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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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Prospects for smallholder commercialisation in Malawi
This blog is based on APRA Working Paper 75, which presents a historical and contemporary agrarian inquiry into the reality of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi. The study’s key message is that smallholder agricultural commercialisation is possible, but it cannot be attained on a sustainable basis in the context of the contemporary agrarian set-up. This blog looks beyond the study’s findings to identify a pathway forward for Malawi’s smallholder farmers.
December 8, 2021
National policy dialogue: Agricultural commercialisation and smallholder transformation in Nigeria
Relative to small-scale farms (SSFs), recent trends across sub-Saharan Africa show that medium-scale farms (MSFs) are accounting for an increasingly larger share of the total value of marketed agricultural products The rise of MSFs could substantially change the structure of the food system in future. The APRA Nigeria Workstream 1 Research Team, which includes researchers from Michigan State University, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba Akoko, National Extension and Research Liaison, Zaria, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, investigated this MSFs phenomenon and its implications on the livelihood outcomes of SSF families in Nigeria. The Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development were collaborators on this study.
Tags: APRA
December 6, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Kenya
Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 12 March 2020. Like many governments across the world, the Kenyan government implemented various measures aimed at slowing down local spread of the virus and cushioning the population against the negative economic effects of the pandemic and the associated policy restrictions. International organisations and researchers postulated that the measures would negatively affect economic activities and livelihoods, with undesirable implications for poverty and food insecurity. Particularly vulnerable would be populations in developing countries such as Kenya, where many people depend on food systems for their livelihoods, and the majority of those are smallholder farmers who often have low economic power. The objective of this rapid assessment was to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on the food system and the sub-set of the population largely dependent on agriculture in Kenya to inform actions that can assure protection of rural livelihoods and continued access to adequate and affordable food of acceptable quality to the population. This report presents results of that rapid assessment.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Malawi research team shares research findings
Since 2016, the APRA Malawi team has been working to understand the underlying factors of smallholder commercialisation in the groundnut value chain in Mchinji and Ntchisi. Now, following the publication of their research findings, the team is turning its attention to dissemination efforts to share these critical findings with those most impacted by them. In this campaign, APRA Malawi researchers Blessings Chinsinga and Mirriam Matita presented findings to 29 stakeholders from the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society networks and additional stakeholders at a national dissemination workshop on 30th November 2021. Among these attendees, 10 were women and 19 were men.
APRA Working Paper 76: Long-Term Patterns of Change in the Commercialisation of Cocoa in Ghana: Forest Frontiers and Technological Transformation
Written by: Kojo Amanor, Joseph Yaro and Joseph Teye The commercialisation of cocoa production in Ghana has a long history dating back to the nineteenth century. The process of commercial development in cocoa is well documented and provides an alternative mode to contemporary models of commercialisation rooted in the adoption of modern technology and integration… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Streetwise explanations for extremely low new COVID-19 cases in Malawi
From September, throughout October and as we now enter November, Malawi has seen its new daily COVID-19 cases sharply reduce to an all-time low. In fact, zero new daily COVID-19 cases have become very common during this period as reported by the Ministry of Health. New admissions into the COVID-19 hospital wards have also sharply reduced. The flattening of all these three curves is obviously a great relief to government, private sector, and households whose businesses and livelihoods ground to a halt as a result of the ruthless pandemic. This blog reflects on this steep decline in COVID cases and the public’s perception of its causes, as well as recent research presented in APRA’s Impact of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi Synthesis Report.
Tags: COVID19
December 2, 2021
COP26: Some reflections from Glasgow
The COP26 marathon is finally over and on Saturday the Glasgow Climate Pact was agreed. Over ten pages there is lots of urging, noting, inviting, acknowledging, stressing and so on, but few decisions, beyond agreeing to meet again next year (more international travel, more per diems) and have dialogue on loss and damage. Nevertheless, the important momentum around the Paris Agreement remains, and the role of civil society’s protests and lobbying in assuring this is widely acknowledged.
November 30, 2021
Understanding the Nigerian cocoa industry: the Nigerian Cocoa Summit & Awards
How has the Nigerian cocoa sector changed since the crop was introduced in the 1880s? What is the reality of this value chain now, in the country ranked fourth in cocoa production globally? What do stakeholders see for the future of the sector, and the thousands of livelihoods connected to it? These are all questions… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 29, 2021
Changing norms for land and labour on cocoa farms in Western Ghana: Flexibility rules
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 73, which examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
APRA researchers to hold a national dissemination workshop in Ghana
APRA researchers in Ghana are gearing up for a national dissemination event! The event will be filled with presentations from the two APRA teams working in the country (Work Streams 1 and 2), and, more generally, on APRA’s objectives, research projects and findings. The workshop will be held at 10.00 GMT on Tuesday, November 30th… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 26, 2021
APRA Ethiopia’s national dissemination workshop: A pathway to policy change?
