Natural resource management practices, such as the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), have been proposed to tackle agricultural challenges such as decreasing productivity growth and environmental degradation. Yet, the benefits of system technologies for farmers are often debated. Impacts seem to be context-specific, which is especially relevant in the small farm sector with its large degree of agroecological and socioeconomic heterogeneity. This was not always considered in previous research.
The recent proliferation of mobile phones in rural Africa has also led to increased interest in mobile financial services (MFS), such as mobile money and mobile banking. Such services are often portrayed as promising tools to improve agricultural finance, especially among smallholders who are typically underserved by traditional banks. However, empirical evidence on the actual use of MFS for agricultural activities is thin. Here, we use nationally representative data from Kenya to analyze the use of mobile payments, mobile savings, and mobile credit among the farming population.
Potato is the third most widely-cultivated food crop in the world and one of the most profitable food crops. Therefore, it allows producers to improve their living conditions with
This paper discusses external influences on innovation platforms (IPs) and the options for effective responses. The platforms examined in this paper were conceived as vehicles for facilitating institutional change in support of innovation that benefits smallholders, in selected agro-enterprise domains in Benin, Ghana and Mali. They were designed and implemented in a manner that enabled experimentation with processes of change in the selected domains.
La présente note a pour objet de donner des éléments aux décideurs, au niveau national, pour leur permettre de procéder à des évaluations et de prendre les mesures voulues concernant la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition face au changement climatique. Elle comprend des informations générales sur l’effet que le changement climatique et la variabilité du climat ont sur les secteurs de l’agriculture et la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition et sur la façon dont ces secteurs et les habitudes alimentaires contribuent aux émissions de gaz à effet de serre.
L’objectif de cette note d’orientation est d’aider les chargés des politiques et les autres parties prenantes à favoriser un dialogue propre à renforcer l’attention portée à la sécurité alimentaire et à la nutrition dans les politiques en matière d’égalité des sexes.
Indicator-based tools are widely used for the assessment of farm sustainability, but analysts still face methodological and conceptual issues, including data availability, the complexity of the concept of sustainability and the heterogeneity of agricultural systems. This study contributes to this debate through the illustration of a procedure for farm sustainability assessment focussed on the case study of the South Milan Agricultural Park, Italy. The application is based on a set of environmental, social and economic indicators retrieved from the literature review.
Comment concilier un développement agricole durable avec la lutte contre le changement climatique et la préservation de la biodiversité ? Pour relever un tel défi, les décideurs politiques, techniques et socio-économiques ont désormais accès à des informations environnementales précises et précieuses. Il s’agit notamment des images satellitaires et des données environnementales produites à partir de ces images.
Despite substantial research on the economic effects of transgenic insect-resistant Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton, there is still limited work on this technology’s impacts on human health. Due to the inbuilt insect resistance, Bt cotton requires fewer pesticide sprays than conventional cotton, which is not only advantageous from economic and environmental perspectives, but may also result in health benefits for farmers.
Classical innovation adoption models implicitly assume homogenous information flow across farmers, which is often not realistic. As a result, selection bias in adoption parameters may occur. We focus on tissue culture (TC) banana technology that was introduced in Kenya more than 10 years ago. Up till now, adoption rates have remained relatively low.