Sorghum is the third most important staple cereal food crop in Uganda after maize and millet occupying 285 000 ha of arable land. It is mainly used for food and brewing. In an attempt to improve food security and incomes among the rural poor households, The Serere Agricultural and Animal...

In the Bolivian Andes, some officials are starting using local knowledge to improve their early warning systems for natural disasters. For centuries, local farmers have used the signs of nature (clouds, stars, the behavior of plants and animals) to predict disasters like hail, floods and droughts, and to forecast the welcome...

The Government of Andhra Pradesh introduced Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) in 2016 as an alternative to chemical-based and capital intensive agriculture through its implementing agency Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS). The main objective of the ZBNF is to make agriculture economically viable, agrarian livelihoods profitable, thereby reducing agrarian distress through cost reduction and...

The following practice provides information on features of woodlots, agroforestry and improved fallow as means to use wood resources more efficiently and prevent deforestation, environmental degradation and firewood supply shortages. The advantages and disadvantages of these practices are also detailed which include labour saving, livelihood resilience strengthening, livelihood diversification, use...

Farmers in Haiti traditionally apply a number of actions before and after natural hazards hit in order to reduce the impacts particularly on high-market value products. For example, farmers can anticipate banana harvesting to mitigate the losses in case of natural hazards occurrence. The integrated package of practices to reduce...

This technology describes the introduction of improved cattle breeds in Uganda. The improved breeds are more productive and resistant to diseases and are managed by applying the zero grazing production system. This is a type of production system where the animals are kept in an enclosure to control input use...

Climate change is causing unprecedented damage to our ecosystem. Increasing temperatures, ocean warming and acidification, severe droughts, wildfires, altered precipitation patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and amplification of extreme weather events have direct implications for our food systems. While the impacts of such environmental factors on food security are...

In Bangladesh, rice, and variations in its yield, is the key staple crop. It is critical to the livelihoods of that part of the population depending on agriculture. Transplanted aman (t. aman) is the second rice crop grown in the wet kharif II season, between July and November. However it...

This method produces small, whole planting setts, each weighing 200 g to 800 g, from minisetts as small as 25 g. The small, whole tuber setts produced by minisett rapid multiplication are excellent planting material for farmers and researchers. Each sett has a head, which means that sprouting is early,...

Properly spaced trees help provide many of the same benefits of a complete perennial cover. Fine soil particles contain most of the humus and nutrients in the soil, and if lost, soil fertility is reduced, while windbreaks help protect cropland by reducing wind velocities for a distance approximately 15 times...

In the Shrubs for Change project, 300 ‘trainers of trainers’ learn how to get more milk from dairy cows by feeding them nutritious leaves from shrubs. These trainers will in turn train and support 120,000 dairy farmers in Kenya and Malawi to start growing shrubs in their own gardens. Research has...

This brief is based on experience gained from the Master’s Programme in Agroecology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in particular, and on contributions from our partner programmes at Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) and Martyrs University in Uganda (UMU). The brief provides an overview of agroecology,...

There is wide agreement on the need to change the prevalent agricultural models, given their negative impacts and their incompatibility with current societal issues. Agroecological transition has been promoted as a potential solution to the ecological, social and economic problems generated by these models. It however involves a systemic, multi-scale...

This article traces how ‘agroecology’ is co-produced as a global socio-technical object. The site of co-production, the Global Dialogue on Agroecology, was convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in different cities around the world between 2014 and 2018 (Rome 2014; Brasilia, Dakar, Bangkok 2015;...

This Regional Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Monitoring and Surveillance Guidelines Volume 1 provides guidance in the development of AMR surveillance plan for food-borne bacteria, underscoring the key elements for harmonized AMR data generation, data collation and reporting of findings, while taking into consideration the standing context of the region. It aims...

Some practical advice on the management of date palms with suggestions for reducing humidity levels, trimming, intercropping and weeding.

Case studies compiled recently by Global Forest Coalition (GFC) members and allies in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Paraguay underline the role of agribusiness in peasant farmers´ and Indigenous Peoples´ lives. These examples help to deconstruct the myth that large-scale, industrial agriculture is "feeding the world", and that it is compatible with other...

What are mycorrhizal fungi? Mycorrhizal fungi form symbiosis with > 90% of land plants They live in the soil and colonize plant roots Mycorrhizae provides better absorption of nutrients and increased water uptake to the plant in exchange for carbon supply They cannot function without living plants Plants control the symbiosis, root exudates trigger spore...

Agricultural practices contribute considerably to emissions of greenhouse gases. So far, knowledge on the impact of organic compared to non-organic farming on soil-derived nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) emissions is limited. We investigated N2O and CH4fluxes with manual chambers during 571 days in a grass-clover– silage maize – green...

Dans le Sud de Madagascar, AVSF a contribué à travers 2 projets à la promotion de l'agroécologie, au développement de l'agriculture familiale et l'amélioration de l'accès aux services de proximité et de l'accès à l'eau.