“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...

The parasitic weed striga causes more damage to cereal crops in poor soils, so both problems have to be tackled together. In this video we will learn why it is important to combine at least three control methods to reduce striga and obtain a good yield of sorghum, millet, maize...

20,000 families in 13 districts of Uganda are now imagining their lives differently. . By creating a shared vision, husbands and wives are not only finding ways to break out of their poverty, but they are discovering the value of equality in their homes.Explore the findings of the Rural Development...

With this year's main planting season winding down in Ethiopia, there is still a small window of opportunity in September for farmers to plant the last set of crops this year and grow food for millions facing hunger, provided the necessary support arrives on time. The newly released Mid-Year Review...

La nosemosis es una enfermedad de las abejas adultas causada por hongos unicelulares pertenecientes a la Clase: Microsporidia, Familia: Nosimatidi, Género: Nosema. Existen dos subespecies diferentes de Nosema que afectan a Apis mellifera con diferente prevalencia dependiendo de la zona: Nosema apis y Nosema ceranae, responsables de dos formas diferentes de la enfermedad. Ambos...

Intercropping or rotating cereal crops with legume crops are two of the strategies of integrated striga and soil fertility management. But keeping quality legume seed has two major challenges. First, the seed easily loses its ability to germinate. And second, we are not the only ones who love legumes. Let’s...

 “Just the thought of a drought and its effects made me shudder as the one we experienced during the 2014-2015 season left a trail of destruction among farmers. How were we expected to cope with another drought, made worse by the El Niño, as we were still reeling from the...

L’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO) appui le renforcement des capacités sur l’organisation et le fonctionnement de l’unité post-capture. Une formation a été organisée à Kinshasa à l’endroit de trente agents de l’administration nationale des pêches et aquaculture, des entités décentralisées des provinces de Kongo Central et de...

One of the major parasites is striga, a weed that sucks the juice and nutrients from cereal crops such as millet, sorghum and maize and causes great yield losses. A single striga plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. The seeds are so tiny that most farmers do not...

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has outlined a roadmap towards the transformation of agriculture in Africa. The President laid emphasis on combating malnutrition in children, turning African farmlands into major suppliers of food for export and putting funds at the disposal of local banks to...

In the coastal savanna of West Africa, farmers explain how a mucuna cover crop helped to revive their highly degraded soil, and suppress the noxious weeds Striga and Imperata. They show how to grow it to benefit your maize and cassava, and why discussing land tenure in your community really...

This research was designed to understand better the patterns of agricultural intensification and transformation occurring in Africa South of the Sahara using the Ghanaian case. The paper examines changes in farming systems and the role of various endogenous and exogenous factors in driving the conversion of arable lands to agricultural...

In the semi-arid savannas where rainfall is limited and highly unpredictable, retaining more water in the soil can make the difference between a poor and a good harvest. You can slow down the runoff water by establishing contour bunds. Contour bunds are permanent ridges of earth that follow positions located...

 Encouraging smallholder farmers to grow pulses and teaching them how to conserve the nutritious seeds is the best approach to promoting pluses. According to Elizabeth Mpofu, one of the six special ambassadors appointed by FAO to strengthen the campaign for this year’s International Year of Pulses (IYP), smallholderfarmers and family farmers should be...

High levels of food insecurity and malnutrition affects Ethiopia’s Somali Region despite general long-term improvements in the overall food security situation of the country. The impacts of recurrent droughts, climate change, environmental degradation and insufficient livelihood options have trapped rural communities in a perpetual cycle of poverty. To help tackle...

Eritrea is a small developing nation in the Horn of Africa with total area 124,320 Km2 and has a population of about 6 million. Eritrea is situated in a strategically important part of the Red Sea.Eritrea has an extensive 2,234km coastline, 1,151km of it coming from its mainland and 1,083km...

Fanya juu means "throw the soil up" in Kiswahili. The terraces formed are ideal for fodder grasses and help prevent soil erosion. Cultivation becomes easier as the terraces spread out to make the land more level and when combined with manure/fertilizer yields increase.

This technology gives an overview of the beneficial insects that might appear in cotton fields in Western Africa. Knowing the pests and beneficial insects present on a cotton plant is a crucial decision-making tool for applying Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

A staggering 70% of the food we consume worldwide is produced by smallholders. Peasant and indigenous communities, who produce a great deal of this food, have been developing and saving seed for millennia—from Guatemala through Senegal to Nepal. However, today seeds are under threat everywhere. Laws are increasingly limiting what...

The role of intra-regional trade in managing food price risks in Africa is being discussed in various fora. In response to high food prices, many countries adopted ad-hoc measures to restrict and/or prohibit trade with neighbouring countries. With policy makers, civil society organizations, development partners and other stakeholders as target...