Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic, viral, vector-borne disease representing a threat to human health, animal health and livestock production in Africa, the Near East and potentially, Europe and the rest of the world. Rift Valley fever primarily affects sheep, goats, cattle, camels, buffaloes, and antelopes. The majority of...

The 2007/08 commodity price boom triggered a ‘rush’ for land in developing countries. Yet, many affected countries lacked the regulatory infrastructure to cope with such demand and reliable data on investors’ performance. This study uses the example of Ethiopia to show how simple improvements in administrative data collection can help...

This paper examines the determinants of abandonment of conservation agriculture (CA) techniques among smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe. The analysis uses four rounds of a balanced panel from a survey aimed at monitoring CA adoption among farmers who participated in CA promotion projects. Findings indicate that a large share of farmers...

This chapter discusses land issues in southern Africa in general, and in Zimbabwe in particular. At independence most African states with settler white farmers inherited a skewed land distribution in favour of the white commercial farmers. Countries like Namibia and South Africa, among others, embarked on some land redistribution programmes...

Although dramatic increases in maize yields since the implementation of the Farm Income Subsidy Program (FISP)—the major national program that subsidizes fertilizer and improved seed primarily for maize cultivation—have likely enhanced household maize self-sufficiency (Chibwana et al. 2012), Malawian diets remain poorly diversified. Indeed, the contribution of foods other than...

According to the FAO, IFAD and the WFP, 805 million people in the world – one person in nine – suffer from hunger. Humanity has the means to put an end to hunger, but the key will be to invest in family farming to ‘feed the world by producing more...

Les Bulletins de synthèse Souveraineté alimentaire sont une initiative conjointe d’Inter-réseaux Développement rural et de SOS Faim Belgique. Ils visent à produire une synthèse sur un thème lié à la souveraineté alimentaire, à partir d’une sélection de références jugées particulièrement intéressantes. Ils paraissent tous les trimestres et sont diffusés par...

Grain de sel est la revue semestrielle d’Inter-réseaux Développement rural. Chaque numéro est consacré à une thématique précise et vise à faire participer aux débats et réflexions autour de ce thème une diversité d’acteurs et de points de vue.

Selon la FAO, le FIDA et le PAM, 805 millions de personnes dans le monde, soit une personne sur neuf, souffrent de la faim. L'humanité dispose des moyens pour mettre un terme à la faim, mais pour y parvenir, il faut impérativement investir dans l'agriculture familiale pour « nourrir le...

Dans ce bulletin, Inter-réseaux vous propose une sélection d’informations et de documents produits dans le cadre de l’AIAF et susceptibles d’intéresser les membres du réseau, en particulier en Afrique de l’Ouest et du Centre. Cette sélection est présentée suivant les trois axes cités ci-dessus : définir et comprendre les agricultures...

The aim of the guidelines is to enhance restoration efforts in the world’s drylands. They provide specific guidance for policymakers and other decision-makers, and for practitioners. Well-informed policymakers and other higher-order decision-makers can be enablers in the design and implementation of effective restoration efforts by providing appropriate policies, governance mechanisms...

Dominic Machingura is an urban farmer in Harare, Zimbabwe. He is determined to prove the potential of urban agriculture to produce organic food and generate an income.

Article concernant une Conférence nationale au Cameroun sur les politiques publiques d'accompagnement de l'agriculture familiale pour relever les défis de l'agriculture de seconde génération tenue à Yaoundé du 2 au 5 Février 2015. 

Forest planning and policy making process in West Africa – and elsewhere in Africa for that matter – has largely been dominated by the State, with very little room for a meaningful participation of civil society. This state of affairs led to a management of forests and forest resources which...

Senegal, like all Sahelian countries, suffers from the combined effects of population growth and climate disturbances that affect its productive bio- system and induce degradation. This is manifested in different forms depending on the physical environment and production systems in different eco-geographic areas. Several factors are responsible for the degradation...

Does the same question asked of the same population yield the same answer in face-to-face interviews when other parts of the questionnaire are altered? If not, what would be the implications for proxy-based poverty measurement? Relying on a randomized household survey experiment implemented in Malawi, this study finds that observationally...

Due to its prime location, Guinea has significant potential for fruit and vegetable production. The country has assets such as soil fertility, abundant rainfall and a rural population traditionally oriented towards agriculture. Farmers represent 61% of the population and constitute 80% of the poor. They are mainly engaged in the...

African Civil Society Statement: FAO Regional Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition in sub-Saharan Africa, Dakar, 2015.

The Harvest of Hope initiative is a vegetable box scheme in Cape Town, South Africa, set up as a social enterprise by a local ‘social profit organisation’. By promoting ecological urban farming, Abalimi Bezekhaya (meaning ‘Farmers of Home’ in Xhosa) improves income and household food security, and empowers disadvantaged households...

The objective of this study was to consider whether smallholders operate within homogenous or differentiated farming systems i.e. a similar “‘one type”’ system or a system that could be described as a smallholder typology consisting of a number of farming types. The enquiry firstly described and analysed farm diversity and...