Hi everyone!
I hope you're having a spectacular vacation! I sure am!
I apologize for not providing reading for last week. I tried to send it but it did not work. These things happen, right?!
Here is the reading I found that I thought was interesting. It is written by Bill Gates, someone who helps people all over the world with the struggles and difficulties that they experience.
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Opinion: For poor farmers, life is like a high-wire act
By Bill Gates
Surjit Singh, 60, looks into his abandoned well that went dry, in this 2009 photo. The longtime farmer embraced the so-called Green Revolution in his youth, signing on to a new way of farming that introduced fertilizer, pesticides, hybrid seeds and groundwater pumped out with modern equipment. Photo: Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times/MCT
SEATTLE, Wash. – A few years ago, my wife Melinda and I visited a group of rice farmers in Bihar, India. It is a part of India that gets hit hard by floods. The farmers there were very poor. They depended on the rice they grew to feed and support their families. When the big monsoon rain storms arrived each year, the rivers would swell. The farms would be threatened by floods.
Often, their crops would be ruined. The farmers would flee to the cities to find jobs to feed their families. By the next year, however, they would return to plant again.
The visit showed us that life is a high-wire act for the world’s poorest farmers. They don’t have the things farmers in rich countries do. They don't have the best seeds, fertilizer, irrigation systems and other technologies. They also have no crop insurance, either. If they could buy insurance, they would be paid money if floods or other events wrecked their crops.
New Risks Resulting From Climate Change
Now, climate change adds a new risk to their lives. Rising temperatures in the years ahead could damage agriculture. It could be worst in the hot tropics. Crops won’t grow because of too little rain or too much rain. Insects will thrive in the warmer climate and destroy crops.
Farmers in rich countries will experience changes, too. Yet they have the tools to manage these risks. The world’s poorest farmers could suffer the most.
At the same time, the world needs their help to feed a growing population. By 2050, global food demand is expected to increase by half. Lower harvests would increase hunger. With less food, more people would slip into poverty.
The Time To Act Is Now
I’m hopeful. I think we can avoid the worst effects of climate change and feed the world — if we act now. Governments must spend money to develop clean energy sources that will lower greenhouse-gas emissions and halt rising temperatures. Yet, it’s already too late to stop some effects of hotter temperatures. Even if the world discovered a cheap, clean energy source tomorrow, it would take time for humans to stop using coal, oil and gas. That’s why the poorest need help to adapt.
They'll need the right tools. They need money, better seeds, fertilizer, training and markets where they can sell what they grow.
Other tools are new and help to manage a changing climate. The Gates Foundation and its partners are developing new seeds. The seeds will grow even during drought or flooding. The rice farmers I met in Bihar are now growing a new type of rice. They call it “scuba” rice. It can survive two weeks underwater. They are ready for the floods. Other types of rice are being developed to withstand drought, heat, cold and soil problems.
Farmers Need The Right Tools
All of these efforts could improve lives. With the right tools, farmers can often double or triple their harvests and the money they make. The extra money can help them eat better, improve their farms and send their children to school.
We cannot know all the dangers from climate change. To be prepared, we need to help smallholder farmers, who farm a small plot of land to support a single family. One of the most exciting tools to help farmers is satellite technology. In Africa, satellite images can help make soil maps. With these maps, farmers can see what crops will thrive on their land.
Still, we need to get those better seeds and new technologies into their hands. A number of groups are finding ways to do just that. One Acre Fund is one of them. It helps more than 200,000 African farmers find money, tools and training. By 2020, One Acre Fund aims to reach one million farmers.
Melinda and I have bet that Africa will be able to feed itself in the next 15 years. Even with the risks of climate change, that’s a bet I stand by.
Feel free to share your thoughts with my by responding in an e-mail, or posting on the blog.
Mason
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