Within the context of the European-funded JOLISAA FP7 project (JOint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), several agricultural innovation experiences focused on smallholders were assessed in Benin, Kenya and South Africa. Fifty-six cases were characterised through review of grey literature and interviews with resource persons according to a common analytical framework inspired by the innovation systems perspective. Of these, 13 were assessed in greater depth through semistructured interviews, focus-group discussions and multistakeholder workshops.
in the context of the EU-funded JOLISAA (JOint Learning in Innovation Systems in African Agriculture) project, four local innovation processes involving smallholders in Benin were selected for in-depth assessment: innovation in hwedo agrofishing, integrated soil fertility management (ISFM), rice parboiling and soy value chains. Stakeholders directly involved in the innovation process were interviewed.
This paper draws on data collected during 12 months of fieldwork in Northern Ghana. The fieldwork researched two communities in two districts of Northern Ghana and three Agricultural Development Agencies (ADA); Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and World Vision Ghana (WVG). Data collection was achieved through formal surveys, Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and observations. A total of 120 individual interviews were conducted for the formal survey guided by the questionnaire.
In this paper administrative datasets are utilised to study farms that have converted to organic beef production in Ireland, to draw lessons for future CAP scheme design. The analysis confirms anecdotal evidence in relation to a leakage of animals from the organic to the non-organic (conventional) beef sector. As a result of this differential response across the value chain, there is sub-optimal production of organic meat relative to the investment in incentives for conversion from non-organic to organic production.
This paper examines some issues related to the production and marketing of kiwi in Arunachal Pradesh, the largest producer of kiwis in India. It contributes 56.5% of the total 8.5 thousand tons of kiwis produced in the country. India imports 75% of its domestic demand for fresh kiwis and, therefore, there is huge scope to upscale kiwi production in north-eastern states in general and Arunachal Pradesh in particular.
This paper analyzes the operational constraints experienced by the different actors in the rice value chain in Myanmar. Both primary and secondary data on the rice value chain in Ayeyarwaddy Region, the main rice-growing area in Myanmar, were collected. The actors in the region suffer from constraints in material input, production, financial, distributional, and institutional. This study examines the actors’ profitability, together with their sociodemographic and operational characteristics, to provide proper policy guidelines to address constraints
The paper specifically proposes a framework to detect and quantify non-linear consequences in response to progressively deteriorating chain fragility factors. The paper’s approach is a novel alternative to the traditional value chain ‘risk assessment’.
The study analyzes the current state of Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) in Africa and presents its challenges and opportunities. A review of the ATVET in selected Sub-Saharan Africa countries shows that there are far too few training opportunities for young people and that often, the training offered does not match the needs of the private sector and of local administrations. ATVET trainings focus primarily on production skills and on producers themselves with
This paper analyzes the status of Pakistan’s agriculture in the world and quantifies the potential of improving productivity and quality of value chain at its different nodes. A great potential of expansion in the value chain of large number of agricultural commodities produced in Pakistan are observed. Just bringing the average crop yield levels at par to the world average yield can generate over US$11 billion additional revenues to the producers. Despite lower yield, majority of commodities have lower prices compared to the world average prices at the farmgate.
The study began with a review of literature on Malawi’s pigeon pea sector. Specifically, the literature review examined secondary material on pigeon pea production, trade (international and export market) and consumption/demand in Malawi. The literature review also included a quick analysis of secondary data on pigeon pea to understand trends in production, productivity, marketing, pricing, processing and consumption/demand.