Agriculture & Food
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Photo: Erin Gray/Mercy Corps
Most of the world doesn't have the benefit of picking up food from the corner store — they grow it themselves. A family's plot of land has to provide for their nutritional and economic needs.
When food shortages occur due to drought and conflict, Mercy Corps helps prevent hunger and treat malnutrition in the most vulnerable — children, pregnant women, the elderly and the displaced.
Distributing food is necessary in times of crisis, and we always try to procure food from local suppliers to save money, ensure faster delivery and support of the local economy. Learn more about the success of this model in Niger (PDF) ▸
In addition to emergency responses, we quickly focus on long-term solutions that strengthen harvests and livestock for the long-term. Mercy Corps works with families to ensure quality inputs, smart land use, good crop yields and a fair price at local markets.
All stories about Agriculture & Food
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Haiti: Bringing trees back to the mountains August 16, 2012
Farmer Selina Marie (right) carries tree saplings to plant throughout her farm, high in the mountainous community of Sibase.
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Mali, Niger: What you want to know about the Sahel hunger crisis August 16, 2012
The hunger crisis in the Sahel is not an immediate emergency that gets splashed across the evening news. Instead, the tragic circumstances of drought and failed harvests have been building since the beginning of the year.
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Zimbabwe: Happier families are built on...mushrooms? August 15, 2012
“At Mercy Corps we talk about ‘Be the change.’ This is The Change,” Lloyd Chasinda, Mercy Corps’ Project Officer in Checheche, Zimbabwe, tells me.
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Ethiopia: One year later, helping children survive in the Horn of Africa July 25, 2012
You might hear it called a “slow onset” emergency because, unlike the sudden strike of an earthquake, drought builds gradually. But don’t bother telling that to the mothers whose children are hanging on by a thread; slow isn’t the word they would choose. Grueling, they might say. Nerve-wracking.
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Haiti: Farmers digging deep to repair the land July 12, 2012
Haiti is a land stripped bare.
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Nepal: Harikala, green mango pickle maker June 28, 2012
Harikala makes green mango pickles. Thanks to Mercy Corps, she received a loan to purchase spices, oils, tools and containers. She repaid that loan and took out a second one to expand her business.
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Niger: Harvesting hope in the Sahel June 16, 2012
The hunger crisis is devastating families across the Sahel, and our emergency response work is crucial to averting famine here. But so are long-term solutions that help people withstand the cycles of drought and hunger that plague this region.
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Niger: Children suffer most in hunger crisis June 6, 2012
Lauretta dreams of becoming a teacher. But she hasn’t been to school since January, when she had to drop out in order to help her family at home.
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Guatemala: Planting better crops June 1, 2012
Seven-year-old Ancel Cual excitedly gets his hands dirty helping to plant yucca in his community of Corozal in the northern highlands of Guatemala.
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Mongolia: New techniques protect herders’ traditional way of life May 31, 2012
In southwest Mongolia, the mix of soaring snow-capped mountains and sweeping sand dunes makes for a stunning landscape — but a tough life for residents trying to raise livestock between two harsh environments.