The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a new financing tool called the ‘Food Shock Window’ to address balance of payments needs linked to the global food crisis. Malawi, where hunger among the poor is common, is the first low-income country to open that window.

Under the “staff-level agreement”, in IMF-speak, Malawi will receive up to $88.3-million in emergency financing. Hunger periodically stalks the warm heart of Africa, especially at the start of the grain-planting season when most of the previous season’s crop has been consumed.

Farmers, civil society and faith leaders of the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa recognise the double rebranding of the Green Revolution as an admission of failure, a cynical distraction, and reject the new strategy offered by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

As Africa faces the threat of climate change, and as population growth increases demand for food, smallholder farmers, who form the bulk of the continent's food producers, are turning to innovative irrigation systems to secure year-round food production.