Archive for May, 2009

By Joel Montgomery, Thunderbird graduate

Agriculture is extremely risky. There are so many things that can go wrong: bad seed, no water, pest attack, fake fertilizer, bad weather, no transportation to market, etc. Price fluctuations are also quite common. This means that a farmer may spend Rs. 25,000 (USD $315) or more on inputs (seed, fertilizer, pesticide, etc.) and land preparation (tractor rental, laborer wages, etc.) just to find out at the end of the season that the price of his crop is so low that he will make a loss. He borrowed money at the beginning of the season from an arti (money lender) at a rate of 120% annual interest and now is even farther in debt.
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By Laura Libman ‘05

I’m sure by now that you have heard a lot about the Swine Flu (H1N1 Virus) outbreak.  CNN.com reporter Jessica Ravitz contacted me last week to find out how the outbreak is affecting our work at the Tia Foundation.  A full story appears on CNN.com about Tia and how we are affected by the outbreak.
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