January 25, 2010 / News
Growth it seems is the current development mantra. With agriculture often the dominant sector in the economy, getting agriculture onto a growth path is increasingly the core theme of policy documents whether from donors or from national governments. Similarly in
January 25, 2010 / News
A Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) is usually defined as a process in which funding to a sector supports a single policy and expenditure programme, under government leadership and using common financial management procedures across the sector.
January 25, 2010 / News
Formalising property rights - and granting title in particular - is argued by some to be an essential part of the route to economic growth and the movement out of poverty. But will such moves really help in all circumstances,
January 25, 2010 / News
One of the 'quick wins' identified by the Millennium Project's assessment of how to halve hunger by 2015 was for a massive effort to replenish nutrient depleted soils in Africa through a combination of chemical fertilizers and agroforestry. Nigeria is
January 25, 2010 / News
Lessons from the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology In recent years, global assessments have become the focus of considerable international scientific interest and the mobilisation of vast institutional, technical, human and financial resources. These frequently attempt to combine
January 25, 2010 / News
Momentum for investments and action to promote an African Green Revolution are gaining ground, with African Governments (individually and through CAADP), with international and bilateral donors, with private donors, with farmer organisations, and with the private sector (see: http://www.agra-alliance.org/ and http://www.yara.com/).
January 25, 2010 / News
Ethiopia celebrated the start of its third millennium on 11th of September 2007. This seems an appropriate moment to take stock of the state of smallholder agriculture - the sector in which over 80% of the population derives their livelihood,
January 25, 2010 / News
There has been much hype about the prospects of ‘sustainable agriculture’, but little rigour on exactly what we mean by a sustainable agricultural system. Work by Jules Pretty and colleagues has attempted to assess the range of experiences, but the
January 25, 2010 / News
What is seasonality and why does it matter?Seasonality has long been recognised as a major determinant of poverty, food insecurity and hunger in tropical countries. Agricultural seasonality arises from the peculiar feature of farming in the tropics: that farmers harvest
January 25, 2010 / News
The Future Agricultures Consortium (FAC) recently published an in depth evaluation of the 2006-07 Malawian government subsidy programme for fertilisers. The evaluation, by Andrew Dorward (FAC and University of London) and Ephraim Chirwa (FAC and University of Malawi), assesses the
January 25, 2010 / News
FAC member John Thompson reflects on the 2008 World Food Summit, arguing that any solutions will require the international community to move beyond simple, short-term technical or market ‘fixes’ and address the political economy of food and agriculture. The UN
January 25, 2010 / News
Dercon and El Beyrouty make several important points in their note of Dec 4 about the role of agriculture in economic growth and the relationship between agricultural and non-agricultural sectors in the process of structural transformation. Where Dercon and El
January 25, 2010 / News
What is the role of agriculture in Africa's economic growth? An opinion article by Stefan Dercon and Kareen El Beyrouty critiques arguments for "agriculture first" programmes. Michigan State University Food Security Group provide comment and stress the importance of re-investing
January 25, 2010 / News
Agriculture is an urgent global priority and farmers find themselves in the front line of some of the world’s most pressing issues—climate change, globalization and food security. Twenty years ago, the Farmer First workshop held at the Institute of Development
January 25, 2010 / Researchers
{jcomments off} Blessings Chinsinga is a Senior Lecturer teaching Development Administration, Public Policy Analysis and Institutions and Development at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies,Chancellor College, University of Malawi. He holds a PhD in Development Studies from the University
January 25, 2010 / Researchers
Gem Argwings-Kodhek is a Senior Research Fellow at Tegemeo Institute of Agricultural Policy and Development, Egerton University.
January 25, 2010 / Researchers
John Omiti is a Senior Policy Analyst and Head of Productive Sector Division at the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). He holds a PhD in agricultural economics from the University of New England.
January 25, 2010 / Organisations
http://www.soas.ac.uk/ {jathumbnail off}The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is a college of the University of London and the only Higher Education institution in the UK specialising in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East.SOAS
January 25, 2010 / Organisations
http://www.plaas.org.za/ {jathumbnail off}The Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) is a leading research and teaching centre with an international reputation for high quality applied research and critical scholarship.
January 24, 2010 / Other Research
RPA is a project which is being implemented by researchers investigating climate change adaptation options as part of the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) programme. The project aims to increase the use of research processes and findingsin the formulation
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
1. The Soil Fertility Initiative. I think it failed for several reasons. First, it was top down led largely from the World Bank. 2. It was even marginalized within the bank with really only one champion trying to move it
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
The debate about policy frameworks for increasing soil fertility is timely given the current food crisis. Now seems an appropriate time for revisiting some of the issues. First of all I think we need to revisit the concept of soil
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Addressing Africa’s soil problems would demand that a critical attention be paid to the fundamentals of the African soil peculiarity itself. Although inevitable, inorganic mineralisation/fertilisation cannot and will never be an ideal entry point for an integrated soil fertility management
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Maybe declining soil fertility is a symptom rather than a disease. Many African governments and donors are trying to treat the symptom without analyzing the causes of the disease: providing technology packages, tinkering with subsidy options, seeing what the private
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
A few thoughts on potential livestock dimensions of the soil fertility policy debate. These are not intended to be comprehensive in any way, but to simply raise the issue that in taking an equitable broad based approach to the topic,
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Ian has provided an excellent summary of the issues: how do we chart a way forward? Picking up on some of the points Ian has made, I would like to put forward five starting points which I suggest have wide
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Ian Scoone’s Paper makes interesting reading, but there are a number of open questions and issues – to be posed at the beginning of any campaign, and before starting Africa-wide (as the title suggests) such a large program.
