This paper was prepared as an initial scoping study for the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) Secretariat to provide the basis for developing a longer term programme of work to examine the transformations underway in West African agriculture, and the challenges faced by smallholder production systems. The following question...

This paper provides a micro-level foundation for discussions of land allocation and its relation to income poverty within the smallholder sectors of Eastern and Southern Africa. Results are drawn from nationally-representative household surveys between 1990 and 2000 in five countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Zambia. The paper shows that...

Contract farming, has in one form or another, been practiced since time immemorial and is a common feature of commercializing agriculture in developing countries as well as in developed countries. Its pre-eminence in developing countries is attributed to a response in the trend towards coordination of agricultural production and processing...

This Policy and Strategy Paper contributes to an on-going policy debate-within the Bank but also with its client governments-about the role of tree crops in various production systems, and as key commodities in the trade portfolio of various African nations. It attempts to answer the following questions: a) What is...

This journal article from Leisa Magazine illustrates examples of Conservation Agriculture in Africa. Considerable efforts have been made in Africa to try to arrest the tendency towards soil degradation, loss of fertility and frequently declining yields. These have focused on better ways to conserve soil moisture, to prevent soil loss,...

This paper searches for the most effective technology for agricultural growth in Africa on the basis of FAO data available during the last forty years. The paper discusses the challenges for agricultural growth and evaluates the development assistance that was made by donors to the agricultural sector in Africa in...

In the winter of October 1999, as part of a programme of ICSF, three persons converged on the Treasure Guest House in Accra, Ghana. They came from three very distinct parts of the world, each bringing along a different baggage of culture and upbringing. What they shared, however, was a...

The rising world population is increasing the pressure on agriculture to produce more food. This is more so for the African continent, where it is not just about food supply, but also a critical factor in economic development, poverty alleviation and improving living standards especially in rural areas. On the...

Fisheries, and in particular, the artisanal fisheries sector, is a vital source of livelihood for the communities that live along the approximately 4,545 km long coastline of West Africa. There are around 1.8 Million people, mostly women, directly engaged in processing and marketing fish in the region. Nonetheless, despite the...

Pour les populations qui vivent sur les cotes d'Afrique de I'Ouest, longues de 4545km, la peche, tout particulierement la peche artisanale, est une activite vitale. Envirom 1.8 million de personnes, surtout des femmes, transforment et vendent le poisson. Ce secteur dynamique est toutefois confronte a de nombreux problems et les...

A long-standing demand of the women of fishing communities in the region has been towards enhancing regional fish trade. It is against this background that the Workshop on Problems and Prospects for Developing  Artisanal Fish Trade in West Africa was organized from 30 May to 1 June 2001,  followed by...

The first half of the twentieth century witnessed profound changes in smallholder agriculture in many parts of Africa. There was a rapid spread of exotic staple food crops such as maize, cassava and sweet potatoes. In many cases the adoption of these crops led to increases in productivity as they...

The paper traces the historical emergence of subsistence farming as stemming from the colonial period when a more commercial agriculture was replaced by an export-oriented agricultural trade in introduced crops, such as coffee and tea, whose production and marketing was restricted to colonial farmers. The paper goes on to lay...

This video provides an overview of the issues involved, and highlights many of the concerns of the actors in the sector. It also reports briefly on the workshop on Problems and Prospects for Developing Artisanal Fish Trade in West Africa and the West African Fair for Artisanally Processed Fish held...

An estimated 500 million small farmers – men and women – produce most of the developing world’s food. Yet their families suffer more hunger than even the urban poor, have higher rates of poverty and enjoy less access to basic social services. Meeting international commitments to halve hunger and poverty...

This report is a review of irrigation technologies for smallholders in the context of improving rural livelihoods, especially in regard to the prospects for sub-Saharan Africa. The role of traditional technologies is evaluated and modern water distribution technologies, such as sprinkler and trickle irrigation, are reviewed. Low-cost irrigation systems, including...

Smallholder irrigation development has shown throughout the developing world that it can be used as a key drought mitigation measure and as a vehicle for the long-term agricultural and macro-economic development of a country. Successful smallholder irrigation schemes can result in increased productivity, improved incomes and nutrition, employment creation, food...

In this issue, we conclude with the last two presentations of our local partners with a description of CREDIF, covering North Africa, and of POSDEV, covering a number of countries in West Africa. Ruth Ochieng, from Isis-WICCE in Uganda, presents the work undertaken by her organisation, which strives to empower...

In the present issue, a large proportion of the columns will be been devoted to the Reflection and Self-Evaluation Workshop held in Brussels on 16-18 October with the partners of the Dimitra Project. We hand over to the partners, who have drawn up two documents on the proceedings of the...

In South Africa the racial and agricultural policies aimed at national food self-sufficiency created an agricultural structure dominated by large, mechanised farms that are owned and operated by a small number of individuals or companies. New agricultural policy should therefore focus more on peasant farming in the subsistence sector in...