APRA Ethiopia researchers have spent years studying the country’s rice value chain and identifying its role in providing a pathway out of poverty for the farmers who engage in it. The team has explored the role of increased rice commercialisation for the observed agrarian changes and the livelihood trajectories on the Fogera Plain, and engaged with efforts both within and beyond the country to promote the sustainable development of the rice sector. Such efforts have included team members’ participation in events such as the East African Rice Conference in May 2021, which gathered representatives from other East African countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – to identify policy reforms to transform Africa’s rice sector through scientific innovations.
Tags: APRA
APRA Nigeria team prepares to present findings in dissemination event
Over the previous five years, the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 2 (WS2) team has been working to explore longitudinal change over time, and identify different pathways of agricultural commercialisation and their outcome pathways in the country. Now, as the team has been compiling their research into reports and identifying policy implications of their findings, they will be hosting a dissemination workshop to present these findings and pathways, to share the way forward they see for Nigeria’s small- and medium-scale farmers.
Tags: APRA
November 25, 2021
A multi-phase assessment of the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods in Ethiopia: The case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities.Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government put in place different measures to prevent and control the pandemic that have affected the food system and rural livelihoods. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA’s Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain, which presents the characteristics and awareness of the country’s different public measures, the responses to these measures, their effect on farming and marketing, food and nutritional security on smallholders, and perceived/self-assessed household level of poverty, drawing on primary data generated from three rounds of surveys and key informant interviews of rice farmers and other actors in the Fogera Plain of Ethiopia.
Tags: COVID19
Stakeholders’ take on inclusive agricultural value chains in Tanzania: Feedback from a national workshop
The Tanzanian government, in its efforts to provide food, income, employment and foreign income to its population, is committed to improving the country’s rice and sunflower value chains. This commitment was reiterated at a national feedback workshop held on 26th October, 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma. The workshop was organised by Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) in its efforts to share key messages from its five-year-long studies on the most effective pathways to agricultural commercialisation for women empowerment, reduction of rural poverty and improvement of nutrition and food security.
November 22, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused disruptions to national and global economies with devastating effects on food systems and livelihoods across the globe. These effects of the pandemic on poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, among others, are likely to be greater among low and middle-income countries like those in sub- Saharan Africa, including Malawi. This is because even before the COVID-19 pandemic began the proportion of people facing poverty, and food and nutrition insecurity were already high. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the effects of COVID-19 on food systems and rural livelihoods. Using a multi-stage ‘rapid assessment’, this study provides real-time insights into how the COVID-19 crisis unfolded in Malawi and how rural people and food and livelihood systems respond.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
APRA Nigeria team shares research findings in Kaduna State
To disseminate their research results and the policy implications that arise from the APRA Nigeria Work Stream 1 (WS1) research, project team gathered community members in two areas of Kaduna State on the 15th-16th November 2021. These events were the first in a series of community-level workshops, which will be followed by a national dissemination workshop in December 2021.
November 17, 2021
APRA Working Paper 75: Agricultural Commercialisation and Rural Livelihoods in Malawi: A Historical and Contemporary Agrarian Inquiry
This study was carried out to understand the underlying dynamics of agricultural commercialisation in Malawi, especially among smallholder farmers. Despite various concerted efforts to accelerate agricultural growth and transformation, the progress among smallholder farmers has been less satisfactory. Most of the smallholder farmers do not engage with markets on a consistent and sustainable basis. Consequently, the aim of this paper was to demonstrate that there is no one ideal type of agricultural commercialisation that can be realised through investment and policy intervention.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 16, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Ethiopia: The Case of Fogera Plain
The COVID-19 pandemic has not only led to the loss of human life and resulted in an unprecedented challenge to public health, but has also seriously affected food systems and work opportunities. As a global pandemic, COVID-19 has impacted food systems and livelihoods as a result of both economic and health challenges that emanate from domestic public policy measures, and also actions taken by other countries, mainly in the form of trade restrictions. Following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in Ethiopia on 13 March 2020, and concerns about the sharp increase in cases, the federal government declared a state of emergency on 8 April 2020 which lasted for five months. This paper presents the assessment of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its prevention measures on agricultural commercialisation, food and nutrition security, labour and employment, as well as poverty and well-being in rural Ethiopia.
