The National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi has used its multi-tiered membership structure to build a ‘knowledge chain’, spreading conservation agriculture techniques to more than 37,000 farmers. Combining this effort with support for adult literacy is empowering farmers (particularly women) to both gain and use new knowledge.

'Black Gold' is the first in GardenAfrica's series of 11 films which will form 'The Living Classroom'. Shot on location in Swaziland, we learn how to 'waste nothing and reinvest our surplus' to make a truly wonderful compost to feed our plants ... which in turn feed our families.

En Afrique subsaharienne, les nouveaux dispositifs de vulgarisation basés sur des approches participatives promus par les structures publiques et privées jouent un rôle clé dans  l’amélioration de la productivité et de la sécurité alimentaire des exploitations agricoles familiales. L’objectif de cette étude est de déterminer le rôle des dispositifs d’appui-conseil étudiés dans l’accompagnement...

A warm welcome to Dimitra newsletter 23, which outlines the project’s most recent activities and achievements, especially the development and growing impact of the Dimitra listeners’ clubs. These successes are producing growing recognition for the Dimitra approach and a strong increase in the number of partnerships. This issue also presents...

Improving food security and agricultural livelihoods in Northern Uganda is an EU-funded Government of Uganda's Agricultural Livelihoods Recovery Project (ALREP) implemented by FAO in northern Uganda targeting people that have resettled in their homes after the 20 years of war. The video highlights how farmer field schools are being used...

Over the last fifty years food production per person in Africa has grown disappointingly slowly at little more than 10%. The population of Africa is growing rapidly at an average annual rate of 2.5% and is expected to almost double by 2050 to close to two billion people. Chronic hunger...

Without financial access and sufficient yearly earnings, many farmers also lose up to 50 percent of their annual potential income because they must gain quick access to cash to afford household expenses all year. In the time leading up to harvest, farmers often experience a “hungry season” in which they...

This report presents a farm household model for use in the context of developing countries to gain knowledge on food security and rural poverty alleviation under different economic conditions and agri-food policy options. This model, called FSSIM-Dev (Farming System Simulator for Developing Countries), is an extension of the FSSIM model...

The Government of Ghana (GoG) since 2007 has been providing subsidized agricultural machines to individual farmers and private enterprises established as specialized Agricultural Mechanization Services Enterprise Centers (AMSECs) to offer tractor-hire services to small-scale farmers across the country. Current demand in the country is primarily focused on land preparation services,...

Despite the increasing attention given to organic supply chains over the past decade, there are still significant market opportunities to pursue. The demand for organic products in developing countries continues to grow and price premiums for organic certified products are available, albeit not comparable with those of a decade or...

This atlas on rural change in Africa was prepared at the request of the NEPAD Agency and under the overall coordination and guidance of Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, NEPAD Agency CEO, Estherine Lisinge Fotabong, Programme Implementation and Coordination Director, and Benoît Faivre-Dupaigre, Agriculture Adviser to the CEO. It is part of the...

The Smallholders Foundation promotes sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation through educational radio programmes. Smallholder Farmers Rural Radio broadcasts daily programs on agricultural management, environmental conservation, and market access, which reach over 250,000 smallholder farmers. Broadcasts are done in the local Igbo language, and reach listeners in three local government catchments...

A cross sectional study was conducted to investigate response of smallholder farmers to land degradation in the southern parts of Ludewa District. The study involved 240 respondents randomly selected from stratified population based on gender and type of village. Besides, focus group discussions were made to gauge farmers’ opinions based...

The paper further examines the effectiveness of public investment, namely research and development for agriculture, as a crucial measure for adaptation. The large amount of resources that would be necessary to avoid the worst case scenario suggests the necessity of continued support from the international community to improve food security...

In Zimbabwe, WFP and the German Government’s development agency, GIZ, are working together to improve the food security of vulnerable people in rural Manicaland. Since 2009, not only has WFP managed the logistics and warehousing of GIZ’s largest agricultural project in Zimbabwe, but recently the project has also adopted WFP’s...

Supported by Sida, the World Agroforestry centre (ICRAF) and the African Conservation Tillage Network (ACT) launched the Conservation Agriculture with Trees (CAWT) pilot project in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia. The countries were selected as among those in Africa where there was strong evidence of CA up-scaling taking place. The...

Because developing good programs requires good data, SNV has conducted research to further explore the linkages between smallholder farmers (SHF) and government-led school feeding programs. This report takes a closer look at these linkages in several parts of three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where SNV is implementing pilots for the...

Local leafy vegetables have long been an important part of people's diets in Africa - nutritious, affordable and adapted to local growing conditions and cultural traditions. They are cheap, readily affordable and rich in different micro-nutrients and are therefore crucial for the food and nutrition security of poor families in...

The objectives of this study were, first, to examine the impacts of certified organic contract farming on the food security of the smallholder farm households participating in such arrangements, and second, to assess the role of gender relations in these dynamics. In particular, the study considered how the costs and...

Over 95% of pastoralist women in the North West Region of Cameroon depend exclusively on milk production for their income. The overall decline in pastoral resources in the past decades has affected milk productivity, drawing attention and technical support from public and non-governmental partners. However, this did not lead to...