The Government of Malawi has been promoting the establishment of farmer organisations including cooperatives in an effort to help small-scale farmers improve their income and develop their managerial skills by venturing into a business oriented approach to farming. However, despite the benefits associated with cooperatives, general cooperative membership is still...

This report is about the CA for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (CA-SARD) project in Tanzania funded by the German Government and implemented by FAO and the Ministry of Agriculture of the United Republic of Tanzania. The publication describes the experiences of introducing CA as a concept for sustainable crop...

Continuous monitoring of the changing diversity of agricultural holdings to allow more effective participation of disadvantaged stakeholders in influencing policy formulation and planning affecting their livelihood. 

This publication seeks to assist government and institutional policy- and decision-makers in identifying places where energy crops could be grown and in understanding the geographic (agro-ecological and economic) context of bioenergy supplies, at country and regional levels. We trust that it will not only increase awareness about the environmental challenges...

The paper looks at the problems faced by rural African women. It focuses on their role in food production, impediments they face in land tenure, issues they confront in connection to climate change, the global economic system and violent conflicts.

This paper uses Ethiopian data to explore credit rationing in semi-formal credit markets and its effects on farmers' resource allocation and crop productivity. Credit rationing -- both voluntarily and involuntarily -- is found to be widespread in the sampled rural villages, largely because of risk-related factors. Political and social networks...

Diverses études sur ce thème: -Caractérisation des processus d’apprentissage dans le CEF au Bénin : étude des profils de proactivité et des processus de changements initiés par le CEF pour des producteurs participant au PADYP, leur exploitation et leur famille; -Effets au niveau des exploitations, des familles et du village...

In 2006, the government approved a national livestock policy based on the premise that the livestock industry has an important role to play in building a strong national economy and in the process, reducing inequalities among Tanzanians by increasing their incomes and employment opportunities. This report presents an analysis of...

Projet dans le cadre du Programme « Promotion de l’agriculture familiale en Afrique de l’Ouest » 2012 ,en Guinée Bissau, où les questions de conservation, transformation, et commercialisation des surplus agricoles ont été peu abordées. L'absence d'infrastructures de stockage et de transport limite les revenus des paysans et l’approvisionnement des villes....

This paper draws on studies by members of the East Africa Learning Network under the knowledge programme, ‘Small Producer Agency in the Globalised Market’ run by HiVOS, IIED, and a global network led by Mainumby in Bolivia between 2008 and 2012. The programme set out to map, elicit and integrate...

Le Bénin est l’un des premiers pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest où le Conseil aux Exploitations Familiales (CEF) a été développé. Afin de dégager les trois grandes phases du CEF (innovation, croissance et blocage), les auteurs de l’article retracent l’histoire du CEF au Bénin, entre la phase pilote des années 90,...

This paper is a review article on the impacts of technology adoption on agricultural productivity in smallholder agriculture in the sub-Saharan African region. The use of agricultural technologies determines how the increase in agricultural output impacts on poverty levels and environmental degradation. Experience and evidence from countries within and around...

Poverty in rural Zimbabwe was rampant during colonial and post-independence times. Poverty creation by colonial authorities through legislation that deprived the indigenous people of their fatherland was meant to create labour for the ruling whites while making sure the indigenous Zimbabweans would never aspire to be equal to their colonizers....

Provinces of eastern D.R. Congo are going through a period of political instability which has impacted negatively on the way smallholder farmers manage natural resources. This has contributed to increased degradation of Lake Kivu water and its productivity. The Lake supports a range of pelagic fish species that provides currently...

This issue of Baobab focuses on Farmers’ Organisations. The theme is informed by the reality that farmers are able to achieve better outcomes for themselves and for national and global aspirations of food security and food sovereignty when they are well organised and able to speak in one voice. Globally,...

Increasing awareness of risks associated with climate change and variability among smallholder farmers is critical in building their capacity to develop the necessary adaptive measures. Using farmer participatory research approaches and formal questionnaire surveys, interaction has been made with >800 farmers in two distinct smallholder farming systems of Makoni and...

L'auteur analyse comment dans les zones de savane subhumides d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre, le modèle de production agricole inspiré par la révolution verte reste celui proposé aux agriculteurs et aux éleveurs. et que bien que connus des structures de développement agricole les modèle de production"agroécologiques" ont rarement été...

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations defines Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) as "remarkable land use systems and landscapes which are rich in globally significant biological diversity evolving from the co-adaptation of a community with its environment and its needs and aspirations for sustainable development"....

Las indicaciones más recientes confirman una merma en la producción mundial de cereales en 2012 con respecto a la producción récord de 2011. La disminución se traducirá en una importante reducción de las existencias mundiales al cierre de las campañas en 2013, aun cuando la demanda descenderá como consecuencia del...

In Zimbabwe, contract farming for seed production has traditionally been the domain of commercial farmers due to the high levels of care necessary in production and perceived high risks associated with contracting small holder farmers. With limited supply and market options, medium-sized seed company Agriseeds sought to use smallholder farmers...