David Booth investigates the scope for reforming African agricultural policy choices. While recognising the difficulties that many countries face in developing the agricultural policies they need to transform their economies, he encourages policymakers to abandon 'pessimistic' political-economy diagnostics. Instead he provides evidence that social and economic reforms can be achieved...

Conventional wisdom holds that Sub-Saharan African farmers use few modern inputs despite the fact that most growth-inducing and poverty-reducing agricultural growth in the region is expected to come largely from expanded use of inputs that embody improved technologies, particularly improved seed, fertilizers and other agro-chemicals, machinery, and irrigation. Yet following...

The applicant of this project is a 38 years old farmer who meets the minimum requirements in terms of education, by graduating the Melle Agricultural College in the year 1990. Between 1990 and 2008 he supported his father in the development of the farm activity. In 2008, when his father...

Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer in crop production in China leads to environmental problems, and farmers’ lack of knowledge is the primary constraint. The public extension system, however, lacks the accountability and capability to deliver ecoagricultural extension services to farmers. Previous studies show that extension staff had little incentive to...

Although the potentially negative impacts of credit constraints on economic development have long been discussed conceptually, empirical evidence for Africa remains limited. This study uses a direct elicitation approach for a national sample of Rwandan rural households to assess empirically the extent and nature of credit rationing in the semi-formal...

This  dissertation  aimed  to  analyze  the  process  of  rationality  that  sustains  the  decision  of family farmers to produce or stop producing tobacco. To that end, 63 farmers from Vale do Rio Pardo microregion, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, were interviewed. The information was analyzed with the analytical...

La extensión agrícola juega un papel preponderante para la mejora de la calidad de vida de los productores. El Estado está trabajando en la búsqueda de nuevos modelos de extensión y asistencia técnica y este documento esboza, desde un contexto histórico y actual, las lecciones aprendidas del proceso y algunas...

Esta Guía básica para la formación de Cajas Urbanas: Las manos de todos a la obra es un esfuerzo por recoger, por un lado, las innovaciones y los hallazgos de las Cajas Urbanas  formadas en las zonas periurbanas de Honduras durante el año 2011 y darlas a conocer a un...

The IYFF-2014’ National Committee in Gambia promotes collaboration and knowledge sharing in the West African region    

In Norway, land use changes have led to increased erosion and decreased biodiversity. Norwegian agriculture was significantly restructured in the 1950s. Dairy farming was concentrated in the western and northwestern parts of the country. Arable farming was directed to the southeast. The consequences were that mixed farms in the southeast...

African countries face serious difficulties in getting the agricultural policies they need to help turn economic growth into economic transformation. Nonetheless, radical pessimism may not be justified for two reasons. By comparing Southeast Asian and African experience in other policy fields, this paper suggests that changing policy ideas may play...

Les producteurs céréaliers sont confrontés à la mévente répétée des récoltes qui sont excédentaires depuis plus de cinq (5) années successives et pour ce faire, la CPC-Togo pour une première édition organise, avec l’appui du projet PADAT au Togo, une rencontre d’opportunité commerciale observée par ses membres lors de leur...

Diversity is beneficial not only in everyday life but also in business. A poultry farm, a riding school and agricultural tourism services makes up the business run by a woman farmer in Hungary, as a beneficiary of his project. To develop the business, the beneficiary resorted to EU and national...

Animal husbandry produces not only meat, milk and eggs but also manure, urine, heat, ammonia and CO2.These materials are not used optimal, they are regarded as waste. That is why InnovationNetwork started to develop the ECOFERM - The circular farm. Here, minerals, CO2 and heat are used to grow duckweed...

Ce projet cible plus de 3000 ménages paysans possédant moins de 0,25 hectares de terres. Tous ont reçu des plants fruitiers et agro-forestiers, et un peu moins de la moitié a été sélectionnée pour recevoir du petit bétail (poules, lapins, cochons) et des semences agricoles. Ces derniers ont été accompagnés...

The effective search for sustainability of agricultural production systems in their economic, social, and environmental dimensions is a permanent challenge to be equated in the formulation and implementation of public policies for the sector, at any time. Thus, it is a constant concern in the agenda and programming of public...

Este libro presenta la metodología WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies - Panorama Mundial de Enfoques y Tecnologías de la Conservación) para la sistematización de técnicas y enfoques que permiten la recuperación de suelos y aguas y su uso sostenible. Aprovecha la experiencia de este enfoque y promueve...

The paper distinguishes different approaches to markets in, and affecting, rural sub-Saharan Africa, and present some associated policies, notably ‘market-friendly’ and ‘market-challenging’. We then propose a political economy approach as a more satisfactory way of grasping the complex social dynamics of ‘real markets’ and their forms of unequal power. This...

The Women’s Rights to Sustainable Livelihoods project (2012 - 2015) is an innovative four-year intervention designed by ActionAid International and funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It aims to pilot practical solutions to promote sustainable livelihoods and reduce the unpaid care work of women smallholder farmers. The project...

Agriculture plays a significant role in Africa, accounting for about 30 per cent of GDP south of the Sahara, as well as a significant proportion of export value. Not surprisingly, in most African countries, 60 per cent or more of employees work in agriculture. Yet this barely scrapes the surface...