First U.S. hemp harvest is a bust

Some 600 coca growers with sticks and machetes took a group of soldiers hostage earlier this week. The government has increased its efforts to eradicate coca plantations.

Tunisia’s lagoon farmers north of Tunis face the real-world impacts of climate change as rising sea levels, hotter weather and scant rainfall threaten to wipe out crop – and an agricultural system dating back to the 17th century.

Our reporters take us to Khartoum's breadbasket, to hear how Sudanese farmers feel about the coup and the protest movement rocking the country. Entrepreneurs in the Central African Republic seek out ways to ramp up Cassava production. The root vegetable is a staple in the country but supplies are dwindling since the pandemic.

While a ban on pesticides is being discussed in the Kenyan parliament, more and more farmers are already switching to organic farming. This is not only good news for the farmers themselves, but for their customers, too.

Australia's vocal criticism of China's human rights record has long angered Beijing. When Canberra called for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus in 2020, Beijing slapped high tariffs on some Australian products.

A project is supporting agricultural innovation in rural Burkina Faso by connecting farmers using small easy-to-use transmitters. They can transmit FM broadcasts within a small town and its surrounding fields.

The war in Ukraine is shaking up the global agricultural sector. With sanctions blocking supplies from Russia, soaring prices caused by high demand for fertilizers from alternative producers are threatening crops.

French presidential candidates continue their charm offensive on the agricultural electorate. They hope to win the vote of farmers, who now make up only 1.5 percent of the active population but whose vote remains key. One contender has decided to skip the event, though: current frontrunner Emmanuel Macron. Plus, FRANCE 24's Florence Villeminot takes a deep dive into campaign finance laws in France.

In Madagascar's south crops regularly fail due to drought and land erosion. For farmers like Kazy Zanapijo pigeon peas, a staple crop in India, are an answer.

Zimbabwean farmers looking to cash in on a global boom in medical marijuana face a litany of costs and regulatory barriers, but growers like Munyaradzi Nyanungo are betting it will boost their fortunes after decades of economic decline.

In this edition, we're looking at one of the key consequences of climate change: drought. From parched fields, to burning forests, to houses cracking as the ground beneath them dries up, droughts are becoming more frequent in France and around the world. As scientists look for solutions, many are calling for changes to our agricultural model and the way we consume, in the hope of conserving Earth's most precious resource: water.

On the fertile clay plains of Sudan's Gezira Scheme, farmers would have normally started tilling the soil weeks ago and planting cash crops. Instead, swathes of the 3,400-square-mile agricultural project remain untouched.