This paper characterizes the transition from small-scale farming and the drivers of farm size growth among medium- and large-scale farmers in Ghana. The research was designed to better understand the dynamics of change in Ghana’s farm structure and contribute to the debate on whether Africa should pursue a smallholder-based or...

Today more people live in cities than ever before, but we still depend on rural areas for our food. In the developing world, up to 80 per cent of food is produced on small farms that are usually family run. Yet it's also true that 70 per cent of the...

Intercropping or rotating cereal crops with legume crops are two of the strategies of integrated striga and soil fertility management. But keeping quality legume seed has two major challenges. First, the seed easily loses its ability to germinate. And second, we are not the only ones who love legumes. Let’s...

This research was designed to understand better the patterns of agricultural intensification and transformation occurring in Africa South of the Sahara using the Ghanaian case. The paper examines changes in farming systems and the role of various endogenous and exogenous factors in driving the conversion of arable lands to agricultural...

Fruit flies inject their eggs in fruit. A single fruit fly can lay hundreds of eggs, which turn into white worms that eat the inside of fruit. If no action is taken, fruit flies quickly increase in numbers and can destroy your entire crop. Always combine different methods: • Place...

One fruit fly can lay a few hundred eggs during her life. Fruit flies puncture the skin of fruit to lay their eggs, which cause the fruit to drop prematurely and rot. The worms that hatch from these eggs leave the spoilt fruit after one week and crawl into the...

It takes a few minutes for a fruit fly to find a suitable spot on the mango and inject her eggs under the skin of the fruit. But even in that short time, the weaver ants will have either chased her away or have captured her. Their scent also helps....

For decades, policymakers and development practitioners have debated benefits and threats of property rights formalization and private versus customary tenure systems. This paper provides insights into the challenges in understanding and empirically analyzing the relationship between tenure systems and agricultural investment, and formulates policy advice that can support land tenure...

Forest planning and policy making process in West Africa – and elsewhere in Africa for that matter – has largely been dominated by the State, with very little room for a meaningful participation of civil society. This state of affairs led to a management of forests and forest resources which...

The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition in Africa (NAFSN) launched in May 2012 under the auspices of the G8 aims to create the conditions that will allow the African countries concerned to improve agricultural productivity and develop their agrifood sector by attracting more private investment in agriculture. The...

Climate change is undermining the ability of African nations to feed themselves. Women smallholder producers are on the front line of dealing with the impacts, but are not first in line for international climate finance. Wealthy countries have committed to helping countries in Africa to adapt to climate change, but...

West African Agriculture is at a turning point. The combination of strong demand growth, sustained economic growth, higher global agricultural prices, and an improved policy environment has generated the most conducive conditions for Agricultural growth in over 30 years. West African countries and their Development Partners now clearly recognize the...

Le Ghana importe aujourd’hui plus d’un milliard de dollars de produits alimentaires, qui sont particulièrement sujets à des hausses de prix. Pour y remédier, on peut notamment investir dans des entrepreneurs locaux comme Janet Gyimah-Kessie. Elle possède une grande usine de transformation du manioc qui non seulement augmente la production...

This edition opens with a critical issue: the Ebola crisis and how Dimitra clubs are helping contain the threat of the epidemic in Senegal. The Dimitra approach not only allows to inform and raise awareness in rural communities, but above all ensures a space for communication, where everyone can express...

The debate about agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) has largely ignored the role of the capital service market in spreading the use of mechanical technologies. Yet, custom machinery hiring ser-vices have been essential for the widespread use and ownership of tractors and other agricultural machines in...

Ten years after the Economic Community of West African States launched its policy on food and agriculture, coordination remains a serious challenge. Several regional initiatives compete with each other at the political and the project levels, in a complex and fragmented institutional context. This paper is one of a series published...

This edition of Nature & Faune journal will be a special Issue to mark the International Year of Soils. It is planned to be issued during the Conference of the African Soil Society taking place in Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso from 2nd to 10th December 2015. The special edition of...

Value chain development is adopted widely as a private sector–led approach to agricultural development that can benefit smallholders. The objective of this research is to understand how development organizations are conceptualizing and developing agricultural value chains in Ghana to include smallholders. The study is based on case studies of five...

This One-Pager describes key findings of a four-year research project, From Protection to Production (PtoP), which analysed the impact of social cash transfer programmes in sub-Saharan Africa. The qualitative studies specifically explored impacts on household economic decision-making, the local economy and social networks. They also examined how the design and...

This special issue of Nature & Faune journal, with its exciting variety of papers dealing with issues related to sustainable soil management in Africa is an important contribution towards promoting sustainability on the continent.