Son tra, the miracle fruit behind the tea that will simultaneously save forests, raise the income of smallholder farmers in Northwestern Vietnam, transform their landscapes, and be healthy for you. Son tra, aka the H’mong apple, taorung, maccam, or macsamcha depending on whether you are in Vietnam, India, Myanmar, or some southern provinces of China, is an indigenous fruit tree species growing naturally in forests around the Himalayas. It is especially abundant in areas populated by the H’mong people in Northwestern Vietnam, hence the local name "H'mong apple" (Docynia Indica). Listed as … [Read more...]
Nutrition-Sensitive Landscapes: Farm and Landscape Modelling to Improve Nutrition in Kenya
Mary Adoyo* is a Kenyan smallholder farmer in Masana sub-location, Vihiga county in Western Kenya. For much of the year, she manages the family farm alone while her husband works in Nairobi to support his family with monthly remittances. She produces enough maize on their one acre plot to supply her family with maize meals for only six months of the year. Their farm also produces beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, mangoes, papayas, lettuce, kales and traditional Kenyan vegetables such as mitoo (Crotalaria spp.). Many of these products are sold locally to generate money to purchase food … [Read more...]
Road to Self-Reliance: the Story of an Innovation Platform in Uganda
Innovation platforms are structures that bring together different stakeholders from the same area to identify solutions to common problems. They exist as long as necessary to handle existing challenges and new ones that might emerge during the process, and they take advantage of opportunities that help them create solutions to existing problems. Past experience has shown that when platforms are driven by specific projects, there is often a risk that they will cease functioning if funding no longer becomes available. For platform members, stakeholders, and the communities who benefit from the … [Read more...]