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Meat, milk & more: Policy innovations to shepherd inclusive and sustainable livestock systems in Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Jul 2020 08:21:06 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Malabo Montpellier Panel highlights options for sustainably promoting growth in the livestock sector, drawing from what four African countries have done successuflly in terms of institutional and policy innovation as well as programmatic interventions. Across Africa, consumption of animal-sourced foods is projected to increase significantly and a thriving and sustainable livestock sector will play an instrumental role in food security, nutrition, and livelihoods. However, these opportunities for the livestock sector will occur against a backdrop of climate change, growing stresses on land and water resources, conflicts and a global pandemic. Therefore, the entire livestock production and value chain need to be sustainably intensified. Challenges that remain include access to high-quality feed, limited technology adoption, low yielding breeds and stringent biosecurity standards. Sustainable livestock sector policies in Africa must hence be designed in a way that sustainably intensify value chains, and should be accompanied by solid regulatory frameworks. The case studies have shown that success has been most effective where governments have provided supporting infrastructure, increased capacity building in animal health systems and introduced fiscal incentives. In many cases these interventions were combined with a more prominent role for the private sector in the dissemination of modern technologies. By adapting the lessons to countries’ specific contexts and scaling them up across the continent, African governments can meet their national and international commitments to agricultural growth and transformation. The action agenda should include: 1) Overarching policy framework; 2) Nimble but clear regulatory environment; 3) Private sector-led investments; 4) Financial services for requirements of livestock producers; 5) Standards for international quality, food safety and animal health; 6) Availability and access to information and data; 7) Holistic approach for root causes of conflict; 8) Transition from ruminant keepers to producers; 9) Employment and entrepreneurship opportunities; 10) Investments in dairy industry; 11) Value addition and increased productivity by adopting technologies and practices.

Nutrition in a digital world

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Jul 2020 13:50:08 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) examines the complexity of the digital world for improved nutrition from a range of food-system perspectives: from food production, transformation and distribution to digital food marketing and retail; from behavioural change and capacity-building, to the generation, processing and use of data; and from the protection of vulnerable groups to issues of inequality and human rights. Digital technology cannot fix the world’s food and nutrition problems. However, digital technologies are important tools. The potential of digital technologies to improve nutrition is considerable, but so are the risks that these technologies might entail. The digitalization risks include increased inequality due to unequal access to digital technologies and digital literacy, cybersecurity breaches and ethical and human rights concerns about data privacy and ownership. Another hurdle is infrastructure, both physical and in policy, which disproportiantely effects middle-income countries. In addition, current methods and tools are not foolproof. Limitations of tools need to be considered as technologies improve. Concerning nutrition, knowledge gaps and varying degrees of digital literacy deepen the digital divide. Political, regulatory and budgetary support are often lacking. Digital channels are increasingly used to disseminate nutrition messages to bring about behavioural change. These channels facilitate greater, faster and cheaper audience reach, but widely shared misinformation and disinformation on food and nutrition is a major concern. Furthermore, the fact that digital technology does not replace human interaction and impact of automation on employment have become major development challenges. Therefore, the potential of digital technologies to improve nutrition must be analysed. In conclusion, potential benefits and adverse impacts of innovative digital technologies in helping to achieve sustainable healthy diets and progressively realize the right to adequate food.

Fifty years of research on pastoralism and development

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 14:26:49 +0000

This archive of IDS Bulletin reflects on 50 years of research on pastoralism at IDS. Much has changed, but there are also important continuities. Thirteen articles are introduced around six themes: pastoral livelihoods; institutions and common property resource management; climate change and ecological dynamics; food security, early warning, and livelihood vulnerability; pastoral marketing; and conflict and governance. The introductory article (PDF) concludes with some reflections on research gaps and news challenges. A focus on social difference – and the dynamics of class, gender, age, and ethnicity, for example – is under-represented in research on pastoralism. Increasing inequalities are generating new forms of pastoralism, very different to a ‘traditional’ lifestyle. The penetration of capital and state authority is crucial to this, as pastoral areas become increasingly incorporated in a globalised political economy. Future research will surely focus on such dynamics. Such differentiation, in turn, generates a new politics of elite pastoralism, as some pastoralists engage in land speculation, absentee commercial herd management, or other. Such processes of wider economic and political engagement result in changes in economic infrastructure as well as settlement patterns. Settlement, in turn, has impacts on the nutrition and health status of pastoral populations as dietary access changes. Cultural shifts occur too, often through the growing influence of world religions. Research on all these areas is being undertaken, but the authors suggest will feature more centrally in studies of pastoral areas in the future. The capacity to respond to today’s turbulent world, to make productive use of marginal environments, to make use of mobility to respond to heightened uncertainty, and to adapt and innovate are all features of pastoralism that can be important in meeting wider, global challenges. Pastoralism may be an important site for learning about dealing with financial volatility, managing critical infrastructures, responding to mass migration flows, or formulating policies for disease outbreaks and natural disasters.

Gender and trait preferences for banana cultivation and use in sub-saharan Africa: A literature review

F&BKP Office — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 13:23:26 +0000

This article (PDF) in Economic Botany systematically reviewed the scholarly and gray literature on banana trait preferences, with specific attention to studies that document gender-differentiated traits. Understanding trait preferences of different actors in the banana value chain may facilitate the selection and adoption of new cultivars. Of 44 publications reviewed, only four reported gender-specific trait preferences, indicating a significant gap in the literature. The review found that banana farmers, irrespective of gender, value similar characteristics that are related to production constraints, income enhancement, consumption, and cultural or ritual uses. Farmers (as producers, processors, and consumers) often prefer traditional cultivars because of their superior consumption attributes, even if new cultivars have better agronomic and host plant resistance characteristics. Using local germplasm to produce new cultivars can potentially improve acceptance rates, especially as these cultivars would meet the farmers’ and consumers’ preferences. Potential differences between trait preferences of farmers and other actors in the value chain should be accounted for to enhance marketing potential. Understanding what end-users and farmers want in cultivars early on can assist breeders with appropriate targeting of efforts. Interdisciplinary teamwork is essential for an efficient and effective breeding program. Sustained interaction between value chain actors is necessary to understand local context and exchange vital information for an efficient and effective breeding program. Preference studies provide entry points for discussions that prioritize targets for the improvement of specific traits, and priorities for selection in the short and longer term. Gender-specific research along the banana value chain and engaging users at the initial stages of breeding can ensure that new cultivars are acceptable to users and may improve adoption.

Sowing the seed: Adoption processes of good horticulture practices in northern Uganda

F&BKP Office — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 13:14:17 +0000

This publication (PDF) by Wageningen University & Research and Integrated Seed Sector Development Africa aims to anwser the question: “How do farmers respond to the vegetable activities, and why?” Uganda has enormous horticulture potential, due to distributed rainfall and moderate climate, and production is country-wide. Key limiting factors include poor infrastructure, low productivity and production, quality, food safety and traceability issue and counterfeit inputs especially seeds. A farmer outreach program was developed to promote use of good quality seed and good horticulture practice. The program included trainings, farmer field days and radio programs. A combination of people implemented the activities mentioned to ensure strong uptake of the techniques, inputs and advice provided. There is a clear distinction between the ‘easy’ and ‘hard’ adopts. The easier things to put into practice are the more physical practices that are less knowledge intensive and have a fairly immediate return for farmers. The harder practices to adopt are those that are more knowledge intensive. Of all participants, one-third adopted 1 or more technologies. Reasons why farmers might be adopting: 1) Seeing and believing “the impossible”; 2) Consistent, high quality trainig; 3) Access to continuous supports; 4) It’s the only option; 5) Collaboration; 6) Attraction of something new. The program brings tangible and intagible value for farmers, including hope, self-respect and profitability. Most of these changes are too young to tell if they can become structural change. Suggestions for similar programs include monitoring the adoption processes and rates more carefully, setting up mobile phone training, training all agrodealers, careful consolidation, and tracking change and good data.

Five practical actions towards low-carbon livestock

F&BKP Office — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 10:21:56 +0000

This publication (PDF) of FAO describes how five practical actions can be widely implemented in integrative and sustainable ways for measurable and rapid impacts on livestock emissions, taking account the diversity of livestock systems and enhancing synergies and managing tradeoffs with other sustainable development objectives. Action 1: Boosting efficiency of livestock production and resource use. Better management practices can boost production efficiency. Extensive and labour-intensive ruminant systems with low productivity are targets for low carbon investments. Technological innovations make resource use more efficient. Action 2: Intensifying recycling efforts and minimizing losses for a circular bioeconomy. Countries using generated biomass are expected to see better economic and environmental returns. Unused crop residues, food waste, and agro-industrial by-products are lost opportunities to use for animal feed. Manure and slaughterhouse waste can be used to generate fertilizer and biogas. Action 3: Capitalizing on nature-based solutions to ramp up carbon offsets. Halting expansion into forests for feed production and pasture is an effective way for livestock systems to tackle climate change. Soil carbon sequestration through regenerative grazing practices and restoring degraded land can help put carbon back in the ground. Livestock farms can contribute to renewable energy production through biogas, solar and wind power. Action 4: Striving for healthy, sustainable diets and accounting for protein alternatives. Convergence on healthy diets means high-income countries reduce animal-source food consumption and low-income countries benefit from improved access. Biotechnological innovations transform production of proteins for consumers and feeding livestock. New alternative proteins could present consumers with climate-smart choices. Action 5: Developing policy measures to drive change. Policy approaches vary across regions, systems and contexts, reflecting different constraints and opportunities and need to be self-correcting to avoid unintended impacts. Integrating different types of policy approaches may yield best results to support transformative practices while helping to reduce stakeholder risk. Subsidies can be better aligned with climate action priorities.

Land access in the development of horticultural crops in East Africa: A case study of passion fruit in Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda

F&BKP Office — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 10:08:25 +0000

This research (PDF) in Sustainability evaluated land access dynamics (availability, acquisition, and use changes) on the introduction of passion fruits in East Africa (Kenya, Burundi and Rwanda). Rapid population growth in fertile agricultural lands of East Africa creates land scarcity, which limits land access for new horticultural crops. However, their introduction is increasing because of their high market price, which improves farmers’ income. This study has shown that land access among rural passion fruit farmers in Burundi, Kenya, and Rwanda is through inheritance, purchase, and leasehold arrangements. Land purchase and leasehold systems are modern methods and therefore could indicate the modernization of agricultural practice among smallholder farmers. These changes could also indicate an increase in the value of agricultural land and increased income for smallholder farmers. Some farmers bought land and abandoned other crops to pave way for passion fruit production, which has some type of attraction; including monetary, high nutritional value. Crop abandonment could affect food production and household income, especially when prices of passion fruits fall. As such, this situation reveals the need to regulate the different modes of access to agricultural land to guarantee sustainable agricultural production and to avoid dysfunctions that may accentuate land conflicts. Governments should consider land issues in public development agendas, especially through policies on land purchase, registration, and leasehold procedures. Local authorities should train communities on strategies for an equitable share of communal land for agricultural activities, and discourage widespread farmland fragmentation through inheritance. In conclusion, adoption of high-value horticultural crops is supported for the increased income of rural farmers in East Africa, however, constraints on land access may limit the achievement of optimum income from the cultivation of these crops. Therefore, efforts should be directed on the improvement of land access and tenure security in rural areas of East Africa.

