Korean pepper (Beauty Pepper) claims to reduce high blood sugar levels.

Korean pepper claims to reduce high blood sugar levels. We all love peppers,because they spice up life, increase your tasting experience and some say that they are healthy and make you loose weight. In Korea you can now also buy a special pepper that contains high AGI Beta-Carotene contents, which claims to decrease blood sugar levels. The so-called 'Beauty Pepper' from Korean seed breeder Asia Seed rapidly wins terrain in local supermarkets and might come to a pharmacy near you soon. The Beauty Pepper is a non-pungency variety, which means it does not taste hot, sharp or spicy. Yet, the variety is tasty and crunchy. According to Asia Seed, the crunchy and juicy texture of the pepper makes it a favorite among consumers who emphasize a responsible and healthy lifestyle. "It contains high contents of Vitamin C, A, B, Zinc and. These nutrition factors are essential for modern people", the company said in a news release. The high natural AGI (alpha glucosidase inhibitor) contents in the pepper make it a natural solution to drop blood sugar levels source

AGRIBUSINESS: exploring the cashew value chain and empowering women.

AGRIBUSINESS: exploring the cashew value chain and empowering women. Innovations in the cashew value chain provide women the opportunity to become leaders in their families and communities. The cashew nut is delicious, nutritious, and it’s helping many African communities to build sustainable economies especially women. AGRIBUSINESS: exploring the cashew value chain and empowering women. The cashew apple, which is actually the swollen stalk of the true fruit, while the nut is edible with a juicy red or yellow pulp underneath its fleshy exterior and a strong, sweet taste. Despite the potential of the cashew apple as food, this cashew product is traditionally discarded upon harvesting and is considered waste. In fact, there is a great deal of unseen work and “waste” that goes into preparing a trade-ready cashew nut. The nut is first separated from the apple on the farm. Then the cashews must be dried, transported to a processing center, steamed, shelled, peeled, graded and packaged. AGRIBUSINESS: exploring the cashew value chain and empowering women. The Women Entrepreneurs in Cashew Apple Processing Project in Nigeria, an initiative funded by the Citi Foundation, seeks to increase and diversify women’s income through the use of the cashew apple. TechnoServe staff in Nigeria exploring the cashew value chain and empowering women, identified the interest of women and youth – who are largely excluded from participating in the traditional cashew harvest – in learning how to turn the cashew apple into products for local sale. Through training sessions and marketing support, TechnoServe helped 60 women from the Kwara and Kogi States to begin selling cashew plum (a dried fruit snack), cashew honey and cashew cake (locally known as kuli kuli). One of the initiative’s key results is additional income for the participants, an important additional benefit has been the feeling of empowerment gained by women within their families and communities. The project works to sustain this impact by training women to reinvest their earnings from cashew products into off-season businesses. Jemila Musa used the capital from her cashew honey and snacks in 2015 to buy a sewing machine, and established the only tailoring business in town. more

TechnoServe Innovation: the sunlight water center empowers women .

TechnoServe Innovation:The sunlight water center empowers women An innovative retail model is allowing women business leaders like Charity Dangana to sell safe and affordable water in their communities. Like many women in Nigeria, Charity Dangana is responsible for providing water for her household’s needs. During the dry season, the local wells in her village, Kubacha, dry up. For years Charity had to rely on a polluted and out-of-the-way stream to collect water for herself, her husband and their 4-year-old son. So when Charity heard about a business opportunity that could provide clean water for the community, she jumped into action. Not only would the new Sunlight Water Center (SWC) model help her secure safe and affordable water, but the opportunity would also provide Charity with a more reliable income. The sunlight water center, fulfill a perpetual and critical need of providing clean, low-cost water and steady revenue for the entrepreneurs who run them. This project was developed by Unilever and TechnoServe, the model delivers a sustainable business solution to perennial water challenges in rural and peri-urban areas. Even though boreholes have been installed in some of these places, they lack the model and incentive to ensure consistent maintenance, and many have fallen out of service. The SWC approach engages women entrepreneurs like Charity to own and run retail centers that produce, store and sell clean water alongside other everyday products, such as food and toiletries. The centers also provide services like mobile phone charging and mobile banking, and Charity is even educating community members about good hygiene. “The center provides for the daily needs of the community,” says Charity. “It provides access to clean water and other essential products that are required by families.” This retail model helps to cross-subsidize water that is sold at affordable rates and creates a profitable business venture. As a result, the women owner-operators and their community equity partners have a real incentive to maintain the boreholes long into the future. Each Sunlight Water Center benefits more than 500 individuals through access to sustainable clean water. In addition to promoting better health through safer water, this creates a positive economic ripple effect. By spending less time and money to collect water, women in the village can pursue other economic opportunities. more

