The rapid transformation of agri-food value chains in Africa and other developing countries has important implications for economic growth and poverty reduction. Policy makers increasingly recognize this but there is a need for a better understanding of what value chain transformation entails and what the main policy options are. This paper provides an overview and analysis of different value chain models that have emerged in the past decades and reviews the literature on the main development implications.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of International Earth Day on April 22 2020, UNDP launched a new way of helping farmers: Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration for Systemic Change: A New Approach to Strengthening Farmer Support Systems, a guidance note which encourages and guides governments to develop new partnerships, enable innovation and strengt
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, young entrepreneurs in agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa were already facing a number of challenges. The main challenges include limited access to natural resources, finance, technology, knowledge and information, and insufficient participation in policy dialogues and other decision-making processes. The COVID-19 pandemic and its disruptions to agricultural value chains are presenting additional hurdles for these agripreneurs.
Mobile phone use is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, spurring a growing focus on mobile phones as tools to increase agricultural yields and incomes on smallholder farms. However, the research to date on this topic is mixed, with studies finding both positive and neutral associations between phones and yields. In this paper we examine perceptions about the impacts of mobile phones on agricultural productivity, and the relationships between mobile phone use and agricultural yield.
Rising demand for agricultural commodities coupled with population growth, climate change, declining soil fertility, environmental degradation and rural poverty in the developing world call for strategies to sustainably intensify agricultural production. Sustainable intensification refers to increasing production from the same area of land while reducing its negative environmental consequences.
In this webinar, the discussion focuses on the need to promote appropriate agricultural technologies and innovations that will help agribusinesses in Africa to be resilient in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic.
As climate change continues to drive food insecurity, addressing the risks of climate change across the value chain – especially agricultural products that are important to food and nutrition security – will yield significant adaptation benefits to vulnerable small producers and rural communities at large. This will support global efforts to end hunger and poverty, build more effective farming practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and accelerate the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement.
La maladie du covid-19 est devenue une pandémie qui a engendré une crise économique mondiale sans précédent. Cette crise a remis en cause la stabilité des équilibres assurant la sécurité alimentaire mondiale. Les modes de production et de consommation se trouvent aujourd’hui questionnés. Cette pandémie met en exergue les faiblesses et les inégalités existantes dans les systèmes de la santé ainsi que dans les systèmes agricoles et alimentaires.
Face à la crise mondiale causée par la pandémie de covid-19, les pays prennent des mesures.Les rayons des supermarchés restent approvisionnés pour le moment. Mais une crise pandémique prolongée pourrait rapidement mettre à mal les chaînes d’approvisionnement alimentaire, qui sont des réseaux complexes d’interactions entre exploitants, intrants agricoles, usines de transformation, services d’expédition, détaillants et bien d’autres.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a major economic shock, throwing into question the resilience of the agrifood sector at this stage, particularly in developing countries where self-employed, wage and informal workers are threatened by food supply chain disruptions, limitations on movement and trade restrictions. Even before the crisis, small and medium agribusinesses were often considered to be credit-constrained and extremely vulnerable to shocks.