The Disaster That Wasn't

Building resilience to famine in Ethiopia

Published by Glen Engel-Cox on June 8, 2018

There wasn't a disaster in Ethiopia in 2016, although they had one of their worst famine years ever. What changed from the 1980s and what can we learn from that for the future?

New growth yields new hope

Lors Thmey social enterprise helps smallholder farmers improve the quality, quantity, and diversity of their production.

Lors Thmey operates as a business unit within iDE Cambodia with a mission to improve the economic resilience of poor rural households.

iDE is facilitating change by supporting a network of Farm Business Advisors (FBAs), community agents who support small-scale farmers, who are often located in remote areas far away from commercial centers.

Learning and leading

STAFF PROFILE: Searching for the entrepreneurial spirit in FBA recruits

Llionel Simbarashe Zisengwe is in pursuit of the entrepreneurial spirit. He’s the project manager for a Farm Business Advisor program in Mozambique. He recruits Farm Business Advisors that are motivated, knowledgeable, personable, mobile, and successful farmers themselves.

Life beyond coffee

ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE: Doña Julia Rivera learns to diversify in Honduras

Doña Julia lives in a region of Honduras called Marcala, known for its high-quality coffee production. Undernourishment is a widespread problem among coffee farmers in this region. Normally, farmers only earn an income during the four months of coffee harvesting—leaving farmers eight months each year, known as the “thin months,” to survive on their coffee earnings.

Creating a food safety net

Farmers build climate resilience in Ethiopia

iDE provides farmers access to improved seeds and training in proven agricultural practices to increase crop yields that enable small-scale households to have food year-round.

A new era of progress

Promoting modern agricultural practices in Mozambique

Farm business advisors are change agents who dispense information about best practices in technology, fertilizers, pest management, and post-harvest storage through training sessions and demonstrations, as well as sell direct services, such as crop spraying.

Increasing self-sufficiency

Farm Business Advisors address food security in Zambia

Refugees are making new lives with the assistance of agricultural extension agents who provide training, advice, products, and services so that they can build businesses around vegetable production.

iDE Ex Vietnam Planting On Straight and Narrow

Planting on the straight and narrow

Changing agricultural methods to increase yields sustainably in Vietnam

Compared to mainstream fertilizers and air-borne applications, Fertilizer Deep Placement produces 40% less chemical runoff and 30% fewer greenhouse gas emissions. It also increases yields, leading to a win-win for the farmer and for the environment.

Personal water harvest coaches

Watershed community management in Honduras

To overcome disasters such as crop disease, iDE works with farmers to diversify their crops and connect to markets, helping them have enough food and money to survive year-round.

Farming is a business

Cambodia Agribusiness Development Facility (CADF) focuses on increasing the profit of small-scale commercial farmers

By improving access to technical assistance, market information, quality inputs, and new technologies, iDE increases value-chain efficiency and competitiveness to benefit small-scale farmers.

iDE Ex Bangladesh Key Agriculture Project

Seeding the market with the right agricultural technologies

Increasing crop yields through dynamic private sector partnerships.

Axial flow pumps, power-tiller operated seeders, and mechanical reapers have the potential to transform farming practices by increasing precision and conserving resources. iDE works with local entrepreneurs who can ensure farmers have access to these machines.

Fueling the coffee craze

Value chains in Latin America

Honduras is the leading producer and exporter of coffee in Central America. Doña Julia Rivera is a coffee farmer in Marcala—a region of Honduras known for its high-quality, organic, and sustainably produced coffee beans. Working with iDE, Doña Julia has been able to expand her farm business with the help of drip irrigation and farmer training. Her farm is now an example in her community.

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