While Bangladesh is more advanced in terms of agricultural mechanization, Ethiopia and Kenya can repeat the same success. Indeed, Ethiopia is one step ahead of Bangladesh in that it has developed an agricultural mechanization strategy – something Bangladesh has not done. This strategy is now being used to address the...

In the context of increasing vulnerability to climate change for people dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods, the International Food Policy Research Institute and partner organizations in Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, and Bangladesh undertook a project broadly aiming to create knowledge that will help policymakers and development agencies to strengthen...

Formal organic agriculture (OA) in Kenya dates back to the early 1980s when the first pioneer organic training institutions were established. Major pioneers being driven by the belief that OA system is the best in solving the rural and smallholder problems of food insecurity & soil degradation. The organic sub-sector...

In drought-ridden Samburu county, support programmes are helping women to provide for their families and build communities’ resilience to climate change

À l’instar des milliers de paysans pauvres qui vivent sur le versant est du mont Kenya, Christine était tributaire de la pluie pour irriguer ses cultures. Aujourd’hui, elle dispose de l’eau courante. Comment ce changement a-t-il été possible?

The value chain for macadamia is generally short, covering farmers at the primary end of the chain most of whom are smallholder farmers. Also in the value chain are cooperative societies or producer groups, brokers, and local processing companies. At the other end of the value chain are foreign wholesalers...

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic, viral, vector-borne disease representing a threat to human health, animal health and livestock production in Africa, the Near East and potentially, Europe and the rest of the world. Rift Valley fever primarily affects sheep, goats, cattle, camels, buffaloes, and antelopes. The majority of...

About two-thirds of the developing world’s 3 billion rural people live in about 475 million small farm households, working on land plots smaller than 2 hectares. Many are poor and food insecure and have limited access to markets and services. Their choices are constrained, but they farm their land and...

The countries of East and Southern Africa have made major commitments to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment, and they are starting to pay off. A number of countries have achieved substantial progress towards gender parity in primary school enrolment. Nearly all countries have adopted quota systems requiring women’s participation...

Beyond staple foods, agriculture needs a stronger focus on nutrient-dense foods (vegetables, fruits, legumes and animal source foods), suggesting the diversification of smallholder production, such as integrated farming systems. To understand the availability of agricultural biodiversity, working with partners that included the community members themselves, a farm inventory of cultivated and...

  Recently, we have seen unequivocal changes in policies that are transforming African agriculture to facilitate a ‘Green Revolution’. These policies articulate and promote a form of agriculture that focuses on monocropping, expensive external inputs such as agrochemicals and synthetic fertilizers, hybrid/GM seeds and large-scale land acquisition. These changes in policies...

The Kenya Sustainable Agriculture Land Management Project has helped small-holder farmers build smart agriculture skills. This in turn has led to higher crop yields, increased income and food security, and resilience to a changing climate. The project has been implemented with support from the Swedish nongovernmental organization, Vi Agroforestry, on...

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...

El Niño is a periodic climate phenomenon defined by anomalously warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central tropical Pacific Ocean which affect local weather worldwide and generally leads to increased drought risk at global level. In 2015, since July a strong El Niño is being observed with increasing...

The aim of the study was to estimate the technical and cost efficiencies of smallholder dairy farms in Kenya (Embu and Meru counties).The results indicated that optimization of farm efficiencies could increase milk yields while concurrently lowering its production cost. The study further provides evidence that any efforts towards reducing...

The Kagera River Basin in East Africa occupies a strategic position on the borders of four countries. Good management of the Kagera water flow regime is vital for maintaining the water levels of Like Victoria and outflow to the River Nile. More than 16 million people live here and depend...

Food Security New farming method, conservation agriculture taking root in parts of the country

This paper tries to respond the question of how to make agriculture and food systems more nutrition-sensitive. Many of the undernourished people in Africa and Asia are small-scale subsistence farmers. Diversifying production on these farms is often perceived as a promising strategy to improve dietary quality and diversity. This hypothesis is...

As the World Forestry Congress convenes in Durban, South Africa, forest producers should be embraced and inserted at the center of strategies to protect forests, and to ensure that the strategies benefit both local people and the global environment.

People who rely on natural resources for their livelihoods are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and are often limited in their capacity to adapt to the changes. Vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated when individuals’ asset base is limited or insecure. Because control over assets is highly...