Water is scarce and pivotal for the Sahel, not only for increasing the productivity for millions of small-scale farmers but also for countering loss of arable land resulting from erosion and warming temperatures. A major barrier to the use of water in the Sahel is the lack of infrastructure and technologies – 45 percent of the population do not have access to water, and only 2 percent of arable land is irrigated (OECD, 2022).
A growing variety of public and private rural advisory services are available today, leading to increasingly “pluralistic service systems” (PSS), in which advisory services are provided by different actors and funded from different sources. However, these PSS and the way they operate are still poorly understood. In particular, how PSS can effectively respond to demands of heterogeneous farmers in contexts where small-scale agriculture increasingly needs to exploit value addition and adapt to market requirements.
This CCAFS Info Note presents prospects for scaling up the contribution of index insurance to smallholder adaptation to climate risk.
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.
Face à la crise mondiale causée par la pandémie de covid-19, les pays prennent des mesures.Les rayons des supermarchés restent approvisionnés pour le moment. Mais une crise pandémique prolongée pourrait rapidement mettre à mal les chaînes d’approvisionnement alimentaire, qui sont des réseaux complexes d’interactions entre exploitants, intrants agricoles, usines de transformation, services d’expédition, détaillants et bien d’autres.
In order to realize the potential of agricultural innovation in family farming, national priorities of sustainably increasing food production and productivity, and reducing hunger and poverty, require rural knowledge institutions to be stronger and communication processes to be improved. This brief synthesizes the focus of FAO’s research and extension branch on transforming agricultural innovation systems of member countries.
Este documento resume los resultados del trabajo en grupo y la discusión en plenaria de la sesión 4 (Marcos Regulatorios para el Fomento de Cadenas de Valor Sostenibles e Inclusivas) del Taller Regional de Intercambio de la Alianza de Aprendizaje Regional, realizado en junio de 2010.
This policy brief consolidates lessons learned from an in-depth literature review on small-scale farmer (SSF) innovation systems and a two-day expert consultation on the same topic, hosted in Geneva by Quaker United Nations Office (QUNO) in May 2015. This review draws together published literature on the evolution of the concept, how on-farm innovation systems function in practice, and the roles of outside actors in supporting them.
Smallholder banana farmers are beginning to understand that their old farming methods are contributing to the planet's drying up or suffocating in fields of garbage. They are convinced that they have to change their ways for the good of their farms, their communities, and their children. But what really drives them to adopt new and sustainable practices? What will ensure they continue to do so?
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.