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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Nepal: Protecting natural resources April 12, 2012
Villagers in southwestern Nepal gather to tell Mercy Corps staff about their needs and how they make use of their surrounding environment — land, plants, water. The work is part of an assessment to figure out how to reduce natural resource-based conflict in the area.
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Guatemala: Women stake their claim in the land of machismo April 3, 2012
Their roots of land conflict may date to the Spanish conquistadors, but today we’re giving women the tools to resolve them without resorting to lawyers or guns.
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Niger: Schools empty as food shortage worsens April 2, 2012
Twelve-year-old Lauretta was forced to drop out of school to help keep house and watch her younger brother while her mother forages for food to feed the family.
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Tajikistan: Food supplies dwindle as extreme winter drags on March 26, 2012
In the high villages of Askalon Jamoat, there is no food left in the shops, and households are completely reliant on their own dwindling supplies as access is completely cut off.
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Niger: Update from the field: Food crisis is just beginning March 22, 2012
After a failed harvest and severe drought in 2011, more than 5.5 million people in Niger are already without enough to eat — and the next harvest isn't until October.
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Guatemala: Land ownership yields stronger, healthier communities March 15, 2012
Families in the rural highlands are dependent on the land, but years of civil war have diminished resources. Find out how they are rebuilding from the ground up.
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Niger: "There is nothing to eat" March 15, 2012
During the two weeks I recently spent with in Niger with our emergency response teams, I kept hearing the same thing over and over: There is nothing to eat.
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Niger: Families seek food assistance February 21, 2012
Due to worsening food shortages, the nutritional screening centers that Mercy Corps established several years ago have experienced a massive increase in patients.
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Niger: Mother and child in Niger February 21, 2012
One of many mothers worried about the lack of food for their children after severe drought and a meagre 2011 harvest have brought the lean season to Filingue and the rest of Niger months early.
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Niger: Malnutrition screenings in Filingue February 20, 2012
Mothers — and often grandmothers caring for babies left orphaned — come to the nutritional screening centre in Filingue, where Mercy Corps volunteers assess each child for malnourishment using arm measurements and a formula that takes into account age and weight.