This report is based on the main lessons and recommendations from three case studies analysing the strategies, aspirations and constraints of the various types of farmers living around the dams of Bagré (Burkina Faso), Sélingué (Mali) and Niandouba/Confluent (Senegal). The research, initiated by the Global Water Initiative (GWI) and funded by the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, aims to contribute to...

The video is describing the importance of family poultry production in particular for smallholders and how to consider influences of season and gender roles in promoting better husbandry and improved management practices. Examples are given how to prepare and design appropriate extension messages that are clear and could be easily...

L'agriculture itinérante reste un système de production partagé par une grande majorité de groupes ethnolinguistiques au Gabon. Elle s'exprime généralement dans un rayon de cinq kilomètres autour de l'unité de résidence. Au Gabon, cette zone est précisément celle destinée à accueillir depuis fin 2013 les premières forêts communautaires. Les préceptes...

 Smallholder farmers in rural Nigeria face farm labour shortages and the need to find ways of dealing with this problem is therefore apt for food security and socioeconomic improvement. In an attempt to deal with this problem, Nigerians rural farmers constitute themselves into farmers’ labour groups in other to meet...

Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have the potential to act as effective information dissemination channel that facilitates sustainable relationships between farmers and other stakeholders in agriculture sector. Past and on-going efforts in fostering dissemination of agricultural messages have not had the desired impacts of transforming the agricultural systems and impacting livelihoods....

Le développement agricole est un des fondements de l’économie gabonaise. Le PRODIAG est un des pilier de ce cadre stratégique et fait suite au Projet d'Appui au Développement de l'Agriculture Périurbaine mis en œuvre par l’IGAD (Institut Gabonais d’Appui au Développement), ces dernières années. Il vise à poursuivre les expérimentations...

Document de valorisation des acquis et principales recommandations d’une semaine d’animation et de débats sur les Agricultures Familiales à Madagascar, où la très grande majorité des exploitations agricoles sont familiales (près de 99% selon le recensement agricole de 2004/2005).

Amidst the increasing corporate investment in African farmland the term ‘inclusive business model’ has become a catchphrase touted as an opportunity for incorporating smallholder farmers alongside large-scale commercial farming projects. Inclusive business models require an enabling institutional and regulatory framework. Such frameworks now exist at the international level: the African...

The video explains the feed resources and feeding practices in the free range poultry production system. Suggestions are made for increasing the feeding opportunities of free range poultry and the importance of proper protein and fiber supply for preventing feather pecking is highlighted. Ensuring sufficient protein and fiber supply will...

Smallholder potato farmers in Uganda face many production and marketing challenges including limited access to markets and low surpluses for sale into the market. This study sought to underscore the factors that influence smallholder farmers’ decision to participate in the potato market and level of participation in such markets. Data...

This video shows some of the activities that FAO is implementing in the field to support rural communities in areas that are periodically affected by natural hazards in Southern Africa, mainly droughts, floods and cyclones. While these natural hazards will happen again in the future, and, as a result of...

This technology describes utilizing rooftop water harvesting facilities to increase the availability of water for domestic use and irrigation of backyard tomato gardens. This measure allows small-scale farmers to harvest rainwater from roofs and store it in tanks, ensuring tomato production also during the dry season, when it would be otherwise...

The video explains the feed resources and feeding practices of scavenged based poultry production system. The concept of the scavengeable feed resource is introduced and its assessment through estimation of the scavengeable feed resource inventory and the scavengeable feed resources harvest is explained. Suggestions are made for optimum use of...

Thanks to improved access to information and a powerful participatory communication approach, villagers in isolated communities across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Niger are making strides to improve gender equality and empower women. FAO Dimitra community listeners’ clubs are helping rural populations participate in the development of...

In sub-Saharan Africa, almost 239 million people face serious problems related to food security and nutrition. Family farming appears as an effective model that can provide solutions to overcome this challenge. During the African Regional Dialogue on Family Farming (6-7 November 2013, Cape Town, South Africa), participants identified specific actions...

What used to be considered wasteland – patches alongside roads, streams or between houses – has become a new food basket for cities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thanks to an FAO project that shows how urban and peri-urban horticulture can have a profoundly positive effect on national...

 Le Cameroun présente une grande diversité agroécologique, qui se traduit par une grande variété d'espèces végétales cultivées et de pratiques. L'agriculture est majoritairement familiale. Cette étude a été menée dans deux sites au Cameroun, l'une dans la région de l'Est dans les villages de Mindourou, Ampel et Medjoh en pleine...

Raised wire-mesh racks, covered with small, silver lake fish drying in the sun, stretch across the Burundi shore of Lake Tanganyika near the small fishing village of Mvugo. While simple in design, these drying racks have made an enormous contribution both to local nutrition and the local economy. Before the...

The Platform for Agricultural Risk Management (PARM) is an initiative focused on making risk management an integral part of policy planning and implementation in the agricultural sector in developing countries. The overall objective of PARM is to contribute to sustainable agricultural growth, reduce food insecurity, and improve livelihoods of rural and...

This paper describes why small-scale food producers have so many difficulties to get to markets, delineates types of agricultural markets and main players, defines main challenges and constraints that small-scale food producers face in relation to food production and access to markets, shows cases of good practices and presents solutions...