Smallholder farmers face climate variability and incidences of drought have been characteristic of smallholder farmer production in Chivi. Drought was the key climate risk in the investigation of the impact of climate variability on the sustainability of agricultural production and development of the community. With regards to climate risk management...

Agricultural educators – whether extension agents from public or private sector, university professors, school teachers or farmers themselves – need to become agents of change. They need to support farmers in the task of reconnecting to the agro-ecosystems that they manage, rather than becoming increasingly disconnected from them. This issue...

Agricultural Business Centres (ABCs) provide a range of technical, operational and marketing services to smallholders and are the main entry point for MAFFS extension support. ABC commodity focus depends on the predominant cropping system and economic activity of the membership with early emphasis on rice and other food crops but...

Under the Smallholder Commercialization Programme, FAO supported the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program to implement Agicultural Business Centres (ABC) in order to improve food security for the most vulnerable population. This program has involved the Government of Sierra Leone under the National Sustainable Agriculture Development Plan. It has permitted...

Agriculture is arguably the most important vehicle for realising economic development, creating employment and reducing poverty in Africa. In the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) sub-region, agriculture accounts for about 43% of the gross domestic product (GDP) and over 60% of exports. About 70% of the population and nearly 90%...

Given the accumulating evidence of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa, there is an urgent need to develop more climate resilient maize systems. Adaptation strategies to climate change in maize systems in sub-Saharan Africa are likely to include improved germplasm with tolerance to drought and heat stress and improved management practices....

Agroforestry is a set of tools which farmers can use to increase yields, build soil fertility, raise their income, and boost their food security. ICRAF and its partners have worked closely with farmers for decades to promote and develop simultaneous intercropping practices to address the challenges in soil fertility facing...

The objective of this article was to develop a deeper understanding of the interdependences between smallholder farming and the state of environmental management in rural Malawi. We examined the agricultural local governance framework in Malingunde Extension Planning Area (EPA), its contribution to food security and how it conflicts with overall...

In surveys conducted by the Organisation for Rural Development (ORUDE) from 2010 - 2012, maize stood out as the second most important food and cash crop in Busoga after sweet potatoes. Due to climate change, farmers desired to have drought-tolerant seed varieties, However, lack of formalized maize seed supply systems...

Evergreen Agriculture is a combination of conservation agriculture and agroforestry practices within the same spatial and temporal dimensions. In other circles, evergreen agriculture is referred to as agroforestry based conservation agriculture or Conservation Agriculture With Trees (CAWT). Evergreen agriculture is being tested by ICRAF in conjunction with partners in Malawi...

This study builds on an earlier research done by the researchers in Chivi south district on the impact of conservation farming on food security. The major focus of this study however is on the conflicts and contradictions embedded in conservation farming owing to differential perceptions and life-worlds and implications thereof...

Selon l'auteur, le cas de Madagascar illustre bien les pays à base agricole, à potentiels multiples mais à performances agricoles stagnantes et à population rurale pauvre. L'intégration de ses petits producteurs aux marchés figure parmi les options de sortie de la pauvreté proposées. Les contextes et les opportunités peuvent cependant différer...

A key emerging strand in the development of smallholder agriculture in South Africa is the effort to integrate smallholders into corporate food retail value chains. In this, the private sector and government have a common agenda, which is to build a commercial smallholder class that does not require ongoing financial...

Ankole Longhorn cattle can survive in extremely harsh, dry conditions such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa – which is becoming drier and hotter. In a context where herders are strongly encouraged to keep exotic and hybrid cattle, the innovative LIFE approach led Ugandan herders to revalue the Longhorns for their...

 En Afrique de l'Ouest et au Bénin en particulier, la production traditionnelle de l'igname est basée sur les systèmes itinérants de défriche sur brûlis des jachères naturelles causant la déforestation, la dégradation et la baisse de la productivité des sols. Dans le but de contribuer à la sédentarisation de la...

The use of finger millet seedlings has shown very positive results in the region of Tahtai Maichew, near Aksum, Ethiopia, as has the use of alternative management practices for a number of other crops. The principles that make up a System of Crop Intensification are now spreading through the regions...

Southern African Agriculture and Climate Change: A Comprehensive Analysis examines the food security threats facing eight of the countries that make up southern Africa — Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe — and explores how climate change will increase the efforts needed to achieve sustainable food security...

This brochure highlights some of IFPRI’s work in the region carried out in partnership with West and Central African governments, organizations, and institutions over the course of the past two decades and describes new initiatives that are expected to positively influence food security policies that benefit the poorest.

The Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP) implemented during the 2000s in Zimbabwe represents the only instance of radical redistributive land reforms since the end of the Cold War. It reversed the racially-skewed agrarian structure and discriminatory land tenures inherited from colonial rule, whereby over 6,000 large-scale white farmers and...

Although it is increasingly recognised that Zimbabwe’s Fast Track Land Reform Programme (FTLRP), initiated in 2000, was redistributive (Moyo et al 2009; Scoones et al 2010), few studies have examined the qualitative character of this outcome and its prospects for progressive social and political transformation in a largely agrarian society....