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...

Selon le paysan Ibrahima Coulibaly et le géographe Laurent Bossard, la région doit construire son avenir sur ses ressources naturelles, humaines et culturelles, et non dans la charité internationale.

Why do subsistence entrepreneurs start pursuing non-subsistence economic activities? And how do non-subsistence entrepreneurial actions in the agricultural and industrial sectors respectively impact poverty in the entrepreneur’s community? This case study builds on the concept of replication opportunity, the entrepreneur’s imitation of the observable economic activities enacted by her peers, and entrepreneurial embeddedness, the...

Boosting agricultural production to meet the food demands of growing and more prosperous populations increasingly comes with a cost to the ecosystems upon which human life more broadly depends. Yet many developing countries (and some developed countries) do not acknowledge or understand these trade-offs. This is becoming one of the...

The role of irrigation in gearing agriculture development towards a broader economic growth is undeniable. Accordingly, irrigation is growing into key operational strategy for governments and their agencies to increase agricultural productivity, thus combatting food insecurity and boosting overall growth. While agriculture absorbs rural workforce, generates income and increases food...

Ce guide pratique contient des informations sur la création d’une nouvelle plantation d’anacardiers et est un outil didactique destiné aux encadreurs des producteurs d’anacarde. Il a pour but d'informer les exploitants à la production de noix de bonne qualité et la compétitives sur le marché national et international. Tout en...

Agriculture is still the engine of growth in the overall economic well-being in an increasingly globalized world. Therefore, many countries aspire the economic development through agriculture, thus making it the most important driver in water exploitation. While the demand is rapidly growing, water resources are becoming limited that leads to...

Formalizing community rights to forests In many parts of the world, forests that are managed and used by local communities and Indigenous Peoples are under increasing pressure from outside forces such as commercial plantation development, mining and logging. Also, preservationist approaches to nature conservation may threaten local people’s access to the...

A travers la Rencontre Africaine des Sols et du Climat, Terre et Humanisme Maroc, Terre Humaine PESI avec la Fondation du Crédit Agricole du Maroc ont réuni leurs expertises et des acteurs de l’innovation pour renforcer les capacités des formateurs agroécologistes africains autour de : la réhabilitation des terres dégradées...

Over the past week Slow Food and Hivos have provided the delegates with the necessary tools for continuing advocacy work in their own countries. Though teachers play a great role in enabling students and giving them confidence to plan and execute future actions, the  outcomes are dependent on the students...

Purity Karemi didn’t plan on becoming a farmer. The 25-year-old went to university in Nairobi to get a degree in procurement and management, and both she and her family expected she would stay on in the bustling city. But an FAO training changed all of that.

Le Groupement Inter-réseaux Développement Rural – IRAM – Ambre conseil/CERFRANCE – CIRAD a été mobilisé par l’Agence française de développement (AFD) pour engager une réflexion sur le conseil agricole. Ce processus doit apporter à l’AFD des éléments pour une réflexion stratégique et pour nourrir les débats avec les pays partenaires...

Technology, as we have seen in other sectors, is critical to affecting change and driving development. It is bringing countries closer together, reducing barriers to trade and offering a window of opportunity to ‘digital native’ youth entrepreneurs at the vanguard of innovation applied to different economic sectors. In agriculture, digitalisation...

When you pick your tomatoes, if you want to keep them longer, you have to find a way of reducing the temperature. As availability of electricity at village level can be a problem, ways have to be found to lower the temperature of this fragile crop. Some farmers at Dambatta...

Triggered by fiscal challenges, food prices have risen significantly since late 2018, with negativeimpacts on access to food. Lower production prospects for the 2019 cereal crop and constrained import capacity also raise concerns about domestic supplies in 2019/20.

he growing farming sector around African cities poses a public health threat if not properly regulated, finds a new series of reports from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO).  In the next three decades, society and the agricultural sector in many countries in Africa will transform due to...

The Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (CASA) programme, a key part (Component A & C) of which is led by NIRAS in partnership with CABI and Swisscontact, will see at least £4 million of additional investment mobilised into six agricultural market systems and the growth of SME agribusinesses resulting in at least...

FAO assesses that globally 41 countries, of which 31 are in Africa, continue to be in need of external assistance for food. Conflict remains the main driver of high levels of severe food insecurity. Weather‑induced production declines and economic instability have also adversely impacted on food availability and access.

This newsletter has “scaling” as the focus theme. The various stories illustrate some of the various approaches that AIRCA members use to maximize the impact of our innovations.