This article belongs to the Special Issue Impacts of Land Tenure Systems on Land Use Sustainability

Improved feeding and forages at a crossroads: Farming systems approaches for sustainable livestock development in East Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 09:32:42 +0000

This perspective article (PDF) in the Outlook on Agriculture argues that farming systems approaches are essential to understand the multiple roles and impacts of forages in smallholder livelihoods. Dairy development provides substantial potential economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in East Africa, but productivity is constrained by the scarcity of quantity and quality feed. Ruminant livestock production is also associated with negative environmental impacts. Improved livestock feeding and forages have been highlighted as key entry point to sustainable intensification, increasing food security, and decreasing environmental trade-offs including GHG emission intensities. The article shows that improved forages in East Africa are at a crossroads: if adopted by farmers at scale, they can be a cornerstone of pathways toward intensified sustainable livestock systems in East Africa. Forages occupy a key role in smallholder farming systems, linking soil, crop, and livestock components. Changes in livestock feeding can have multidimensional impacts on farmers’ livelihoods in terms of productivity and environmental quality. Systemic characteristics, including the need to change the entire production system and multidimensionality of livestock, affect adoption of improved forages and call for multidisciplinary thinking. Further, forage technologies need to be matched with agroecological and socioeconomic contexts to address competition for land and fulfill various production objectives. Robust, “scalable” systems agronomy is needed to develop context-specific advice and decision support on socio-ecological niches for forages. Farming systems modeling can be employed to estimate multidimensional impacts of forages and for reducing agro-environmental trade-offs. Translating modeling results into decision advice, without losing sight of farming systems intrinsic complexities, needs further development. Multidisciplinary farming systems approaches are pivotal to bring tropical forages into wider use and to support sustainable livestock development trajectories in East Africa.

Exploring the effectiveness of agricultural technologies training among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African communities

F&BKP Office — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 08:39:39 +0000

This study (PDF) in the European Journal of Training and Development Studies was carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of agricultural technologies training among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African communities. Knowledge and capacity development on improved farm technologies and techniques are essential for agricultural growth. Despite the extension effort to facilitate adoption and diffusion of innovation through farmers visit and training, there is the need to evaluate the effectiveness of farmers’ engagement in technologies development. This study was carried out to ascertain the effectiveness of agricultural technologies training among 200 smallholder farmers in Nigeria. The results of the study revealed that agricultural technologies training were very effective among the smallholder farmers. A great proportion (70.5%) of the farmers indicated that the training was very effective. There was a rapid increase (85%) in the level of adoption of agricultural technologies after the participatory training among the respondents compared to pre-training (49.5%). The findings also revealed that 13 Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies were fully adopted by the majority of the smallholder farmers. In addition, our results also showed that there was a strong positive correlation between agricultural technologies training sessions and adoption of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs). The results reported that the use of participatory agricultural technologies training and trust in the lead farmers influenced farmers’ decisions to adopt and implement the recommended good agricultural practices technologies. The use of information and participatory technologies training offered to the smallholders was largely an educational process which they converted into useable knowledge. The study recommends a policy agenda of governments that will favor improvement of agricultural extension and training for rural development to promote agricultural productivity, improving standard of living of smallholder farmers and national food security. Furthermore, there is need for stable political environment that will generate a forwardlooking policy in the agricultural sector.

Access to markets, weather risk, and livestock production decisions: Evidence from Ethiopa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 May 2020 14:34:54 +0000

This study (PDF) in Agricultural Economics examined whether and how livestock production responds to (access to) markets and varying weather risk and explores whether such responses vary across livelihood zones and livestock production systems. Quite little is known on whether and how livestock production systems respons to variation in weather risk and access to markets. To study this, households’ livestock production, ownership and marketing decisions of households in Ethiopia are used. Results show that households living close to markets are more likely to engage in market‐oriented livestock production and use modern livestock inputs. It is also found that households exposed to more unpredictable weather are less likely to engage in livestock production for markets, rather they are more likely to engage in livestock production for precautionary savings and insurance. Furthermore, greater rainfall uncertainty influences livestock portfolio allocation towards those which can be easily liquidated while also discouraging investment in modern livestock inputs. However, these responses and patterns vary across livelihood zones and production systems; most of these stylized responses and impacts are more pronounced and significant in the arid and semi‐arid lands (ASAL) of Ethiopia, where livestock herding remains a dominant source of livelihood. Those households relying only on livestock production seem more sensitive and responsive to weather risk and weather shocks. The heterogeneity in responses and impacts of weather risk among farming systems and livelihoods highlights the need for more tailored livestock sector policies and interventions.

Innovations in irrigation systems in Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 May 2020 13:10:23 +0000

This special issue of the Irrigation and Drainage journal aims to compile a series of insights related to innovation in irrigated agriculture. Irrigation is essential to improve harvest security and to realize production in arid areas. Anticipating an increasing occurrence of climate extremes with prolonged dry spells and more severe droughts and heatwaves, there is an even greater need for irrigated agriculture in Africa. However, irrigation in Africa is not fully exploiting its potential, especially for smallholder farming. In many areas where smallholder farmers are practising irrigation, the yields obtained are still often comparatively low and farmers face a plethora of obstacles to substantially improving crop water productivity. Overall, there is a need to make better use of the existing infrastructure. Therefore there is a need to improve irrigation in Africa through innovation. Past efforts have, however, demonstrated that changing irrigation practice in smallholder farming systems faces numerous challenges. It is essential to start from the actual farmers’ needs, ideas and possibilities for innovation. However, innovating smallholder irrigated farming is not a straightforward task. Smallholder farmers are locked within a complex network of interdependencies that affects power relations and access to finance, information and markets. Many obstacles preventing innovation in irrigation are often outside the farmers’ sphere of influence and thus requiring a transformation of the environment. It became apparent that efforts to advance innovation for smallholder irrigated farming must remain a priority. Further emphasis should also be given to learning how to innovate the enabling environment itself. The key challenge will be to involve policy and decision makers, who are not afraid to put farmers in a stronger position of power, and who actually want to advance an inclusive green growth within their country.

Diets in a time of coronavirus: Don’t let vegetables fall off the plate

F&BKP Office — Tue, 14 Apr 2020 14:34:03 +0000

This blog at IFPRI explains that vegetables production, trade and consumption are particularly affected by COVID-19 because of their highly seasonal nature, high labor needs, perishability and the need for good storage and distribution logistics, with significant implications for nutrition security. Vegetables are a key source of essential nutrients as driver for immunity and health. COVID-19 is posing serious challenges related to limits in movement of food, access to agricultural inputs, and migration for labor. Trader’s access to markets is being limited and local actions are restricting traders’ legitimate activities in troubling ways. Vegetables are also among the faster-growing commodities in global trade, much from poor to rich countries. Thereby, government interventions such as export bans might be imposed. In short and medium term, accessibility of vegetables is a more pressing concern than availability, due to high prices because of supply changes. Moreover, households facing uncertain incomes and uncertain access to shops are expected to shift their demand, likely altering to a decline in vegetables. To protect healthy diets, policy debates should focus on trade-offs between international trade and local or common production systems, consolidation in the food system that leaves government with few policy levers in times of crisis, and how the most vulnerable can be supported in access to healthy diets. There are three actions that should be taken: 1) Countries should meet the immediate food needs of their vulnerable populations; 2) Countries should boost their social protection programs; 3) Countries should gain efficiencies and try to reduce trade-related costs. The seismic impact of COVID-19 has just begun to reveal important weak points in our highly interconnected global and local food systems, with hugely different diet impacts for rich and poor countries and households. Addressing those problems in the short- and medium-term is essential to prevent a rise in malnutrition and related health problems. Post-crisis, these efforts offer an opportunity to continue building more equitable food systems that promote healthy diets for all

Sustainable food systems through diversification and indigenous vegetables: An analysis of the Arusha area

F&BKP Office — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 15:24:52 +0000

This report (PDF) by ECDPM aims at filling the knowledge gap on the factors and actors that are currently hindering the benefits of indigenous vegetables to materialise, and how governance and policy can support indigenous vegetables in diverse contexts in Arusha, Tanzania. One pathway to more sustainability is to support diversified agroecological systems. One way to diversify is to better integrate indigenous vegetables, which are generally highly nutritious, potentially require fewer natural resources, and can lead to higher profit margins. Despite their potential, indigenous vegetables are routinely neglected by policymakers. The food system is central to Arusha’s social, environmental, and economic sustainability, contributing to both positive (lower level of poverty compared to the rest of Tanzania) and negative outcomes (high levels of malnourishment and declining soil fertility). Diversification can alleviate some of these factors and contribute to long-term sustainability in Arusha. The governance of Arusha’s food system is marked by fragmented and incoherent policies. While indigenous vegetables are present in the plot, market, and on the plate, they are largely absent from policy. However, several factors constrain a stronger integration of indigenous vegetables in Arusha, pertaining to production, distribution, consumption and governance domains. Although the indigenous vegetables value chain is relatively short, many actors are involved or connected to it. There are several entry points for stronger integration of indigenous vegetables in Arusha: 1) Stronger value chain governance through a multi-stakeholder platform, to facilitate stronger governance; 2) Better informed farmers’ choices by including indigenous vegetables in extension officers’ curricula, to strengthen etension services support; 3) Improved food safety and reduced loss along the chain; 4) Greater food knowledge about indigenous vegetables through information campaigns. Interdisciplinary research using a politically sensitive food system approach can help develop pathways that make trade-offs more explicit and take into account the interests and incentives of the different actors involved.

This report is the second major outcome of the Sustainable Agrifood Systems Strategies. The first report can be found here.

Future global pig production systems according to the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

F&BKP Office — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 07:57:41 +0000

This study in the Science of The Total Environment analyzed the development of the pig production sector at the scale of world regions. Global pork production has increased fourfold over the last 50 years and is expected to continue growing during the next three decades. This may have considerable implications for feed use, land requirements, and nitrogen emissions. The IMAGE-Pig model was used to describe changes in feed demand, feed conversion ratio (FCR), nitrogen use efficiency and nitrogen excretion for backyard, intermediate and intensive systems during the past few decades as a basis to explore future scenarios. For each region and production system, total production, productive characteristics and dietary compositions were defined for the 1970–2005 period. The results show that due to the growing pork production total feed demand has increased by a factor of two. This is despite the improvement of FCRs during the 1970–2005 period, which has reduced the feed use per kg of product. The increase of nitrogen use efficiency was slower than the improvement of FCRs due to increasing protein content in the feed rations. As a result, total N excretion increased by more than a factor of two in the 1970–2005 period. For the period up to 2050, the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) provide information on levels of human consumption, technical development and environmental awareness. The sustainability of pig production systems for the coming decades will be based not only on the expected efficiency improvements at the level of animal breeds, but also on four additional pillars: 1) use of alternative feed sources not competing with human food; 2) reduction of the crude protein content in rations; 3) the proper use of slurries as fertilizers through coupling of crop and livestock production and; 4) moderation of the human pork consumption.

Indigenous knowledge of veterinary medicinal plant use in cattle treatment in southwestern Burkina Faso

F&BKP Office — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:50:17 +0000

The aim of this study (PDF) in the South African Journal of Botany is to inventory medicinal plants in cattle husbandry in Burkina Faso. Traditional livestock husbandry is of great socio-economic importance for farmers and pastoral populations in Burkina Faso. The results showed that 26 medicinal plants for veterinary use. In total, 9 important cattle diseases for which medicinal plants are used have been recorded. The most frequent diseases reported were foot and mouth disease and animal trypanosomosis. Decoction was the most used preparatin recorded for disease treatment (62%). Statistical analysis revealed that men know more medicinal plants than women do. The results have indicated a disparity of medicinal plant knowledge according to age classes. The results also revealed a significant difference of plants recognised by seven ethnic groups. Knowledge of different medicinal plants for veterinary use among the ethnic groups was influenced by the family income source and the main activity. The informant consensus factor showed that all the informants agreed on the importance of medicinal plant conservation. These findings will contribute to integrate the local knowledge of communities into appropriate proposals to preserve veterinary medicinal plants. Recommendations are that: 1) the authorities should be encouraged to organise sessions of sharing and exchange of knowledge of veterinary medicinal plants among pastoralists, which will enable them to be equally informed for better management of bovine diseases; 2) medicinal plants used in veterinary medicine should be promoted, such as plants used in human health care, on national days of traditional medicine.

