence to start or improve their own businesses. Overall, the women improved their quality of life with the income they earned.

SPARK’s Agri-Business Creation Programme (ABC)

SPARK came to Yemen around 2012 to assist citizens in agriculture, helping them earn an income from their crops. SPARK created a program called Agri-Business Creation (ABC) to help agri-entrepreneurs through training, mentoring and business plans. The program has notably assisted Yemeni women in developing agricultural businesses. Four female-run businesses were awarded microloans to expand their business after the training they received in business skills from SPARK’s ABC program. The loans help Yemeni women to generate more products and expand their businesses. Besides seeing an increase in income, the success of their work contributed to a boost in confidence and a sense of independence in the women.

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

GIZ came to Yemen in 1965 and assisted citizens with basic necessities and the provision of educational opportunities. First, GIZ helped Yemeni women develop businesses. Nearly 200 women attended training on how to develop a successful business idea and how to establish a business. Many women found prosperity in their new businesses and employed other women to assist them in their work. Secondly, around 300 women with existing businesses received additional business training via coaching. After the training, many women tripled their income and hired more women to work for them. Lastly, GIZ created opportunities for homemakers to sell handmade goods overseas. GIZ took handmade baskets made by Yemeni women to Germany and showed off their goods in exhibitions. This strategy helped 300 women in rural areas earn a steady income.

Although the raging war in Yemen has resulted in high unemployment, organizations like SMEPS, SPARK and GIZ offer programs and strategies to help  Yemeni women earn an income by developing entrepreneurial businesses.

– Samantha Rodriguez-Silva
Photo: Flickr

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Saldo.mx: Blockchain Startup in Mexico

Blockchain Startup in MexicoAs internet connectivity expands around the globe so do the benefits of blockchain technology and its potential to better the lives of those living in poverty. In Mexico, accessible financial services and insurance programs are vital to the improvement of the quality of life of Mexicans living below the poverty line. Saldo.mx, a blockchain startup in Mexico, helps facilitate this access.

Blockchain Startup in Mexico

A blockchain startup in Mexico has utilized the security of blockchain technology to meet the needs of Mexicans living in poverty. Saldo.mx offers Mexicans a secure and easy-to-use platform on which they can pay their bills using remittance money from abroad.

This is a significant development in the Mexican fintech market as Mexico receives billions of dollars in remittances from the United States each year, with $10.6 billion reaching Mexico in the third quarter of 2020 alone.

Especially during a time of economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to securely receive timely remittances is crucial for the financial security of Mexicans who rely on remittance payments for their survival.

Saldo’s services have the capacity to reach millions of Mexican customers, as it has been estimated that by the end of 2020, upwards of 81 million Mexicans will have internet access and thus the ability to quickly receive and utilize much-needed cash without having to wait for physical cash to arrive from abroad.

Consuelo: Access to Affordable Insurance Plans

One of Saldo’s newer services is Consuelo, which allows users to find fixed health and life insurance policies. Consuelo uses blockchain technology to connect its users to an insurance plan with a “smart contract,” which eliminates the need for a claim adjuster and gives the users direct access to affordable plans.

By removing a costly middleman and lessening the financial bureaucratic burden on customers, Consuelo gives its users a chance at obtaining health and life insurance and decreases long-term financial insecurity concerns.

Consuelo also helps uninsured Mexicans bypass the bureaucratic messiness of the national public healthcare system, which is supported by numerous uncoordinated social security institutes. This allows for better continuity of care by allowing Mexicans to remain with the same doctor by staying on their plan provided by Consuelo rather than facing the possibility of having to switch to another doctor through the national system after losing their jobs.

The Diverse Applications of Blockchain Technology

Innovation is not confined to affluent areas of developed countries. Especially in the age of the internet, new solutions can be developed and rapidly disseminated from any part of the world and can impact the lives of millions. In Mexico, receiving international transfers of money and gaining access to affordable health and life insurance plans can be difficult for the unbanked and those without stable employment. Startups like Saldo exemplify the potential of internet entrepreneurship and blockchain technology in helping lift the global poor out of poverty.

