The economy of Zimbabwe – once considered the breadbasket of southern Africa – has begun to turn around after a decade-long recession that saw a sharp drop in agricultural production, falling incomes and increasing food shortages. With some 70 percent of people relying on agriculture for their livelihoods, the strength...

In June and August 2012 the Department of Livestock & Veterinary Services (DLVS) carried out assessments that confirmed the severity of drought in some parts of southern Zimbabwe. FAO, with funding from the United Kingdom's Department for International Development and in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture Mechanization and...

ICT4Ag is a bimonthly printed and on-line magazine (http://ictupdate.cta.int) and an accompanying e-mail newsletter published by CTA. This issue focuses on building resilience for family farming.

ICT Update est un magazine bimestriel édité par le CTA et disponible sur Internet (http://ictupdate.cta.int), en version papier et sous forme d'une newsletter diffusée par e-mail. Ce numéro est consacré au renforcement de la résilience de l'agriculture familiale.

In Malawi, where most of the population relies on agriculture and is considered “small farmers”, better characterizing the diversity of agricultural holdings and the drivers of their transformation is key to inform policy makers and design programs better fitted to the diverse needs and capacities. The World Agriculture Watch (WAW)...

Governments and international agencies frequently boast that small farmers control the largest share of the world's agricultural land. Inaugurating 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), sang the praises of family farmers but didn't...

Organic farming represents a deliberate attempt to make the best use of local natural resources and is an environmental friendly system of farming. It relies much on ecosystem management which excludes external input, especially the synthetic ones. Ander son, Jolly and Green (2005) stated that organic farming is a production...

There is an urgent need to reduce alarming rates of undernutrition in Tanzania. This report analyses options for policies and interventions to improve the functioning of markets that deliver nutrient-dense foods. Currently, a set of constraints inhibit businesses from making nutrient-dense foods that reach the poor. These constraints affect businesses...

Etude de la productivité des exploitations agricoles familiales au Sénégal basée sur les données de l’Agence Nationale de la Statistique et de la Démographie (ANDS) sur les zones de production et sur celles issues des enquêtes du projet de caractérisation et de typologie des exploitations agricoles familiales au Sénégal (EXFAM) menée...

The paper analyses the impact of the two most prominent elements of a traditional societ y in South West Ethiopia: institutionalized traditional beekeeping as main cash income source and high segregation of a society through a caste system, which marginalizes especially a certain huntergatherer group. Beside the high ecological value...

This report is based on the main lessons and recommendations from three case studies analysing the strategies, aspirations and constraints of the various types of farmers living around the dams of Bagré (Burkina Faso), Sélingué (Mali) and Niandouba/Confluent (Senegal). This document aims to contribute to the reflections national and regional...

Many rural development initiatives attempt to improve the lives of family farmers. Some succeed, some fail – but all of them can offer valuable lessons for the future. In a two-phased documentation workshop, farmers, field workers and other experts working in IFAD-funded projects in Swaziland described, analysed and wrote down...

La Coordination Togolaise des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs Agricoles (CTOP) qui a mis en place le Projet d’appui au développement agricole au Togo (PADAT), a effectué une visite d’échange et d’étude au Sénégal, sur les services économiques aux organisations de producteurs, du 7 au 16 mai 2014. Cet article rend compte...

Le présent document porte sur l’analyse des défis de l’Agriculture familiale en Côte d’Ivoire, la proposition de mesures politiques en vue de soutenir les systèmes alimentaires auxquels elle donne vie, ainsi que les engagements des acteurs de la société civile, les organisations de producteurs en première ligne, pour contribuer à...

Since 1999, the Statistics, Research, and Information Directorate (SRID) of Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has been collecting data and administering surveys using a Multi-Round Annual Crop and Livestock Survey (MRACLS) system to inform agricultural policy formulation and implementation. MRACLS provides information on agricultural production by giving estimates...

The study noted that, small-scale farmers are placed at the centre of almost all agricultural policies and strategies, ranging from the Vision 2025 to the National Strategy for economic Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) or in Kiswahili, MKUKUTA and individual policies and projects. Statements such a ensuring food self-sufficiency...

This video shows how members of Arbale Pastoral Field School in Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia are applying knowledge gained to implementing community managed disaster risk reduction action plans for the protection of vast areas of communal grazing lands.

Our farmers are entrepreneurs, just like their counterparts in the telecoms industry. Yet they face even greater risks in getting their goods to market. This is particularly true of our smallholder farmers, most of them women, who cultivate plots about the size of a football field or two. She typically...

In the east of Swaziland, a community has been able to raise themselves out of poverty thanks to the 'insect of hope'. Keeping bees has transformed their lives, giving them decent livelihoods and also teaching them quite a few lessons about unity and cooperation.  

Le manque d'accès au financement est un frein majeur à un développement équitable de l'innovation en agriculture. En s'appuyant sur l'exemple des cultures en semis direct sous couverture végétale (SCV) à Madagascar, la communication montre que les marchés financiers ruraux ne répondent pas spontanément aux besoins de financement des innovateurs...