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By Neil Palmer

It might be an abuse of artistic license, but 2012 might well be remembered as the first International Year of Cassava – in all but name.

That’s because this year has already witnessed a sea change in the way the world regards this long-neglected crop. And it’s about time really: cassava feeds half-a-billion people in Africa every day, and is also grown by millions of smallholder farmers in Southeast Asia and Latin America. That’s while many in the developed world probably aren’t even sure how to spell cassava.

By Mohamed Issa

MIGOMBANI, Zanzibar (AlertNet) – The East African archipelago of Zanzibar is attempting to win “environmental independence” from Tanzania by joining an organisation that promotes the sustainable development of islands in the Indian Ocean.

Zanzibar has lodged a formal membership application with the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), a regional cooperation body whose current members are Comoros, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Reunion.

By Emma Batha

The United Nations recently declared the world had met an ambitious target for halving the number of people without safe drinking water well ahead of a 2015 deadline.

It’s an impressive achievement, but not necessarily as impressive as it sounds.

The real number of people still without safe water may be as high as 4 billion – five times greater than the 800 million figure commonly cited – according to Robert Bos, an expert at the World Health Organization (WHO).

By Saleem Shaikh and Sughra Tunio

HANOI, Vietnam (AlertNet) – Memories of the devastation wrought by Typhoon Damrey, which struck coastal areas of northern and eastern Vietnam in 2005, are still fresh in Pham Thi Tuyen’s mind.

“The cyclone was (the most) powerful, dreadful and cataclysmic event I had ever witnessed in my life,” recalls the 37-year-old rice paddy farmer.

NAIROBI (AlertNet) – The number of displaced people in Somalia’s capital city, Mogadishu, has not fallen despite the end of famine in the country.

There are about 200,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living in camps scattered across the city.

Most of the new arrivals fled the Afgoye corridor -- located 40 kilometres (24.9 miles) outside Mogadishu -- in February, out of fear of an impending attack by African Union troops on the area, which is controlled by al Shabaab militants.

By Kizito Makoye

MAKUTUPORA, Tanzania (AlertNet) – Balisidya Jacob has been farming for many years, but it’s the novelty and size of his new crop of maize that is making him smile.

The 56-year-old, who is sole breadwinner for an extended family of 17 children, is happy at the prospect of being able to feed them all, thanks to an experiment with drought-resistant seed.

By George Fominyen

DAKAR (AlertNet) – Non-traditional donors like the Gulf states and the private sector should dig deeper in their pockets to help prevent West Africa's food crisis from worsening, a senior U.N. official said in an appeal for funds.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

By Katy Migiro

LODWAR (AlertNet) – Livestock could turn Kenya’s drought-stricken northern lands into an engine of job creation, rather than a sinkhole for emergency aid, the minister for the region has said.

Read the full article on AlertNet.

04 May 2012 09:52

By Isaiah Esipisu

YATTA, Kenya (AlertNet) - In the remote east Kenyan village of Makutano, Jane Mutinda Maingi is feeding maize to her Friesian dairy cow, bought just a week ago with proceeds from selling produce grown on her one-hectare plot.

Despite frequent droughts in the semi-arid Yatta region, the 60-year-old mother of six has healthy maize crops on her farm, as well as vegetables such as chilli peppers and cucumbers, some destined for the export market.