This report presents the impact and lessons learned from the Andhra Pradesh Drought Adaptation Initiative (APDAI). The APDAI was implemented as a package of pilot activities in two dryland districts in Andhra Pradesh (Anantapur and Mahbubnagar) with the aim of developing and testing approaches for natural resource-based economic activities to better respond to current climate variability and long-term consequences of climate change. The report discusses how innovations are being scaled up through integration into regular government programs for greater outreach.
The objective of this Guide is to recommend a process and set of steps for an organization to prepare, establish and to develop effective Water Users Associations (WUA) suitable to Tajikistan. It summarizes lessons learned in Tajikistan, by two donor finance projects, which established and trained 97 WUAs. Establishment of WUAs is essential in order to solve existing problems in the irrigation sector and other challenges faced by farmers and other water users3 .
Smallholder farmers the world over like to raise cattle if they can and those in Lao PDR are no exception. “Cattle are our savings bank,” says Mr Phokham Keomanivong, a member of the Ban Keun cattle production group. “If you need money for an emergency or a special event like a wedding or a funeral, you can always sell a cow. “As much as they love their traditions, Ban Keun farmers see the need to change their practices, and the CDAIS project is helping them do just that.
“I have seen my income grow since I started farming frogs and fish” says Bounlium Planethavong, “but other farmers need support to adopt the techniques I use.” The CDAIS project identified this innovation that increases and diversifies household income and nutrition by promoting the production of aquatic protein sources.
Though Odisha is India’s top sweetpotato-producing state, most farmers grow low-yielding varieties of limited nutritional value. The Odisha Directorate of Horticulture and the International Potato Center (CIP) spent four years promoting improved varieties and good agricultural practices in four districts of Odisha, resulting in a 25 per cent growth in the area dedicated to the crop, a 17 per cent increase in farm productivity, and a 40 per cent increase in farmer incomes within the project areas; as well as the introduction of a nutritious, orange-fleshed sweetpotato variety.
Capacity building for integrating gender in research and development (R&D) on agricultural innovations often remains with organizing single gender training. Alternatively, it is often limited to hiring a gender specialist to allocate a small amount of her/his time to the project. This has proofed to be ineffective and a heavy burden for gender specialists. This success story presents an innovative approach to capacity development, which successfully changed agricultural researchers’ attitude to gender in Southeast Asia, with a specific focus in Vietnam.
Agriculture plays an important role in the economy of Pakistan and it is not possible to realize sustainable biological yields without following sustainable agricultural extension. However, these extension activities are not making significant impacts on crop yields and have not been able to help farmers realize sustainable biological yields and elevated rural livelihoods. The purpose of this study is to ascertain the perceptions of the farmers about the extension services. A survey study was conducted in the Peshawar district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province - Northern Pakistan.
This Working Paper summarizes the key activities and achievements of the HSAD-Iraq program Harmonized Support for Agriculture Development 2013-2014. It was compiled from reports and technical information documenting project work in sites in Southern, Central and Northern Iraq. The main topics covered by the training courses were: Integrated Pest Management; Water Management; Biotechnology; Information and Communication Technology; Capacity Building; Livestock Management and Tools & Technologies
The purpose of this study is to develop a robust, rigorous and replicable methodology that is flexible to data limitations and spatially prioritizes the vulnerability of agriculture and rural livelihoods to climate change. The methodology was applied in Vietnam, Uganda and Nicaragua, three contrasting developing countries that are particularly threatened by climate change. We conceptualize vulnerability to climate change following the widely adopted combination of sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity.
The study first identified fully efficient farmers and then estimated technical efficiency of inefficient farmers, identifying their determinants by applying a Zero Inefficiency Stochastic Frontier Model (ZISFM) on a sample of 300 rice farmers from central-northern Thailand. Next, the study developed scenarios of potential production increase and resource conservation if technical inefficiency was eliminated. Results revealed that 13% of the sampled farmers were fully efficient, thereby justifying the use of our approach.