Le secteur agricole joue un rôle primordial au sein de la Communauté économique des États d’Afrique de l’Ouest (CEDEAO). En tant que pilier de l’économie, il touche à la vie de la société à plusieurs niveaux, dans la mesure où les économies nationales et les emplois, les revenus et la sécurité alimentaire des populations en dépendent.
Written employment contracts may improve the conditions of agricultural workers in developing countries, but farmers as employers often prefer less formal oral arrangements. We evaluate whether farmers’ preferences, which are deeply rooted in traditional norms, can be influenced through a group awareness campaign. In a randomised experiment in Côte d’Ivoire, we show that such a campaign increases farmers’ preferences for written contracts and for contract features involving social benefits for workers.
On observe depuis une vingtaine d'années l'émergence de bassins de production maraîchère dans le Sahara algérien par la mobilisation des eaux souterraines profondes, en marge des oasis traditionnelles. Dans la vallée du Souf, les agriculteurs se sont orientés vers la culture de la pomme de terre, irriguée par des petits pivots artisanaux. L'objectif de l'article est d'analyser le processus d'innovation ayant permis l'émergence et la diffusion du pivot artisanal.
Agriculture faces an enormous global challenge of feeding nine billion people by 2050. This means a comprehensive intensification of agriculture is required. Ecological intensification is gaining momentum as a clearly defined vision for increasing agriculture productivity and sustainability. How ecological intensification could be tailored to benefit smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains the major question. In this study, we develop pathways relying on ecological intensification technologies and suiting different farm types of smallholder agriculture.
To determine whether a farmer’s accessibility predicts the delivery of extension services, this study used banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) disease-management advisory as a typical case with which to collect extension-delivery information from 690 farmers, distinguished by their respective accessibility. Cost–distance analysis was applied to define each farmer’s accessibility. The results revealed that a farmer’s accessibility does not predict extension delivery to that farmer in all forms of the examined extension parameters.
Though extension services have long since proved their value to agricultural production and farmer prosperity, their record in sub-Saharan Africa has been mixed. To study the impact of such programs on farmers' learning about agricultural technologies, we implemented a quasi-randomized controlled trial and collected detailed panel data among Malawian farmers. Based on those findings, we develop a two-stage learning framework, in which farmers formulate yield expectations before deciding on how much effort to invest in learning about these processes.
The national assessment of the agricultural innovation system (AIS) in Malawi was conducted using a framework of four types of analyses: functional, structural, capacity and enabling environment analysis. The approach included five case studies that addressed three methods including the use of indigenous methods for fall armyworm (FAW) control in Farmer Field Schools (FFS), livestock transfer programs, and a horticulture marketing innovation platform in Mzimba, Ntchisi, Balaka, and Thyolo districts.
If agro-ecological systems are to realize their potential as sustainable alter- natives to conventional agricultural systems, innovation diffusion needs to be enhanced. We conducted surveys among 214 small-scale vegetable farmers in Benin, a food-deficit country in West Africa, on how they perceived the different attributes of eco-friendly nets (EFNs). The nets act as physical barriers against insects in vegetable production and so reduce pesticide use. Understanding farmer perceptions about new technologies helps reveal farmers’ propensity to adopt them.
Monitoring animal performance is a challenge due to lack of systematic recording in the smallholder dairy sector in Malawi. A mobile recording system using short messaging service (SMS) was therefore trialled for data capturing and subsequent feedback provision to farmers following analyses and interpretation. This study aimed at drawing lessons regarding use of SMS recording system among dairy farmers. Of the 210 participants, 85% were farmers and 25% were other dairy value chain players.
Xanthomonas Wilt of Banana (BXW) is a complex problem in the African Great Lakes Region that is affecting the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers. Since the first disease reports from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001, BXW has been studied widely. The majority of these studies focus on the technological or biophysical dimensions, while aspects and influence of socio-cultural, economic and institutional dimensions only recently started to gain attention.