Smallholder farmers in developing countries play a key role in meeting the future food demands of a growing and increasingly rich and urbanized population. However, smallholders are not a homogeneous group that should be supported at all costs. Whereas some smallholder farmers have the potential to undertake profitable commercial activities...

WFP’s current gender policy, which explicitly reaffirms WFP’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment to support partner countries in addressing food and nutrition challenges sustainably.Literature review and empirical research conducted by ALINe on behalf of WFP between January and August 2011, which examined...

This publication, Organic Agriculture: African Experiences in Resilience and Sustainability, demonstrates that organic management can benefit people, the economy and ecosystems and that this can be achieved in Africa, where hunger and degradation stubbornly persist, despite decades of development efforts.The work presented in this volume stems from the conference on...

Black Gold: the Secrets of Compost was filmed on location in Swaziland, and is the first in the Living Classroom series. The Living Classroom is the result of GardenAfrica’s training programmes that have been successfully developed and implemented over the past ten years with sustainable agriculture & permaculture specialists. It was built...

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

L’objectif principal de cette étude était d’analyser le fonctionnement et d’estimer la rentabilité de la filière villageoise d’huile de palme brute dans la région de la Sanaga-Maritime  du Cameroun. Il ressort de l’étude que la filière villageoise d’huile de palme est constituée de trois types de planteurs : les petits...

Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara is becoming increasingly risky due to extreme climate variability. In recent times, scientific studies have strongly suggested that many developing countries face substantial environmental and social challenges, with food insecurity high on the list (Vogel and O’Brien 2003). With a relatively large and...

To meet the needs of a growing global population that is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, agricultural production must increase significantly. As such, agriculture and rural development will continue to play a critical role in alleviating poverty and malnutrition. This brochure highlights some of the key collaborations between IFPRI...

The climate of Uganda is regarded as its most valuable natural resource, and a major determinant of other natural resources, such as water, forests, and wildlife, as well as human activities based on these resources, such as agriculture and ecotourism (Republic of Uganda, MWE 2007). Together these resources provide the...

This issue of Baobab ushers in 2014, the UN proclaimed Year of Family Farming. Agricultural production, conservation of biodiversity, resilience of rural communities and preservation of culture are part and parcel of stronger family farming. This issue emphasises the importance of diverse family farming across Africa, provides practical examples that...

Au Cameroun, la diffusion du maïs s’est accélérée en réponse à une demande croissante. Son extension dans les zones rurales concourt à améliorer la sécurité alimentaire via la diversification des revenus et l'accroissement des disponibilités alimentaires. Afin d'accroître les rendements, des hybrides ont été produites par la recherche agricole. Les auteurs...

Ian Scoones from the Institute of Development Studies and the Future Agricultures Consortium reflects on some key issues emerging from a recent conference on the future of pastoralism in Africa. His overwhelming conclusion: Pastoralism is "alive and well" in some parts of the continent. But there are downsides: constraints caused...

Smallholder farmers face climate variability and incidences of drought have been characteristic of smallholder farmer production in Chivi. Drought was the key climate risk in the investigation of the impact of climate variability on the sustainability of agricultural production and development of the community. With regards to climate risk management...

Agricultural educators – whether extension agents from public or private sector, university professors, school teachers or farmers themselves – need to become agents of change. They need to support farmers in the task of reconnecting to the agro-ecosystems that they manage, rather than becoming increasingly disconnected from them. This issue...

Agricultural Business Centres (ABCs) provide a range of technical, operational and marketing services to smallholders and are the main entry point for MAFFS extension support. ABC commodity focus depends on the predominant cropping system and economic activity of the membership with early emphasis on rice and other food crops but...

Under the Smallholder Commercialization Programme, FAO supported the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program to implement Agicultural Business Centres (ABC) in order to improve food security for the most vulnerable population. This program has involved the Government of Sierra Leone under the National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan. It has permitted...

Agriculture is arguably the most important vehicle for realising economic development, creating employment and reducing poverty in Africa. In the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) sub-region, agriculture accounts for about 43% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and over 60% of exports. About 70% of the population and nearly 90%...

Given the accumulating evidence of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, there is an urgent need to develop more climate resilient maize systems. Adaptation strategies to climate change in maize systems in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to include improved germplasm with tolerance to drought and heat stress and improved management practices....

Agroforestry is a set of tools which farmers can use to increase yields, build soil fertility, raise their income, and boost their food security. ICRAF and its partners have worked closely with farmers for decades to promote and develop simultaneous intercropping practices to address the challenges in soil fertility facing...

The objective of this article was to develop a deeper understanding of the interdependences between smallholder farming and the state of environmental management in rural Malawi. We examined the agricultural local governance framework in Malingunde Extension Planning Area (EPA), its contribution to food security and how it conflicts with overall...