This study identified gender-based constraints affecting the production, processing and marketing of biofortified cassava in two states in Nigeria, using a mixed methods approach. The study identified major differences between the two study sites (Benue and Oyo). The scale of production of biofortified cassava is higher in Oyo state among adult men because of their active involvement and collaboration with research institutes within the state and the ease of transporting products to Lagos State for designated diverse markets.
Women are the backbone of the development of rural and national economies. There is no tool of development that is more effective than the empowerment of the rural women. Nigerian rural women lack sufficient economic resources that will enable them to articulate their needs and interests and organize themselves with a view to developing the nation.
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).
Livestock have strong empowerment potential, particularly for women. They offer millions of women in the Global South the opportunity to provide protein-rich foods for home consumption and sale. Livestock provide women with income and opportunities to expand their livelihood portfolios and can strengthen women’s decision-making power. Fully realizing livestock’s empowerment potential for women is necessary for sustainable livestock development. It requires, though, that gender-equitable dynamics and norms are supported in rural communities.
While vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 were launched worldwide, a drama has been unfolding in the Moroccan countryside. It has been marked, over the last couple of decades, by rapid agrarian transformation, manifestations of which have included expanding irrigation frontiers and the increasing growth of high-value crops. These dynamics rely strongly on female agricultural wageworkers. Although they earn low wages, their income is crucial and is used to care for loved ones by paying for school fees, rent, electricity, and medicines.
Despite significant work to enhance women’s empowerment in agriculture, women remain marginalized across the globe. This includes gender gaps in agricultural extension and advisory service implementation that can lead to inequitable resource and knowledge access by farmers, specifically women. However, gender does not exist in isolation, it is place and time specific. This study investigated the impact of gender and geography on smallholder farmer access to and agency over resources/knowledge.
This study presents a quasi-experimental analysis of the impact of FairTrade certification on the commercial performance of coffee farmers in Tanzania. In doing so the study emphasises the importance of a well-contextualised theory of change as a basis for evaluation design. It also stresses the value of qualitative methods to control for selection bias. Based on a longitudinal (pseudo-panel) dataset comprising both certified and conventional farmers, it shows that FairTrade certification introduced a disincentive to farmers’ commercialisation.
This paper presents the processes, general guidelines lessons and experiences pertaining to “good practices” for organizing and forming Agricultural Innovation Platforms in the Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site, covering three countries (Uganda, Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo) with widely differing social political environments to address agricultural development challenges.
The Community Based Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (CB-PME) tool empowers poor local farming communities to improve their livelihoods. While this process is people centred, it draws on local people’s capacities, while giving the end users of a technology a voice. The experience of the Katamata farmers’ group in Tororo district using PM&E (the participatory approach to monitoring and evaluation) is given in this paper.
In this paper the authors present the diagnosis and re-design of farm systems as part of an innovation process involving farmers and scientists to improve the sustainability of family farms in south Uruguay. Although were selected farms with a large variation in resource endowment, they shared the main critical points of sustainability: low productivity and deteriorated soil quality.