Policies affect every dimension of the institutional and legal context in which poor rural people pursue their livelihoods. They shape the world they live in and the economic opportunities open to them. This means that supportive policies can go a long way towards providing the conditions in which people can...

A unique, Africa-led fund to improve agriculture and food security across the continent has become a reality. Officially launched in June 2013 with funding totaling over US $ 40 million from Equatorial Guinea, Angola and group of civil society organizations in the Republic of Congo.

A national level review and scoping study on climate change policies, programs, projects and activities on Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) in Kenya was conducted through a literature review and consultations with stakeholders. A national assessment based on the review of secondary data and results of existing studies was conducted to provide...

Africa has managed to maintain a favorable environment for growth and poverty reduction in the face of the series of global economic crises in the past couple decades. Part of this is due to Africa’s level of isolation from the global economy, but it is also testament to the resilience...

Agriculture plays an important role in Zimbabwe where 70 percent of the population is dependent on farming for their livelihood, yet post-harvest losses remain a major challenge to many smallholder farmers countrywide. About 30 percent of the harvested grain is lost due to lack of appropriate storage facilities, a situation...

Court article relatant l'annonce  faite à Brazzaville par le Représentant de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’Alimentation et l’Agriculture (FAO) au Congo,  Dieudonné Koguiyagda.    

This paper explores the impact of climate risk on the adoption of risk decreasing practices and other input choices and evaluates their impact on subjective and objective measures of household welfare (namely net crop income and a food insecurity indicator). The analysis is conducted primarily using a novel data set...

The CIAT mission is to reduce hunger and poverty, and improve human nutrition in the tropics through research aimed at increasing the eco-efficiency of agriculture. CIAT has global responsibility for the improvement of two staple foods, cassava and common bean, together with tropical forages for livestock. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we conduct research on rice as well....

This research report is the first piece of research being conducted in Zimbabwe by the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB). It follows on from initial engagements with Zimbabwean civil society organisations (CSOs) regarding seed policy and is a preliminary scan for orientation and the identification of possible areas for further...

Seed can be an important entry point for promoting productivity, nutrition and resilience among smallholder farmers. While investments have primarily focused on strengthening the formal sector, this article documents the degree to which the informal sector remains the core for seed acquisition, especially in Africa. Conclusions drawn from a uniquely...

The diversity of agriculture in the world reflects the immense variety of societies and natural environments on the planet. Indeed, agricultural systems range from various types of shifting slash-and-burn practices – sometimes very similar to those of the first sedentary human groups – to quasi-automated agricultures in some regions of...

Au Rwanda, il devient de plus en plus difficile de prévoir le temps, et les agriculteurs perdent environ 40 % de leur production. Des centres d’activité aident maintenant les agriculteurs à s’adapter aux effets du changement climatique. Ils y stockent leurs récoltes en toute sécurité pour les mettre ensuite sur...

Au Mali, la plupart des jeunes ruraux quittent leurs villages pour essayer de trouver du travail en ville. Les seuls qui restent sont les personnes âgées et les enfants, qui ont bien du mal à produire suffisamment pour se nourrir. Aujourd'hui, des jeunes comme Diallo Haroun reviennent pour un nouveau...

How many households keep livestock in rural and urban areas? What are their major production and husbandry practices, and their constraints to increase livestock productivity? This infographic presents an analysis of one of the largest datasets on livestock at household level available throughout sub-Saharan Africa: the Uganda 2011/12 National Panel...

The paper finds evidence that strategies to reduce transportation costs are likely to have a much larger effect on the profitability of fertilizer use than fertilizer subsidies. Apart from reduced transportation costs, other constraints such as timely access to the product; availability of complementary inputs such as improved seeds, irrigation,...

Ce guide, en français et en wolof, capitalise les pratiques agricoles teste es et valide es avec les exploitants dans le cadre du projet REFSA. Loin d’e tre exhaustif, il aborde essentiellement les techniques de maraî chage et ne se veut pas un recueil scientifique.

This paper first looks “downstream” at two processes—urbanization and dietary changes—that create the demand (“pull”) for the changes in the whole food system. It then provides some illustrations of the transformation, mainly at the “midstream,” post-farmgate segments of the supply chains that are transforming—wholesale, processing, and logistics. It concludes with...

How many households keep livestock in rural and urban areas? What are their major production and husbandry practices, and their constraints to increase livestock productivity? This infographic presents an analysis of one of the largest datasets on livestock at household level available throughout sub-Saharan Africa: the Tanzania 2012/13 National Panel...

The data revolution must address three major challenges in order to contribute to sustainable development: increasing the quantity and quality of data; making the data usable; and ensuring their use by decision-makers. This infographic shows how the data revolution can be mobilized, with an example from the livestock sector. In collaboration...

This article investigates gender inequality in agricultural productivity, highlights its key determinants, and approximates the potential production, consumption, and poverty gains from reducing or closing the gender productivity gap. The analysis is performed on the basis of representative household survey datasets recently collected in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. In these...