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 15, 2021
Agricultural commercialisation in Africa, COVID-19 and social difference
African policymaking has turned to agricultural commercialisation as an engine of growth in the 21st century. But the effects have not been the same for everyone, entrenching long-term social difference based on gender, wealth, age and generation, ethnicity and citizenship. Social differentiation within commercial agriculture is shaped by power dynamics and the distribution of benefits between elites, and their relationship with the formal and informal institutions that underpin political systems. This idea of a ‘political settlement’ in the way that power is exercised between groups, often to avoid conflict or to give preferential access to a specific resource, gives different groups of people different standing within agricultural value chains. COVID-19 as a type of shock also shapes political settlements and the resilience of different actors in their response to the pandemic. It can also reinforce pre-existing trends in social differentiation. APRA’s research showed how this has happened across Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, and APRA Working Paper 69 presents the research findings.
Tags: COVID19
The role of small-scale processors in supporting agricultural commercialisation among smallholder rice farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Until recently, attention to upgrading the rice value chain has been limited in many of Eastern Africa’s rice-producing countries. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining rice value chains’ capacity to contribute to food security in the region, as it fulfils a crucial intermediary role between supply and demand. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 74, which presents the characteristics and role of rice processors as key actors in rice sector development in East Africa as well as what challenges and opportunities they face, drawing on primary data generated from surveys and key informant interviews in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
November 10, 2021
A Multi-Phase Assessment of the Effects of COVID-19 on Food Systems and Rural Livelihoods in Zimbabwe
Written by: Vine Mutyasira The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to affect agri-food systems around the world and lay bare its fragility, worsening the welfare of millions of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are anchored on agricultural activities. For the vast majority of sub-Saharan Africa, COVID-19 has coincided with a number of other macroeconomic shocks, which have… Read more »
Tags: APRA, COVID19, Impact Studies, other
November 9, 2021
APRA Working Paper 74: The Role of Small-Scale Processors in Supporting Agricultural Commercialisation Among Smallholder Rice Farmers in East Africa: Lessons from Ethiopia and Tanzania
Written by: Dawit Alemu, Aida Isinika, Hannington Odame and John Thompson Until recently, attention to rice value chain upgrading has been limited in many rice-producing countries of Eastern Africa. Yet, it is this mid-stream section (the millers and traders) – the so-called ‘hidden middle’ – which is essential to sustaining the capacity of rice value… Read more »
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA Working Paper 73: Land and Labour Relations on Cocoa Farms in Sefwi, Ghana: Continuity and Change
When in the 1880s farmers in southern Ghana began to plant cocoa, their main concerns were finding land to plant and mobilising labour to do so. The issue of finding land remained paramount until at least the 1990s, when the land frontier of forest to clear for cocoa finally closed. The last forests to be planted were in the old Western Region and particularly in Sefwi, now the Western North Region. This paper examines how farmers in Sefwi obtained land and mobilised labour in the late 2010s, and how that has changed since the 1960s.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
November 8, 2021
Online COVID-19 & poverty: Informing economic and social policy in Malawi
How is COVID-19 impacting people living in poverty in Malawi? What are the policies needed to mitigate these impacts? Recent research from COVID Collective partners and APRA finds COVID-19 has had a detrimental impact on people living in, or at risk of, poverty in Malawi – particularly in regard to their education, food security and livelihoods.
November 4, 2021
APRA researchers to join 8th Annual ReNAPRI Stakeholders Conference
As the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes prepares to host its 8th Annual Stakeholders Conference, under the theme, ‘Transform: Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Africa’, APRA researchers are gearing up for their side event! Conference sessions will include topics such as ‘Opportunities for building resilience of African farming systems’; ‘Going beyond… Read more »
Tags: APRA
Zimbabwe’s bumper harvest: what explains the success?
As farmers turn to the next season with the beginning of the rains, the country is in a good position having reaped a bumper harvest in 2020/21. An estimated 2.7 million tonnes of maize were produced, triple the amount in the previous season. Given COVID-19 and the endless lockdowns and restrictions, this is remarkable and witness to the possibilities of significant production if the rains are good.
