By Sebastien Malo

As droughts becomes harsher, killing animals, adding in vegetable farming - and other money makers - is paying off for pastoralists

DEMIKA, Ethiopia, Feb 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first time Mukulo Orgo cut open a tomato, he expected a mango-like fruit. Did it come from a factory, he wondered?

"People said first you wash it, and you cut with a knife and you prepare it with onion and you cook it, using oil," said the 40-year-old.

Ethical business gives farming advice, custom-designed irrigation products and loans for crops, livestock and migration to about 200,000 clients in the Southeast Asian nation

By Rina Chandran

YANGON, Feb 12 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A social venture in Myanmar is boosting farm outputs with customised technologies and giving loans for seasonal migration to raise incomes in one of the world's poorest countries.

by Caroline Wambui

About a third of Kenya's farmers still do not use the national weather service to help them plan and protect their crops

KAMATUNGU, Kenya, Feb 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As Mary Mbaka tended to the crops on her farm in central Kenya, she wondered if she could rely on recent heavy rains to keep them watered, or if she should be preparing for a dry spell.

"The weather is quite unpredictable," she said.

Nigerians have been sheltering in Cameroon for years, on the run from the Islamist militant group Boko Haram

Goura, Cameroon, Feb 6 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Seconds after glimpsing Boko Haram gunmen leap out of vehicles brandishing weapons in the town of Rann, Nigeria, Abdul, 45, rushed inside the medical clinic where he worked.

Raising his eyes up to the ceiling, it seemed as if he was about to murmur a prayer.

Instead, he clambered atop a plastic worktable and hoisted himself inside a narrow concealed opening just below the roof.

by Ian Morse | ianjmorse | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 8 February 2019 01:00 GMT

Provincial governor blames a recent dam failure and fatal floods on land conversion for farming and mining, and vows to tighten regulations

MAKASSAR, Indonesia, Feb 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the Indonesian city of Makassar, where the rainy season often brings floods, Hasriani didn't worry when a day-long downpour last month saw water rise to her knees by the time she had picked up her children from school for afternoon prayers.