Startup: Empowering a community with improved dairy value chain.

Startup: Empowering a community with improved dairy value chain.This is the story of a woman that is improving her community with an improved dairy value chain.When Hirut Yohannes Darare opened her dairy processing company, she aimed not only to provide for her family, but also to improve the lives of dairy farmers in her community and across Ethiopia. 

 Hirut Yohannes Darare, founder and general manager of Rut & Hirut Milk Cows Breeding & Dairy Production & Processing PLC, a dairy processing company located in Chacha, Ethiopia. Hirut’s company sources from over 450 local dairy farmers, 95 percent of whom are women. She delved into the industry when she discovered there was a shortage of milk in Ethiopia. She started with 2 cows in addition to her own farm,

Hirut began sourcing milk from a handful of her neighbors and distributing it in local markets. When she realized that her cost of production outweighed her revenue, Hirut sought out training opportunities to increase the productivity of her cows and the quality of the milk they produced. After receiving training in cattle and feed management from Land O’Lakes and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Hirut began sharing her new knowledge with the farmers who supplied her with raw milk, helping them to improve their production. As Hirut conducted trainings at farmers’ homes, she couldn’t help but notice that the burden of labor fell almost entirely on women. She said, “The woman cleans the cow, she milks it, she carries the milk to sell and she takes the cow for grazing. All of the work is done by the woman,” she said. Today, Rut & Hirut produces a wide variety of dairy products, including pasteurized milk, 16 types of cheeses, three flavors of yogurt, and three types of butter and cream. source

How to use vinegar to promote growth of crops in drought regions.

How to use vinegar to promote growth of crops in drought regions. A new study has shown that vinegar can help crops grow in drought regions. The team of researchers from RIKEN, a research institute in Japan, indicates that vinegar could be a drought-fighter. Vinegar, the study finds, might actually help plants survive in drought-like conditions. The researchers set up an experiment, growing plants in simulated drought conditions and treating them with either vinegar or water. The plants treated with only water died, as would be expected of plants in a drought, but the majority of those treated with vinegar survived. The same experiment was run on non-mutated plants, too, and the results were the same—the vinegar treatment works on any plant. more

Farms and agricultural landscapes promotes mental and physical health of veterans'.

Farms and agricultural landscapes promotes mental and physical health of veterans'. A new study has shown that working farms and agricultural landscapes promotes mental and physical health and helped improve veterans' well-being. With care farming, individuals participate in various horticultural activities and learn useful skills within a safe community and a green environment, a setting shown to improve mental and social well-being. In the study of 5 veterans of foreign wars (4 men, 1 woman), care farming improved life satisfaction in 3 participants and optimism about future life satisfaction in 2 of the participants. Also, perceived loneliness decreased in 2 participants. The findings support the use of care farming as a treatment for languishing veterans and for helping individuals with mental struggles. Farming acts as a kind of loose group therapy -- the veterans are working with people who have had similar experiences that only those who have served in combat truly understand. source

FrieslandCampina WAMCO pioneers local milk sourcing in Nigeria.

FrieslandCampina WAMCO pioneers local milk sourcing in Nigeria and the effort has been commended by the Federal government.The Federal Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Chief Audu Ogbeh, has commended FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, makers of Peak and Three Crowns milk, for pioneering local milk sourcing and development, and for improving the lives of Nigerian dairy farmers. The Minister made these comments while inspecting the local milk collection facilities… more