Back in the day, a hunters could never shoot an animal while it was mating; he had to wait until the animals finished mating in order to try his luck, kill a suckling animal either alone or together with a young one as this was an abomination to the family of the hunter and the […]
Indigenous crops have provided communities with a nutritious diet for thousands of years. The Institute for Culture and Ecology (ICE) has been working with small holders farmers in reviving indigenous and traditional crops variety in order to diversify crops variety for both food security and sovereignty. This has gone a long way in reviving local […]
The second scramble for Africa is definitely with us. Africa is being shared up once again, a perfect replay of the Berlin Conference held between 1884 and 1885. However, there are salient differences between the two scrambles for Africa, both of which have been used by western countries to justify their illegal take-over of Africa. […]
Agriculture, particularly in a situation where it is dominated by smallholder farming, is the twine that interweaves the fabric of every day social relations and activities FASSIL GEBEYEHU explores. The importance of explaining the leading role of agriculture is two fold. First is the fact that agriculture is the source of food and raw materials […]
t the heart of the ‘green revolution’ is SEED. The seed diversity of many African countries including Ghana is seriously under threat. They are being replaced by the more preferred ‘certified and hybrid’ seeds and thus many indigenous seed varieties are facing extinction. The rich knowledge to adapt to the effects of Climate Change on […]
In Ngurumo village, Ntakira Location in Meru Eunice Ngoki is known as the queen of arrow-roots. Eunice is a member of Meru Jitegemee group, started to work with the Institute of Culture and Ecology (ICE) in 2008. After trainings on agro-ecological farming and need to revive indigenous seed and crops, Eunice decided to specialise on […]
Forget trying to grow hybrid maize – Africa already has all the crops, storage systems and knowledge that it needs to grow itself out of poverty After working for many years for Professor Wangari Maathai, and then with the African Biodiversity Network, Kenyan ecologist Gathuru Mburu wanted to share his learnings with his own local community who […]
Ecological campaigner Million Belay talks about why protecting Ethiopia’s biodiversity is so important and why he opposes the intervention of philanthropists like Bill Gates ‘The children are told to appreciate the western media, and to aspire to be an American’ Ethiopia’s culture and forests are gradually being eroded. The younger generation is taught to admire […]
Last week we heard that Owen Paterson, the UK’s environment minister, is claiming that GM crops are necessary to help address hunger in developing countries, and that it would be immoral for Britain not to help developing countries to take up GM. Millions of small-scale farmers inAfrica would disagree. African farmers and civil society have repeatedly rejected GM crops, […]
Kenyan civil society groups and small-scale farmers are outraged at the arrival of 40,000 tonnes of South African genetically modified (GMO) maize into Kenya through the Port of Mombassa earlier this year. The Kenyan Biodiversity Coalition represents more than 65 civil society groups whose main objective is to ensure public awareness on issues concerning the […]
Kenya’s environmental and food security activists have called on the Government to shun genetically modified (GM) foods, and instead support organic agriculture practiced by most small-scale farmers. In June, the Government gave a go-ahead to the nation’s grain millers to import genetically modified maize from South Africa and Europe to ease the shortage of maize […]
AFRICA is not a place for GMOs, says African Biodiversity Network advocacy coordinator Anne Maina.Commenting on calls by Zambian stakeholders for government to open debate on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) in the country following Kenya’s introduction of GM maize, Maina said genetically engineered foods were not a solution to the food shortages and climate change […]
