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Le changement climatique est une réalité au Mali, où la population et l’économie sont majoritairement dépendantes de l’agriculture, de l’élevage et de la pêche. Dans le cadre du changement climatique, le Mali sera confronté à une nette augmentation de la température moyenne de 2 o C en 2050 et 4 [...]

This report unpacks and explores farmer-managed seed systems and their contribution to food and seed sovereignty, including the benefits they provide to farming communities as a part of their sociocultural, economic, spiritual and ecological livelihoods. The report highlights, exposes and explores how these systems work. It builds on reports of [...]

In this module we will prepare the Farmer Field School (FFS) site and the plots of land on which we will do the fieldwork and testing of lines for the next season. The way we design the plots and allocate each of the lines that we sow should minimize the [...]

This manual provides instructions and background for the SD=HS Training of Trainers (ToT) courses. In these courses (which mostly take up around three weeks), trainers are prepared to facilitate a season of Farmer Field School activities on Participatory Plant Breeding. Topics include the organisation of a Farmer Field School, the [...]

The book systematizes experiences of hundreds of Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in Colombia, developed by FAO and other institutions, in multiple social projects to strengthen communities and family farming organizations. These efforts were aimed at promoting food security, self- consumption, livelihoods, social inclusion of ethnic groups, sustainable intensification [...]

In EDN 133 we described a cereal/legume intercropping strategy in which two rows of a cereal crop are alternated with four rows of a legume. This “2:4:2” planting sequence is an outcome of research done by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and national partners, with cowpea as the [...]

Recurrent drought, degraded rangelands and reduced access to traditional grazing lands have left pastoral communities in the Horn of Africa’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) more vulnerable and facing severe livestock feed shortages. During dry spells, pastoral communities suffer from food and nutrition insecurity, as well as shrinking incomes occasioned [...]

This handbook is a companion to Community seed banks: concept and practice: facilitator handbook by Ronnie Vernooy, Bhuwon Sthapit, and Guy Bessette (Bioversity International 2017). The three booklets making up this handbook were written and designed for rural producers who are interested in establishing, supporting, and managing a community seed [...]

This curriculum focuses on how to grow beans and other legumes for seed, since it is difficult to find a large selection of varieties available to plant that are good for the soil and eating. This guide also provides information on how to grow seed that can be sold through [...]

Key guidelines and advice on effectively and sustainably managing FAW include: Visit the field and look at the status of the crop: its health and signs of presence of the FAW. Farmers can take direct action by crushing egg masses and young larvae. FAW damage can look alarming, but maize plants have [...]