This paper analyses Malawi’s smallholder agricultural efficiency, using a nationally representative sample survey of rural households undertaken by the National Statistical Office in 2004/2005. It aims to inform agricultural policy about the level and key determinants of inefficiency in the smallholder farming system that need to be addressed to raise...

This Issue of the magazine aims at reflecting on and rekindling interest in successful field projects, capacity-building initiatives and networking of natural resources practitioners. It is a strategy to sustain ideas that could enhance conservation of wildlife and natural ecosystems and improve Africa's rural livelihoods. This edition of Nature &...

Livelihoods in Darfur are intimately linked to the conflict, none more so than the livelihoods of the Northern Rizaygat—a group of Arabicspeaking, camel-herding nomads living in the Sudanese states of North, South, and West Darfur. They have achieved notoriety for their role in the Janjaweed—the pejorative name given to the...

This paper uses the sustainable livelihoods framework to explore the contribution of smallholder production to food security in some sub-Saharan African countries and relates it to the South African case. Noting that many of the world’s hungry are smallholder farmers, it is clear that food insecurity is closely linked to...

Seed interventions are the major agricultural response during emergency and recovery phases of humanitarian relief. They are implemented by diverse agencies, and widely promoted: for instance the FAO alone managed 400 such projects between 2003 and 2005. However, seed aid suffers from a lack of critical attention, perpetuating widespread myths...

Informal markets receive little attention from governments and researchers, despite their centrality to farmers’ seed security. This paper documents the importance of informal markets for supplying seed and restocking critical plant genetic resources in normal and stress periods. It analyses farmers’ rationales for using such markets and their strategic actions...

The project has supported the Volta Mango Growers Association (VOMAGA). This report presents the results of a survey among a sample of the mango farmers on the impact of the project. The report first gives an introduction to the mango sector in Ghana and the project partners and activities. Subsequently...

The FAO project “Increasing incomes and food security of small farmers in West and Central Africa through exports of organic and fair-trade tropical products” has supported the Ekumfi Atwia WAD Organic Farmers Association (EAWOFA) and its exporter Weya Agricultural Development/African Foods Ltd (WAD). This report presents the results of a...

Déclaration liminaire à la conférence publique animée par la Coordination régionale de la Coalition pour la Protection du Patrimoine Génétique Africain-COPAGEN à Cotounou, Bénin, sur les politiques agricoles africaines et le développement des exploitations agricoles familiales.

The project has supported the cocoa farmers association Kpeya Agricultural Enterprise (KAE). This report presents the results of a survey among a sample of the cocoa farmers on the impact of the project. The report first gives an introduction to the cocoa sector in Sierra Leone and the project partners...

At the end of 2009, despite the international commitments made to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, over a billion people are going hungry and 70% of those women and men who suffer from hunger live in rural areas. These alarming results inevitably raise questions as to the effectiveness of the...

Welcome to Dimitra Newsletter No. 16! This issue is devoted – as all our newsletters are – to the empowerment of women and men living in rural areas. FAO’s efforts in the Great Lakes Region highlight the fact that Farmer Field Schools can be instrumental in addressing a range of...

On 16 October 2008, FAO celebrated World Food Day with a parallel event entitled “­Women have solutions to the food crisis: towards long-term structural changes”. This issue of the Dimitra newsletter focuses in particular on how – in an international context of rising food prices and raw material shortages –...

Among the experiences shared in this newsletter, we would like to focus on Dimitra and its partners’ work in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the field of rural radio and participatory communication. A rural radio and listeners’ club project, conducted in South Kivu province with SAMWAKI and GTZ-Santé, is...

This Toolbox has been designed to assist stakeholders (government research and extension departments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), donors and farmers) in developing sound Conservation Agriculture (CA) extension programs/projects in Zimbabwe.

This publication is a report of a Workshop that brought together people from a wide range of institutions - farmers, researchers, ecologists extensionists, policy makers, donors – from 40 countries who share a common concern about the non-sustainability of ways in which farm land is now being used and who...

Permaculture Trainers Reference Manual.

This paper examines the role of fertiliser subsidies in Malawi, the world’s fifth poorest country. Malawians depend on domestic crops from over-cultivated soils. Recurrent poor harvests have had disastrous consequences for food security, but yields have improved significantly since the introduction of a government scheme to improve access to fertiliser...

This paper provides the results of an international survey of practitioners with experience in facilitating the participation of African smallholder farmers in supply chains for higher-value and/or differentiated agricultural products. It explores their perceptions about the constraints inhibiting and the impacts associated with this supply chain participation. It also examines...

The first objective was to develop a comprehensive picture of each project in terms of its membership, its activities and its internal organisation. The second was to situate the projects within their wider context, which included the local community, local government (represented by officials and councillors of local and district...