Information and communication technologies to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda

F&BKP Office — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 15:16:54 +0000

This study (PDF) in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics evaluates the effectiveness of an information and communication technology (ICT)‐mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small‐scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers by agricultural extension agents who visit farmers to provide information. This approach is not always effective and has proved hard to scale sustainably, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. ICTs have been advanced as a promising way to overcome many of the problems associated with conventional agricultural extension. Three complementary technologies designed to address both informational and behavioral constraints to technical change are considered: audiovisual messages (video), video with interactive voice response (IVR), and time-sensitive SMS messages. Households that were shown a short video on how to become better maize farmers were performing significantly better on a knowledge test, more likely to apply recommended practices, and more likely to use fertilizer than households that did not view the video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10.5% higher than those that did not view the video. Little evidence was found of an incremental effect of the IVR service or SMS reminders. However, the researchers do not think that extension approaches relying on IVR or SMS should be dismissed solely on the basis of this study. Rather, they encourage continued empirical study of the role that ICTs can play in increasing the effectiveness and decreasing the costs of information delivery to small‐scale farmers, the effects that alternative design features have on behavioral dimensions of technical change, and the relevance of ICT‐enabled approaches to agricultural extension systems and rural advisory services. Most importantly, replication of similar studies is encouraged – alongside variations in the choice of ICTs and the experimental designs in which they are introduced to farmers – across multiple agroecological, social, and economic contexts.

Sustainable food systems through diversification and indigenous vegetables: An analysis of the Southern Nakuru County

F&BKP Office — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 12:34:00 +0000

This report (PDF) by ECDPM presents the results of multi-disciplinary research and dialogue activities in Kenya, using a ‘food systems approach’ in terms of sustainability and outcomes, a related governance analysis about the bottlenecks and drivers that make diversification of the food system difficult, with a focus on indigenous vegetables. The current Nakury County food systems is poor in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability: there are significant medium-term economi risks, a significant part of the population is excluded, environmental status is worsening with climate change and poor in terms of quantity and quality of food. A governance analysis with related bottlenecks that make diversification of food systems difficult shows that the policy landscape is characterised by a multitute of well conceived policies but implementatios tools are lacking, wich national subsidies and other policy execution largely dedicated to maize anf few other export crops. Local institutions are very weak. There are several pathways to solutions to address such governance bottlenecks. For seed systems: subsidies for seed distribution, technocal assistance for smallholders and open source seed systems. For production systems: better extensions services, investment in storage and business brokerage. To improve processing system for indigenous vegetables, for distribution and consumption should be market research, build upon maize distribution networks and communication campaigns, public procurement and establishing a multi-dimensional sustainability label. Finally, an example of crosscutting solutions is a multi-stakeholder platform to regularly bring together all relevant actors. Effective implementation of these pathways requires working with local drivers of change and targeting the right ongoing policy processes.

HortIMPACT: The story 2015-2019

F&BKP Office — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 11:35:59 +0000

This booklet (PDF) by SNV provides the overall results of the HortIMPACT project and gives special attention to the lessons learnt during the implementation. HortIMPACT contributed to increased food security, increased incomes, and a dynamic and sustainable horticulture sector in Kenya. Te project focused on three main themes: inclusion of small and medium sized entrepreneurial (SME) farmers, food safety and food loss reduction, as well as on private sector development. Lessons learned of the project are: 1) It is critical to pre-select and focus on 3-5 value chains with highest potential; 2) In-dept value chain analyses are a crucial step to enable to identify causes of market underperformance; 3) Market actor mapping is important for identifying partners to tackle bottlenecks in the market system; 4) Established companies should be engaged in tripartite arrangements to ensure rapid uptake of new technologies; 5) Undertake short small pilots with various market actors to test different approaches and partners; 6) The scaling scan and Adopt, Adapt, Expand and Response Framework are effective tools for analysing systemic change; 7) Support growth of market support functions to stimulate systemic change and scaling; 8) Work from the start with financial service providers in promotion of financial solutions; 9) Invest in communication and collaboration with media to support dissemination of key learnings; 10) Support functions that strengthen farmers groups and cooperatives in linking farmers to markets; 11) Innovative agribased ventures that have limited asset requirements are more likely to attract more youth and women. Despite HortIMPACT’s impact, there is still need for greater systemic change in enhancing food safety and market access while reducing food losses, with climate change and limited water availability continuing to challenge food security.

A retrospective analysis of responsible innovation for low-technology innovation in the Global South

F&BKP Office — Mon, 16 Mar 2020 14:21:37 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the Journal of Responsible Innovation states that the role of low-technology innovation in addressing global challenges is undervalued. Responsible innovation (RI) has the potential to direct low-technology innovation towards global challenges in the Global South, yet this possibility remains largely unexplored. Through a retrospective analysis, this article explores how researchers grapple with dimensions of an RI framework in a research project and highlights key areas for researchers to consider when involved with low-technology innovation in a development context. The analysis demonstrates that RI can structure discussion and create space for anticipation, reflection and engagement with stakeholders. However, even when researchers are committed to the idea of RI, it is difficult to enact in practice. Although RI places significant emphasis on inclusive and meaningful engagement as imagined by co-development and inclusive models of innovation, the deficit model of public engagement presents a formidable barrier. Surprisingly, low-technology innovators are likely to face the same struggles as high technology innovators. There exists a pervasive ‘technology developers know best’ approach which relies on a knowledge-deficit understanding of the public or end-users. In other words, the public or end-users simply need to be told about the benefits of the technology because it is better. This top-down approach fails to understand the complex range of social, political and economic factors that shape cookstove choices. Although RI is unlikely to be a panacea for the challenges of conducting innovation research in development settings, it offers a practical framework that could help project teams identify important socio-technical elements of innovation early on in the project planning stage and as such, help project teams to work with end-users and other publics to steer research toward social needs and global challenges.

Characterising the fruit and vegetable environment of peri-urban Hyderabad, India

F&BKP Office — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 11:44:28 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Global Food Security journal examined the perceptions of people living in peri-urban villages of Hyderabad, India, to characterise the sources and environment of fruit and vegetables (FV) and to inform future interventions to increase FV consumption. Food environments in low and middle income countries are highly complex with a co-existence of formal and informal food markets as well as market and non-market-based food sources. This study shows that a range of factors related to food environments determine acquisition of FVs, including price, availability, sensory attributes, pesticide use, and socio-cultural factors. Markets in the villages had limited availability – quantity and variety – of fresh FV. Price was a key driver of FV acquisition and consumption. Participants perceived deterioration in FV quality/safety due to pesticide use. A range of intervention types including developing cold chain infrastructure and developing communal gardens could increase availability of fresh FV. Communal gardens and financial incentives could be effective in increasing consumption of affordable FV, since this would lower the cost of FV. Improved knowledge and understanding of FV acquisition and consumption practices and their drivers is critical for designing effective interventions and policies for developing healthier FV environments and tackling malnutrition in all its forms.

Digitising Agrifood: Pathways and challenges

F&BKP Office — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 14:12:23 +0000

This report (PDF) by CEPS looks at the many ways in which digital solutions can be implemented on the ground to help the agrifood chain transform itself to achieve more sustainability. The report states that one of the most substantial contributions to future sustainability must come from a radical transformation of the agriculture and food (agrifood) value chain. The diffusion of digital technologies in the agrifood chain promises to increase yields, reduce waste, and trigger changes in consumption patterns, thereby substantially contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on the analysis, the report have identified ten key action areas – a decalogue – to consider for policymakers: 1) Ensuring adequate connectivity; 2) Deploying the full technology stack; 3) Promoting entrepreneurship, building capacity and facilitating technology transfer; 4) Generating and sharing data for distributed, sustainable governance; 5) Rebalancing the bargaining power of farmers, distributors and data managers; 6) Attributing responsibility for negative externalities throughout the value chain; 7) Providing incentives to shorten the supply chain; 8) Public policies to enable reallocation of excesses; 9) An ethical and policy framework for artificial intelligence and data management in business-to-consumer; 10) Raising the skills and awareness of farmers and consumers. The EU is the only large bloc that has sufficient ability, resources and credibility to lead the great transformation in the
agrifood sector that is needed to achieve sustainable development. Failure
to recognise and publicly promote the role of AI and its related technologies for a more sustainable future society would represent an enormous missed opportunity for Europe and the world.

The age of foodtech: Optimizing the agri-food chain with digital technologies

F&BKP Office — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 14:31:37 +0000

This article published in the book Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Through Sustainable Food Systems reviewed emerging applications of technologies like the Internet of Things, distributed ledger technologies and Artificial Intelligence at various phases of the agri-food chain, focusing in particular on smart and precision farming, value chain integrity, personalized nutrition and the reduction and prevention of food waste. Foodtech, intended as the use of disruptive digital technologies along the agri-food chain, features an outstanding potential to contribute to the SDGs, and in particular to help combat and eradicate hunger without a massive increase in food production. The paper shows that it is important that the focus is not limited to one single technology, but to the whole “technology stack”, including sensing, big data analytics, 5G, blockchain and Artificial Intelligence. Moreover, weaker players such as small farmers and consumers are often unable to make the most of these technological developments, and this requires dedicated action in terms of training and education. Furthermore, blockchain and Artificial Intelligence can massively contribute to improving the agri-food chain: however, they feature important governance challenges, which can lead to undesirable re-intermediation effects (in the case of blockchain); and loss of user self-determination and agency, as well as privacy and integrity (in the case of Artificial Intelligence). Finally, any solution that relies on digital technologies will need to be inclusive, otherwise the risk will be to widen the digital divide: more generally, FoodTech needs to develop in way that is compatible with all SDGs, not only those related to the agri-food sector.

Innovations in vegetable food systems for food safety and nutrition security in lower and middle income countries in Asia

F&BKP Office — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 11:38:14 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the FFTC Agricultural Policy Platform states that improving food safety and nutrition security, requires innovations that simultaneously increase the supply and demand for vegetables. The coexistence of undernutrition with overweight and obesity, and micronutrient deficiencies clearly indicates that current food systems are failing people’s health. The trend is a homogenization of diets with processed and unhealthy foods that are rich in salt, sugar and saturated fats but poor in essential vitamins and minerals. One of the greatest challenges is to convince consumers to change their dietary habits to eating healthier foods such as fruit and vegetables. But when the demand exists, the challenges of supply and food safety still remain. Only a food system approach will help ensure that safe and nutritious vegetables are not only available but also accessible, affordable and consumed. Food systems can be seen as made up of three fundamental elements: 1) food supply chains, 2) food environments, and 3) consumer food behavior. Using this framework, the authors discuss the challenges, the innovations and changes needed to enhance safe vegetable production and consumption in lower and middle income countries in Asia. For example, to enhance awareness and acceptability (part of element 3), it should be stimulated to include micronutrient-dense crops in farmers’ cropping calendar (e.g. traditional vegetables). Another example, to enhance affordability and accessibility (part of element 2), shorter value chains should be promoted as they stimulate greater connectivity between farm and plate and may convince consumers to eat more vegetables. Many consumers are worried about food safety issues and once they understand how and where vegetables areproduced they may become more likely to purchase and consume vegetables. To conclude, in the current context of global malnutrition, the importance of investing in vegetable research and innovations, is more relevant than ever.

Rebounding from the brink of extinction: Commercial production of milk amongst pastoralists for climate change resilience in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 15:32:24 +0000

This technical report (PDF) by CTA describes how commercial milk production has several direct and indirect benefits that insulate pastoralists from climate and other risks, and generally improve their standard of living in Uganda. The most fundamental benefit is an increase in cash incomes experienced by the vast majority of milk producers. The regular flow of income (daily or weekly) from milk sales adds additional benefits. It enables them to understand and monitor market prices (pastoralists who sell only cattle generally sell cattle infrequently and have little market information that allows them to obtain the highest prices for their cattle). The steady stream of income allows pastoralists to respond quickly to personal and household needs, such as an illness in the family (or to their cattle). It also enables them to make and execute plans – such as those for schooling and investments. Many milk producers use the higher, steady income specifically to reduce their exposure to climate-related risks. Examples include: 1) Building small dams that hold water from the wet season and diminish their vulnerability to drought. 2) Increasing the use of pesticides to reduce the cattle’s exposure to disease-carrying insects and ticks that are becoming more numerous as temperatures rise, precipitation patterns change. 3) Expanding the education and economic activities of women. Some women experience new opportunities directly related to milk, as they control the production, processing and sale of milk. Lessons learned in the Southwest Region are now spreading to the Central Region, demonstrating the potential for scaling-up the transition process. This expansion of the transition within Uganda suggests that similar transitions can occur elsewhere to insulate pastoralists from climate-related and other risks. Although practices would have to be adapted to fit the economic, social, ecological and political circumstances of other areas.

