Many rural development initiatives attempt to improve the lives of family farmers. Some succeed, some fail – but all of them can offer valuable lessons for the future. In a two-phased documentation workshop, farmers, field workers and other experts working in IFAD-funded projects in Swaziland described, analysed and wrote down...

La Coordination Togolaise des Organisations Paysannes et de Producteurs Agricoles (CTOP) qui a mis en place le Projet d’appui au développement agricole au Togo (PADAT), a effectué une visite d’échange et d’étude au Sénégal, sur les services économiques aux organisations de producteurs, du 7 au 16 mai 2014. Cet article rend compte...

Le présent document porte sur l’analyse des défis de l’Agriculture familiale en Côte d’Ivoire, la proposition de mesures politiques en vue de soutenir les systèmes alimentaires auxquels elle donne vie, ainsi que les engagements des acteurs de la société civile, les organisations de producteurs en première ligne, pour contribuer à...

Since 1999, the Statistics, Research, and Information Directorate (SRID) of Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) has been collecting data and administering surveys using a Multi-Round Annual Crop and Livestock Survey (MRACLS) system to inform agricultural policy formulation and implementation. MRACLS provides information on agricultural production by giving estimates...

The study noted that, small-scale farmers are placed at the centre of almost all agricultural policies and strategies, ranging from the Vision 2025 to the National Strategy for economic Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP) or in Kiswahili, MKUKUTA and individual policies and projects. Statements such a ensuring food self-sufficiency...

This video shows how members of Arbale Pastoral Field School in Borana Zone, Southern Ethiopia are applying knowledge gained to implementing community managed disaster risk reduction action plans for the protection of vast areas of communal grazing lands.

Our farmers are entrepreneurs, just like their counterparts in the telecoms industry. Yet they face even greater risks in getting their goods to market. This is particularly true of our smallholder farmers, most of them women, who cultivate plots about the size of a football field or two. She typically...

In the east of Swaziland, a community has been able to raise themselves out of poverty thanks to the 'insect of hope'. Keeping bees has transformed their lives, giving them decent livelihoods and also teaching them quite a few lessons about unity and cooperation.  

Le manque d'accès au financement est un frein majeur à un développement équitable de l'innovation en agriculture. En s'appuyant sur l'exemple des cultures en semis direct sous couverture végétale (SCV) à Madagascar, la communication montre que les marchés financiers ruraux ne répondent pas spontanément aux besoins de financement des innovateurs...

Smallholder farmers in developing countries play a key role in meeting the future food demands of a growing and increasingly rich and urbanized population. However, smallholders are not a homogeneous group that should be supported at all costs. Whereas some smallholder farmers have the potential to undertake profitable commercial activities...

WFP’s current gender policy, which explicitly reaffirms WFP’s commitment to creating an enabling environment for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment to support partner countries in addressing food and nutrition challenges sustainably.Literature review and empirical research conducted by ALINe on behalf of WFP between January and August 2011, which examined...

This publication, Organic Agriculture: African Experiences in Resilience and Sustainability, demonstrates that organic management can benefit people, the economy and ecosystems and that this can be achieved in Africa, where hunger and degradation stubbornly persist, despite decades of development efforts.The work presented in this volume stems from the conference on...

Black Gold: the Secrets of Compost was filmed on location in Swaziland, and is the first in the Living Classroom series. The Living Classroom is the result of GardenAfrica’s training programmes that have been successfully developed and implemented over the past ten years with sustainable agriculture & permaculture specialists. It was built...

Many rural development initiatives attempt to improve the lives of small-scale farmers. Some succeed, some fail – but all of them can offer valuable lessons for the future. In a two-phased documentation workshop, a group of experts working in IFAD-funded projects in Ethiopia described, analysed and wrote down some of...

L’objectif principal de cette étude était d’analyser le fonctionnement et d’estimer la rentabilité de la filière villageoise d’huile de palme brute dans la région de la Sanaga-Maritime  du Cameroun. Il ressort de l’étude que la filière villageoise d’huile de palme est constituée de trois types de planteurs : les petits...

Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara is becoming increasingly risky due to extreme climate variability. In recent times, scientific studies have strongly suggested that many developing countries face substantial environmental and social challenges, with food insecurity high on the list (Vogel and O’Brien 2003). With a relatively large and...

To meet the needs of a growing global population that is projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, agricultural production must increase significantly. As such, agriculture and rural development will continue to play a critical role in alleviating poverty and malnutrition. This brochure highlights some of the key collaborations between IFPRI...

The climate of Uganda is regarded as its most valuable natural resource, and a major determinant of other natural resources, such as water, forests, and wildlife, as well as human activities based on these resources, such as agriculture and ecotourism (Republic of Uganda, MWE 2007). Together these resources provide the...

This issue of Baobab ushers in 2014, the UN proclaimed Year of Family Farming. Agricultural production, conservation of biodiversity, resilience of rural communities and preservation of culture are part and parcel of stronger family farming. This issue emphasises the importance of diverse family farming across Africa, provides practical examples that...

Au Cameroun, la diffusion du maïs s’est accélérée en réponse à une demande croissante. Son extension dans les zones rurales concourt à améliorer la sécurité alimentaire via la diversification des revenus et l'accroissement des disponibilités alimentaires. Afin d'accroître les rendements, des hybrides ont été produites par la recherche agricole. Les auteurs...