planting smarter

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/01/30/689685891/nepalese-rice-farmers-boost-yields-by-sowing-fewer-plants-and-cutting-water

Bharati is practicing SRI, or the system of rice intensification. The technique, which was developed in Madagascar in the 1980s by French Jesuit priest Henri de Laulanié, involves several practices that seem counterintuitive to increasing production, such as planting fewer seedlings, planting them younger and using less water. But small farmers across the world have reported massive gains in yield that they attribute to the process.

heroes for today

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190125-the-tiny-library-bringing-books-to-remote-villages

“Without a book, so often the child is alone,” says Antonio La Cava.

The retired schoolteacher converted his three-wheeled van into a mobile library, the Bibliomotocarro. Driving the hills and mountains of Basilicata, Italy, La Cava is able to reach children in remote villages like San Paolo Albanese, which only has two children of primary school age.