"You have farmers who are very willing adopters of new technologies and want to raise yield...but are not getting access to seed, fertilizer and small-scale irrigation... [Finding a sustainable way to supply them with seed] is emerging as the holy grail for agricultural development."
-Joseph Devries, head of seed development for a joint effort by the Rockefeller and Bill and Melinda Gates foundations-
Read about the continuing challenges to sustainable development in Africa in Celia Dugger's "In Africa, Prosperity From Seeds Falls Short." I was surprised to discover that only 200,000 African farmers are sowing seeds for new rices and doing so on only 5 percent of the land where such rice could thrive (this according to the Africa Rice Center).
For a story about investing in communities here in the States, check out David Cay Johnston's "Study Says Wal-Mart Often Fights Local Taxes."
I think these two facts here encapsulate the story: "The group sampled 10 percent of the 2,833 Wal-Mart retail stores open at the start of 2005 and found that the company had challenged property taxes at 35 percent of them. The report also looked closely at Texas, where Wal-Mart challenged assessments at 83 percent of 400 stores."