A third of the planet’s land is severely degraded and fertile soil is being lost at the rate of 24bn tonnes a year, according to a new United Nations-backed study that calls for a shift away from destructively intensive agriculture.

The contrast couldn’t be starker. As U.S. President Donald Trump’s government continues to champion isolationism and undermine decades-old international relationships, China is rolling out its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, a project to build a new “Silk Road” that could change the meaning of globalization itself.

The dreaded crop-eating fall armyworm continues to spread across Africa like wildfire. This invasive insect pest, first reported in Africa in early 2016, is in more than 20 African countries including South Sudanand South Africa. Again in 2017 and in 2019. 

Over the last century, government policies and large food producers have prioritized farming practices that grow crop varieties with high yields.

The number of hungry and malnourished people is rising for the first time in over a decade. This is according to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation.

The Namibia Agricultural Union (NAU) in cooperation with the Namibia Emerging Commercial Farmers Union (NECFU) has urgently requested the agriculture minister Alpheus !Naruseb to declare the 2019 drought a national disaster.