Engaging young women and men in an agricultural sector characterized by an ageing labour force is crucial to ensure sustainable food security, reduce youth unemployment and combat unplanned migration. By harnessing their innovative potential, utilizing new technologies and techniques and taking advantage of new opportunities in emerging value chains, young...

Indigenous cocoyams in Burundi have the potential to increase food and nutrition security and contribute to improved livelihoods, but farmers’ capacity to meet the growing demand for them has been constrained by a lack of good quality seed and technical knowhow. The Good Seed Initiative targeted both seed and cocoyam...

Worldwide, an estimated 3.5 billion kilograms of pesticides is applied to crops each year, and that number is steadily increasing as developing nations are steadily transitioning over to chemical-based agriculture in a misguided and misinformed effort to increase yield and lower cost. The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has...

Goats in rural communities are often raised in conditions which do not allow them to achieve their maximum performance nor express their genetic potentials. For goats to perform to their full potential, they require high nutritious feed especially in the winter season when there is food shortage or during high...

This article explores livestock markets and the use of pastoralist mobility to gradually enhance the growing cattle economy in Karamoja, Uganda; cases are provided in this article of the best practices in the livestock trade and communities, involved both inside and outside of Karamoja. The challenges and recommendations that can lead to the...

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is rolling out digital innovation technologies in the form of SMS text messages and smart phone applications across the African continent, starting in Senegal and Rwanda. In this pilot episode of FAO's new podcast Stories From The Field, we head to Tambacounda, 450...

The African workforce will grow by 800 million people over the next 30 years. Generating sufficient jobs and incomes to meet their needs is one of the biggest political and economic challenges of our time. This report proposes strategies and policies, harnessing cooperation between Africa and Europe, to enable the African agri-food and rural economy...

Enhancing water use efficiency requires actions at all levels, from agricultural practitioners to scheme managers, and up to the policy-makers. The objective of this Guide Book is to show practical measures to improve water use efficiency in small-scale agriculture based on case studies from Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda. The...

The livestock sector accounts for around one third of global agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) and is growing faster than most other agricultural sectors. Livestock’s expansion has mostly been driven by a combination of population growth, urbanization and rising incomes in many developing countries, which has raised demand for meat,...

Mixed cropping, using ‘weed’ crops to attract predators and cultivating resilient local breeds - these are all examples of agroecology in action. Agroecology refers to the application of ecological science and principles to the study, design and management of sustainable agricultural ecosystems.

Le Rwanda possède un climat favorable, et une flore mellifère riche et variée propice au développement de l’apiculture. La présente fiche explique comment construire une ruche modèle traditionnelle qui se compose d’un cylindre allongé fabriqué avec des tiges de Pennisetum (Urubingo), de bamboo ou de papyrus. Ce modèle est très...

Enhancing the productivity and efficiency of agricultural water is key to increase food production and respond to the growing food demand, while at the same time preserving healthy and sustainable ecosystems. Even more so in drought- and desertification-prone areas, whereby agricultural production is negatively affected by climate change, erratic rainfall...

As antimicrobial resistant microbes in humans, livestock, and the environment are on the rise, improving surveillance is crucial in identifying and understanding these resistant microbes to better prevent, detect, and respond to the issue of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

Recent findings on the threats of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)’s State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture and the global assessment report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services have put agriculture at...

Mixed cropping, using ‘weed’ crops to attract predators and cultivating resilient local breeds - these are all examples of agroecology in action. Agroecology refers to the application of ecological science and principles to the study, design and management of sustainable agricultural ecosystems.

The paper shows that “accumulation from below” at local level is being driven by off-farm incomes and participation in Maragra Estate, thus accelerating social differentiation. As highlighted by earlier studies in agrarian political economy, the intrusion of capital has also established distinct classes, namely; the “poor”, “middle” and “rich” based...

Agricultural expansion is the greatest driver of the loss of nature and its biodiversity and ecosystem services worldwide. In Africa, this is primarily the expansion of food crops to meet growth in domestic food demand. Further losses are inevitable before the situation stabilises. But they could be greatly reduced by...

These Guidelines on Sustainable Rangeland Management in Sub-Saharan Africa come at a critical moment. Rangelands are under growing pressure from land degradation as well as crop and urban land expansion, among other threats. Moreover, the capacity of rangelands to sustainably supply markets will be tested over the coming decade as the global and regional demand for...

Drawing from extant literature on institution-building processes and emancipation through entrepreneurship, the author conducts an ethnographic study among rural farmers in Western Cameroon to inquire whether marginalized individuals can succeed to change institutions within their communities and what strategies they might devise to do so.

This ETFRN News edition brings together 24 articles and interviews from around the world that reflect on the following questions: How do such actions and their impacts differ between different smallholder types and organizations? How do they differ between countries, regions and corporate contexts? What are the effects of various...