This paper summarizes the deliberations at a meeting convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation held in Beijing in October 2015. Farm power and mechanization are agricultural production inputs that will be essential to raise the labor and land productivity required if Sustainable Development Goals 1 and 2 (ending...

Acting as a facilitator to enable debates and foster collaboration among a variety of actors in order to advance science, knowledge, public policies, programmes and experiences, FAO organized the International Symposium on Agroecology for Food Security and Nutrition in September 2014 in Rome, Italy. The Symposium was followed by three...

Although rice is highly nutritious, a lot of the quality is lost during processing. This results in poor-quality rice on the market, so consumers turn to imported rice. In this video you can learn about parboiling, a way to improve the quality of rice by treating the paddy with warm...

There are three major poverty divides in Ghana: rural-urban, northsouth, and between women and men. To meet these challenges, IFAD, the African Development Bank and the Government of Ghana are investing in rural northern Ghana to create viable economic opportunities – particularly for women – while improving market linkages with...

Farmers in northern Nigeria are changing the way they intercrop their sorghum and millet with cowpea. By planting both crops at higher densities and in separate rows, and by applying some organic and mineral fertilizer, they harvest more and reduce damage by the parasitic weed striga. It is one of...

Given that the population of the Sahel depends largely on rain-fed agriculture and transhumant livestock rearing, there is a growing concern about the future climate of the region as global warming may alter the availability of water resources. The lack of consensus on climate projections for West Africa results partly...

The 2016 Agriculture Status Report has as its main objective to: (i) highlight major trends in African agriculture, the drivers of those trends, and the emerging challenges that Africa’s food systems are facing in the 21st century; (ii) identify policies and programs that can support the movement of Africa’s farming...

Farmer groups and individuals in Burkina Faso explain the benefits and challenges of a low-cost drip irrigation system, and show how such a system is set up. A social innovation is included that relates to organic matter management.

This study assesses the short-term effects of large irrigation dams on household consumption in the northern part of Nigeria. Using two rounds of the Nigeria LSMS survey, we apply multinomial logit inverse probability weighting (MIPW) methods to construct matching samples across three different types of hydrological basins – dam basins,...

Dix ans après un précédent dossier sur le financement des exploitations familiales ouest-africaines, Inter-réseaux a décidé de consacrer de nouveau un numéro de sa revue Grain de sel à ce sujet. Passant en revue les différents moyens qu’ont les exploitations familiales pour accéder à des crédits aujourd’hui, ce numéro s’interroge...

In our last newsletter we announced plans by Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), IFOAM – Organics International, Ecological Organic Agriculture Initiative for Africa (EOA-I), and AfroNet to hold a conference on the changing food systems in Africa. The conference comes at a time when African states are beginning...

Agricultural Productivity in Africa: Trends, Patterns, and Determinants presents updated and new analyses of land, labor, and total productivity trends in African agriculture. It brings together analyses of a unique mix of data sources and evaluations of public policies and development projects to recommend ways to increase agricultural productivity in...

Cette fiche présente un modèle de ruche à barrettes fabriqué par la Plateforme des Apiculteurs des Cataractes (PLAAC), en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC). Vous y trouverez des schémas bien détaillés, des photos et conseils permettant à tous de se lancer dans des essais de fabrication de ce modèle de...

Compost is more powerful than manure. What is less known is that the micro-organisms in compost attack striga seeds in the soil. Compost also decreases the amount of striga that will sprout, and reduces its negative effect on cereal crops. Let us look at how farmers in northeast Mali make...

The Haller Foundation, a Kenya based sustainable agriculture best practice organisation is famous for its resource efficient, holistic approach to sanitation, agriculture and livelihoods development in rural communities. They have now broadened their scope to include urban poor and have been adapting state of the art sustainability to the urban...

In September 2015, countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This will shape their development programmes in a transformational way for the next 15 years. At the last FAO Regional Conference for Africa, held in Abidjan in April 2016, many delegates asked the organization to assist countries in their...

Driven by urbanisation and income growth, the West African food economy has radically changed over the past 60 years. The food economy, including all activities involved in producing food, from production to processing, transport and distribution totaled USD 178 billion in 2010, equal to 36% of the regional GDP. Forty...

About 60 million people across Southern Africa and the Horn, Central America, and the Pacific face worsening hunger and poverty due to droughts and crop failures in 2014/5 that have been exacerbated by the El Niño weather system in 2015/6. This number is likely to rise. This short report gives...

This article presents findings on the local economy impacts of seven African country SCT programmes evaluated as part of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) “From Protection to Production” (PtoP) project. The countries are Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The PtoP project has facilitated expansion of...

Les populations de Guélakh-Peulh sont exposées aux variabilités climatiques comme la plupart des milieux ruraux du Sahel et du Sénégal en particulier. Ce travail analyse l’évolution des paramètres climatologiques et identifie les stratégies d’adaptation de l’élevage des bovins aux variabilités climatiques dans le village de Guélakh-Peulh. L’étude du climat est...