Digital technologies, hyper-transparency and smallholder farmer inclusion in global value chains

F&BKP Office — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 14:20:38 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability states that globalization of food value chains has increased the demand for greater transparency over where food is produced, how, by whom and with what effect on society and the environment. A range of new digital technologies are available to facilitate transparency, with the promise of leading the global food system to an era of ‘hyper-transparency’. Its impact on smallholder farmer inclusion, however, remains questionable. The potential benefits of hyper-transparency for smallholders are improved access to services and markets. Thus far, important challenges remain. These are limited access to these technologies for smallholders and new power relations that emerge around access, use and control of data. Consequently, strategies and policies are needed to 1) ensure that farmers’ data rights are protected and that there is a fair sharing of the benefits of the collection and analysis of data; 2) guide learning and knowledge development of how to use and interpret information available in a way that it becomes a tool for empowerment of smallholder farmers rather than a surveillance quest. Hyper-transparency means that smallholders and other value chain players should not only be seen as economic actors in value chains, but also as data subjects and users. Digital technologies can generate and analyse vast amounts of data about farmers, their activities, and their environment, but the important question is who can access, control, and use this data. Here lies an important task for governments and international organizations: they should focus on improving data regulation, and informational and digital literacy at all levels of society, especially the smallholder farmer, to enhance market inclusion and increase productivity through technological advancements. Only then can the ‘invisible hand’ work in the advantage of smallholders.

Money matters: The role of yields and profits in agricultural technology adoption

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 14:24:07 +0000

This article (PDF) published in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics states that despite the growing attention to technology adoption in the economics literature, knowledge gaps remain regarding why some valuable technologies are rapidly adopted, while others are not. This paper contributes to the understanding of agricultural technology adoption by showing that a focus on yield gains may, in some contexts, be misguided. The authors study a technology in Ethiopia that has no impact on yields, but that has nonetheless been widely adopted. The research results show that farmers’ comparative advantage does not play a significant role in their adoption decisions and which could be due to the overall high economic returns to adoption, despite the limited yield impacts of the technology. The results suggest economic measures of returns may be more relevant than increases in yields in explaining technology adoption decisions. This suggests that focusing policy solely on the yield aspect of genetic gains may be misguided. Examining traits other than yields, and improving households’ ability to realize higher yields (perhaps through complementary investments that improve value chains and market access) should accompany yield-increasing breeding programs. The context of the study is an extreme example of the extent to which money matter. Despite improved chickpea providing no statistically significant gains in yields, adoption of the technology has been extremely high. This adoption success has been the result of markets for the improved varieties in which farmers can sell their surpluses and reap economic benefits unavailable from growing and marketing less desirable traditional varieties. Policy and future research should reorient in a direction that considers both the physical and economic returns as factors that influence the adoption of agricultural technologies.

Effects of milk cooling: A case study on milk supply chain for a factory in Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 13:22:31 +0000

In this study (PDF) by CGIAR the effects of different scenarios for introducing a cold milk chain are evaluated based on rejection rates and costs to increase the milk supply of a milk factory near Solulta (Ethiopia). Milk has important nutritious values and therefore can contribute to nutrition security in Africa. The product category is a hotspot for food loss & waste and the associated greenhouse gas emissions in African countries. Therefore, adequate design of milk collection chains and choice of technology options is essential to make the food product available with minimum climate impact. The analyses show that cooling is essential for preventing losses in collecting evening milk in the supply area of the milk factory. For the morning milk, cooling becomes more essential when the time between collection and arrival at the factory gate increases. Introduction of chilling centres or on-farm cooling system can both make the evening milk delivery possible for the factory. For the first option, the implementation of a collection system will be critical, whereas for on-farm cooling the willingness to extend the power grid and the type of milk containers are essential. Depending on the ambition of the Ethiopian government to connect household in farmland close to an already existing power grid, either increasing the power grid or the chilling centre is the most promising option. On-farm off-grid cooling systems seem not economically feasible in the studied area.

Transforming Africa’s food system with digital technologies

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 12:58:51 +0000

This seminar by IFPRI and Malabo Montpellier Panel explored how African countries can develop a “digitalization ecosystem” to help foster growth and competitiveness in the continent’s value chains. Also discussed are the institutional and policy innovations that have already been implemented by African governments as well as efforts by the private sector and ag-tech startups to increase the development and use of digital tools and services in agriculture. African countries have made considerable progress in increasing agricultural productivity and reducing hunger, malnutrition, and poverty. But continued population growth, urbanization, changing diets, and climate change are putting pressure on food systems not only to provide more food but also to make more diverse and nutritious foods available and accessible. New digital technologies and services are already making an impact on how food is being produced, processed, marketed, traded, and consumed across the continent. How African countries position themselves to harness and deploy digital technologies will determine the future competitiveness of African agriculture and its contribution to African economies. Speakers included: Ousmane Badiane, Director for Africa, IFPRI ; Debisi Araba, Regional Director for Africa, CIAT ; Katrin Glatzel, Program Head, IFPRI ; Farbod Youssefi, Program Manager, World Bank Group. The video, and podcast version, our now available, as well as the presentation slides.

Adaptation opportunities for smallholder dairy farmers facing resource scarcity: Integrated livestock, water and land management

F&BKP Office — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 09:36:45 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment journal quantifies the water and land footprints of current livestock production systems in three agro-ecological zones in Kenya that contrast strongly in terms of land availability and rainfall (from humid to semi-arid). Dairy intensification is a widely used means of achieving food security, improving farmer incomes and enhancing overall economic growth. However, intensification is dependent upon the availability and suitability of natural resources to sustain growth in production. Intensification pathways focusing on improving livestock breeds, feed provisioning and milk output per cow and distinguished by contrasting management practices perform differentially across the three agro-ecological zones. Total water and land footprints increase for all scenarios relative to the baseline scenario. mprovement in breed to pure bred cattle across all production systems has the largest total water footprint across all the production systems. Across all the scenarios, the largest reduction in water footprint of milk production (75%) occurs with improvement in breed and feeding practices from two scenarios in the lowlands. Across the three agroecological zones, improving breeds, feed provisioning and milk production per cow may achieve production intensification but concurrently exacerbates resource limitation. Consequently, the heterogeneity inherent in resource availability across dairy production zones should be considered when developing strategies for increasing dairy production. Further, it is advisable to conduct cross-sectional analyses, including socio-economic analyses, and use detailed local knowledge and available adaptation options to generate pluralistic and locally adaptive approaches to intensification and not use a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Such analyses would do well to also factor in the cost of intensification to natural biodiversity and essential ecosystem services in water stressed but biodiversity rich environments.

Seeds of change: The power of fruits and vegetables to improve nutrition in Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 11:18:41 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Centre for Strategic & International Studies examined the imperative role of fruits and vegetables in combating malnutrition. The consumption of fruits and vegetables remains low globally. Tanzania is undergoing a food system change in farming, processing, and retail, especially in urban areas, as the country strives toward lowering stunting, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity. Not only do fruits and vegetables present an opportunity to diversify diets and improve nutrition, they also provide labor opportunities, ignite entrepreneurship, and generate income for smallholder farmers. Research indicated the major barrier to individual and household consumption of fruits and vegetables was lack of knowledge, including a basic misunderstanding of nutritional needs versus hunger, generational misinformation on cooking vegetables too long to cleanse them of pesticides, and taboos concerning the effects of certain vegetables on male reproductive health. Recommendation for policy and donors are: 1) Create consumer demand. Food preferences are as much about taste as about income, geography, knowledge, behavior, culture, gender, and other determinants. Policy and funding approaches require a new lens that goes far beyond educational efforts and raising incomes: they must make a major shift to rethink how the quality rather than quantity of food affects health and how to develop and sustain the demand for healthy food. 2) Broaden implementation by: focussing on taste preference during first 1,000 days, extend the focus on men as nutrition beneficiaries, incorporate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), integrate overweight and obesity awareness, and increase mass communicatino methods. 3) Scale up an integrated multisectoral approach and work with the government to build local capacity across its ministries. 4) Accelerate public-private engagement. A leading challenge of public–private engagement is the balance of power in decisionmaking. To avoid complications with donors, public–private partnerships should collectively design project goals, identify and prepare for potential risks of the partnerships, and formally agree on responsibilities and roles.

Possibilities of establishing a smallholder pig identification and traceability system in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Thu, 17 Oct 2019 08:34:58 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Tropical Animal Health and Production, begins a discussion on traceability in the pig value chain, with an initial focus on smallholder systems of Western Kenya. Consumers have a right to safer foods, and traceability is one approach to meeting their expectations. Kenya does not have an operational animal traceability system, and while a few initiatives have been piloted, these have only focused on the beef value chain. Animal identification is important for traceability, but based on this review, locally raised pigs are rarely identified. Once implemented, in addition to potentially increasing production (through reduced disease problems), the system could help ensure the quality and safety of pork sold in domestic markets. Contaminated products can be tracked and removed from retail shelves, and problem herds can be traced and measures put in place to contain the problem. There is also an opportunity to open new market opportunities. In the smallholder context, individual identification is proposed given that farmers may source pigs from different farms and will only keep a few at a time and sell them at different time periods. Since meat inspection in the country has now been taken up by the county governments, we see traceability as an option that counties, in partnership with the private sector, could use to market themselves as producers of “safe and traceable” pork. Farmers need to be sensitized on the importance of identifying animals and recording their movements and how this can improve market access. The system can later be upgraded to include the use of automated technologies such as the electronic ear tags, but feasibility and cost factors will need to be considered. Implementation of traceability as a tool for health and food safety requires participation of all stakeholders in the value chain. Appropriate incentives would need to be explored to allow for widespread adoption of the intervention.

The impact of smallholder farmers’ participation in avocado export markets on the labor market, farm yields, sales prices, and incomes in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 13:58:09 +0000

This study (PDF) by the Land Use Policy journal examines the determinants and impacts of smallholder-producer participation in avocado export markets on labor inputs, farm yields, sales prices, and incomes in Kenya. Smallholder producers in sub-Saharan Africa are often unable to integrate into markets and access high-value opportunities by effectively participating in global chains for high-value fresh produce. Results show that farmers who participate in export markets differ significantly from nonparticipating farmers: They are older, have somewhat larger farms, have received more training, and own more avocado trees of the Hass variety, the type favored in export markets. Living near a well-functioning avocado farmers’ group is also positively associated with participation in export markets. Participation in avocado export markets will have positive impacts on incomes, revenues, prices, and labor inputs. However, there is an offsetting effect in terms of higher prices and lower volumes, reflecting the stricter quality requirements of export markets. Further, not only differences in endowment sizes, but also differences in returns from endowments in export versus domestic markets, are key to understanding differences in yields, revenues, sales prices, and labor inputs. This suggests that policymakers should not only focus on resource accumulation for farmers, but also pay attention to the inclusiveness of export market participation for smallholder farmers. In conclusion, smallholder farmers can beneﬁt from participation in avocado export markets and other supply chain activities. Providing households with access to foreign markets and up-to-date information on farm technology, along with the dissemination of simple and domestically invented technologies, could apparently achieve higher farm incomes, revenues, and sales prices. The question remains, however, as to whether the benefits of export market participation were primarily due to having a contract, which would lower transactions costs and risks.

