Zimbabwe is one of a number of countries in southern Africa that has declared a drought disaster this year due to the impact of a strong El Nino weather event which meant reduced rainfall for much of southern Africa late last year and during the early months of this year - the same period...

Since the 1970s and 1980s, community-based forestry has grown in popularity, based on the concept that local communities, when granted sufficient property rights over local forest commons, can organize autonomously and develop local institutions to regulate the use of natural resources and manage them sustainably. Over time, various forms of...

Agriculture and social protection are fundamentally linked in the context of rural livelihoods in Africa. Poor and food-insecure families depend primarily on agriculture and partly on non-farm income and private transfers for their livelihoods, and are the main target of social protection interventions (FAO, 2015). When embedded within a broader...

Este artículo tiene algunas nociones básicas para el uso correcto de tracción animal, incluyendo enganche e implementos. También se explican las ventajas y desventajas de esta práctica, que incluyen ahorro de mano de obra, diversificación de los medios de vida, fortalecimiento de la resiliencia de los medios de vida, equipos,...

This “Lessons Learned” document of the conservation agriculture (CA) in sub-Saharan Africa toolkit reviews experiences over the last two decades. First, the context and challenges of CA in sub-Saharan Africa are addressed. Then the main issues follow – those previously raised in the Teaser as being crucial to the successful...

Today more people live in cities than ever before, but we still depend on rural areas for our food. In the developing world, up to 80 per cent of food is produced on small farms that are usually family run. Yet it's also true that 70 per cent of the...

Sustainability is the cornerstone of FAORwanda’s work, from building the resilience of Rwandan families to supporting the domestication of the Sustainable Development Goals. Explore these initiatives and more in this quarter’s newsletter

The purpose of this paper is examine the notion of tenure in connection with water resources and to explore whether the concept of water tenure has the potential to make a useful contribution towards resolving the world’s water resources challenges. It seeks to provide answers to the following questions: (a)...

Success stories and lessons learnt are discussed at an event in the Rwandese capital, concluding a project on the improvement of food security in cross-border districts of Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda, in support of the modernization of agriculture under the NEPAD-CAADP framework. With the objective of...

One third of crops harvested globally, are lost due to poor post-harvest handling and storage. Even though, the topic has been on the table of governments, local and international development organisations for a while, the situation has not improved significantly. For better post-harvest handling, farmers need two things: Know-how as...

This second edition of the 30th volume of Nature & Faune journal focusses on Sustainable management of forests and wildlife in Africa: Enhancing value, benefits and services. The choice of theme reflects some key recommendations of the 20th session of the African Forestry and Wildlife Commission (AFWC) held in Nairobi,...

The experience of the Shashe community in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe, is a microcosm of the broader vision of La Via Campesina (LVC). Shashe is a community of peasant farmers who gained their land first through a land occupation, and were then benefitted by the Fast Track Land Reform Program implemented...

In semi-arid West Africa, farmers and herders explain why and how trees and livestock play a crucial role in obtaining a productive soil and crop. In Niger and Ghana this is one of the strategies of integrated striga and soil fertility management that has a positive effect across agroclimatic zones....

Madagascar is currently the 5th worldwide among countries most exposed to risks due to climate change and the first country in Africa exposed. For 30 years since 1980, natural hazards including droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, cyclones and extreme temperatures, caused economic damage of more than $ 1 billion in Madagascar...

"Ending hunger and malnutrition, addressing humanitarian and protracted crises, preventing and resolving conflicts, and building peace are not separate tasks, but simply different facets of the same challenge," Graziano da Silva said at a side-event on ‘Peace and Food Security', hosted by FAO, at the sixth Tokyo International Conference on...

Compost is more powerful than manure. What is less known is that the micro-organisms in compost attack striga seeds in the soil. Compost also decreases the amount of striga that will sprout, and reduces its negative effect on cereal crops. Let us look at how farmers in northeast Mali make...

Inades-Formation believes that family farming is the basis for security and food sovereignty of people in Africa. Therefore, the indispensable solution to eradicate hunger and food insecurity in Africa is the support (political, economic, technical and institutional) and the promotion of family farming. By improving its productivity, family farming can...

Farmers in northern Nigeria are changing the way they intercrop their sorghum and millet with cowpea. By planting both crops at higher densities and in separate rows, and by applying some organic fertilizer, they harvest more and reduce damage by the parasitic weed striga. It is one of the strategies...

This study examines the impact of the Wheat Initiative technology package promoted by the research and extension systems in Ethiopia on wheat growers in the highlands of the country. The package includes improved wheat seed, a lower seeding density, row planting, fertilizer recommendations, and marketing assistance. A sample of 490...

“Agroecology is a process. You cannot expect a process to be perfect immediately. But once you make a step, you are moving.” With these words, Ugandan family farmer Jowelia Mukiibi captured both the essence of the agroecological transition and the attention of her audience: over 70 people representing 30 organisations doing...