Food Works

While 600 million people celebrated the millennium nearly 800 million went hungry. Each year the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, dedicates one day to raising awareness of food issues. This 'Hands On' special follows a few of the FAO's most successful projects - proving that low cost solutions can reduce hunger and malnutrition.

Less Rice, More Greens, Viet Nam

After the war the Viet Nam government focused on rebuilding the country's economy by encouraging farmers to produce rice for export. Today, Viet Nam is the world's third largest rice exporter. But this seemingly prosperous policy of monocropping has cost rural communities their health. As a result, many children suffer from malnutrition.

However, there are still a small amount of people who have gardens which provide up to 50% of the food consumed within a household. Now an army of volunteers have been recruited to convince people to return to vegetable gardening.

One volunteer is retired war veteran Khiem Van Nguyen who encourages the villagers of Quang Le commune, along the Red River valley, to spend less time cultivating rice and more time cultivating vegetables through his community radio station broadcasts.

Another volunteer is Thienh Thi Vu. By targeting mothers - the main providers of food - Thienh is able to share the agricultural techniques and nutritional advice she has learnt in her FAO training program. And the results are easy to see. At the monthly 'weigh in' every child, bar one, has put on weight and the health of each family has improved.

For more in-depth information from the Hands On team, visit their website.

The Knowledge, Tanzania

Since 1994 over a 100,000 refugees have fled into Tanzania to escape the civil war in neighbouring Burundi. Many come to Mtabila camp in Kigoma where around 55,000 people live in small huts with nothing to do and almost nothing to live on.

Although refugees received emergency rations many remained undernourished. The FAO recognised that it needed to provide a 'hands on' rather than a 'hand out' solution. The Swedish government answered their call for help.

Vegetable seeds and implements were provided so that the refugees could improve their nutrition, provide a small income and learn new gardening techniques which could be replicated when they were repatriated home.

Between July and September 2000 the total harvest was enough to feed 2,000 people in the camp and aid workers reckon that the lessons learnt from this project can be applied in other refugee camps.

For more in-depth information from the Hands On team, visit their website.

Shortage to Surplus, Honduras

When hurricane Mitch hit Honduras in November 1998 thousands died, over 700,000 were left homeless and much of the fertile land was washed away. But one corner of Honduras, Lempira Sur, emerged virtually unscathed.

Not only did the crops survive but farmers were able to send vitally needed surplus grain to other parts of the country. What was unusual was that, three years earlier, Lempira Sur was the poorest region in Honduras and suffered frequent food shortages. So what happened?

For years Lempira's population used 'slash and burn' as a means to survive. This approach caused such widespread erosion that the FAO, Dutch and Honduran governments designed a project to turn Lempira's deficit into a surplus within 3 years.

By reviving traditional farming techniques, Lempira turned around its crop production. The farmers also began to work together and now plan how to use the land, manage the watershed and reforest the slopes. Today, Lempira produces enough surplus to feed their own community - as well as others.

For more in-depth information from the Hands On team, visit their website.

A Jab in Time, Viet Nam

Just 30 kilometres from Ha Long Bay - one of Viet Nam's most popular tourist destinations - illegal logging is threatening the Yen Lap reservoir which provides water for 160,000 people living in the valley below and helps irrigate thousands of hectares of rice. If the logging isn't stopped the water flow will slow to a trickle in the dry season and cause flooding during the monsoon. Some villagers have already suffered from floods.

With few means to earn money, local people - desperate for income - cut down the forests. Clearly, the only way to prevent the logging is to help people find new ways to make a living.

In this story, Hands On finds out how local entrepreneurs are increasing their income through innovative low-cost schemes. First we visit bee keeper Sinh Van Truong, who's small scale honey production is helping him earn around 250 extra $US each year. And Zan Thi Nguyen who combines pig breeding with tofu making in order to earn money without cutting down trees.

For more in-depth information from the Hands On team, visit their website.

Safe Saving, Madagascar and Tanzania

Food security usually depends on a good harvest but when it fails savings are a way to make sure people survive. Savings can take many forms. For the Maasai, saving is made in cattle and precious items.

For rural people, travelling to the nearest urban bank can be an arduous task and for many, their savings may not even be enough to open an account. But safe saving doesn't need to be restricted to traditional banking systems.

In Toamasina, Madagascar, a bank has been set up in the middle the local market - and with this bank there's no queuing. Every day Madame Berthe Rasroanadreny collects deposits from the busy stall holders. They trust her because she is a stall owner as well. This way stall holders can invest money safely instead of buying cattle as capital - which they would lose if the cattle died or were stolen.

In Tanzania, the development agency Pride has built financial services which are solid and lasting. Their combined savings and credit scheme now has 22 branches and 24,000 members. Each member is already running a small business and they join in groups of five so that if one person wants to apply for credit the others guarantee her.

So far, Pride has an 100% repayment rate on time and all of Pride's micro-credit loans have been paid back in full.

For more in-depth information from the Hands On team, visit their website.