Supporting Rational Optimism in the World
I am giving roughly half of the advance royalty received for my book to three charities that are helping those in need, especially in Africa, to trade, farm and innovate. If you like The Rational Optimist and are feeling generous, please take a look at their work.
FARM-Africa helps African farmers work themselves out of poverty through improved ways to manage their crops, livestock, forests and access to water. For example, farmers in Nyanza province in western Kenya growing traditional cassava varieties produce 1-3 tonnes per hectare; their crop takes 12-18 months to mature and has high levels of toxicity. These traditional varieties are very susceptible to the Cassava Mosaic Virus which can destroy the whole crop leaving families destitute. New varieties that are resistant to the virus can reliably produce between 10-15 tonnes of cassava (with low levels of toxicity) in just 9-12 months. The introduction of new varieties of cassava aims to enable 3,825 households, with around 23,000 family members, to produce more, healthy cassava.
IPN works in partnership with individuals and organisations around the world to educate opinion formers. It addresses a range of issues broadly related to enterprise and trade, especially those impacting on economic development, environmental protection and human health. Current projects address issues ranging from access to clean water and safe medicines to climate change and foreign aid. As a result of these activities, IPN hopes to bring down barriers to enterprise and trade, in order to achieve a world of opportunity, peace and prosperity.
AgBioworld’s goal is to help mobilize and energize the academic community across sub-Saharan Africa to be more pro-active in advocating (advancing) technologies and policy options which can enhance African food and agriculture-to help make it more productive and efficient, and to lighten its environmental footprint. It aims to help create a platform using cell phone and Internet technologies (especially social networks) to bring together academic scientists, scholars, farm leaders, policy makers, agribusiness, charitable organizations, media and other interested parties to build a network that can focus on issues specifically relevant to Africa. A pro-science and pro-development group that is better informed, well coordinated and coherent on critical issues of technology and policy options facing African agriculture could more clearly and forcefully chart a path for the continent toward greater food security and sustainability.
