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
January 22, 2010 / News
A group of more than 350 policymakers, farmers and scientists meeting in Copenhagen urged on negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference to recognise agriculture’s vital role in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The event came on the heels
January 20, 2010 / News
Success is not a word often heard when dealing with contemporary issues in agriculture in sub- Sahdepharan Africa. For 30 years, the overall pictureas been one of failure.While other regions of theveloping world have seen increases in agriculturalroduction per capita,
January 19, 2010 / Miscelleanous
A number of observers have described the policy making process in Ethiopia as strongly influenced by a long history of centralised, hierarchical systems of control under Imperial rule and nearly two decades of military rule by the Derg. The present
January 19, 2010 / Miscelleanous
Political and media attention has rightly been focused on recent increases in food and energy prices and their impacts on consumers and national economies, particularly poor consumers and poor economies but much greater increases in fertiliser prices have received much
January 19, 2010 / E-debates
At least in the semi-arid regions of Africa, if within-field soil variability is not takeninto account, efforts to increase soil fertility will be less efficient and less likely tobe adopted by farmers. Most of these farmers already practice =precisionagriculture‘ and
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
This paper explores how the experiences leading to the adoption and successful implementation of the2005/2006 fertilizer subsidy programme can be exploited as the basis for churning out a viableframework for a developmental state in Malawi broadly understood as the state
January 18, 2010 / Conference Publications
Community-based management of acutemalnutrition programs Child growth promotion programs (maternal andchild nutrition, especially from pregnancy to age 3) Seasonal employment programs Social pensions for those unable to work
January 18, 2010 / News
By Ian Scoones, Stephen Devereux and Lawrence Hadda This year’s UN Millennium Report highlights the lack of progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in sub-Saharan Africa.The Commission for Africa report (2005) similarly highlights the major challenges of poverty
January 18, 2010 / Farmer First
Agriculture and food are urgent global priorities with farmers on the front line of some ofthe world’s most pressing issues. Putting farmers at the vanguard of responses to thefood crisis and climate change in Africa and beyond is vital. Putting
January 18, 2010 / Farmer First
Agriculture is an urgent global priority andfarmers find themselves in the front line ofsome of the world’s most pressing issues – climate change, globalization and food security.Twenty years ago, the Farmer First workshopheld at the Institute of Development Studies,University of
January 18, 2010 / Farmer First
Agriculture is an urgent priority worldwide and farmers in the developing world find themselves in the front line of some of the world’s most pressing issues – climate change, globalization and food security. The problem with the agricultural research and
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
As investment in agricultural development gains increasing prominence in Africa, amonggovernments and donors, there is renewed interest in developing strategic understanding of theinvestments that are needed to effectively and efficiently promote agricultural growth to benefit thepoor and improve food security.
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
This paper presents a case study of politics of policy reforms in the dairy sector in Kenya with particular reference to the Kenya Cooperative Creameries (KCC). It is developed for the Policy Processes sub theme of the Future Agricultures Consortium
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with per capita gross domestic product of $190, 30 percent of under-five children being malnourished and the infant mortality rate of 229 per 1,000 live births and a life expectancy
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
Future Agricultures: from broad themes to practical policy Early in the new century a consensus on agricultural and rural development emerged thatprovided renewed impetus to efforts to boost both agricultural development and the rural nonfarmeconomy, in a context of ever
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
Agriculture remains the backbone of the Kenyan economy. It is the single most important sector in the economy, contributing approximately 25% of the GDP, and employing 75% of the national labour force (Republic of Kenya 2005). Over 80% of the
January 18, 2010 / Miscelleanous
Studies on systems of agricultural innovation in Kenya and other African countries have shown that the concept of innovation exists in form of technologies, products, processes and organizational forms. Notable also is the existence of indigenous systems of innovation which
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}This paper reviews social protection and agriculture policies in Malawi in order to explorethe links, synergies and conflicts that lie between them. It begins with brief backgroundinformation about Malawi, in terms of its economic and welfare indicators.
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
Various explanations have been advanced for the persistent under-performance of agriculturein many African countries, where smallholder farming is still the dominant livelihood activity and the main source of employment, food and income. Some of the oldest argumentsremain the most compelling.
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}This Working Paper draws on nearly twenty years of research in several African countries,on the inter-related themes of food insecurity, seasonality, coping strategies, famine, form a land in formal safety nets, and social protection. The paper has three objectives:
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}1. Seasonal hunger is predictable, can be understood and there are tested solutions 2. What happens during seasonal hunger and what happens in famine differs only in severity – Sequencing of coping remains largely the same 3. Moreover the
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off} Community-based management of acutemalnutrition programs Child growth promotion programs (maternal andchild nutrition, especially from pregnancy to age 3) Seasonal employment programs Social pensions for those unable to work A “minimum essential package” for fighting seasonal hunger, How much
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}By John Omiti Cross-country co-ordination issues Commercialization - Gem Arwings Kodhek / Steve Wiggins Social Protection – Lydia Ndirangu/ Stephen DevereuxCountry co-ordination – John Omiti / John Thompson Challenges of FAC Research - 1Carry-over from Phase 1 - Fertiliser
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
Didn’t get started until December – Long delay in contracts (DFID contract, PP time allocation)– Getting team together (methodology and detailed planning for MoA district study) Main policy engagement: Tuesday fertiliser workshop MoA study:– Secondary data collection started– Field work to begin next week– Draft
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}OUTPUTS (1): Working Paper series WP01 Building Synergies between Social Protection and Smallholder Agricultural PoliciesWP02 Agriculture and Social Protection in MalawiWP03 Agriculture and Social Protection in EthiopiaWP04 Agriculture and Social Protection in GhanaWP05 Agriculture and Social Protection in KenyaWP06
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}Aim: to examine relation of commercialisation of small farming to levels of food security andother variations amongst households such as assets to see how much intervention overcomes potential failures in factor & product marketsto observe early results
January 15, 2010 / Miscellaneous
{jathumbnail off}Everyone is agreed that one of the central components of achieving an „African Green Revolution. is totackle the widespread soil fertility constraints in African agriculture. To this end, AGRA – the Alliance fora Green Revolution in Africa – has
January 14, 2010 / Miscellaneous
Kenya perspective CAADP agenda, MDG agenda, Vision 2030 all circulating around same set of issues – difficult to isolate CAADP process from other strategies/processes Philosophical differences about bottom-up processes – decision makers often disagree about how to introduce participatory processes
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