The pilot projects of the Mitigation of climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) Programme of FAO in Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania have promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and have been integrated into ongoing development programmes. The objective of the pilot projects was to show that smallholder farmers can improve...

As countries design climate change adaptation policies, it is important to understand how workers alter behavior in response to changes in temperature. Nonetheless, the impact of temperature on labor markets is poorly documented, especially in Africa. We address this gap by analyzing panel surveys of labor choices by sector, contractual...

Aveuglée par une politique de libre-échange poussée à l'extrême, la Commission européenne s'apprête à imposer à plusieurs États africains, dans l'indifférence quasi-totale, des Accords de Partenariat Économique (APE) déséquilibrés par un rapport de force à l'avantage du continent européen. Malgré les mises en garde nombreuses et répétées sur les effets dramatiques...

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) provide farmers with an opportunity to experiment new technologies which help them to make informed decisions that eventually lead to increased production and income. This study aimed at assessing the role of FFS in adoption and adaptation of recommended rice production practices in Mvomero district in...

Participatory research approaches are widely being used for promoting the uptake of agricultural integrated innovations. The methods encourage greater knowledge sharing among farmers and give them more confidence in the technology being promoted which in turn brings about wide adoption of the technology in question. Therefore, understanding efficiency and effectiveness...

Farmers in Morogoro, Tanzania teach how to make compost in an organic and sustainable way. Camera & editing: Simon Egger

This policy brief discusses ways to scale up agroecological approaches and suggests actionable advice tailored for various stakeholders, including policy-makers, private sector, financial partners, research and development community and civil society. The brief focuses on how to design scaling up initiatives and provides success as well as failure stories.

The Government of Tanzania through the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development and livestock industry stakeholders developed a National Livestock Policy (NLP) of 2006 that availed opportunities and challenges for accelerating the growth and contribution of the livestock industry to poverty reduction and the national economy by making more optimal...

In Tanzania, most smallholder dairy farmers rely on on-farm resources for feeding their livestock. These on-farm feed resources include grasses, legumes, crop residues, cereals and oilseed byproducts. These feed resources, in particular pasture and crop residues, do often fluctuate seasonally both in terms of quantity and quality. For example, pasture...

The 88 page illustrated book showcases 15 case studies, showing how agroecology benefits Africa in terms of food and nutrition, livelihoods, restoration of biodiversity, knowledge and innovation, and climate change resilience. Leading experts in their fields explain how agroecology reforms food systems to promote better nutrition and health, especially among poor...

ASARECA and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are undertaking a joint initiative to explore innovative, spatial and cost-effective data collection methods to monitor the adoption and diffusion of agricultural technologies.  Simply put, the project: “Monitoring the Geospatial Diffusion of Agricultural Technologies”, is expected to generate data, knowledge and...

FAO Sub-Regional Office for East Africa and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) have signed a partnership agreement to coordinate cross-border efforts on animal health, trade and natural resources management coordination.  The programme will address community engagement on policy and investment as well as cross cutting areas of work such...

Small-scale irrigation is increasingly recognized as a key strategy for enhancing agricultural productivity and food security under growing climate uncertainty in Africa south of the Sahara. Rainfed production dominates the region, but governments and other stakeholders are increasing investments in irrigation. As these efforts are being rolled out, the gender...

This paper investigates the empirical linkages between production risk and technology adoption decisions among agricultural farmers in Tanzania and Uganda using a balanced household panel dataset from the World Bank’s LSMS-ISA project. Applying a moment based approach and a MundlakChamberlain IV fixed effects model to control for endogeneity and unobserved...

This book on Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement provides with valuable knowledge and information both at the global, regional, and national levels on the costs of land degradation and benefits of taking action against land degradation. A key advantage of this book is that it goes beyond the conventional...

The parasitic weed striga causes more damage to cereal crops in poor soils, so both problems have to be tackled together. In this video we will learn why it is important to combine at least three control methods to reduce striga and obtain a good yield of sorghum, millet, maize...

One of the major parasites is striga, a weed that sucks the juice and nutrients from cereal crops such as millet, sorghum and maize and causes great yield losses. A single striga plant can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds. The seeds are so tiny that most farmers do not...

The key issues that this volume addresses are innovations in organizational and institutional arrangements that have enabled the creation of local markets for sustainably farmed agricultural products or, rather, “institutional innovations”. Institutional innovations can be described as new rules and forms of interactions. They help redefine sustainable practices locally and...

In recent years, social protection has emerged worldwide as a major new focus in efforts to reduce poverty and vulnerability. Since the early 2000s, conditional and unconditional cash transfer programmes have gained significance as key elements of social safety nets throughout Africa. The UN-supported Social Protection Floor Initiative (SPF-I) has...

In the National Agriculture Policy of 2013, organic farming is described as a ‘window of opportunity’ that has the capacity to enhance both ‘national and farm incomes’. The policy makes reference to constraints to organic agriculture including high certification costs and weak regulation. Little is being done however, to follow...