Tags: COVID19
APRA Ghana researchers to participate in University of Ghana conference
On Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th November, 2021, the University of Ghana’s School of Social Sciences will be hosting its seventh international conference. The event, under the theme ‘Addressing Africa’s Challenges in the 21st Century’, will cover a vast range of topics from ‘Leadership, Governance and Politics’ to ‘Environment and Climate’ and ‘COVID-19, Innovations, and… Read more »
Tags: APRA
November 1, 2021
How are different groups affected by the changing land tenure systems in Ghana’s oil palm growing districts?
Oil palm is Ghana’s second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the country’s economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This blog reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 72, which examines different land tenure arrangements and how different rules for land access affect different social groups.
Precarious prospects? Agricultural commercialisation and climate change in semi-arid Tanzania
Commercialisation has long been considered a path out of poverty for farmers across Africa, as elsewhere in the global South; it is also increasingly seen as a means to strengthen farmers’ resilience to climate change. A study carried out in the semi-arid Singida Region, central Tanzania, asked how farm-level decisions affect current, as well as future, resilience to climate change. Findings reinforce that farmers are vulnerable to climate change but also have tremendous capacity. However, to be able to adapt and thrive, farmers need to be supported globally, as well as in Tanzania, which provides clear messages ahead of the forthcoming COP26.
October 29, 2021
APRA Research Note 5: Agricultural Commercialisation in South-Western Ghana
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa study in Ghana consists of three work streams. This report contains results of the analyses of Work Stream 1 (WS1) baseline and endline survey datasets for Ghana. Oil palm commercialisation arrangements and outcomes are the focus of WS1 in Ghana. Case studies have been carried out in two districts – Ahanta West and Mpohor – in Western Region. This report highlights the changes between 2017 and 2019 for five APRA indicators, including agricultural commercialisation (input and output), employment, poverty (income, subjective poverty and household asset ownership), food security and women empowerment.
October 28, 2021
APRA Working Paper 72: Land Tenure and Oil Palm Commercialisation
Oil palm is the second most important cash crop after cocoa, and the sector is an important contributor to the Ghanaian economy. The production of cash crops in Ghana has largely been dominated by small-scale farmers in mostly rural areas since the 1800s. The high value placed on cash crops often leads to better livelihood outcomes for cash crop farmers. However, the ability to sustainably participate in oil palm cultivation depends on secure access to land. One of the major challenges of small-scale farming in Africa is the land tenure system that affects the ability of farmers to make long-term financial and technical/technological commitments that will help farmers fully maximise the economic potential of the land. This paper examines different land tenure arrangements in five oil palm growing communities in south-western Ghana, and how different rules for land access affect different social groups. We focus specifically on the gendered aspects of access to land and their implications on equitable participation in the oil palm economy of these communities.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Lessons from Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers for the COP26 climate change talks
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks. This blog, originally published in The Conversation, reflects on the findings of APRA Working Paper 64.
APRA Tanzania to host national feedback workshop
APRA Tanzania team at a previous media workshop On Tuesday, 26 October 2021 at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania, the APRA Tanzania team will be hosting a national feedback workshop. At this event, the team plans to share research findings and draw policy implications on how agricultural commercialisation can empower women,… Read more »
Tags: APRA
October 25, 2021
Commercialisation of quality seeds could enhance rice yields in Tanzania
Research finds that the productivity of Tanzania’s rice sector could improve due to commercialisation of new varieties.This blog comes against a backdrop of studies, programmes, interventions, and activities by the public and private sectors which work towards commercialisation of rice, among other crops. To contribute to these efforts, the Rice Council of Tanzania (RCT), in collaboration with Rural Urban Development Initiatives and Tanzania Agricultural Research Institute (TARI), organised a workshop to deliberate on strategies to accelerate commercialisation of new rice varieties which have been released for multiplication and dissemination.
APRA Working Paper 71: The Drivers of Medium-Scale Farms and the Emerging Synergies and Contradictions Among Socially-Differentiated Farmers in Northern Ghana
Since the turn of the century, agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa has been undergoing rapid transformation. Ghana is experiencing an agrarian revolution with increasing farmland sizes, increased mechanisation of production and external input usage, and high levels of commercialisation. In this paper we show the growth of farm sizes, the major drivers of increasing farm sizes, and emerging relations between different scales of farmers. The paper discusses the synergies and contradictions emerging from the processes of agricultural commercialisation in the context of rising farmland sizes and the implications for different social groups.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 12, 2021
APRA Working Paper 70: The Rise of Medium-Scale Farms in the Northern Savannah of Ghana: Farmland Invasion or an Inclusive Commercialised Agricultural Revolution?
Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Why are farmer-based organisations so weak in southwestern Ghana’s oil palm growing communities?
Oil palm, the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, holds the potential to improve farmers’ livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty. It is a quintessentially commercialised crop, being cultivated for sale in local and foreign markets as well as industrial processing. However, despite the potential benefits of agricultural commercialisation, smallholder farmers still tend to be poor. A recent study, the findings of which are presented in APRA Working Paper 68, looked to understand why this is the case. This blog reflects on the findings of this paper and builds on previous research presented in APRA blog, ‘Collective Action within Poor Farming Communities in Western Ghana’.
Monocrop or diversified enterprise portfolio? Lessons for inclusive commercialisation from Singida Region, Tanzania
Many people have attributed the Singida Region in Tanzania’s rapid development during the last twenty years to the evolution of the sunflower value chain. The successes of this value chain’ development include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Singida Town, the headquarters of Singida Region, has transformed from a small sleepy town into a vibrant city, and many neighbouring villages, such as Iguguno, have been transformed into semi-urban centres as a result of agrarian accumulation from surrounding villages. However, a focused analysis of quantitative data and qualitative narratives reveal there is more to the development of Singida Region than sunflower. This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 67, which show that the combined effect of accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, account for the observed improvement in livelihoods, contributing to household economic diversity that is projected to be more inclusive and sustainable.
October 6, 2021
APRA Working Paper 68: Explaining the Weakness of Associational Life in Oil Palm Growing Communities in Southwestern Ghana
As the second most important industrial crop in Ghana, oil palm holds the potential of improving farmers’ livelihoods and alleviating rural poverty. For smallholder farmers, collective action through farmer-based organisations (FBOs) could provide a pathway to inclusive participation in agricultural commercialisation. There is ample evidence in the literature that collective action can help smallholders gain access to credit, improved inputs, or even networks of social support. Thus, collective action is widely recognised as a viable pathway out of poverty for the agrarian poor. However, our findings show that FBOs were either weak or non-existent. Indeed, we find that economic relations between farmers tend to be more individualised than one would expect to find in rural communities. This paper presents these findings, and explores why this is the case.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
October 4, 2021
APRA Working Paper 67: Sunflower Commercialisation in Singida Region: Pathways for Livelihood Improvement
Sunflower commercialisation in Singida Region, Tanzania has been successful. The successes include increased oilseed production, expanding processing capacity and declining rural poverty. Policies and efforts by development agents to promote sunflower commercialisation have increased the number of actors and service providers. Accumulation from sunflower and other enterprises, including livestock, have not only improved livelihoods, but also contributed to household economic diversity. This paper examines the interactions between activities involved in sunflower production and other livelihood strategies. For example, the paper examines local dynamics in policy and business contexts that have shaped livelihood options available and people’s choices of which option they undertake, and the corresponding outcomes, and reasons for such commercialisation trajectories. The study aims to inform local, regional, and national strategies, to pursue more inclusive and sustainable agriculture development, and widen options and pathways for men and women in Mkalama and Iramba districts of Singida Region.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
The politics of control in Zimbabwe’s COVID times
The COVID-19 situation in Zimbabwe has improved since our last report, with infection rates and deaths declining in all areas. The alert level has been reduced to Level 2, with restrictions relaxed. At the same time, the vaccination drive has continued apace, with the government now mandating all civil servants to take a shot. So far just over 20 percent of the population has received at least one vaccine – mostly from China – although there are big variations across locations and age groups.
Tags: COVID19
Holistic adoption of System of Rice Intensification can increase yields: A case of Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This blog highlights the findings of APRA Working Paper 66, which discusses the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and their potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Kilombero district, Tanzania. The study compared the adoption of SRI interventions and paddy productivity for trained and non-trained farmers, and compared these attributes for farmers who belonged to SRI associations and those who did not. The study evaluated SRI practices in terms of rice yields.
September 27, 2021
Does livestock enhance or reduce crop commercialisation? A case of Singida in Central Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in Singida Region in Tanzania, contributing to household income, and reducing poverty in the region. The use of ox-plough to perform farm operations, such as ploughing, and the application of livestock manure are just some ways in which livestock can enhance crop commercialisation. However, livestock production can also reduce the need to expand crop production if livestock earns a farmer higher income, hence inhibiting crop commercialisation in mixed crop-livestock farming systems. This blog explains the differences in commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories, as found in APRA Working Paper 65.