Mechanization in African agriculture: A continental overview on patterns and dynamics

F&BKP Office — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 14:59:13 +0000

This study (PDF) by Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, provides an overview on the patterns and dynamics of mechanization in African agriculture from 2005 to 2014 along the entire value chain. The findings highlight great diversity across Africa, which indicates scope for cross-country learning from experiences. Some countries have simultaneously experienced a higher growth rate in agricultural machinery and agricultural output. While a large number of Africn countries combine a pattern of low growth in machinery with low agricultural output growth, including some large agricultural economies with potentials for growth. It might be instructive for policy makers and planners from these countries, to gain insights from African countries that managed to achieve higher agricultural growth, be it in combination with high machinery growth, or even with lower growth in machinery. Obviously, mechanization investments depend on a host of factors. A strong positive correlation between agricultural machinery growth and agricultural output growth was found, and vice versa (not depicting causality). Accelerating investments in mechanization in African agriculture and related value chains requires fresh policy considerations: 1)Analyses of the determinants of mechanization, costs and benefits, and the related institutions, seem worthwhile in order to define most suitable use of machine capital accessible to small holder. 2) Such analyses might best be done at country and local levels rather than in the context of the broad identification of patterns and dynamics that were the aim of this review paper. 3) Policy, however, also needs a country level strategic perspective, especially regarding machinery imports and services contracts, and for the build-up of African agricultural machinery industries.

Gendered barriers to livestock vaccine uptake and their implications on Rift Valley fever control

F&BKP Office — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 13:15:57 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Vaccines Journal examined the barriers faced by men and women farmers in the uptake of livestock vaccines to inform strategies for optimizing the use of vaccines against Rift Valley fever (RVF) in East Africa. RVF is a zoonotic disease of great public health and economic importance transmitted by mosquitoes. The main method of preventing the disease is vaccination of susceptible livestock before outbreaks occur. Studies on RVF vaccine uptake and adoption levels are rare. The study has demonstrated that availability of livestock vaccines does not guarantee uptake at community level due to social, spatial, economic, and vaccine safety and efficacy barriers faced by men and women farmers. At a national level, setting up requisite guidelines on the type of vaccine to use for RVF prevention and regulations on its provision and use can influence farmer access to the vaccine. At district/county level, how veterinary departments organize vaccine delivery campaigns in terms of information dissemination, choice of vaccination points, costs of vaccines, and pre-existing relationships with community members can also determine uptake. At a community and household level, the process is influenced by intra-household relations and decision-making capacities between men and women, level of knowledge on the importance of vaccines, financial ability and willingness to pay for vaccination services, ease of accessing vaccination points, perceived vaccine side effects, and trust in vaccines and veterinary personnel, all of which can affect men and women farmers similarly or differentially depending on context. These barriers should be considered while designing vaccination strategies to enhance community uptake because vaccine uptake is a complex process which requires buy-in from men and women farmers, veterinary departments, county/district and national governments, and vaccine producers.

The feasibility of low emissions development interventions for the East African livestock sector

F&BKP Office — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 12:59:08 +0000

This paper (PDF) by ILRI, CCAFS and USAID examines the potential of low emissions development interventions or measures to reduce emissions intensity of livestock in East Africa. In both Kenya and Ethiopia, governments, public and private sector investors, and farmers are interested in interventions that can simultaneously improve on-farm productivity and profitability as well as meeting nutritional security needs, with reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission intensity being a co-benefit. The three top recommended practices for reducing GHG emissions intensities are increased production of improved forages in mixed systems and intensive dairy, the increased use of biodigestors in intensive dairy and improving the management of grazing for pastoral systems. Each of these practices might be incentivized in different ways, beyond the immediate direct benefit to producers. The paper notes that the basis for any interventions should be access to improved feeds and forages year round. Promotion of the practices have important implications for social equity in the pursuit of low emission development. Low emissions development interventions pathways based on intensification, for example of dairy, would likely yield landscape or national-scale emission reductions and economic growth for large operators. However, if intensification also leads to concentration of smallholdings into larger-scale farms due to persistent low profit margins, this would substantially disrupt smallholder livelihoods and rural society in general. This is especially important in the absence of viable livelihood alternatives, which characterizes Kenyan and Ethiopia. As yet, it is unclear if there could be mechanisms to effectively safeguard against such outcomes. What is clear is that these potential outcomes can be anticipated and thus need to be considered and addressed alongside the biophysical target of reducing GHG emission intensities. This implies weighing trade-offs between multiple – and potentially conflicting – biophysical, social and political objectives.

A webinar of this study can be found here.

Gaps between fruit and vegetable production, demand and recommended consumption at global and national levels

F&BKP Office — Mon, 19 Aug 2019 15:28:38 +0000

This article (PDF) in The Lancet Planeraty Health explores the role of insufficient production of fruits and vegetables and the effects of food waste and public policy in achieving recommended fruit and vegetable consumption. Historically, fruit and vegetable availability has consistently been insufficient to supply recommended consumption levels. By 2015, 81 countries representing 55% of the global population had average fruit and vegetable availability above WHO’s minimum target. Although economic growth will help to increase fruit and vegetable availability in the future, particularly in lower-income countries, this alone will be insufficient. Even under the most optimistic socioeconomic scenarios (excluding food waste), many countries fail to achieve sufficient fruit and vegetable availability to meet even the minimum recommended target. Sub-Saharan Africa is a particular region of concern. Food waste is a serious obstacle that could erode projected gains. Assuming 33% waste and socioeconomic trends similar to historical patterns, the global average availability in 2050 falls below age-specific recommendations. Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is an important component of a shift towards healthier and more sustainable diets. Economic modelling suggests that even under optimistic socioeconomic scenarios future supply will be insufficient to achieve recommended levels in many countries. Consequently, systematic public policy targeting the constraints to producing and consuming fruits and vegetables will be needed. This will require a portfolio of interventions and investments that focus on increasing fruit and vegetable production, developing technologies and practices to reduce waste without increasing the consumer cost, and increasing existing efforts to educate consumers on healthy diets.

The digitalisation of African agriculture report

F&BKP Office — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 15:17:07 +0000

This report (PDF) by CTA explores the gains digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) has made in Africa toward reaching its potential. D4Ag can support and accelerate agricultural transformation across the continent, sustainably and inclusively. A large number of players comprise this young sector, developing viable businesses with attractive financial models. Overal use by registered farmers and pastoralists remains low, however results suggest that D4Ag solutions could achieve transformative results. Several of the barriers (limited access to technology and connectivity) will begin to overcome. The reach of digital solutions will continue to grow and may include as much as 80% of the smallholder farmer population. A challenge of D4Ag developings is that the sophistication of D4Ag solutions has begun to outpace the readiness of entrepreneurs, users and government actors. Thereby, most companies are still working to develop a viable business model and the lacking infrastructure reduces the effectiveness of D4Ag. Lastly, the high degree of country-level and regional variation in investment expose uneven D4Ag growth. To further mainstream D4Ag, there are a number of recommendations: 1) Develop human capital at every level of the D4Ag ecosystem. 2) Drive greater business model sustainability. 3) Create greater impact by making D4Ag solutions more inclusive of women, other marginalised groups, and smallholders in geographies with relatively less D4Ag investment. 4) Invest in missing middleware infrastructure. Successful D4Ag solutions require access to a wide range of data in order to deliver high-quality services to farmers. 5) Invest in good data stewardship and design for the risks and limitations of digital system. 6) Invest in the D4Ag knowledge agenda. 7) Create an alliance of key D4Ag stakeholders to promote greater investment, knowledge sharing and partnership building.

A video with key findings of the report can be found here.

Household-specific targeting of agricultural advice via mobile phones: Feasibility of a minimum data approach for smallholder context

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 07:59:07 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Computers and Electronics in Agriculture journal explores the feasibility of an automated advisory service that collects household data from farmers, for example through the keypads of conventional mobile phones, and uses this data to prioritize agricultural advisory messages accordingly. In recent years, agricultural extension services in developing countries have increasingly introduced modern ICT to deliver advice. But to realize efficiency gains, digital applications may need to address heterogeneous information needs by targeting agricultural advisory contents in a household-specific way. Based on socio-economic variables, models were created to predict household-specific rankings of information options based on 2-4 variables, requiring the farmer to answer questions through an ICT interface. These predicted rankings informed household-specific prioritizations of advisory messages in a digital agro-advisory application. Household-specific “top 3” options suggested by the models were better-fit to farmers’ preferences than a random selection of 3 options by 48-68%, on average. The analysis shows that relatively limited data inputs from farmers, in a simple format, can be used to increase the client-orientation of ICT-mediated agricultural extension. This suggests that household-specific prioritization of agricultural advisory messages through digital two-way communication is feasible. In the future, research may produce more generalizable insights about which data-sparse indicators can serve as predictors of farmers’ information needs. Small standard sets of questions that efficiently capture the factors behind farmers’ information needs will likely be useful for a wide range of digital applications in agricultural advisory. For digital agricultural advisory applications, collecting little data from farmers at each interaction may feed learning algorithms that continuously improve the targeting of advice.

Opportunities of blockchain for agriculture

F&BKP Office — Fri, 14 Jun 2019 14:38:50 +0000

This Brussels briefing (PDF) by CTA provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges in adopting the blockchain technology in agriculture and the agrifood industry across several sectors and looks at best practices and successful applications of the blockchain technology of interest to the African, Carribean and Pacific countries. Business transactions in agriculture have been transformed by the digitisation of the value chain. Blockchain can bring together different parties that have not directly established trusted relationships with one another through the transparency it provides and its tamper-evident nature. While blockchain solutions in production are still relatively limited globally, it’s clear that there’s greater interest in—and a better understanding of—blockchain and its benefits. Multiple proofs of concepts are completed already or are in progress, and some solutions are already in or close to production release. However, there are still some challenges and limitations to a wide adoption of blockchain : 1) A lack of common understanding among policy makers, technical experts and value chain actors on the use of blockchain technology; 2) Insufficient investment in research and innovation, as well as in education and training by the government; 3) Mass adoption requires interoperability and a certain level of standardization; 4) Blockchain platform has to partially or fully replace existing legacy systems which requires time and resources; 5) Regulatory and legal frameworks are needed to guide the use of blockchain technology in food supply chains and possible security risks, even if blockchain offers advanced security. There is evidently still a long way to go in terms of building the human and infrastructural capacities to harness the full potential of blockchain technology in the food system, but the industry has already begun to embrace the possibilities and invest in developing agricultural solutions using the technology.

Developing sustainable value chains for small-scale livestock producers

F&BKP Office — Mon, 10 Jun 2019 13:43:10 +0000

This publication (PDF) by FAO constitutes a practical development tool, which implements the sustainable food value chain framework with a focus on small-scale livestock producers, targeting an audience of project design teams and policymakers. Small-scale livestock producers are important actors in food production, human health and management of landscapes and animal genetic resources. However, they face a number of challenges. The sustainable food value chain (sfvc) framework is a market-driven approach to provide guidance in development thinking and intervention design. The guidelines provided in the framework represent a practical development tool, with a focus on small-scale livestock producers. Value chain development is a dynamic process comprising six steps. Continuous monitoring enables interventions to be adjusted as necessary, as they are scaled up. The guidelines take the user through the steps below, highlighting the particularities of the smallholder livestock sector. 1) The first step in a value chain programme is to understand the wider context in which it is being implemented. 2) The choice of the specific value chain to be analysed within the (sub)sector is based on the specific programme framework, which provides the selection criteria. 3) Value chain analysis allows practitioners to understand the market systems in the value chain, the openings they provide and the market failures that affect competitiveness and sustainable, inclusive growth. 4) Key stakeholders and partners should formulate and agree on a common vision, establishing the objectives to be achieved within a specific time frame. 5) : The action plan details how the strategy is to be implemented. It breaks the strategy down into its various components and includes interventions in the core value chain support markets and enabling environment. 6) A monitoring and evaluation system uses outcome and impact indicators to track project steering and measure project effectiveness and impact. Scaling up is necessary and should be integrated into the overall development strategy. Livestock specificities must be considered at every stage of a value chain development programme.

