Agricultural Investment

Introduction There is growing concern about agricultural activities leading to environmental degradation and health risks associated with intensively produced foodstuffs. As a result interest in organic agriculture is increasing. This growing interest in sustainable and organic natural resource management and healthy eating, coupled with the increasing number of resource-poor farmers who cannot afford agrichemicals, has led to the potential for organic farming in addressing the issue of sustainable food production and livelihoods of resource-poor people in sub-Saharan Africa. Low in-put agriculture applies to systems that rely less on external, purchased inputs and more on internal resources. However, low-inout agriculture technolgy (LIAT) has conveyed a negative impression in various agriculture circles and this is cited as a major barrier to wider adoption of low-input agriculture technologies (LIATs) in Malawi and sub-Saharan Africa as … Read entire article »

Most significant rivers of northern India and south and Southeast Asia originate in the cold high-altitude Tibetan Plateau and are fed by the glaciers there. This geostrategic positioning of Tibet introduces the possible for either tension, or display of a high order of statesmanship by China and the lower riparian nations. The English word for ‘rivalry’, derived from the Latin term meaning ‘one who uses the same stream as another’, is apt as tinkering with the Tibetan Plateau’s environment affects the entire region. The unprecedented cloudburst and flash floods in Leh recently were a vivid demonstration.  The glaciers and annual snowfall of the Tibetan Plateau feed rivers catering to the wants of nearly 47 per cent of mankind. Four of the world’s ten key rivers, the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo), Yangtze, Mekong … Read entire article »