The Sourcebook is the outcome of joint planning, continued interest in gender and agriculture, and concerted efforts by the World Bank, FAO, and IFAD. The purpose of the Sourcebook is to act as a guide for practitioners and technical staff inaddressing gender issues and integrating gender-responsive actions in the design and implementation of agricultural projects and programs. It speaks not with gender specialists on how to improve their skills but rather reaches out to technical experts to guide them in thinking through how to integrate gender dimensions into their operations.
The Farmer Field School (FFS) approach has been very successful and witnessed a strong expansion in many areas beyond crop production. Notwithstanding this success, the adoption of FFS in national extension often remains problematic and FFS activities have often been implemented in the margin of national institutions with strong reliance on donor funding. The creation of an enabling environment for institutional support is essential for expanding the effort, improving quality, and strengthening impact and continuity of the FFSs.
This paper draws lessons from selected country experiences of adaptation and innovation in pursuit of food security goals.
The purpose of this paper is to map some elements that can contribute to an IFAD strategy to stimulate and support pro-poor innovations. It is an initial or exploratory document that hopefully will add to an ongoing and necessary debate, and is not intended as a final position paper. The document is organized as follows.
This book summarizes the achievements as well as some of the challenges faced while implementing integrated systems research to support the sustainable development of smallholder farming in the uplands of the Mekong region.
These Proceedings report on the second International Conference of the Convergence of Sciences (CoS) programme in Elmina (2009). The first International Conference was four years earlier in the same location, where it was discussed how to follow up on the findings of the first CoS Programme phase (entitled CoS1 running from 2001 to 2006). The Conference was intended to introduce the focus on “innovation systems”, and how to enhance these systems for smallholder farmers’ development.
African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and help contribute to global food security. To achieve this Africa has to define agriculture as a force in economic growth by: advancing scientific and technological research; investing in infrastructure; fostering higher technical training; and creating regional markets.
La sécheresse qui sévit dans le Sahel depuis les années 1970 a fortement réduit les productions dans les principaux secteurs d’activités que sont la pêche, l’élevage et l’agriculture. Dans le Delta Intérieur du Niger au Mali (DIN), la pêche dont le développement est intimement lié aux fluctuations inter-saisonnières et interannuelles de la crue du fleuve Niger, est en crise. Les prises ont diminué de moitié, beaucoup de pêcheurs sont partis, certains ont adopté des pratiques non durables et les règles sociales subissent d’importantes modifications.
Le delta intérieur du Niger est une des régions de l’Afrique de l’Ouest les plus touchées par les attributions foncières à grande échelle : entre 400 000 et 770 000 hectares auraient ainsi été alloués sous la forme de concessions pouvant, dans certains cas, atteindre 100 000 hectares. Cet accaparement des terres a progressé à une vitesse record et renvoie à quantité de projets, disparates par le type des investisseurs impliqués et par les objectifs poursuivis.
Les populations rurales sédentaires de la commune de Hombori (Mali) pratiquent presque toutes la culture de mil associée au petit élevage non transhumant. Au-delà des contraintes environnementales d’une région semi-aride, le maintien de l’agro-élevage repose sur une double maitrise, des territoires et des ressources, l’une et l’autre ne pouvant se confondre.