– John Andrikos
Photo: Flickr

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6 Facts About WASH Advancements in India

WASH advancements in IndiaWater, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) is a public issue in India. Launched in 2014, the Swachh Bharat Mission (SMB) of India has seen great success in recent years in improving the health and sanitation of India’s people. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has aided in the mission, helping to educate and institute new technologies, such as Sunidhi toilets. Aided by UNICEF, additional initiatives like the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and the implementation of WASH in schools and health facilities are contributing to the reduction of harmful and unsanitary practices. There have been several key WASH advancements in India.

6  Facts About WASH Advancements in India

  1. Urban Centers Bear the Brunt. Nationally, 910 million citizens do not have access to proper sanitation. With the rapid increase in population density in cities, there is an increasing strain on water and sanitation services. Despite urban centers housing the majority of India’s population, urban sanitation is underfunded.
  2. Swachh Bharat’s Toilet Access and Job Creation. SMB’s primary objective is to reduce open defecation in India. Between 2018 and 2019, 93% of households had access to toilets, a noticeable jump from 77% in the previous year. SMB’s efforts have also seen economic benefits, including an increase in job opportunities. The construction of the sanitation infrastructure is responsible for employing more than 2 million full-time workers. The creation of an additional 2 million jobs is expected in the coming years.
  3. Water in Rural Communities. Between 2017 and 2018, India’s national water mission expanded to become the National Rural Drinking Water Mission (NRDWM). While other programs and departments address sanitation in urban centers, NRDWM cares for the rural regions of India. One goal is the institution of piped water supplies to rural households. As of 2019, “18% of rural households had been provided with Piped Water Supply (PWS) household connections.”
  4. iJal Safe Water Stations. The Safe Water Network, a nonprofit organization created by Paul Newman, has reached communities through its iJal water stations. The locally owned stations provide access to clean, quality water in communities where water security is scarce. In 2019, the organization built 86 new stations, adding to the total of 319 stations reaching more than a million people across 319 communities.
  5. Better Community Toilets. Improper sewer networks and poorly maintained public toilets lead to open defecation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation seeks solutions to this crisis, for example, through the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge in 2011. The lack of safe public toilets is especially burdening on women. To address this concern, the WASH Institute leads the Sunidhi Toilet project. The project sees the construction of easily installable, self-cleaning public toilets.
  6. WASH Allies. USAID and UNICEF work in cooperation with the Government of India. As of September 2020, USAID reported recent achievements, including greater access to safe drinking water, more household toilets and a decrease in public defecation. UNICEF aids in the education and implementation of hygiene, particularly in schools and health facilities.

Recent years have seen several WASH advancements in India. The Indian government, large and small businesses as well as nonprofit organizations, are all playing an important part in ensuring access to safe water and sanitation. Education and creative solutions are made possible thanks to hard work and global cooperation.

– Kelli Hughes
Photo: Flickr

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Kuli Kuli Empowers Women Moringa Farmers

Kuli KuliKuli Kuli is a company that sells products made from the moringa tree, a superfood that is high in vitamins, antioxidants, plant proteins and anti-inflammatory properties, with twice the nutrient value of kale. The company’s products consist of energy bars, tea shots and a variety of powders and smoothie mixes.

Kuli Kuli: Identifying a Need

Lisa Curtis developed a heart for those living in extreme poverty while serving briefly as a regional youth coordinator for the United Nations. This led her to volunteer for the Peace Corps in 2010 at age 22, which sent her to work at a community clinic in rural Nigeria. While there, she was introduced to a locally-grown energy source, moringa, and was impressed by both its healing properties and nutritional punch. She quickly saw how a moringa market could address not only the malnutrition issues of the people and villages she worked with but also provide business opportunities for local farmers.

Empowering Women Farmers

Moringa has restorative powers for the human body but it turns out that it also has potential for sustainable economic growth. Kuli Kuli addresses these needs simultaneously by working with small but high-quality farmers and establishing supply chains to foster economic growth and nutritional security in West Africa. Notably, most of the farmers that the company works with are women. In 2020, the company sourced moringa from more than 2,400 farmers across 13 countries, with the largest group being African women. The company generated $5.2 million for these farmers and helped to plant and preserve more than 24,600,000 moringa trees.

