For over a decade, CIAT has tested agronomic and soil management practices in Western Kenya. From minimum tillage to integrated soil fertility management, two trials, established in 2003, are the most comprehensive picture of tropical soil health in Kenya. What these trials allow us to do is show-case changes in soil...

African countries need to focus on enhancing their adaptive capacities and reduce their vulnerability to climate change. Translating that momentum quickly into the agriculture sectors, neglected in the Paris Agreement, should be central to a holistic and comprehensive transformation of African economies.

Despite continuous positive economic growth at an average of 5% per year, Africa needs accelerated economic development if it is to cope with the increasing demands for food, water and energy challenged by a rapidly growing population, rapid urbanisation and climate change. The pressure on African countries to boost productivity...

An analysis of the various constraints highlights issues of isolation, value chain weaknesses and low stakeholder capacity. In addition, low infrastructure development, with structurally high costs affect the competitiveness of all sectors of the economy. This situation prompted the Bank to finance the Infrastructure Rehabilitation for Food Security Support Project...

Stakeholders have committed to a robust plan of institutionalizing conservation agriculture in Kenya.  This will be achieved through interventions on commercialization, promotion of large scale adoption at national level and making agriculture attractive to the youth, especially as a form of employment. The two day First National Conservation Agriculture Conference...

The article shares some of the most compelling insights from a four days Learning Exchange gathering in Uganda, facilitated by the AgroEcology Fund and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa. The meeting brought together grassroot organizers, advocates and donors to discuss, learn and come up with new successful strategies for...

Rising labor costs associated with increased rural-to-urban migration have compelled Ghanaian farmers to increase the use of tractors and other agricultural machines to conduct farming operations in the country (Diao et al. 2014). The adoption of these mechanical technologies is consistent with the tendency among Ghanaian farmers to save labor,...

This is the seventeenth volume of Gender, Poverty, and Environmental Indicators on African Countries published by the Statistics Department of the African Development Bank Group. The publication also provides some information on the broad development trends relating to gender, poverty and environmental issues in the 54 African countries. Gender, Poverty and Environmental Indicators on African...

This study took place in Ghana (Accra and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem Municipal District) 20- 30 April 2015. The study was led by Luke Harman of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) along with local partners Dr Kofi Marfo and Mrs Joyce Haleegoah. The Ghana country study set out to focus particularly on the...

This report begins by evaluating Africa’s data landscape to monitor poverty. It maps out and assesses in detail the availability and quality of the data needed to track monetary poverty (expenditures, prices, GDP) and also reflects on the governance and political processes that underpin the current situation. Carrying the work...

L’utilisation du feu et de la fumée pour extraire le miel des ruches ou de colonies naturelles permet une protection des piqûres d’abeilles. Cependant cette pratique non seulement nuit à l’environnement et à la santé des colonies mais impacte de manière négative la qualité du miel. L’utilisation d’un enfumoir métallique...

Au Sahel, environ 65 pour cent de la population active travaillent dans le secteur agricole et leurs conditions de vie sont ainsi tributaires des aléas climatiques, des marchés et des facteurs environnementaux. Plus de la moitié sont des femmes. Les crises récurrentes constituent de réelles préoccupations pour l’atteinte d’une sécurité...

In drought-prone Eritrea, livestock is a farmer’s most valuable asset. Animal husbandry is not only one of the main sources of livelihood for farmers, but it is also a form of insurance that enables poor rural people to cope with drought and other disasters. IFAD-funded projects invest in rebuilding livestock...

Dans les exploitations de polyculture-élevage du Burkina Faso, les producteurs ont des difficultés à mettre en œuvre des projets d’élevage familiaux (PEF) qui répondent à leurs attentes en termes de revenus et de services. La présente étude vise à rechercher et à expliquer les causes de ces faiblesses. L’étude a...

Adoption of productivity- and income-enhancing agricultural technologies is conspicuously low in Africa south of the Sahara. Farmers’ beliefs regarding the authenticity of agricultural inputs are important for explaining technology adoption: if farmers do not believe that inputs are genuine, they are unlikely to invest in them. The degree of alignment...

Bee-keeping is an alternative source of income for rural families, especially in times of drought, when food security is at risk. Luul, an Eritrean farmer, has learned how to keep bees and avoid their sting, and now he is content with his livelihood of producing honey, or liquid gold. IFAD...

Girls and young women represent a crucial invisible labour force in the developing world, as Carmen Torres explains in her recent article for the Girls Rights Gazette. They play a key role as producers of food, managers of natural resources, income earners, and main caregivers of their families and communities....

Since 2014, Digital Green and the Government of Ethiopia have been piloting a project to introduce a community-centric video approach to agricultural extension provision.1 Digital Green’s approach has the potential to transform extension in Ethiopia via a fairly simple impact pathway. By providing a cost-effective ap-proach to information dissemination, video-based...

Due to the rapid growth of cities in Africa, many more farmers are now living in rural hinterlands in relatively close proximity to cities. However, empirical evidence on how urbanization affects these farmers is scarce. To fill this gap, this paper explores the relationship between proximity to a city and...

Of the 35 million people in Uganda, more than 78% of the population are below the age of 30 and 18% are youth aged 18-30 years. Yet 11% of youth are unemployed (9% males and 14% females) and 26% youth are underemployed (28% males and 25% females). These youth unemployment...