A strong and efficient agricultural sector has the potential to enable a country feed its growing population, generate employment, earn foreign exchange and provide raw materials for industries. It is however ironical that despite the great potentials Africa has in agricultural production; the continent is a net importer of food....

Climate-related events like heavy rainfall or too little Chapter 9 247 rainfall occur more frequently than in years past and are affecting human wellbeing. Droughts are often responsible for famine, food shortages, a reduction in plant and animal species, and displacement of people in search of food and pasture. At...

This book aims to contribute to filling an existing gap in the literature on food value chains in West Africa. It identifies good practices in value chain development and provides policy guidance to agricultural and rural development stakeholders. It is intended to be a sourcebook for decision makers, especially at...

The documentary shows how three smallholder farmers in Tanzania and Kenya escaped poverty, hunger and diminishing yields through learning organic farming practises. This documentary was made for IFOAM by Maweni Farm in collaboration with the national organic agriculture movements in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda.

A programme run by the Government of Malawi is providing cash transfers to more than 26,000 of the country's poorest households. FAO's 'From Protection to Production' project (PtoP), run in collaboration with Unicef with funding from DFID and the EU, is evaluating the impact of these cash transfers on economic...

The government of Mozambique has adopted a generally hands-off approach in engaging with efforts to improve farmer access to fertilizer. Private-sector investment decisions drive the development of these markets, with government primarily having somewhat distant oversight on these developments. Efforts are starting to strengthen the retail sector for agricultural in-puts,...

Agriculture is the principal economic sector in the Great Lakes region of Africa and represents a major source of income for rural populations in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. With the objective of unlocking the high potential of agriculture in this region, the project described...

Satisfaction of household requirements and profit maximization has been the main goals of subsistence small-holder farmers in the rural communities of Nigeria. This necessitated the practice of multiple/mixed cropping of arable crops. On the contrary, a part of the National food security agenda of the Federal government is the raising...

Children in Karamoja, northern Uganda, are learning about farming, healthy eating and how to protect themselves from diseases, thanks to the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools, set up by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners across 6 countries in the region. For young people like former...

Esta Declaración fue aprobada por la Asamblea de Miembros de la ILC en Antigua, Guatemala, el 25 de abril de 2013. La Coalición Internacional para el Acceso a la Tierra (ILC) es una alianza mundial de organizaciones intergubernamentales y de la sociedad civil que trabajan en colaboración para fomentar y garantizar...

In 2012, UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative (PEI) Botswana commissioned a Poverty and Social Impact Analysis of ISPAAD with the aim of analysing the performance of the programme, with particular focus on key programme activities and the impact on poor people, vulnerable groups and the environment. This Policy Brief presents findings from...

In this chapter we review some national statistics that will help characterize the capacity of the population to adapt to climate change and describe Kenya’s land base and current agricultural context. Then we show results of crop models that incorporate climate projections from recent global models. Finally, we incorporate those...

The study evaluated factors influencing bean productivity and technical efficiency among smallholder farmers in Eastern Uganda, using a stochastic frontier model and a Tobit model. Findings showed that bean productivity was significantly influenced by plot-size, seeds and planting fertilizer; mean technical efficiency for sampled farms was 48.2%. The Tobit model...

This book documents a unique series of 19 case studies where agricultural biotechnologies were used to serve the needs of smallholders in developing countries. They cover different regions, production systems, species and underlying socio-economic conditions in the crop (seven case studies), livestock (seven) and aquaculture/fisheries (five) sectors. Most of the...

Africa, in general, is vulnerable to climate change, mostly due to its dependence on agriculture. Mozambique is a prime example. Agriculture is an important sector of the country’s economy, and, as indicated by the 2007 FAO country factsheet, around 80 percent of the population (about 19.4 million people in 2007)...

Au Sénégal, les activités économiques en milieu rural et particulièrement dans le Bassin arachidier sont dominées par la production agricole, principale source de revenus des populations. Avant l’arrivée du Projet d’Appui aux Filières agricoles (PAFA), les exploitations familiales évoluaient  dans un environnement socio-économique difficile : dégradation des terres, faible diversification...

The second of three books in IFPRI's climate change in Africa series, East African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing 10 of the countries that make up east and central Africa - Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda...

Family farming is the basis for modern food provision in Africa, today and tomorrow. Its multifunctionality and sustainable productive potential is supported by extensive research evidence. Family farming and small-scale food production generates food and well-being for the majority of the population and the wealth of the region, and conserves...

In Dodoma, Tanzania, a group of poor smallholder farmers is planting grapes and setting up a vineyard in a bid to pull themselves out of poverty. It's a project they hope will ensure they and their families have an income for the next 30 years. To get started, they needed...

Liberia was making frantic efforts towards achieving food security through improvements in smallholder farmers’ productivity. However, the 1989-2003 civil conflict destroyed the economic life of the country, and reversed the positive trend towards food security. This situation undermined the growth of smallholder farmers’ entrepreneurship. Hence, this research assesses the extent...