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.
Networks and organizations need to find ways to be more effective in pursuing their objectives and thus seek to “learn” to be able to respond, innovate and adapt to complex, changing social and environmental conditions, thus bringing about social change. An essential capacity for ARD (Agricultural Research for Development) partnerships is therefore the ability to reflect and learn. Learning is not simply about increasing knowledge and skills or changing attitudes; it is about making sense of complexity to act more effectively.
The Agribusiness for Trade Competitiveness Project (ATC-P), branded as Katalyst, is a pioneer market systems development project contributing to sustainable poverty reduction in Bangladesh. It is implemented by Swisscontact under the umbrella of the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Bangladesh. The project has been operating in Bangladesh since 2003 in three phases.
For smallholder agriculture to prosper and transform itself, access to rural services is essential. Rural services that enable smallholders to overcome constraints to increase their productivity, manage their farms as a sustainable business, link to inputs and outputs markets and act collectively to improve their livelihoods are a first line of action to reduce rural poverty. Undoubtedly, improving rural services has long been on the development agenda.
This brief summarises the results and recommendations of a scoping study that examined the current levels of professionalism in the Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) regional networks. The aim was to provide evidence that would guide the future activities and tools offered by GFRAS as well as to promote inter-regional learning and information exchange.
Bangladesh is the eighth largest mango-producing country in the world. In 2014–2015, 10 million tonnes of fruit was produced, of which 1.5 million tonnes were mangoes. Due to the nutritional value and their popularity, mangoes are considered as a high priority for national food security. They are also an important commodity crop, and production has increased considerably in recent years due to multi-cropping.
The CDAIS ‘marketplace’ to promote agricultural innovations in Burkina Faso took place on 6 July 2017 in ouagadougou. It was a rich event involving more than 80 people who are working directly with, or interested in working with, different partnerships. The marketplace allowed stakeholders in the six selected partnerships to get to know and develop relationships with suppliers of agricultural support services. It also provided an opportunity for service suppliers and other participants to show their interest in accompanying the partnerships on their respective journeys.
Ethiopia has more livestock than any other country in Africa. The sales of meat, milk and other animal products from
To ensure food security, farmers must have access to quality seed, in adequate quantities. The government of Ethiopia acknowledges this, and has responded by investing in improving the seed sector. However, as this example shows, not all challenges can be overcome by technical training and new technologies alone. A large seed cooperative union was faced with a problem that affected its very existence. And the solution was not technical.