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
What are the design principles for effective policy? How can a strategy that operates at scale take account of the diversity of agro-ecological and socio-economic circumstances on the ground?
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Increasing Soil Fertility in Africa: Indispensable but Insufficient Solving soil fertility management via increased fertilizer and organic inputs is an indispensable but insufficient element of agricultural and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Policy Framework for Increase and Effective Use of Fertilizer in Ethiopia: Evidence from Recent Experiences and Debating the Problems 1. Background The Ethiopian government has worked hard to reverse the country’s terrible history associated with a series of famines that
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
In my view, any policy for improved soil fertility management must have the below ingredients to ensure efficiency and reliable learning.
January 22, 2010 / Soil Fertility
Increasing agricultural productivity and achieving caloric food security is a first-year goal in most of the Millennium Villages (MV) sites. Soon after the first harvest, communities in MVP areas should diversify crops both for nutritional diversity, with vegetables, fruits and
January 22, 2010 / Small Farm / Big Farm
Small farmers can be a driving force in cutting hunger and poverty worldwide' was a key message to G8 leaders from development specialists at The Future of Small Farms research workshop held in Wye in June 2005.
January 22, 2010 / Small Farm / Big Farm
To me it will be a waste of time to debate on an obvious issue. Small scale farming in Africa is life, is culture, is political, is survival and is livelihood. Small scale farming in Africa has performed well and what we
January 22, 2010 / Small Farm / Big Farm
During the year 2008, GRET worked with several NGOs (on the behalf of Coordination SUD) on a position paper on these issues.
January 22, 2010 / Small Farm / Big Farm
Small and large farms: definitions, trends and patterns - I’d like to make a contribution under this section of the debate and add another dimension to the debate.
January 22, 2010 / Small Farm / Big Farm
A colleague at Reading forwarded to me the contribution on big-small farms from Roy Keijzer, saying that I might find the reference to Mali interesting. I cannot contribute much to the main debate, as it is not my field. However, with
January 22, 2010 / Small Farm / Big Farm
I have read with interest the ongoing exchange of emails concerning above, and cannot resist the opportunity to make a few comments. Please permit me to present an Asian perspective.
January 22, 2010 / Growth and Social Protection
Agriculture plays a major role in pro-poor economic growth in countries with large, poor rural sectors - this is increasingly recognised. There is also a major focus on social protection interventions to address risks and insecurity affecting poor people. However
January 22, 2010 / Policy Processes
FAC recently published an in depth evaluation of the 2006-07 fertilizer subsidy programme. The evaluation, by Andrew Dorward (FAC and University of London) and Ephraim Chirwa (FAC and University of Malawi), assesses the impact and implementation of the Malawi Government
January 22, 2010 / Policy Processes
A key challenge for the consortium’s work is to help develop policy responses attuned to local contexts. Politics are central to understanding context. As a consortium review paper discusses, a variety of different approaches to understanding African political systems have
January 22, 2010 / Policy Processes
Understanding policy processes in agriculture – or any other area – is not straightforward. It means rejecting the linear, rational policy model and embracing the complex and messy processes by which policy is understood, formulated and implemented, and the range
January 22, 2010 / Science, Technology and Innovation
Science and technology in agriculture are once again a focus for policy attention. Many argue that a way out of the
January 22, 2010 / Science, Technology and Innovation
The objective is to elicit opinions on the state of the extension system and look forward to the future. It gives national and regional extension experts from government and NGOs, farmers and Development Agents, and private sector (e.g. investors in
January 22, 2010 / Pathways to Commercialisation
The changing structure of the global agri-food system – and the role of supermarkets and standards in particular - is increasingly having an impact on small scale farming in the developing world. Supermarkets – and their intermediary buyers – need
January 22, 2010 / Pathways to Commercialisation
A large literature exists on commercialisation — broadly defined as having greater engagement with markets, either for inputs, outputs, or both — of small, family farms.
January 22, 2010 / Pastoralism
While there has been much discussion of the importance of innovation in African agriculture, remarkably little has focused on mobile pastoral systems. Everyone agrees that science, technology and innovation must be at the centre of economic growth, livelihood improvement and
January 22, 2010 / Land
Issues on land that are relevant to agricultural development include conflicts between different land uses due to the lack of a coordinating body that can ensure harmony between different users (Kenya 1994). Harmonisation of different development activities that can foster
January 22, 2010 / Events
12-13 October 2009 The Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN FORUM) hosted the online-discussion "How to Feed the World in 2050''. The discussion gathered views from a broad range of interested parties to prepare for discussions at the
January 22, 2010 / Events
Kofi Annan, the Chairman of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and Louis Michel, European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid recently kick started a process aimed at implementing a truly participatory and pro-poor African Green Revolution
Share
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
