African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and help contribute to global food security. To achieve this Africa has to define agriculture as a force in economic growth by: advancing scientific and technological research; investing in infrastructure; fostering higher technical training; and creating regional markets.
This review studied a selection of projects from the Research Into Use (RIU) Africa portfolio: the Nyagatare maize platform in Rwanda; the cowpea platform in Kano state, Nigeria; the pork platform in Malawi, the Farm Input Promotions (FIPS) Best Bet in Kenya, and the Armyworm Best Bet in Kenya and Tanzania. For each of the selected projects, assessments were made on how it changed the capacity to innovate, the household level poverty impact, whether the intervention off ered value for money, and what were the main lessons learned.
This paper briefly reviews three conceptual frameworks: namely, the national agricultural research system (NARS), the agricultural knowledge and information system (AKIS) and the agricultural innovation system (AIS) concepts. Next, the paper reviews the definition of ‘innovation’ and proposes that agricultural innovation can occur at four different but interlinked domains.
LenCD has prepared a joint statement on results and capacity development (presented in this publication), which stresses that meaningful, sustainable results are premised on proper investments in capacity development and that these results materialize at different levels and at different times, along countries’ development trajectory. To provide evidence in support of this statement, LenCD launched a call for submission of stories.
This booklet contains fifteen short stories told by field staff of the 2SCALE project about their personal experiences on how their work impacted a particular person or group. The booklet results from a regional review and capitalisation workshop that was organised in Benin in March 2017 within the framework of the 2SCALE programme. 2SCALE (Towards Sustainable Clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship) is a major agribusiness incubator programme implemented since 2012, and is aimed at promoting inclusive agribusiness partnerships in nine African countries.
This study considers what lessons might be learned from the cassava value chain in the context of CTA’s interest in the potentials of: digital financial services for agriculture, such as mobile payments for farmers’ products; other payment streams for financial inclusion of farmer; index based insurance services; digital services to support access to loans and credits. This research provides a comprehensive market study of cash usage behavioural practices and financial literacy among cassava farmers in Ghana and Nigeria.
This publication contains the compilation of different innovations generated on the plantain commodities from various Innovation Platforms. Its gives a succinct description of the commodity, its agronomy, production techniques, production trends, the role of the commodity in food chain and other traditional uses. The uses of the commodities and data on nutritional content etc. it also explicate the production processing and marketing constraints that could be manipulated to ensure increase in productivity and income.
The term 'Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D),' first coined in 2003, acknowledges the complexity of the agricultural system and the need to bring together not only different related research disciplines but also multiple actors (private sector, public sector, producer organisation and policymakers) to find joint solutions to the challenges of agricultural innovation. The book is produced in response traces the evolution of the concept back to its roots in an impressive range of theories and approaches from diverse disciplines, such as constructivism, participatory acti
This study presents the results from a meso-inventory conducted in Kebbi State, Northern Nigeria between March and July 2018. Was explored the extent to which the farmed-fish value chain is transforming structurally and the roles of capture fishing versus farmed fish. Kebbi is one of Nigeria’s leading states for fish production. Though largely Sudan Savanna (in the north) and Northern Guinea savanna (in the south), and thus semi-arid tropics, there is still a lot of water and a lot of fish.
This report, drawing on a rapid desk-based review, seeks to outline the potential role of Afican Advisory Services (AAS) in addressing climate change and explores how far AAS in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are able to respond to climatic and other pressures. Recommendations are outlined, indicating how AFAAS can help AAS to understand climate change better and become more ‘adaptive’ in their responses