This atlas on rural change in Africa was prepared at the request of the NEPAD Agency and under the overall coordination and guidance of Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, NEPAD Agency CEO, Estherine Lisinge Fotabong, Programme Implementation and Coordination Director, and Benoît Faivre-Dupaigre, Agriculture Adviser to the CEO. It is part of the...

The Smallholders Foundation promotes sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation through educational radio programmes. Smallholder Farmers Rural Radio broadcasts daily programs on agricultural management, environmental conservation, and market access, which reach over 250,000 smallholder farmers. Broadcasts are done in the local Igbo language, and reach listeners in three local government catchments...

A cross sectional study was conducted to investigate response of smallholder farmers to land degradation in the southern parts of Ludewa District. The study involved 240 respondents randomly selected from stratified population based on gender and type of village. Besides, focus group discussions were made to gauge farmers’ opinions based...

The paper further examines the effectiveness of public investment, namely research and development for agriculture, as a crucial measure for adaptation. The large amount of resources that would be necessary to avoid the worst case scenario suggests the necessity of continued support from the international community to improve food security...

In Zimbabwe, WFP and the German Government’s development agency, GIZ, are working together to improve the food security of vulnerable people in rural Manicaland. Since 2009, not only has WFP managed the logistics and warehousing of GIZ’s largest agricultural project in Zimbabwe, but recently the project has also adopted WFP’s...

Supported by Sida, the World Agroforestry centre (ICRAF) and the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) launched the Conservation Agriculture with Trees (CAWT) pilot project in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The countries were selected as among those in Africa where there was strong evidence of CA up-scaling taking place. The...

Because developing good programs requires good data, SNV has conducted research to further explore the linkages between smallholder farmers (SHF) and government-led school feeding programs. This report takes a closer look at these linkages in several parts of three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where SNV is implementing pilots for the...

Local leafy vegetables have long been an important part of people's diets in Africa - nutritious, affordable and adapted to local growing conditions and cultural traditions. They are cheap, readily affordable and rich in different micro-nutrients and are therefore crucial for the food and nutrition security of poor families in...

The objectives of this study were, first, to examine the impacts of certified organic contract farming on the food security of the smallholder farm households participating in such arrangements, and second, to assess the role of gender relations in these dynamics. In particular, the study considered how the costs and...

Over 95% of pastoralist women in the North West Region of Cameroon depend exclusively on milk production for their income. The overall decline in pastoral resources in the past decades has affected milk productivity, drawing attention and technical support from public and non-governmental partners. However, this did not lead to...

Agriculture is the backbone of Uganda’s economy and an important driver of economic development and poverty reduction. Approximately 73% of Ugandans depend on agriculture. However, the sector currently faces many multifaceted challenges which include land degradation, inadequate market access, unreliable weather and civil strife. Agricultural growth is also affected by...

The Green Revolution, the symbol of agricultural intensification not only failed to ensure safe and abundant food production for all people, but it was launched under the assumptions that abundant water and cheap energy to fuel modern agriculture would always be available and that climate would be stable and not...

Agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe, like in many other countries in SSA has been declining over the years despite the numerous advancements made in agricultural technology development. Yield levels usually averaging below 1t ha-1 have resulted in persistent cereal deficits despite the large area put under production each year. Declining soil...

This study reports on the land degradation minimizing effects of Conservation Agriculture (CA) as promoted among smallholder Zambian farmers. It found no evidence of CA associated improvements in soil fertility after five years of CA practice, most probably because crop residues were removed from the fields. The study reports high...

This Report presents the results of the 2011-2012 Agriculture and Livestock Survey (ALS) in Old Resettlement Schemes conducted by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency.

Women in Kapchorwa district play a crucial role in sustaining their families through dairy and agricultural production. They provide most of the farm labour, which they combine with caring for their families, conducting farm and non-farm income-generating activities and contributing to community development initiatives. Increasingly, women are also involved in...

Cocoa cultivation is generally considered to foster deforestation. Contrary to this view, in the forest–savannah interface area in Cameroon, farmers have planted cocoa agroforestry systems on Imperata cylindrica grasslands, a soil-climate zone generally considered unsuitable for cocoa cultivation. We undertook a survey to understand the agricultural and ecological bases of this innovation....

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of extension services in enhancing effectiveness of outgrowers’ credit system in Kisumu County, Kenya. The study specifically sought to determine whether public and private extension services play a significant role in enhancing effectiveness of out-growers’ credit system among smallholder sugarcane...

La presente caja de herramientas está diseñada para ayudar a los profesionales de la seguridad alimentaria a desarrollar una estratégica de comunicación, y a comunicarse más eficazmente con los grupos que son el blanco de sus esfuerzos. Secciones específicas de la caja de herramientas enfocan a los formuladores de políticas...

The debate on whether climate change will impact on peoples’ livelihoods and, hence, the need to act is essentially over and has instead shifted to the development of strategies needed by different regions and countries to adapt to climate change effects. However, there is still scanty information necessary to ably...