The impressive performance of improved varieties of high-yielding, heat-tolerant wheat developed in Sudan has convinced Nigerian decision makers that a viable solution to their country’s growing dependence on wheat imports is domestic production – a policy shift that will protect Nigerians from the vagaries of global commodity markets and strengthen national food security. The brief describes this solution.
This brief summarizes a report on the first large survey of maize traders in Nigeria in the past several decades. The sample of about 1400 traders covered one state in the South and four in the North, with traders in city wholesale markets in the North (Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina) and South (Ibadan) and regional markets in secondary cities in the North.
This report synthesizes findings from seven country scoping studies on gender‐responsive approaches to rural advisory services (RAS) in Africa. The studies, which were conducted in Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Sudan, and Uganda, were meant to identify existing policies, programmes, approaches, and tools into which gender considerations had been injected, and then to provide them as RAS to farmers, with specific focus on women and youth. The goal was to propose a road map for mainstreaming RAS to promote sustainable agriculture in Africa
This document summarizes the insights of YPARD young professionals and their opinions on AIS. In particular, the document refers to the YPARD e-discussion, which was held in September 2012 and raised the concern of the impact of the global economic recession and climate change on agriculture. This could lead to declining agricultural productivity, and low production further impacts the declining interest of youth in Agricultural activities.
This brief puts the focus on the postharvest (PH) losses in Mozambique. According to the authors the glaring lack of data loss for major food commodities in Mozambique should move the government, development agencies, donors and research institutions to invest more on rigorous and systematic field-based studies to assess losses, and to identify matching loss mitigation innovations. The authors also assert that building local capacity and strengthening policy on PH will be of essence.
This concept note is about the Joint Capacity Building Programme on the Implementation of Farmers’ Rights. This programme, launched by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, starts from the local level, recognizing the value of smallholder farmers around the world in the conservation, use and improvement of food crops as the basis of local, national and global food security. The Programme responds to the many requests from national governments and
Both women and indigenous peoples face key barriers that limit their capacity to access and benefit from development projects. In a country like Peru where women and indigenous peoples represent a large share of the rural poor, integrating proactive measures into project design is crucial to reach these populations. The Peru Agricultural Research and Extension Program (INCAGRO) gave great emphasis to designing financing instruments that will give equitable opportunities to indigenous peoples and women's organizations.
Inclusion is a key issue for Agricultural Research for Development (ARD). Development goals in and of themselves call for better livelihoods and opportunities for the less privileged actors working in agriculture. They also call for greater equity and balanced representation of the population at an institutional level. This brief focuses on how ARD processes can more sensitively address gender relations and youth issues. Women and young people have distinctive needs and interests which can be less visible within broader “Producer Organizations”, for example.
Despite efforts over recent years to improve the status of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa, little change has been noted, due partially to the fact that efforts have come from individual entities, which had short-term funding or lacked the necessary expertise to scale up research outputs. Disconnect between researchers and end-users has further hindered the success of such efforts.
Malgré les efforts déployés ces dernières années pour améliorer la situation de l’agriculture en Afrique subsaharienne, peu de changements ont été observés. Cet insuccès est dû, en partie, au fait que ces efforts ont été consentis par diverses entités de petite taille, aux capacités de financement à court terme et sans l’expertise nécessaire pour diffuser les résultats de leurs travaux de recherche. De plus, ces initiatives ont aussi pâti de la déconnexion entre la recherche et les utilisateurs finaux.