Assessment of opportunities for Burundian small-scale potato farmers to increase productivity and income

F&BKP Office — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 10:32:29 +0000

This research (PDF) in Potato Research assessed the impact of the main factors contributing to yield improvement of potatoes: improved varieties, healthier seed, better stored seed, late blight disease control and fertilisation. From 2014 through 2016, on-farm experiments were carried out in three provinces surrounding Bujumbura town in Burundi to improve the low potato (Solanum tuberosum) yields, which currently stands at about 6 t ha-1. The treatments that were tested were the introduction of two new varieties, use of early generation seed from a rapid multiplication scheme, earlier harvesting of a seed crop, seed storage in a diffused light store, and research-based timing and dose rate of fertilisers and fungicides. Marginal rates of return on investments were calculated at farm level and current and tested alternative technologies were compared. Costs and benefits of applying such techniques were calculated. An improved variety contributed up to 20% yield increase and healthier seed 80%. Early harvesting reduced yield by 30% and reduced incidence of brown rot in the current season, but increased it (from 21 to 39%) in the following season when tubers were replanted. Diffused light storage, alternating contact and systemic fungicide application, and application of chemical fertilisers resulted in 30, 50 and 60% yield increases, respectively. It was shown that it is possible to double yields and economic returns (marginal rates of return) under the growing conditions in Burundi when growers plant healthy pre-sprouted seed of a new variety and apply chemical fertilisers and fungicides.

E-agriculture in action: Blockchain for agriculture – Opportunities and challenges

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 May 2019 15:03:25 +0000

This publication (PDF) by FAO and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) aims to demystify the blockchain technology, provide some thoughts on the opportunities and challenges in implementing blockchain-based systems as well as document some case studies on the use of blockchain for agriculture. In the agriculture domain, self-executing smart contracts together with automated payments would be the game changer. Blockchain comes with a number of implementing challenges, these can be mitigated by an assessment framework looking at the critical elements from the perspective of several layers and standardizing the requirements. This would enable greater adoption and ecosystem development to mainstream blockchain. An applications of the blockchain technology that is already in practice for agriculture is FARMS: financial and agricultural risk management for smallholders, that offers an easy entry to formal financial risk management while increasing farmers financial literacy. The concept is enabled by a blockchain-based virtual currency platform integrated with remote sensing (satellite) data and mobile money solutions, which ensures transparent secure transactions and “earmarking” of funds, automated payment and information dashboards. AgriDigital is a blockchain for agricultural supply chains that has a cloud-based commodity management solution in marketing for the global grains industry. It connects grain farmers, buyers, site operators and financiers through a single platform, allowing them to contract, deliver and make payments securely and in real time. Building Blocks is using blockchain to make cash-based transfers more efficient, secure and transparent. It allows any two parties to transact directly and removes the need for third party intermediaries such as banks or other institutions. This can speed up transactions while lowering the chance of fraud or data mismanagement. AgUnity is providing a pathway to financial inclsuion for the world’s poorest farmers. Lastly, the AgUnity App is a simple mobile service that helps small farmers plan, trade and track everyday transactions. This is a way for farmers to cooperate, store value, save money and easily buy products and services.

Climate and livestock policy coherence analysis in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 May 2019 11:38:12 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by CCAFS-CGIAR examines 40 climate, agriculture, livestock, development, land, and environment policies across Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda for strength and coherence in addressing livestock sector adaptation and mitigation. Livestock in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda play an important role in food security, livelihoods, income, and gross domestic product (GDP). Growth of the sector in response to growing demand for animal-sourced food requires policy guidance to avoid increasing livestock sector exposure to climate risks and increasing sector greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The countries are clearly working to integrate livestock climate change strategies into climate and other policy areas, although at times with limited detail and coherence. Kenya in particular has strong policy coherence around livestock adaptation strategies across policy areas. In Ethiopia, there is policy coherence for livestock adaptation in development policy and more recent climate policy but a lack of adaptation consideration in livestock, agriculture, land, and environment policies. In Uganda, a sub-set of climate policies provide strategies for livestock adaptation, however, other policy areas are weak on this integration. In terms of mitigation in the livestock sector, examples of robust strategies are more limited. Comprehensive mitigation strategies and sufficient consideration of adaptation-mitigation cobenefits remain a gap in many policies across countries and policy areas. Kenyan policies do consistently call for finding adaptation-mitigation synergies but provide little detailed guidance. Ethiopia has the most policy coherence for livestock sector mitigation although this is mainly limited to climate and development policies and one livestock policy. The key potential transboundary impact of these policies is related to livestock mobility and the spread of disease. Each country emphasises the need to control livestock disease, however, there is little consideration of how these disease control efforts could impact livestock mobility that is critical for climate resilience.

Spatial targeting of ICT-based weather and agro-advisory services for climate risk management in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 May 2019 15:41:43 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Climatic Change journal presents a scientific and integrated approach to identify areas of high agriculture vulnerability to climate change and availability of ICT services for dissemination of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) information in the vulnerable areas. The increasing frequency of climatic risks is causing significant loss of farm productivity and income in agriculturally dependent communities. Addressing climate change impacts on agriculture is a special challenge that needs efficient channeling of resources and information to strengthen farmers adaptive capacity to climate change and variability. This study presents a methodology to highlight/target broad geographical regions for designing and implementing ICT-based climate information and agro-advisory services. The study presents four regions: i) high agriculture vulnerability and low ICT services, ii) high agriculture vulnerability and high ICT services, iii) low agriculture vulnerability and low ICT services, and iv) low agriculture vulnerability and high ICT services. This simple methodology uses available data, is easy to apply, can be useful to prioritize locations for climate-smart interventions, mode of CSA information dissemination using ICT services, and increase coverage of agro-ICT services through development of ICT services in the locations where climate change impact is high and ICT services are very low. This study also showed that there is a need to improve the quality of existing climate information and agro-advisory services in the climate risk-prone areas. Similarly, use of particular types of ICT services and coverage can play a crucial role while prioritizing dissemination of climate information and agro-advisory services in the targeted locations and population. This analysis needs to be followed by further examination of the socio-economic characteristics of agriculture dependent communities to design suitable climate information and agro-advisory services and ICT for disseminating them.

Seed companies and the Tanzanian horticulture sector

F&BKP Office — Mon, 06 May 2019 11:49:15 +0000

This case study (PDF) by the Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), looks at the potential value of horticulture for farmers in Tanzania, and the contribution of the seed sector to the growing Tanzanian horticulture sector. The horticulture sector in Tanzania has two major crop groups: introduced vegetables grown commercially for trade to fresh urban markets and traditional African vegetables. This can be further divided into the domestic market (95% or more) and the export market. There are a number of opportunities for the horticulture sector. First, small farmers could all use commercial open pollinated varieties (OPV) and adopt low-cost production technologies. Small scale commercial oriented farmers use higher-quality seeds with more sophisticated production processes. For seed companies, there is a major market developing through the potentially large number of farmers moving to high-quality OPV and hybrid seeds. Good collaboration with all farmer extension programs is of great value. The government could support improvements in a deliberate manner, and thus ensure a more productive and profitable sector that can meet ever-growing consumer demand while generating valuable income tax. Regarding challenges, the lack of knowledge about pesticides, fungicides and irrigation are needed when leads to their inappropriate and excessive use. This is costly to both farmers and the environment. Seed companies need to carefully consider how to balance their marketing and demonstration efforts. The government has an essential role to play in providing effective, structural extension support to the horticulture sector. A lesson learned in the case study is that a (more than) decent income is possible for most farmers. However, risks of crop losses and volatile prices means that farmers need to save for bad years. Thus, good horticulture is definately a pathway out of poverty. A profitable, responsible sector meeting the national needs is possible and reliable seed companies are critical to the vitality of the sector.

Two interviews accompanying the publication can be found here.

The agricultural mechanization in Africa: Micro-level analysis of state drivers and effects

F&BKP Office — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 13:05:55 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn (ZEF) and PARI examines the state, drivers and, consequently, the impacts of agricutural mechanization in eleven countries in Africa. Using household survey data and robust analytical approaches, findings show light hand-held tools and equipment remain the main type of machinery in most countries – about 48% of the sampled households have access to light machinery compared to 35% that have access to animal-powered machinery, and only about 18% that use tractor-powered machinery. There are three possible ways of acquiring machinery; ownership by a single household (or farm), joint ownership with other households (or farms), and leasing from for own use or for joint use with other households. Findings show that light machinery and animal-powered machinery are mainly owned by individual households. Significant drivers of agricultural mechanization include the size of the household, gender of the household head, participation in off-farm economic activities, distance to the input and output markets, farm size, land tenure, type of farming system, access to extension services, and use of fertilizer and pesticides. This study finds that after controlling for socio-economic, demographic, and regional determinants, agricultural mechanization, significantly increases the amount of cropland cultivated (extensification) and is also accompanied by input intensification especially in countries where land expansion is limited. We further find significant but mixed impact of agricultural mechanization on use of household and hired labor. Finally, agricultural mechanization significantly raises the productivity of maize and rice in all cases. These findings point to the importance of developing favorable arrangements that would avail mechanization to small and medium scale farmers. This would involve providing incentives for private sector to scale agricultural mechanization initiatives and targeting and engaging women farmers and the youth by investing in supportive infrastructure and training.

Food traceability in the domestic horticulture sector in Kenya: An overview

F&BKP Office — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 11:55:45 +0000

This study (PDF) by 3R Kenya and Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation and TradeCare aimed to review the available tracebility systems and identify the best options for the domestic horticulture suppy chain in Kenya with the goal to provide food safety and quality assurance. The importance of food safety and quality in the Kenyan domestic sector cannot be overemphasized. Consumers are becoming more aware and supply chain actors are starting to realize the need because food safety and traceability is not only consumer-driven, but investment-worthy too. Traceability systems help deliver tailored goods and services to the consumers and are an evidence of value, especially in terms of quality and safety of the product. Actors in the fresh fruits and vegetables supply chains can benefit greatly from having traceability systems in place. The paper-based traceability system is the cheapest option. However, it entails a very tedious process that requires a lot of time, manpower (labour), and requires a lot of paper work. In terms of cost, eProd is best suited for a large producer group or a firm in the value chain that intends to improve the efficiency of the operations and would like to offer safer and higher-quality products. Farmforce, on the other hand, would work well for a smaller producer group. In conclusion, a good traceability system that becomes a tool for food safety assurance has a number of requirements. Examples are; 1) Capable of record keeping on pesticides use, 2) Record yields/volumes hence facilitate mass balancing; 3) Scaling up to unique coding/long term vision of a national traceability system; 4) Traceability throughout the supply chain; 5) Gives information back to farmers; 6) Integrates standards that need to be met; 7) Can be interfaced with other applications.

Innovative irrigation system could future-proof India’s major cereals

F&BKP Office — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 14:38:10 +0000

This blog by the Thomason Reuters Foundation describes a study that demonstrated how rice and wheat can be grown using 40 percent less water through an innovative combination of existing irrigation and cropping techniques. Rice-wheat farming systems dominate India’s agriculture, providing 75 percent of national food grain production. Traditional management of these two crops is no longer sustainable. Conventional flood irrigation consumes vast quantities of water and energy, is labor-intensive, and can deteriorate soil health. Overuse of nitrogen-based fertilizers can pollute waterways and emit harmful greenhouse gases that cause climate change. There has been little understanding of the best way to design an irrigation network that can work for both rice and wheat crops with no modifications between rotations. Researchers tested eight combinations of promising techniques over a two-year period to understand which methods could help farmers save water and money. Rice and wheat grown using a sub-surface drip fertigation system, combined with conservation agriculture approaches — zero till, retaining residues on soil surface and dry seeding — used at least 40 percent less water than flood irrigation for the same amount of yields, and is still cost-effective for farmers. Further, both rice and wheat needed 20 percent less nitrogen-based fertilizer under the system to obtain grain yields similar to that under flood-irrigated crops, which could improve ecosystem health and cut greenhouse gas emissions. To make sure the system gets adopted, government subsidies are important drivers for agricultural technology adoption. More efforts are also needed to promote conservation agriculture even though India’s rice-wheat farmers have made great strides in implementing these practices over the past two decades.

The study that this blog is based on can be purchased here.

