This study is an assessment of the determinants of micro irrigation adoption for maize production in smallholder irrigation schemes. The focus of the study was on Hama Mavhaire irrigation scheme in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. An assessment of the major production constraints in the scheme was carried out, factors that influence...

Agricultural research programs in universities in sub-Saharan Africa generate technologies few of which are adopted by the smallholder farmers. A technology that demands significant additional inputs be they financial or physical is less likely to be adopted compared to one that generates significant socioeconomic benefits. In Zimbabwe, smallholders’ food security,...

The African Regional Workshop on Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries: Bringing together Responsible Fishing and Social Development was held in Maputo, Mozambique, on 12–14 October 2010. It was organized by FAO in collaboration with the Mozambique Institute for Small-scale Fisheries, IDPPE (Instituto Nacional de Desenvolvimento de Pesca de Pequena Escala). The...

This report, launched in the UK Parliament in July 2010, outlines why support for agriculture - and in particular for smallholder farmers - is critical to address hunger and poverty in Africa. The report showcases a range of approaches that have improved access for marginalised farmers, especially women, to decision-making,...

The junior farmer field and life school concept was introduced in four schools in the district in 2004. Then, as the fields prospered and participating students and facilitators became more confident, teachers and students from other schools were invited to visit the fields and learn about the method. As of...

The world’s agricultural system has become globalized, income distribution asymmetrical, and poorer and small-scale households in rural areas turned into net buyers of food, which has heightened the threat to food security and livelihoods, especially for the poorest people in developing countries. Yet, controversy still surrounds the extent to which...

Climate change is now recognized as serious with long term negative effects on agricultural productivity, and hence on the well-being of communities especially in Africa. Farmers have experienced climate change effects and have tried to mitigate these effects by adapting new/different production practices. This study has been set up to...

This study was presented during the conference “Production and Carbon Dynamics in Sustainable Agricultural and Forest Systems in Africa ” held in September, 2010.

Producer organisations are widely heralded as leading contributors to poverty reduction and the achievement of food security. Following the withdrawal of state support as part of measures for liberalization, producer organizations in Africa have been in a process of transition, attempting to define appropriate strategies in a competitive open market...

Lesotho is a small mountainous country characterized by extensive land degradation and erratic climatic conditions. In recent years a growing number of development agencies have been promoting conservation agriculture (CA) as a means to enhance rural livelihoods through sustainable production intensification. The present case study prepared under the AGP Framework...

Human activities have helped to speed up the process of desertification in Burkina Faso. In order to curb this scourge and its disastrous consequences, the NGO “TERRE VERTE” has, since 1989, carried out a rural development project referred to as bocage perimeter, (“Wegoubri” in the Mooré language). This new concept...

his is a story about how FAO assisted groups of farmers in five farming communities in the moist savannah zone of South Western Burkina Faso to enhance their crop-livestock systems through Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices, including crop diversification, using an innovative farmer discovery process, to bring about agricultural intensification and...

Similar to other countries in the Sahel region, Senegal’s indigenous food production is hampered by lack of moisture and sandy soils low in organic matter. Soil erosion and degradation threaten large areas of farm land. In central Senegal’s groundnut basin, the low-lying area between the Ferlo and Gambia rivers, the...

Located in the center of Niger, Keita Department is a 4,860 sq km plateau with rocky slopes and valleys forming a complex system of watersheds subject to strong winds and water erosion. Plateau slopes covered by forests in 1962 were completely deforested by 1984. As in other Sahelian nations, droughts...

Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. Approximately 90 percent of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture. Food insecurity is commonplace in many parts of the country.1 During the 1960s, Burkina Faso’s rainfall averaged 700 mm/year. Along with other countries in West Africa’s Sahel, the...

Agroecology is the application of ecological principles to the interactions between human beings and their environment, as well as to their consequences, with the goal of minimising the negative effects of certain human activities. It aims at protecting the environment, ensuring the sustainable renewal of the natural resources (water, soil,...

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...

British colonial rule and the white Rhodesian Government made Zimbabwe one of the world’s most inequitable countries. The Land Apportionment Act of 1930 gave white settlers control of more than 51 percent of the country’s land, leaving areas less fertile and more arid to the native population. Despite the land...

Smallholder farmers in Kenya grow most of the country's food, vegetables and fruit. These farmers face formidable challenges in increasing production, preserving natural resources and addressing the impact of climate change in food production systems. Meeting these challenges is vital to sustained livelihoods and reduction of poverty, especially in the...

The paper reports work aimed at improving livelihoods of smallholders by providing investors, policymakers and implementers with concrete knowledge and tools to make informed investment decisions on small-scale irrigation water management interventions. The projects reported assessed promising irrigation interventions and their ‘market potential’, analyzed which technologies ‘fit’ in major agroecological...