Cocoa cultivation is generally considered to foster deforestation. Contrary to this view, in the forest–savannah interface area in Cameroon, farmers have planted cocoa agroforestry systems on Imperata cylindrica grasslands, a soil-climate zone generally considered unsuitable for cocoa cultivation. We undertook a survey to understand the agricultural and ecological bases of this innovation....

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of extension services in enhancing effectiveness of outgrowers’ credit system in Kisumu County, Kenya. The study specifically sought to determine whether public and private extension services play a significant role in enhancing effectiveness of out-growers’ credit system among smallholder sugarcane...

La presente caja de herramientas está diseñada para ayudar a los profesionales de la seguridad alimentaria a desarrollar una estratégica de comunicación, y a comunicarse más eficazmente con los grupos que son el blanco de sus esfuerzos. Secciones específicas de la caja de herramientas enfocan a los formuladores de políticas...

The debate on whether climate change will impact on peoples’ livelihoods and, hence, the need to act is essentially over and has instead shifted to the development of strategies needed by different regions and countries to adapt to climate change effects. However, there is still scanty information necessary to ably...

Although there are well-established concerns about climate change effects in northern Ethiopia, there is little quantitative information concerning how serious these effects are to small holder farming. Moreover, studies on farm level adaptations that farmers make to minimise the potential impacts of climate change are lacking. Both quantitative and qualitative...

The Green Revolution not only failed to ensure safe and abundant food production for all people, but it was launched under the assumptions that abundant water and cheap energy to fuel modern agriculture would always be available and that climate would be stable and not change. In some of the...

  The Agricultural sector has the greatest potential for improving rural livelihood and eradicating the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). By the end of the GTP period, the government seeks to double yields of smallholder farmers largely by scaling-up best practices, producing high value crops, expanding irrigation development and promoting natural...

Inorganic fertilizer is one of a handful of agricultural technologies that have immense potential for raising the productivity of poor smallholders, enabling them to increase income, accumulate assets, and set themselves economically on a pathway out of poverty. The very low prevalence of fertilizer use by Mozambican farmers—below five percent—is...

This Conservation Farming video is for anybody interested in the promotion of Conservation Farming and Climate Smart Agriculture. Produced by The Climate Change Unit of the World Bank Institute and TerrAfrica.  

Health, freedom and social justice cannot be separated. Anyone who loves a neighborhood, a nation or a small planet enough to work for its future, inevitably measures success by its health and well-being. How long do the neighbors live, and with what degree of freedom from the burden of illness?...

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. Il mobilise des intrants chimiques, des équipements et des races et variétés sélectionnées. Cette option a été confirmée après les...

The aim of the study is to assess the food security, adapting/mitigation opportunities to climate change and policy situation and draw policy recommendations. The study was conducted in some selected districts of Tigray Region, Ethiopia based on some exemplary interventions such as communities, ISD, BPA and PROLINNOVA-Ethiopia. Agriculture in tropical...

L’objectif global du projet "Les systèmes accessibles pour gérer les risques dans l’agriculture familiale en Afrique", maintenant appelé "la gestion du risque agricole pour l’Afrique",ou FARMAF, est d’améliorer la sécurité alimentaire des ménages et les moyens de subsistance des ruraux pauvres. Cet objectif doit être atteint en améliorant l’accès et...

Ce présent travail s’inscrit dans le projet ANR ECLIS dont la question de recherche centrale est de comprendre : « de quelle façon l’élevage contribue à la réduction de la vulnérabilité des ruraux et à leur adaptabilité aux changements climatiques et sociétaux en Afrique sub-saharienne » ? ( ANR, ECLIS...

This study was done in Kabale and Mbale districts of Uganda for the two potato growing seasons of 2011/2012. It sought to determine factors that hinder smallholder farmers’ level of participation in the potato market in addition to those that influence their decisions to participate in the potato market. It...

Once the scene of devastating droughts in 1984, a few visionaries in Ethiopia have used Agroecological Natural Technology Solutions and Permaculture Design principles to begin bringing areas of arid land back to productivity and ecological balance.

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...