To ensure food security, farmers must have access to quality seed, in adequate quantities. The government of Ethiopia acknowledges this, and has responded by investing in improving the seed sector. However, as this example shows, not all challenges can be overcome by technical training and new technologies alone. A large seed cooperative union was faced with a problem that affected its very existence. And the solution was not technical.
Results in Ethiopia show positive outcomes from CDAIS activities, proving the benefits of integrating functional capacity strengthening across individual, partnership, organisational and national levels. Common to all these levels are
Rwanda has benefited from ‘hard’ agricultural invest ment projects in the past two decades, promoted by a supportive and responsive government in collaboration with various donors and development actors. CDAIS looked to increase the impacts of such investments through strengthening ‘soft’ skills in three innovation niche partnerships surrounding significant public, private or donorfunded infrastructure developments, and linking this to organisational and national levels.
The CDAIS project, funded by the EU and jointly implemented by Agrinatura and FAO, enhances innovation in agriculture by improving the functional capacities of individuals, organizations and systems. It brings partners together and uses continuous learning cycles to address the challenges and opportunities in and around selected ‘innovation niche partnerships’ in eight pilot countries in Central America, Africa and Asia.
This webinar on Precision Agriculture for Smallholders was organized in 2020 by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in collaboration with the partners Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA), Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA, West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development (CORAF) and financial support of the European Union and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
Outlines of the presentation:
Providing farmers with essential agricultural information and training in the era of COVID-19 has been a challenge that has prompted a renewed interest in digital extension services. There is a distinct gender gap, however, between men’s and women’s access to, use of, and ability to benefit from information and communication technologies (ICTs).
The world’s population is likely to reach 9 billion by the middle of this century. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) believes that 60 per cent more food will be needed by 2050 to sustain all these people. Where possible, this food should be produced where it is needed – in developing countries.
La population mondiale atteindra probablement les neuf milliards de personnes d’ici le milieu du siècle. Selon les estimations de l’Organisation des Nations unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO), il faudrait augmenter la production alimentaire de 60 pour cent pour les nourrir. Ces produits alimentaires supplémentaires devraient dans l’idéal être produits là où ils sont censés être consommés, c’està-dire dans les pays en développement. Pour y parvenir, ces pays doivent augmenter sensiblement leur production.
Responding to global food crisis, such as imposed by climate change, requires resilient food systems that are able to respond to shocks. Resilience thinking, as an approach to agriculture development, focuses on enhancing the capacity of both the human and ecological systems inter alia. In this paper, the concept of resilience is approached from the perspective of socio-ecological systems dynamics. In particular, the study examined the contribution of farmers to research towards enhanced resilience of traditional African vegetable production systems in northern Ghana.
ICARDA scientists along with CGIAR LIVESTOCK developed a cloud-based genetic database platform to boost breed improvement programs in community-based livestock breeding programs in Ethiopia.