The rise of new powers in development has generated much debate on the extent to which South–South Cooperation (SSC) constitutes a new paradigm of development more relevant to African needs or a disguise for a new form of imperialism. This paper critically examines the rise of Chinese and Brazilian technical and economic cooperation in African agriculture with two cases drawn from Ghana and Mozambique.
The paper explores the strength of social networks in the agricultural innovation systems (AISs) in Ghana and the effect of AISs on adoption of improved farm technology. The paper uses social network analysis (SNA) tools to identify, map and analyze the AISs and the two-stage Heckman selection model. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods allows testing the differential effects of social networks on technology adoption in the Ghananian Plantain Sector
This study aimed at conducting a semi-participatory assessment of simple biomass carbonization techniques and available feedstocks and measured the agronomic benefits for urban vegetable farmers in Tamale, Ghana, where urban horticulture is an important component of the local economy. The paper objectives were firstly to evaluate the potential of on-farm biochar production from crop residues and secondly to investigate the relevance of this technology to farmers’ economic realities
Over the last 10 years much has been written about the role of the private sector as part of a more widely-conceived notion of agricultural sector capacity for innovation and development. This paper discusses the emergence of a new class of private enterprise in East Africa that would seem to have an important role in efforts to tackle poverty reduction and food security. These organisations appear to occupy a niche that sits between mainstream for-profit enterprises and the developmental activities of government programmes, NGOs and development projects.
This training manual was developed for Africa RISING, a USAID funded research-for-development (R4D) program that recognizes gender mainstreaming as key for achieving its overall research and development objectives. The program is based on an integrated action research and farming-systems approach, and strives for gender transformation. A gender capacity assessment in 2015 identified a pronounced demand among Africa RISING scientists for training in gender analysis. As a first step towards addressing this need, an annotated bibliography with selected sources for self-learning was developed.
Food insecurity and the weak position of smallholders in food value chains are key challenges in many low- and middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In order to increase food security and make agricultural value chains more inclusive, donors, governments and researchers increasingly stimulate partnerships between multiple actors, in which knowledge exchange, joint learning and knowledge co-creation play a central role in reducing the time lag between research findings and their translation into practical outcomes.
In recent years, the agricultural industry has been experiencing an ever-increasing application of information and communication technologies globally. This new revolution has been touted to impact efficiency and productivity in the agricultural extension services within the agriculture sector. Notwithstanding this, empirical research need to be carried out amongst its users in the sector to ascertain these assertions.
Private sector actors bring expertise, resources, and new perspectives to agricultural development, but the tendency to short-term approaches and market-based orientation has been unable to drive a systemic change in the development agenda. We explore how multi-stakeholder dialogues can capitalize on and trickle systemic change through private sector involvement. Analysis from the farmer-led irrigation development multi-stakeholder dialogue space (FLI-MDS) in Ghana shows the need for a physical and institutional space to cater for and merge different stakeholder interests.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded the Assets and Market Access Innovation Lab (AMA IL) to advance knowledge and understanding of development approaches and technologies in order to increase rural households’ ability to acquire, protect, and effectively utilize productive assets. This evaluation assessed AMA IL’s overall program performance across five themes: research quality; outreach and dissemination; policy; capacity building; program management; and future directions.
The invasive pest, fall armyworm (FAW) was confirmed to be in Ghana in 2016. Stakeholders, including CABI, worked to support the development of a national FAW management plan. A review of the management plan implementation was undertaken using outcome harvesting, a Sprockler inquiry and key informant interviews. Results showed evidence of stakeholder collaboration, leading to increased public awareness of FAW and related management practices, and more coordinated research into low-risk management options.