In Ghana 70 per cent of the population are smallholder farmers who depend on the land for their basic needs. Growing competition for this resource is having significant impacts on rural livelihoods and governance as land changes hands. This study highlights the key drivers of pressure on rural land and...

Lydia Kamba, from Kabiru village, Turima Tweru, Ngondi, Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya, started practicing conservation agriculture in 2015. Increased incomes from agriculture activities have helped building their house and paying school fees.Since the start of the FAO program in 2015 in Kenya, more than 26,000 farmers adopted conservation agriculture in...

Ghana’s work to promote the legal timber trade, in partnership with the European Union (EU), strongly emphasizes involving local communities who live in or near forests. Yet many farmers and communities don’t understand their rights, which means that illegal activity by loggers has gone unchecked in Ghana’s off-reserve forests. The...

African food systems are undergoing profound changes. Natural resources are being commercialised, corporations have growing influence in the production, processing and retailing of food, and food value chains are becoming increasingly concentrated.

The RBA Project is jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Funded by the Government of Switzerland, the Project seeks to improve food security and income-generating opportunities through the reduction of...

This project is supported by the Norwegian Aid for Development (NORAD) through the Southern Africa Confederation for Agriculture Unions (SACAU), in 6 districts of Zimbabwe. The program makes use of 50 school based young farmers clubs as community development agents and nucleus's for promoting adaptation, and mitigation of climate change...

Forest cover in sub-Saharan Africa declined by nearly 10 per cent between 2000 and 2010. Of this loss, 75 per cent was caused by the conversion of forest to agriculture, largely for food production to serve rapidly growing domestic food demand. Focusing on Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania, this study examines...

This is a story about Ruth Stephen Chileshe who lives in a remote rural farming community outside the northern capital of Kasama. For the past few years, farmers and villagers have battled extreme poverty and malnutrition due to low crop yields brought about by difficulties in tilling the land, depleted soils and...

The RBA Project is jointly implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Funded by the Government of Switzerland, the Project seeks to improve food security and income-generating opportunities through the reduction of...

In Zambia, FAO has stepped up its efforts to promote sustainable innovative practices and principles of agricultural production and post-production processes. One of the main factors driving this initiative is integrated programming. Winston is one of over 20 000 contact farmers in (Zambia) who were selected and equipped with Conservation...

Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in the Sahel whose economy is highly dominated by agriculture and livestock husbandry, with more than 70% of the population living in rural areas. The prevailing farming system is smallholder agriculture based on cereal production, especially sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) and pearl millet...

This report explores whether farm assets determine the participation of smallholder dairy farmers in sales to MCCs and how their duration as MCC suppliers affects their accumulation of farm capital and technology. A survival analysis approach used constructed panel data for dairy farmers over a 12-year period. Participation in MCC...

En Afrique centrale, pour de nombreuses familles rurales, la chasse constitue une source de nourriture souvent primordiale et la vente des excédents de gibier, une source complémentaire de revenus monétaires. Cependant, avec l’accroissement démographique soutenu, la demande en viandes par les pôles de consommation (villages, villes secondaires, métropoles) augmente progressivement,...

Whether or not investments in African agriculture can generate quality employment at scale, avoid dispossessing local people of their land, promote diversified and sustainable livelihoods, and catalyse more vibrant local economies depends on what farming model is pursued. In this Forum, we build on recent scholarship by discussing the key...

FAO Regional Office for Africa's Newsletter highlights some relevant news stories, articles, and feature stories across the region, subregions and at countries of Africa. The RAF Newsletter is a good platform resource for knowledge and information sharing. This edition which covers the period of January to June 2017 takes into...

Mozambique has a population of about 25 million people. Most live in rural areas and rely on farming for all or part of their household income. Located on Africa’s south-eastern seaboard, the country encompasses biodiversity sites of great significance. Today agriculture is said to account for 25% of Mozambique’s gross domestic...

In Mali, agriculture is the main source of employment. Over 80% of the population is engaged in agriculture that is mostly carried out by small farmers with income of less than US$1 per day. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an important cereal grain used as food and animal fodder...

Access to land is at the heart of rural livelihoods. In sub-Saharan Africa, the pace and scale at which land is changing hands are increasing fast. Understanding these changes in land access is crucial if the systems of land governance, the practices of companies and organisations, and the initiatives seeking...

This technology describes the introduction of improved cattle breeds in Uganda. The improved breeds are more productive and resistant to diseases and are managed applying the zero grazing production system, a type of production system where the animals are kept in an enclosure to control input use and to reduce...

Dr Tamara Kaunda, 27, a medical doctor who studied in China, made a fairly dramatic career change when she switched from medicine to the farming of seedlings.