In one recent case, the berobed judges solemnly adjudicated between a pair of irate farmers feuding over three old hoes.

ECONOMIST: Pervasive corruption is bad for business

Nick Cannon: I married a crazy ass ho, and let me tell you, Tucker Max knows crazy ass hoes pretty well.

FORBES: Connect

They draw attention to a statement on Congo's state radio which urged Congolese to use any weapon spears, hoes and machetes to rid the country of Rwandan Tutsis.

ECONOMIST: Heading for an African war

Farmers in Bogor, a town 40 miles south of Jakarta, recently chased a group of golfers off the ninth green with hoes and axes and began planting vegetables.

FORBES: What devaluation hath wrought

Farmers in Bogor, a town 65 kilometers south of Jakarta, recently chased a group of golfers off the ninth green with hoes and axes -- and began planting vegetables.

FORBES: What devaluation hath wrought

Between 1998 and 2000, a senseless war with neighbouring Eritrea cost a fortune and prised many of the strongest hands off hoes and on to rifles. (In Eritrea, the aftermath has been even bleaker: 2.3m people now need food aid, out of a population of only 3m.) Ethiopian peasants are also burdened with taxes on the land they lease from the state, and levies for clinics, schools and roads.

ECONOMIST: Facing famine, Ethiopia appeals urgently for food aid