Backgrounders
Backgrounders are brief introductions to important and technical topics and Answers to frequently asked questions share key information on a topic.
Use this information to plan an episode or series of episodes on the topic, to prepare for an interview, or to answer questions from callers.
- All
- Agriculture
- Aquaculture
- Children and youth
- Climate change
- Community development
- Crop production
- Energy
- Environment and climate change
- Gender equality
- Health
- Hygiene and sanitation
- Land issues
- Livestock and beekeeping
- Marketing and market information
- Nature-based Solutions
- Nutrition
- Post-harvest activities
- Social issues
- Soil health
- Trees and agroforestry
- Water management
Cuba Promotes “Green” Medicine
In Cuba, modern drugs are expensive and hard to find. Fortunately, Cuba, like many tropical countries, is blessed with a wide variety of medicinal plants. So the government is promoting what Cubans call “green medicine.” In pharmacies throughout the country, the shelves are full of medicines made from local plants. People grow medicinal plants everywhere…
Be Careful When You Transport Bananas
Nobody wants to buy cut or bruised bananas. That’s why when you grow bananas, the care that you take to pack and transport the cut bunches is just as important as the effort you put into growing the fruit. It is important that bananas reach the buyer in good condition. If they don’t, you may…
Cuba Rediscovers the Value of Root Crops
What makes a crop valuable? Today I am going to talk about how the people of Cuba rediscovered the value of root crops. In Cuba, taro, potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes and other root crops had lost popularity in recent times. But for many years – in fact, for most of Cuba’s history – farmers grew…
The Big-headed Ant – A Farmer’s Friend
For more than 600 years farmers have known that some kinds of ants can help control pests in crops. In Cuba farmers use big headed ants to prevent a weevil from damaging sweet potatoes. Many Cuban farmers have passed on the secrets of this method to their chidren. Mariá Elena González Pellón, who is a…
Breathe Easier in your Home: Reduce Indoor Air Pollution
Do you ever get a bad cough that won’t go away? Sometimes it stays with you for days. Do your children have trouble breathing? Do your eyes sting when you are cooking? The smoke in your house could cause these problems or make them worse. In fact, air pollution in your very own home can…
Mosquitos and Dengue Fever
Can you name two diseases that are carried by mosquitos? Malaria is a common one that most people know. The other disease is called dengue or dengue fever. Sometimes this illness is confused with malaria. Dengue fever is a virus which is carried from person to person by the bite of a small, dark mosquito.…
A Village in India Promotes Sanitation
In the country of India there is a state called Orissa. In the rural areas of Orissa many of the roads and drains are used as open lavatories. During the rainy season, rainwater and water from the ponds, tanks and rivers mix with dried feces. Diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery spread throughout the communities.…
The Importance of Latrines
Is human waste a problem near your home? Look around you. Think about the places where people usually make waste. Maybe the men defecate or urinate close to the river early in the morning. The women usually go behind the bushes for privacy. Children go everywhere! After you defecate, flies walk on your feces. When…
Dirty Water is Dangerous
Dirty water is dangerous. People make water dirty by urinating or defecating near ponds, wells, and rivers. Every year many people die from diseases spread by dirty water. Even if water looks clean, it may not be. It can contain harmful germs that are too small to see. These germs can cause diarrhea, dysentery, cholera,…
Local Plant Controls Pests in Lowland Rice
Here is good news for lowland rice farmers! Research in the Philippines shows that a plant called makabuhay (Tinospora rumphii) controls striped stemborers and green and brown leafhoppers. With fewer striped stemborers you will have fewer deadhearts and white heads among your rice plants. Farmers can make a homemade pesticide using makabuhay. Makabuhay is a…