September 22, 2021
APRA Working Paper 66: Yield and Commercialisation Effects of SRI Interventions in Mngeta, Kilombero District, Tanzania
This paper discusses System of Rice Intensification (SRI) interventions and its potential effects on paddy yield and commercialisation in Mngeta division, Kilombero district in Morogoro region, Tanzania. SRI is an innovative agroecological methodology that aims to improve yields and farmers’ profits by creating the most suitable environment for the rice plant to grow. It comprises the precise set of cultivation practices specifically required for careful management of biophysical needs of the rice plant for producing high yields. To assess the effects, we compare between trained and non-trained farmers, as well as between farmers who are members of SRI associations and non-SRI members, on aspects of adoption of SRI interventions, paddy productivity and yields. In turn, the effects of SRI is evaluated in terms of its influence on rice yield per hectare and commercialisation at household level.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
September 21, 2021
APRA Working Paper 65: Livestock, Crop Commercialisation and Poverty Reduction Among Rural Households in the Singida Region, Tanzania
Livestock is an important component of mixed crop-livestock farming systems in the Singida Region in Tanzania, directly or indirectly contributing to household income, food security and poverty reduction among rural people in the region. This paper examined the effect of livestock on crop commercialisation and farmers’ livelihoods in the region. The complementarity between crops and livestock in the farming systems of Singida needs to be recognised, enhanced and utilised not only by farmers and livestock keepers, but also by local government authorities and development practitioners.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
Challenging simplistic land degradation and restoration narratives in Zimbabwe
In the last blog, I reviewed the results of our land use analysis using a combination of Landsat satellite imagery, document/archival analysis and field interviews from Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe from 1984 to 2018, now out as APRA Working Paper 48. There are some important wider implications that emerge from such an analysis that gets to grips with longitudinal environmental and land use change and its intersecting drivers. In this blog, I identify four themes.
September 20, 2021
APRA Working Paper 64: Commercial Tobacco Production and Climate Change Adaptation in Mazowe, Zimbabwe
There has been an increasingly well-documented, rapid rise in tobacco production over the last couple of decades in Mazowe, Zimbabwe, despite growing public health concerns about lung cancer and nicotine’s addictive capacities in the wealthier countries of the West – even affecting the South African market. This has been accompanied by a shift away from its production almost completely on large-scale farms towards predominantly small-scale farms. To date, less consideration has been given to the implications of climate change for tobacco production. Given the hopes that it can make a serious contribution to poverty reduction and food security, it is of increasing importance to understand these implications, to identify the most relevant and/or effective adaptation options and to assess the viability of their successful adoption. This paper presents a fine-grained, qualitative bottom-up analysis of the implications for commercial tobacco production of climate change impacts in Zimbabwe.
Tags: APRA, Working Paper
APRA features at the Second Scientific Conference held at the Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
The Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) participated in a scientific conference at Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), Tanzania from 24th May–27th May 2021. Themed ‘Agricultural Technologies, Productivity and Market Competitiveness in Tanzania: Towards an Upper-Middle Income Economy’, the conference provided a platform for scholars to interact and exchange knowledge on the application of science, innovation, and technology in the country’s socio-economic transformation. This blog highlights APRA Tanzania researchers’ contributions to the conference.
September 16, 2021
Dynamic drivers of land use change in Zimbabwe
What are the drivers of land use change and how do they interact over time? Are the changes, uni-directional and linear, or are the dynamics more complex? This is the question we posed for our study site in Mvurwi in northern Zimbabwe for the period 1984 to 2018, now published in APRA Working Paper 48. This post was written by Ian Scoones and first appeared on Zimbabweland.
September 13, 2021
Influence of rice commercialisation on poverty reduction levels in Kilombero Valley, Tanzania
The commercialisation of smallholder agriculture has been considered a key strategy for sustainably reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth across many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, linking farmers to markets is pursued as an important strategy towards commercialisation and agricultural transformation under the National Development Programme and current Five-year Development Plan for the period 2016 – 2021 and the national vision up to 2025. This blog examines changes in rice commercialisation and poverty levels of different farmer categories that have occurred between 2017 and 2019, as presented in APRA Working Paper 63, based on the findings from Mngeta division, Kilombero Valley in Morogoro region, Tanzania, where rice is the most important food and cash crop.
September 9, 2021
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