Genetic improvement in dromedary camels: Challenges and opportunities

F&BKP Office — Wed, 03 Apr 2019 09:58:34 +0000

This expert opinion (PDF) by Frontiers in Genetics states that camels have large potential but genetic improvement is required. Adaptation to a hotter climate is vital for future livestock as heat stress can extremely reduce their productivity, health and fertility. Camels have developed the ability to produce meat, milk and fiber in the hottest environments in the globe. Due to their unique physiology and in light of climate change impact on ecosystems, camels are poised to be an excellent candidate species for production. Camels can not only contribute in boosting food security but also in job creation, poverty alleviation and economic diversification. Camels also have a slow metabolism resulting in less feed requirements compared to other ruminants, resulting is less methane production. However, to harness their potential, an improved understanding of the genetics underlying their unique biology is needed. They need to undergo genetic improvement for production but also health traits. Little communication and collaboration is currently practiced between farmers, due primarily to competition. A challenge concerning camel farming is that there are relatively few published studies in the area of camel genetics. Moreover, countries harboring most of the camel population are in different development stages pertaining to agriculture and infrastructure development. Another challenge is the difficulty in disseminating superior genetics due to the difficulty of performing Artificial Insemination. A final hurdle is that camels’ meat and milk production are generally more expensive than other milk and beef. It is therefore challenging for small scale producers to survive without government subsidies and support. Added value products need to be produced and smart marketing strategies need to be adopted to increase the value of camel products and hence improve producers’ profitability and alleviate their dependence. In conclusion, camels have a large potential that is underutilized due to technical, logistic, political and economic challenges. However, these challenges are not insurmountable.

Aligning the food system to meet dietary needs: Fruits and vegetables

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 12:50:26 +0000

This paper (PDF) of Feed the Future discusses strategies for increasing the production and consumption of fruits and vegetables as a path to obtaining adequate diets and increased incomes in domestic and transitional economies. It also offers consensus on research gaps that could improve program and implementation effectiveness. Poor diet is the leading cause of disease worldwide, and by 2020 it is projected that nearly 75% of deaths will be due to diet-related causes. This projection will likely impact both higher and lower-income groups, as well as urban and rural populations, including the 64.6% of poor working adults in agriculture. Although often neglected in calorie counts, eating horticultural crops provides critical nutrients for a balanced diet. Diets low in fruits and vegetables contribute significantly to some of the world’s most widespread and debilitating nutrient-related disorders. Farmers growing high-value crops, such as fruits, vegetables, flowers and/or herbs, consistently earn more than those growing other commodities. Horticulture can be an engine for agricultural and economic diversification. As the world sees higher rates of disease, decreased arable land, and possible food shortages, production choices are critical to health and to the social and economic mobility of farmers. Continued and increased investment in horticulture for nutrition and small-scale farmer income is critical. Strategies that governments, non-governmental organizations, and others can employ to increase fruit and vegetable consumption include better production practices, increased agribusiness and entrepreneurial activity, reduction in postharvest losses, and greater awareness and education about the benefits of fruits and vegetables.

Catalysing food safety in the domestic horticulture sector in Kenya: The potential link between export production and evolving domestic supply chains

F&BKP Office — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:50:28 +0000

This report (PDF) by Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation (WCDI), TradeCare and 3R Kenya presents findings of research which aims to understand the leverage points that can catalyse investment opportunities for enhancing quality and safety in the domestic fresh fruit and vegetables (FFV) sector. FFV that meets food safety and quality standards is in high demand by the export market and some segments of the domestic markets. However, despite there being domestic demand for FFV that meets high safety standards, the produce grown by certified and non-certified farmers that meets these standards is mixed and traded with produce that does not. Key findings on the supply side include that good production practices are diffused from the export platform by small- and medium scale farmers who are producing FFV for both export and domestic markets. Further, certified farmers are more likely to invest as much in quality inputs for domestic as export production. Recommended is that targeted training and extension services by private actors for farmers should be provided by both public and private extension providers to improve food safety and quality. A key finding on the demand site is that there is a clear segmentation of markets that recognize the importance of food safety and those who do not. Moreover, no attention is paid to food safety in wet markets, but they dominate trade over 80%. A two-step approach is recommended: investigate how to link grocery stores to farmers with high quality standards and scale up the research within wet markets. A policy recommendation is to prioritize and make funds available for the implementation of a national monitoring plan for FFV destined for the domestic market. Finally, awareness of food safety that the different actors in the horticulture sector have should be increased and non-compliance with food safety procedures and regulations should be properly monitored.

Vegetable farming and farmers’ livelihood: Insights from Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

F&BKP Office — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 10:58:40 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Sustainability journal investigated whether vegetable farming contributes significantly to the livelihood of farmers by generating cash and providing employment opportunities. Agriculture is the main economic activity in Nepal, and vegetable farming is one of the major agricultural practices of peri-urban farmers in Kathmandu Valley (KV). The relationship between livelihood and vegetable farming based on the practices, views, and perceptions of vegetable farmers at four different sites in the outskirts of KV was studied. It was found that the most of the surveyed farmers are migrants who have spread to different corners of KV at different times. The model results indicate a significant positive relationship between vegetable farming and livelihood improvement. The number of vegetable farmers in the study area is increasing as vegetable farming has been recognized as a valuable source of income, and as the demand for vegetables has increased with urban growth. The survey results also reveal many constraints, e.g., poor market management and lack of irrigation facilities. A challenge is the haphazard urban growth which has a negative effect on urban farming. Other challenges are price fluctuation, and vegetable diseases. To help farmers overcome the challenges in vegetable farming, the government should support farmers with quality extension services aimed at increasing production and preserve urban farming. Systematic marketing management and frequent monitoring through formation of informal/formal local groups of vegetable farmers/government agencies would help protect farmers from middlemen. The study findings revealed the advantages of vegetable farming on livelihood along with the challenges to a certain extent. For the sustainability of urban agriculture and continued contribution of vegetable farming to economic development, further research on these matters would be significant. Further interventions should be implemented to strengthen the vegetable sector and sustain this source of livelihood for peri-urban farmers.

Supporting sustainable expansion of livestock production in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa: Scenario analysis of investment options

F&BKP Office — Fri, 22 Mar 2019 08:53:05 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Global Food Security Journal used a scenario analysis to explore what targeted investments to the livestock sector could help enhance food security in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Demand for animal source foods is growing substaintially in lower income countries, managing the associated transitions in the production of these food product emerges as a key policy debate. This study aimed to provide some insight into the potential impacts, and thus relevance to livestock sector development, of a set of technology and market-improving intervention options targeted to two developing regions particularly important to the global agenda for development. The results show that boosting livestock productivity primarily in these two regions could improve food security and producer incomes while limiting greenhouse gas emissions and agricultural water usage. Market-improving investments with similar welfare gains lead to environmental impacts that necessitate complementary investments. The study regions will need to be prioritized within the more global agenda for sustainable development of the livestock sector, including through interventions that improve market efficiencies for both producers and consumers. However, increased risks of negative environmental effects associated with market-improving innovations imply that such strategies should only be pursued alongside complementary policies and investments that more directly address the externalities. Investments that support the increased supply of animal source foods will also need to embed strategies that promote good human nutrition and health, as well as manage food safety issues that could arise.

Climate change and the global dairy cattle sector: The role of the dairy sector in a low-carbon future

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 12:13:12 +0000

This report (PDF) by the FAO is an attempt to understand the contribution of the dairy sector to global emissions between 2005 and 2015 as a further step towards addressing the challenge of climate change and defining a low-carbon pathway for the sector. The challenge for the dairy sector is how to reduce environmental impacts while continuing to meet society’s needs. With demand for high-quality animal sourced protein increasing globally, the dairy sector contributes to global food security and poverty reduction. It is essential that sector growth is sustainable in terms of the environment, public and animal health and welfare, development, poverty alleviation and social progress. To limit temperature rise, the dairy sector must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, for which there are many opportunities within the sector already. This study shows that the sector’s GHG emissions have increased by 18 percent between 2005 and 2015 because overall milk production has grown substantially by 30 percent. While total emissions have increased, dairy farming has become more efficient resulting in declining emission intensities per unit of product. There is an urgent need to accelerate and intensify the sector’s response to avoid climate tipping points. Many mitigation options are already available and their adoption can be accelerated. The dairy industry will need to also consider how these residual emissions will be offset, since some residual emissions will remain. Achieving substantial net reductions in GHG emissions from the dairy sector requires action in three areas; 1) improving efficiencies; 2) capturing and sequestering carbon; and 3) better linking dairy production to the circular bio-economy. This results in the reduction of emission intensity and absolute emissions from dairy production. Research, policies, regulations, infrastructure, and incentives will all be required to systematically support low-carbon choices. Investment in data gathering and further in-depth analysis will help identify and refine mitigation options.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to provide agricultural advice to smallholder farmers: Experimental evidence from Uganda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 10:36:54 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by IFPRI evaluates the effectiveness of an information and communication technology (ICT) mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small-scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers in which agricultural extension agents visit farmers individually or in groups to provide information and advice. This approach is not always effective and has often proved hard to bring to scale, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. ICTs have been advanced as a promising way to overcome these problems associated with information delivery. The ICT-mediated approach consists of three complementary technologies: 1) effectiveness of video as a means of delivering information; 2) quantify the additional impact of augmenting video with interactive voice response (IVR) technology; 3) estimate the additional effect of time-sensitive short message services (SMSs) that remind farmers about key agronomic practices and technologies. Results showed that video is effective in delivering information, with households that were shown short videos on how to become a better maize farmer performing significantly better on a knowledge test, applying more of the recommended practices, and using inputs more effectively than households that did not see this video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10 percent higher than those that did not see the video. However, the incremental effects of IVR and SMS technologies were found to be limited. One area that needs further attention is related to spillovers, since experimental studies of information treatments are especially prone to non-interference violations. The question then becomes which ICT-mediated extension approach maximizes spillover effects, for instance through ease of sharing of content.

Contributions of livestock-derived foods to nutrient supply under changing demand in low- and middle-income countries

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 11:17:48 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Global Food Security Journal assesses the contribution of livestock to the food and nutrient supply of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by presenting a case study of eight countries. The potential to use large-scale dietary transformations to meet nutritional needs of the world’s poorest populations may have been largely overlooked. For almost all the countries and under a range of scenarios of economic and climatic change in 2050, it is found that per capita protein supply from livestock-derived food (LDF) will increase relative to that from plant sources. Survey data indicate higher LDF consumption, up to 22%, among children in households that keep livestock compared to others. However, projections that four of the selected countries will import at least 40% of their LDF protein highlight the opportunity to increase livestock sector production and the potential to develop smallholder inclusive policies. Household level data reviewed alongside the scenario analyses revealed incentives for promoting smallholder involvement in future production of livestock, showing that countries in the study may find it useful to boost investments in local production to meet future demand for LDF and nutrients, take advantage of livelihood opportunities for smallholder producers of livestock, and improve the nutrition of poorer populations. Dairy and poultry production offered the highest potential for channelling livelihood benefits and key food nutrient supplies to the poor, but specific interventions, including possibly, those that go beyond the sector (e.g., education, sanitation), will need to be more rigorously assessed to better quantify livestock’s future role in the food security of LMICs.

Delivering climate risk information to farmers at scale: the Intelligent agricultural Systems Advisory Tool (ISAT)

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:24:58 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by CCAFS-CGAIR describes the newly developed tool ‘Intelligent agricultural Systems Advisory Tool’ (ISAT) that generates and disseminates data drive location specific advisories that assist farmers in anticipating and responding to emerging conditions through the season. One of the strategies for helping smallholder farmers cope with climate variability and change is the provision of climate services that better decision making around the planning and management of agricultural systems. However, providing such services with location specific timely and actionable information to millions of farmers operating across diverse conditions requires innovative solutions. Using a decision tree approach, a structured and systematic approach to decision making was devised that considers the insights obtained from the analysis of historical climatic conditions, climate and weather forecasts and prevailing environmental conditions. Microsoft India developed a platform to access real time data from various ‘public’ sources, perform the data analytics, implement the decision tree and generate and disseminate messages to farmers and associated actors. The ISAT generated advisories are designed to support both pre-season planning and in-season management. The messaging system worked well in picking appropriate location specific message and delivering to the mobiles of the registered farmers. Mid and end season surveys revealed that more than 80% of the farmers from all villages were satisfied with the frequency, relevance and understandability of the messages delivered. About 58% of the farmers rated the messages are reliable by being correct more than 75% of the times and helped them in managing their farms better by conducting farm operations timely with reduced risk. This study has demonstrated the opportunities available to harness the untapped power of digital technologies to provide actionable advisories timely to smallholder farmers using appropriate data analytics and information dissemination systems.

