By Nitin Rao

By Geoffrey (Kok Heng) See

The Context:

By Joe Dougherty

In Zambia, raising cattle is a risky business. A whole range of diseases attacks the country’s herds with depressing regularity, killing hundreds, if not thousands of cows with each outbreak. The cost of disease weighs most heavily on the rural poor — a large percentage of rural households depend on cattle to a certain extent, to ensure their livelihoods. Here, as in many parts of Africa, cattle are a traditional store of value, a kind of bank account on hooves.

Washington DC - Today the Ethiopian Government and Starbucks Coffee Company signed an historic business agreement involving licensing and promotion of three Ethiopian coffees, Harar, Sidamo and Yirgacheffe, which Ethiopia has singled out to date as among its finest.

poverty: n. The state of being poor; lack of the means of providing material needs or comforts.

Rich or poor, first world or third, everyone wants to better their lives.

As the largest supplier of fresh dairy products in the world, €13 billion in sales last year, and offices in more than 120 countries, there is no doubt about the expanse of Groupe Danone’s reach. Yet, their 2005 Social and Environmental Responsibility Report has a section called: “Serving the Local Community All Around the World” – a seemingly contradictory statement for what hardly seems like a local operation.