The main challenge for African food systems in the future will be to provide food for a rapidly growing population with changing diets and food preferences. Whilst the population of Europe is decreasing, with consumers demanding food that is produced in an environmentally and socially responsible way, Africa’s population will...

Amplifying the voices of women farmers is proving an effective way to help tackle gender inequality and promote agroecology, helping small-scale farmers take back power over their land.

The preservation of fruit and vegetables by simply sun drying is practised widely throughout arid and semi-arid regions, for example in Uganda. The use of low-cost solar drying technologies can significantly improve product quality. This provides practical opportunities for developing small-scale enterprise, particularly in rural areas, and creates employment for...

Amplifying the voices of women farmers is proving an effective way to help tackle gender inequality and promote agroecology, helping small-scale farmers take back power over their land. In the Adjumani and Amuria districts of Uganda, women are responsible for 75% of agricultural labour. Only 30% have rights over the land...

Maize is the most important staple food in Eastern Africa. But yields on smallholder farms are often very low, typically just one quarter of what could be achieved. In a good year, using improved varieties with good management, recommended amounts of fertilizer and effective control of pests and diseases could...

Hides and skins are of very little economic and commercial value if they are not well preserved. Particularly in Uganda, Lango Farming System, most hides and skins which are produced, go to waste due to poor preservation practices. Improved methods and advice on how to preserve hides and skins of...

This document is the conference proceedings of the meeting led by the Alliance for Agroecology in West Africa (3AO) on 27-29 January. Farmers and peasant organizations from across West Africa joined forces with international development agencies and research centres gathered to give impetus to a growing agroecological movement in the...

SALSA - Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Sustainable Food Security, is an EU-funded research project of the Horizon2020 program which run from April 2016 to March 2020 with the aim to provide a better understanding of the role of small farms and small food businesses in meeting the sustainable food and nutrition...

Improved citrus varieties are not resistant to soil borne pests and diseases. However, they can be successfully grown if grafted on resistant rootstocks like rough lemon. Rough lemon is quick-growing, drought-resistant, shortens maturity period and is resistant to pests and diseases.

The holistic gardening project in Emuhaya, Western Kenya, is attracting local and international acclaim. Bio Gardening Innovations (BIOGI) is equipping smallholder farmers to break away from monocultures and create thriving, overflowing “food forests” on their farmland. Maize, the staple crop of Vihaga and Kakamega counties in Kenya, is harvested twice a...

Control of Foreign Fishing (CFF) explores options available to coastal states. It seeks to find the optimal combination of fee level, surveillance expenditure, and magnitude of legal penalties to minimize the risk of illegal fishing and maximize the benefits accruing to the coastal state. It provides an economic model that...

An FAO training has been a turning point in Rita’s shea business. Now she is an advocate and employer of other rural women, promoting sustainable livelihoods that can offset deforestation in her region. 

The commercialisation of traditional processed products from cassava, such as fufu, potentially offers new opportunities for income generation to rural households in Nigeria, Ghana and other parts of West Africa. Several options exist for the commercialisation of fufu, including the production of a shelf-stable product? This minimises the use of...

The preservation of fruit and vegetables by simple sun drying is practiced widely throughout arid and semi-arid areas, for example in Uganda. The use of low cost, solar drying technologies, can significantly improve product quality thereby providing practical opportunities for developing small-scale enterprise, particularly in rural areas, and creating employment...

This practice describes how Calliandra tree can be planted and grown in Uganda. First starting by seed collection and pre-treatment, then construction of seeds bed, seed sowing, and finally filling of polyethene pots with soil.

Value chains are structured in ways that are unfavourable to smallholder farmers who often struggle to access finance, inputs and markets. An IIED webinar discussed how smallholders in East Africa can use technology to overcome those challenges and negotiate with buyers and input and finance providers from a position of...

A small scale farmer shows us how she manages to grow crops in a dry area. She harvests rain water which she uses for irrigating the crops. This has helped her to adapt to the effects of climate change. To learn more about our work on promoting organic agriculture, please...

The queen bee is the sole reproductive female in the honey bee colony. That’s why the queen is very important to the colony due to her main task of laying eggs. If the queen's ability to lay eggs is disturbed, a new queen is needed for the colony. This technology...

In recent years, along with the growing recognition of the rural gender gap in financial access as a key constraint to rural development, research has focused increasingly more towards analysing in depth the financial habits and patterns followed by women in rural areas, in order to produce observations and insights...

In Salah est une des oasis du sud-est de l’Algérie. Capitale de la région du Tidikelt, elle était historiquement le district le plus important du Touat. La production de dattes y était très diversifiée. En effet, la région était considérée comme l’un des marchés commerciaux les plus importants, notamment pour...