the mif blog


Creating sustainable agribusiness for St Lucia


The island of St. Lucia, located in the Windward island chain of the Caribbean, has traditionally depended heavily on bananas production as a driver of exports and GDP. However, the combination of loss of access to preferential EU markets and an accelerated impact of climate change, specifically increased temperatures and changes in rainfall patterns, has resulted in a significant decline in the island’s agricultural sector and fish catch, negatively impacting both livelihoods of rural populations and heightening exposure to food security issues. To enhance the productivity and sustainability of livelihoods in local agro production, particularly in the context of climate change, two parallel but inter-related changes are needed.

Innovative weather index insurance help small growers in Paraguay mitigate climate risk

By Guest

Map of Paraguay showing estimated values of the index on January 28, 2018. Areas with green colors indicate wetter soils while yellow to red colors indicate regions where crops are subjected to some degree of water stress.

What’s your network effect?

By Guest

By Cesar Buenadicha, Galia Nurko and Miguel Aldaz*

Businesses are one of the key pieces that build a society’s ecosystem and, as such, are increasingly being called to take on more purpose-driven projects that address society’s most pressing problems.

Avocado and quinoa in the Andes: small farmers exporting and improving resilience to climate change

By Dieter Wittkowski

Did you ever wonder where your avocado and quinoa come from? Quite possibly from small-holder farmers in the Peruvian Andes. Although these delicious foods eventually make it to your store’s shelves in the US, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere in the Americas, producing, harvesting and exporting them is getting more complicated all the time due to the effects of climate change.

Transporte de insumos y muestras médicas mediante el uso de drones: resultados preliminares

By Smeldy Ramirez

Durante los días 14 al 18 de mes de agosto 2017 se realizaron las primeras pruebas de campo para el transporte de insumos y muestras médicas en la provincia de San Juan de la Maguana, para conectar los Centros de Atención de Primer Nivel (CPN) de Los Montecitos y Los Cocos, con el hospital municipal de Bochehio. En las pruebas se realizaron 24 vuelos y se transportaron 17 muestras médicas con igual número de resultados de laboratorio, atendiendo un total de 17 personas en 3 de los 5 días de vuelo.