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Smallholder Farmers Alliance Blog

Monday
Oct212013

How to Feed the World

Reprint from New York Times by Mark Bittman

It’s been 50 years since President John F. Kennedy spoke of ending world hunger, yet on the eve of World Food Day, Oct. 16, the situation remains dire. The question “How will we feed the world?” implies that we have no choice but to intensify industrial agriculture, with more high-tech seeds, chemicals and collateral damage. Yet there are other, better options.

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Tuesday
Sep242013

Online Game Plants Trees in Haiti

NEW YORK, NY – For every virtual tree planted as part of a new online social network game called The Hive, a real tree will be planted in Haiti by the Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA).

The Hive, which begins beta testing in early 2014 and goes live by mid-year, is the creation of the Australian-based production company Smith&Nasht. Guided by an impressive array of leading scientists and mathematicians, the company’s plan is to use the new science of cooperation to trigger social change through an online and mobile Facebook game that links to an interactive website. Development of the game and its links to the real world are also the subject of science documentary commissioned by leading international broadcasters. The project aims to reveal the hidden codes of cooperation that can help solve some of humanity’s most pressing problems.

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Monday
Sep022013

Experiencing Haiti for the First Time

Luke Freeman (center) with Smallholder Farmers Alliance members Philippe and
Michelle Monpramier at their farm near Gonaives, Haiti.
By Luke Freeman

As my second to last year of college came to an end I reflected on the experiences that I have had which would assist me in achieving my life and career goals. I came to realize that as an International Business major, with minors in both Political Science and Spanish, I have yet to truly immerse myself into another culture. Over the past few

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Monday
Aug052013

CNN's Recent Profile of Smallholder Farmers Alliance on YouTube

Check out CNN International's coverage of our work in Haiti on YouTube. This broadcast shows how the Smallholder Farmers Alliance transforms small-scale farmers in Haiti into self-financing and self-managed social businesses with a triple bottom line:

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Monday
Aug052013

Portrait of a Haitian Woman Farmer 

Mercilie Romeus, a member of the Smallholder Farmers Alliance in Haiti, in
front of her home.
“My life situation has shifted for the better,” says Mercilie Romeus, adding proudly, “I now have a dream and I know how to protect that dream.” She spoke recently of her success both as a woman farmer and as a leader within the farming community of Mapou, located a few miles north of the Haitian city of Gonaives.
 

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Sunday
Aug042013

As Cost of Importing Food Soars, Jamaica Turns to the Earth

Students feeding chickens before class at Rennock Lodge All-Age School in east
Kingston, Jamaica. Photo: Andrea Bruce for The New York Times.
Reprint from New York Times by Damien Cave

KINGSTON, Jamaica — The scent of coconut oil and fiery jerk spice blows through kitchens across this green island, but as the country’s food imports have become a billion-dollar threat to finances and health, Jamaica has taken on a bold new strategy: make farming patriotic and ubiquitous, behind homes, hospitals, schools, even prisons.

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Friday
Jul262013

Tourism Can Help Haiti Return to its Halcyon Days

Haiti's carnival of flowers in Port-au-Prince last year. The three-day festival celebrates new beginnings and the revitalisation of the island. Photograph: Dieu Nalio Chery/APReprint from Guardian Poverty Matters Blog by Prospery Raymond

Haiti proclaimed its independence in 1804, the first country in Latin America and the Caribbean to do so. Despite having to pay an extortionate independence fee, equivalent to $21bn (£14bn) in today's money, it was a relatively prosperous and peaceful place to live.

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Thursday
Jun272013

Smallholder Farmers Alliance to be Featured on CNN International

Haiti’s "greener and brighter future" will be explored by Philippe Cousteau in a CNN International special program Going Green on Friday, July 5 at 16:30 GMT (and repeated several times over the following week). Check out Philippe's photo diary from filming in Haiti. The work of two organizations will be featured in this special—the Smallholder Farmers Alliance’s agroforestry cooperative and its 2,000 member farmers near Gonaives, and an urban garden in the Port-au-Prince slum of Cite Soleil run by SAKALA

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