25/September/20

 

An east Arkansas farmer who also is chairman of the state Plant Board says it's not a coincidence that his farming operations have been vandalized three times this summer, resulting in some $80,000 in damage. To Terry Fuller, it's because he has been a vocal opponent of the late-season widespread use of dicamba, a herbicide. A Plant Board member for seven years, he has been its chairman since this spring. In August, the diesel engines of two tractors - parked 12 miles apart atop a levee of the St Francis River - were ruined because someone fed pieces of plastic into their fuel tanks. Arkansas Online

 

 

The evidence is now convincing that the Green Revolution model of agriculture, with its commercial seeds and synthetic fertilizers, has failed to bring progress for Africa’s farmers. Since 2006, under the banner of the billion-dollar Alliance for a Green Revolution for Africa (AGRA), that strategy has had an unprecedented opportunity to generate improved productivity and and food security for small-scale farmers. African governments have spent billions of dollars subsidizing the adoption of these imported technologies. But a new report shows that AGRA is taking Africa in the wrong direction. Productivity has improved marginally, and only for a few crops such as maize. Others have withered in a drought of neglect. In AGRA’s 13 focus countries, the production of millet, a nutritious and climate-resilient grain, fell 24% while yields declined 21%. IATP