The challenges of providing food security for the developing world have perhaps never been so extreme, with the introduction of new technologies being matched by land degradation, water concerns and the often uncertain impacts of a changing climate. In short, we will need to produce more food on less land. Adding to the problem is the distrust and fear around some new technologies – particularly biotechnologies – that have created a divide between scientists and farmers, decision makers and the public. There have been many attempts to bridge these divides, but few success stories.
Over the years, CTA has contributed to building ACP capacity to understand innovation processes, strengthen the agricultural innovation system and embed innovation thinking in agricultural and rural development strategies. The CTA Top 20 Innovations project set out to prove that innovation is taking place in ACP agriculture and in the process has demonstrated that smallholder farmers are beneficiaries as well as partners in agricultural innovation.
Increasingly, multi-stakeholder processes have been recognized as being necessary to the development of public policies seeking to promote systemic innovation in response to complex and multidimensional challenges, such as household food security, rural development, and environmental change. Saint Lucia, a small island developing state located in the Caribbean, has been grappling with a wide range of agriculture, food and nutrition security challenges with varying degrees of policy success.
This paper synthesizes Component 2 of the Regoverning Markets Programme. It is based on 38 empirical case studies where small-scale farmers and businesses connected successfully to dynamic markets, doing business with agri-processors and supermarkets. The studies aimed to derive models, strategies and policy principles to guide public and private sector actors in promoting greater participation of small-scale producers in dynamic markets. This publication forms part of the Regoverning Markets project.
This report is part of the AFRHINET project under the ACP-EU Cooperation Programme in Science and Technology (S&T II). The overall aims of the project are to enhance options for sustainable integration of rainwater harvesting for irrigation through understanding adoption constraints and developing networks for capacity building and technology transfer. The African partners are Addis Ababa University and WaterAid-Ethiopia in Ethiopia, University of Nairobi and ICRAF-Searnet in Kenya, Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, and University of Zimbabwe and ICRISAT-Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe.
The XII National Encounter of Smallholder Farmer Innovators of Honduras was held in the city of Siguatepeque from 3-5 September 2014. One hundred twenty smallholder men and women farmers, as well as decision makers participated at this meeting. The meeting was a space to exchange experiences of smallholder farmer innovations, as well as to celebrate a seed fair to exchange seeds, local varieties and traditional knowledge.
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
This capacity building material is developed in response to requests made by small-scale farmers and
relevant stakeholders in Malawi to support their capacity development for the implementation of Farmers’
Rights in the country. This capacity building material is intended, mainly, for small-scale farmers, local leaders
that live and depend directly on family farming; farmers’ organizations and decision makers, including the
Ministry of Agriculture; the Malawi Plant Genetic Resource Centre; agricultural research institutes; and the
El Foro Global de la Investigación Agrícola- GFAR, el Programa Colaborativo de Fitomejoramiento Participativo en Mesoamérica, implementado en comunidades de la Sierra de los Cuchumatanes por la Asociación de Organizaciones de los Cuchumatanes –ASOCUCH, y la Fundación para la Innovación Tecnológica Agropecuaria y Forestal FUNDIT, con financiamiento del Fondo de Desarrollo de Noruega presentan este material de capacitación para las comunidades indígenas y locales agrícolas sobre un tema que tiene gran relevancia en el mundo de hoy: la necesidad e importancia de reconocer e implementar los der
This brief on the session of "Partnerships for livelihood impacts" which was held during the the GCARD Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (Punta Del Este, Uruguay, 29 October – 1 November 2012), discusses the Empowering Smallholder Farmers in the Markets (ESFIM) programme. ESFIM sought to generate demand-driven research supportive of the policy priorities and activities undertaken by farmers’ organizations that strengthens the advocacy capacities of national farmers’ organisations.