Not only does the company help these farms to scale up their businesses but it also provides training to increase the quality of their products and local use of the plant. Moringa is invaluable for farmers. It requires little water, provides restorative properties for the soil and overall is fairly easy to grow, especially in rural regions where the soil is untainted by industrial areas. The company founder’s ambitious vision seeks to eliminate gender inequality, income inequality, global malnutrition and extreme poverty.

Creating a New Market in Moringa

Since its launch in 2014, Kuli Kuli has dominated the market on moringa products. Though moringa grows naturally in parts of Asia, Africa and South America, the company was the first to introduce the superfood to the United States’ wellness market. By 2020, the company was selling products in 11,000 stores nationwide. According to Curtis, the company has averaged 100% growth every year. Some years do even better, as demonstrated by 2017’s Series A financing, which tripled its retail business, and 2019’s $5 million Series B financing deal with Griffith Foods and Kellogg. With this most recent investment, Kuli Kuli plans to expand into moringa ingredient products. Certainly, Griffith Foods’ 30-country chain is quite a catch for the young wellness startup.

Kuli Kuli’s success demonstrates the power of developing new markets in developing countries that expand into developed ones. Not only is the company empowering rural farmers and fighting malnutrition and extreme poverty in developing countries but moringa products are fast climbing the list of top green wellness supplements in the United States. By noticing this virtually untapped international market and being quick to capitalize on it, the company found itself supplying more than half of the U.S. retail moringa market by 2020, a mere six years after its startup.

– Andria Pressel
Photo: Flickr

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Conquering the Fall Armyworm in Uganda

Fall ArmywormMachine learning, a variation of artificial intelligence that includes the development of algorithms that independently learn new information, has innumerable applications. An example of this is visible in Africa where the fall armyworm pest in Uganda has ravaged crop yields. Amid the destruction, a new machine learning-based app created by a Ugandan developer has the potential to stop the spread of the crop-destroying pest.

Agriculture in Uganda and the Fall Armyworm

Approximately 22% of Uganda’s GDP comes from agriculture, with most Ugandans working in the agricultural sector, often engaging in subsistence farming. With the nation’s economic performance relying on successful agricultural harvests and the population’s everyday food sources coming from their own crop yields, any invasion of pests in Uganda can have serious consequences.

In 2016, Uganda experienced its first invasion of the fall armyworm pest, the larva of the armyworm moth. A native of the tropical regions of the western hemisphere, the fall armyworm pest eats through crops for nourishment before its transformation into a moth. By mid-2017, the fall armyworm had been detected throughout Uganda and estimations indicate that the infestation led to $192 million in maize crop losses alone. In some regions, farmers noted crop yield losses of up to 75%.

Despite the severe threat posed by the fall armyworm pest in Uganda, local developers have created a machine learning-based tool to assist Ugandan farmers with detecting the presence of the fall armyworm in their crops and preventing its spread.

Machine Learning to Protect Crops

In the aftermath of the arrival of the fall armyworm pest, Nazirini Siraji, a Ugandan woman from the city of Mbale, began work on a modern solution to the age-old problem of pest invasions. After attending one of Google’s Codelabs events, Siraji used Google’s TensorFlow platform to develop her Farmers Companion App. TensorFlow is an open-source machine learning tool that enables developers like Siraji to create digital solutions powered by artificial intelligence.

The Farmers Companion App enables farmers to use mobile technology to identify this specific pest on their crops and their lifecycle stage. Using this information, the app notifies the users about the threat level their crops face and the extent to which the fall armyworm has the potential to spread. The app also recommends specific pesticide treatments that farmers can use based on the level of threat to the farmers’ crops.

According to Google, the app has already been deployed in the agricultural lands surrounding Mbale where Siraji partners with local farmers to put the Farmers Companion App to use.

Big Tech Meets Local Developer

The global expansion of the internet is accompanied by a rise in local innovation aiming to solve local issues. In Africa, pest invasions have been responsible for countless crop shortages and famines, which exacerbates problems of instability and poverty. While invasions from pests like the fall armyworm will inevitably occur in the future, they will not happen again without opposition from new technology.

– John Andrikos
Photo: Flickr