Connecting science with policy has always been challenging for both scientists and policy makers. In Ghana, Mali and Senegal, multi-stakeholder national science-policy dialogue platforms on climate-smart agriculture (CSA) were setup to use scientificevidence to create awareness of climate change impacts on agriculture andadvocate for the mainstreaming of climate change and CSA into agriculturaldevelopment plans.
Following the food price crisis in 2008, African governments implemented policies aiming at crowding in investment in rice value chain upgrading to help domestic rice compete with imports. This study assess the state of rice value chain upgrading in West Africa by reviewing evidence on rice millers’ investment in semi-industrial and industrial milling technologies, contract farming and vertical integration during the post-crisis period 2009–2019. We find that upgrading is more dynamic in countries with high rice production and import bills and limited comparative advantage in demand.
In Mali, agricultural activities such as seeding, harvesting, and irrigation play a significant role in productivity. These activities must be carried out appropriately and above all, at an appropriate time to achieve excellent performance. Unfortunately, most farmers are unaware of the impact of these activities on the yield of their crops. This study aims to help farmers and youth people wishing to gather information needed in the field of agriculture entrepreneurship through a mobile application (mobile app).
Le CCAFS Afrique de l’Ouest met en œuvre un projet de « développement de chaînes de valeur et paysage climato-intelligents pour accroitre la résilience des moyens de subsistance en Afrique de l’Ouest ».
Au Burkina Faso, le faible niveau de développement social et économique et sa population à grande majorité rurale rendent le pays très dépendant des ressources naturelles. Pour se nourrir, se loger et s’épanouir, les ressources naturelles sont directement prélevées et les terres sont de plus en plus mises en culture sous la pression démographique au détriment des espaces naturels. En effet, les ressources naturelles constituent le support de la plupart des activités de production.
This report is based on the outputs of a one week Exposure and Exchange Programme (EEP) in India hosted by the Self-employed Women’s Association (SEWA) with African women leaders of producer organizations from West and Central Africa. This report critically evaluates the SEWA model and draws conclusions relevant to African women producers organizations to better meet the challenges of raising Africa’s agricultural potential, improve incomes for small farmers, and ensure greater food security.
This report sets out the synthesis of work carried out within the framework of the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) Secretariat Initiative on “The family economy and agricultural innovation: towards new partnerships”. The initiative aimed to stimulate analyses, collect field data and case studies that encourage debates between regional actors, with a view to informing the development of regional policies and actions in order to promote and strengthen producer access to agricultural innovation, where most producers are anchored in the family economy.
In 2011, ICRISAT and Agro-Insight made 10 farmer-to-farmer videos on the control of striga, a parasitic weed endemic to sub-Saharan Africa. As the weed can destroy entire cereal crops, particularly on poor soils, both striga and soil fertility management need to be tackled together, hence the need to develop this comprehensive “Fighting Striga” series. The videos have been translated into 21 languages and over 50,000 copies of the “Fighting Striga” DVD have been printed, with all 10 videos on it.
Since 2012, hundreds of organisations across West Africa have shown a series of ten videos on Fighting striga and improving soil fertility to farmer groups and rural communities. This paper asks if a village would change its social structure just because they watched these videos? Field research in Mali revealed that the answer is yes, sometimes, especially if they watched the videos in groups and saw other farmers in the videos doing group activities.
In Ethiopia, village surveys were conducted in six villages and two expert workshops were organized to discuss the organization of the study and to evaluate the draft results. Based on household surveys, focus group discussions, and institutional stakeholder interviews, we assessed household vulnerability, analyzed the strategies households adopt to reduce the hazards faced, and evaluated the assistance households receive from institutions. Vulnerability profiles were formulated, which show that household vulnerability differs substantially among and within villages.