L’agriculture est un secteur primordial pour générer des revenus à la population croissante et un contributeur majeur au PIB en Afrique. L’Afrique est connue comme un continent jeune, car elle compte le plus grand nombre de jeunes au monde. Ces jeunes sont énergiques, ont un esprit frais et innovant. Ils...

Agri-innovations are mostly delivered to farmers through private and public sector-led institutions around the world, with various degrees of success in Malawi. These distribution systems, on the other hand, do not meet everyone's production and productivity needs, particularly those of smallholder farmers. Alternative gap-filling systems are therefore required. Over the...

Ce manuel s’adresse à des agronomes. Il aborde les bases d’écologie, de chimie et d’agronomie nécessaires à la compréhension des pratiques agroécologiques. Il décrit ces pratiques et le pourquoi de celles-ci. Après avoir parcouru ce document, le lecteur sera en mesure de mettre en place, de développer et de gérer un...

Dans le petit village de Gourga, au Burkina Faso, proche de la grande frontière du Sahara, un homme a « arrêté le désert ». Récompensé en 2018 par le Right Livelihood Award (souvent présenté comme le prix Nobel de l’alternative), Yacouba Sawadogo entretient depuis 40 ans une forêt qui a complètement changé les perspectives du...

Though essential to food security on the continent, Africa’s small-scale farmers are often under-resourced and impoverished while also baring the brunt of climate change and biodiversity loss. With the Ukraine war raising fears about food insecurity and hunger, it’s never been more critical to help remove whatever barriers exist for this essential workforce. These include a lack...

Tea production accounts for 9%  of Malawi’s foreign exchange earnings and is a major employer, but smallholder farmers are struggling. While those in neighbouring Kenya are adding value to their tea crop for their own benefit, Malawi’s smallholder farmers — the majority of whom are women — gain far less...

Ethiopia’s forests have been declining due to agricultural conversion, increased wood extraction for fuel and construction, and livestock over-grazing. The country has several high-profile tree-planting programmes, including the Green Legacy Initiative (GLI). Proponents say the GLI will help re-green the country, improve local livelihoods and build climate resilience, while critics...

  Indigenous knowledge and cultural diversity is increasingly being put under pressure as the process of modernization is reaching into every corner of Zimbabwe. Rapid changes are taking place in land use practices, farming methods, health care and the cultural ethos and rituals of indigenous people. Fortunately, in recent years much...

Water access is the cornerstone of livelihoods for most rural communities in Tanzania. Yet limited capacity for effective planning, management and governance of water sources is deepening vulnerability to the increasing and often unpredictable impacts of climate change. This paper assesses Tanzania’s recently centralised approach to rural water planning through...

Zulfa Hassan and the Mtangawanda Women’s Association in Kenya's Lamu County are revitalizing local mangrove forests, crucial ecosystems that protect coastlines, support fisheries, and sequester significant amounts of carbon. These women plant mangrove seedlings in degraded coastal areas, working during low tides to ensure optimal growth. Their efforts have restored...

After much anticipation, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) published draft Regulations to implement the Plant Improvement Act (2018) (PIA) – also known as South Africa’s Seed Law – and the Plant Breeders Rights Act (2018) (PBRA), for public comment. The closing date for comments on the...

A comprehensive study provides an in-depth analysis of the status of mangroves globally, highlighting the critical challenges these vital ecosystems face, including deforestation, climate change, and coastal development. The study underscores the urgent need for coordinated conservation efforts to protect and restore mangrove forests, which are essential for coastal protection,...

Given the multi-benefits, enset cultivation has been continuously underutilized in Ethiopia. We assess best practices, processing technologies, environmental maintenance, multi-benefits of enset and its potency in hunger reduction in Ethiopia by reviewing evidence on good farm practices, improved technologies, sustainability, hunger reduction, inputs cost, and yields advantage of enset. The...

Communities living in Northern Ghana face a complex situation due to a lack of livelihood options in the semi-arid area. Listen to the latest episode of Let’s Talk Trees to find out more. Eric Bayala and Houria Djoudi explore the problem and possible solutions to this longstanding issue through the...

La publication du présent numéro de Grain de Sel coïncide avec la tenue de deux événements majeurs de la gouvernance internationale de l’environnement, la COP27 concernant le climat et la COP 15 concernant la biodiversité. La COP27 qui s’est déroulée en novembre 2022 en Égypte a consacré la victoire des...

MONGABAY's Charles Mpaka authored an excellent piece on Malawi's 3.3 million smallholder farming families, which comprise the country's economic backbone, yet many are underprivileged and facing food scarcity. Agroecology has proven to be a lifeline for some farmers, enabling them to increase yields and revenue while lowering the usage of...

A perte de vue, des acacias et des baobabs peuplent la savane poussiéreuse du bassin arachidier, cette large zone d’agriculture pluviale située au centre du Sénégal. Mais à l’approche du village de Tawafal, 120 km à l’est de Dakar, c’est un autre paysage qui attire l’œil du visiteur : six hectares de...

CZU mobiLAB (developed at Czech University of Life Sciences Prague) represents a complex solution that enables the application of state-of-the-art molecular detection methods in remote or inaccessible areas. The principal advantage of the proposed solution is the concept of a mobile laboratory, which is unique in terms of its size...

Women and youth-led agri-enterprises (WYE) (which may also be operating as family businesses) in agricultural value chains have been identified as catalysts for rural transformation given their potential for creating employment and stimulating value addition both on and off-farm. Given that agriculture and food systems are likely to remain the...

Dans sa rubrique tribune, la revue en ligne « cointribune » expose et défend l’idée selon laquelle la cryptographie des aliments peut jouer un rôle fondamental dans l’atteinte de la    souveraineté alimentaire en Afrique.  L’auteur de la réflexion, Mikaia Andriamaha pense que le « crypto étiquetage » peut retracer le parcours d’un aliment quelconque, de la...