Thomas Sankara led Burkina Faso from 1983 until his assassination in 1987 and pursued food self-sufficiency as a route to health. His government vaccinated millions of children against measles, meningitis and yellow fever, and built thousands of wells and small dams through a Ministry of Water created in 1984. Sankara argued that relying on imported food aid, often surplus grain from donor countries, undercut local farmers and kept the country dependent. Local Committees for the Defence of the Revolution mobilised villagers to plant trees and distribute food during drought.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.