Assessing competitiveness of smallholder pig farming in the changing landscape of Northwest Vietnam

F&BKP Office — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 15:40:54 +0000

This research (PDF) by ILRI aims at identifying major constraints and opportunities in the improved integration of pig and maize production, to improve smallholder income, while making the system more environmentally sustainable by investigating more diverse and profitable crop rotations, as well as improvements to soil fertility through cycling of nutrients and organic matter. Pig raising can offer significant opportunities for improved livelihoods for many households in Northwest Vietnam. Traditionally, pigs are a key component of agricultural systems in this region and are fed with wild leaves and crop residues to produce a product at a low cost but perceived as high quality. In recent years, intensified production systems have evolved with the introduction of new pig breeds and hybrid maize varieties grown as animal feed. This has led to maize becoming a dominant crop in these mountainous areas. Research shows that pork remains an important animal-source food in the Vietnamese diet. Demand for pork has increased over time, largely attributed to population growth and rising income. Results from the field work show that the integrated maize–pig system is widely practiced by farmers. The main advantages of this system over a specialised pig farm are: 1) better control over quality and timely availability as maize feed is available on farm; 2) reduced feed costs by avoiding transport and transactions; 3) potentially producing for supplying a niche meat market for perceived high-quality pigs. The study results highlight difficulties faced by smallholders in these communes with regard to accessing inputs and services as well as more profitable markets for their pig products. Collective action could allow the smallholders to access lucrative markets. However, these organisations tend to deteriorate once external support is withdrawn. On the other hand, contract farming has by design a strong private sector component and tends to be economically sustainable, but often fails to integrate small scale farmers in more remote locations.

Vegetable business and smallholders’ food security: Empirical findings from Northern Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 15:25:54 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Sustainability journal aims to answer the question is whether market-oriented vegetable production will actually help farmers to become more food secure. In Ethiopia, there have been increased efforts to promote market-oriented vegetable production and food security is still a crucial issue in the country. The results show that a farmer’s participation in the vegetable business increased significantly with adequate household productive resources (e.g., land size and access to irrigation), cooperative memberships and access to extension services. On the other hand, the age of the head of household, the market distance and risk perceptions significantly decreased participation. Additionally, the results indicate participation in the vegetable business results not only in higher food availability and access but also in lower food variety and diet diversity scores. Participation has less of an impact on per capita kilocalorie consumption and child anthropometric measures of food security. Furthermore, both qualitative and quantitative results indicate that the rise of vegetable production makes a substantial contribution to food availability and access for society at large. This contribution occurs through wage income for labourers and through the income generated for the producers. These remaining challenges indicate that current market facilitation and irrigation developments are not enough. Expanding the irrigation infrastructure is pertinent for food security and an additional potential strategy is for the government to facilitate the establishment of mechanisms that link smallholder producers with (inter)national agribusiness. The policy implication is that, while Ethiopia is going ahead with inclusive market-driven approaches to food security, alternative mechanisms must be put in place to address the negative impacts and to empower those living in the most vulnerable conditions.

Mechanized: Transforming Africa’s agriculture value chains

F&BKP Office — Wed, 20 Feb 2019 15:45:42 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Malabo Montpellier Panel summarizes findings of a systematic analysis of what countries at the forefront of progress in mechanization have done right. Africa currently has the highest rates of growth in population, urbanization, and middle-class consumers, which combined are fuelling a sharp increase in food demand. More needs to be done to meet future food demands and accelerate agricultural growth and transformation. Technological strategies and innovations along the food value chain could help to meet the demands. Yet the use of mechanization and new technologies along the agriculture value chain still remains low. This report shows thata number of African countries have shown how to successfully improve the uptake of mechanization along the entire agriculture value chain. As a result, they have achieved high machinery growth coupled with high agricultural growth rates and generating new off-farm employment opportunities. In many other African countries, however, progress remains limited in particular with respect to mechanizing downstream value chain segments. Targeted efforts and interventions are needed to promote mechanization in each segment of the value chain and at scale. This leverages the potential of agriculture to drive growth and employment, particularly in rural economies. The Panel comes with a number of recommendations: 1) Elevate national agricultural mechanization investment strategies to a priority within countries’ national agricultural investment plan; 2) Design mechanization pathways in a way that they are socially sustainable; 3) Prioritize mechanization in every segment of the agriculture value chain; 4) Increase investment in the development of supportive infrastructure and vocational training; 5) Incentivize the private sector to take mechanization to scale by creating a conducive business and services environment; 6) Develop an African agricultural mechanization industry through strong public-private partnerships ; 7) Empower smallholder farmers and women by involving them in the development of locally adapted machines and technologies.

An infographic of the report can be found here.

Can governments promote homestead gardening at scale? Evidence from Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 10:47:35 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Global Food Security Journal analyzes a large and novel survey on the adoption of a nationwide homestead gardens (HG) program implemented by the Ethiopian government. Low intake of fruits and vegetables is a major cause of micronutrient deficiencies in the developing world. Since the 1980s, HG programs have been promoted by NGO’s. Concerns with these programs are the lack of scalability, they only work in areas with/without good access to markets and are only suitable for water-abundant ecologies. In Ethiopia, HG was promoted by the government. Results show that adaption of homestead gardens in water-scarce communities is low (<12%) suggesting water access is the main barrier to HG adoption. In more water-abundant communities, HG promotion is more effective. Here, greater public promotion of HGs encourages HG adoption. This suggests that, in the Ethiopian context at least, the public extension system may be an effective institution for changing households’ production choices where ecological constraints are not binding. Also of relevance is that market quality is positively associated with HG adoption, suggesting that having a marketing outlet for fruits and vegetables (FV) encourages adoption. The clear importance of water availability for FV production calls for more strategic thinking about the viability and cost-effectiveness of promoting HGs in water-constrained communities. In water-scarce ecologies sequencing of programs needs to be given more thought: investments to improve water access through drip irrigation or other small-scale infrastructure measures must precede FV programs. Finally, the results justify more research and policy consideration of markets and their role in providing nutritious foods at different times of the year. One interesting line for future research is to understand how the importance of markets influences the nutritional impacts of HG promotion.

Review: Role of herbivores in sustainable agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 11:30:48 +0000

This paper in the journal Animal reviews the state of knowledge of the role of herbivores in sustainable intensification of key farming systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The role of herbivorous livestock in supporting the sustainability of the farming systems in which they are found is complex and sometimes conflicting. In SSA, the integration of livestock into farming systems is important for sustainable agriculture as the recycling of nutrients for crop production through returns of animal manure is a central element of the dominant mixed crop-livestock systems. Sustainable agriculture has been widely advocated as the main practical pathway to address the challenge of meeting the food needs of the rapidly growing population in SSA while safeguarding the needs of future generations. The pathways to sustainable agriculture in SSA include intensification of production and livelihood diversification. Sustainable agricultural practices in SSA have focused on intensification practices which aim to increase the output : input ratio through increasing use of inputs, introduction of new inputs or use of existing inputs in a new way. Livestock deliver many ‘goods’ in smallholder farming systems in SSA including improving food and nutrition security, increased recycling of organic matter and nutrients and the associated soil fertility amendments, adding value to crop residues by turning them into nutrient-rich foods, income generation and animal traction. In SSA, livestock are an integral component of mixed farming systems and they play key roles in supporting the livelihoods of much of the rural population. None-the-less, the environmental consequences of livestock production on the continent cannot be ignored. To enhance agricultural sustainability in SSA, the challenge is to optimize livestock’s role in the farming systems by maximizing livestock ‘goods’ while minimizing the ‘bads’. This can be through better integration of livestock into the farming systems, efficient nutrient management systems, and provision of necessary policy and institutional support.

Options and challenges for organic milk production in East African smallholder farms under certified organic crop production

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 15:41:12 +0000

The aim of this article in the Livestock Science journal is to suggest and discuss different development scenarios for organic dairy production, based on data from three East African studies of dairy production at certified organic cash crop farms. Many East African smallholder farms with certified organic crop production, also rear animals. Although farming systems are mixed, there is often very little integration and synergy between the different enterprises. Three questions are explored: 1) Can smallholder farmers benefit from keeping organic dairy cattle, and under which conditions can it be viable? 2) How can the dairy production be integrated into the farm and create synergy with the different farm elements? 3) What would need to change if their milk was to become certified organic and farmers had to comply with organic standards for dairy farming? The study concludes that there are good possibilities for more local recirculation of feed and manure, although with limited benefits when there are only few animals with short lactations on the farm. If certified organic smallholder farms should diversify their income through sale of organic milk, they would need a secure market. these farms will only benefit from sale of organic milk if they can produce milk year round at a scale, which allow them to benefit from the effort to give animals organic feed, an effort including establishment of grazing and local feed production that comply with organic standards. Outdoor stay and grazing continue to challenge many smallholder milk producers, and more robust breeds are needed. In addition, many smallholders do not have sufficient land to permit grazing around their homesteads, where the animals live. Organic standards regarding animals need improvement and precision, especially requirements for grazing areas and feed. Certification comprising whole farms including the animals, and not only crops for export, will enhance crop-animal integration.

CRISPR/Cas-mediated genome editing for crop improvement: Current applications and future prospects

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 10:23:55 +0000

This review in Plant Biotechnology Reports summarizes the current techniques used for site-directed genome editing in plants, focusing on the CRISPR/Cas system, and discuss their current and future applications for crop biology. Conventional breeding techniques for crop improvement are based on hybridization and selection. However, due to the long breeding cycles of crops and the potentially unpredictable effects of traditional breeding, these techniques are not sufficient to meet market demands for crops with a variety of traits or to address the emerging food crisis we could face in the near future. In the past decade, advanced technologies such as next-generation sequencing have been used to rapidly produce massive amounts of genome sequence information in many crop species. These techniques, together with targeted genome editing tools such as Zinc Finger Nuclease (ZFNs) and Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs), Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Sequences (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) have increased the possibilities for crop improvement via targeted genome editing. The use of these technologies in crop biology has opened up a new era of genome editing-mediated crop breeding.

Indigenous vegetable production and the economic empowerment of rural women in Africa: Reality, prospects, and challenges in Rwanda

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 14:32:33 +0000

This study (PDF) in IK: Other ways of knowing explores the role of rural women in the production of indigenous vegetables in Rwanda, especially in view of the preponderance of, and the consumer preference for, modern exotic vegetables in the country’s recent history. Furthermore, the study probes into the nutritional and economic importance of indigenous vegetables in Rwanda, with emphasis on how rural women stand to expand their earning power by upgrading their indigenous vegetable production capacity. The study reveals that rural women producing indigenous vegetables face many challenges, most of which are rooted in the absence of strong support by either government agencies or development partners involved in rural development. While the Rwandan government is heavily involved in rural development, with an emphasis on agriculture, recognition of the indigenous vegetables sector in government policies and decision has yet to be seen. Several development partners are also active in rural Rwanda, but most have shown a proclivity for training women on the production of exotic vegetables. On another hand, rural women producing indigenous vegetables are not organized and are unable to present a strong platform that is capable of influencing policy and project decisions. Formation of cooperatives and building of inter-community networks will go a long way in carving out a voice for rural women producing indigenous vegetables within the circles of government agencies and development partners. Government agencies and development partners who desire to strengthen production capacities and become involved with these vegetables will do so through training; provision of improved technology; disease and pest control; sensitization of potential consumers; addressing land-use matters; infrastructural development; and many more. In all, strengthening the capacity of rural women producing indigenous vegetables, in addition to taking measures to expand the market, will be strategic to the advancement of rural Rwanda and Africa in the coming decades.

Drones on the horizon: Transforming Africa’s agriculture

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Jan 2019 13:58:49 +0000

This report (PDF) by the African Union and NEPAD provides a contextualized review of drones as a vital precision agriculture-enabling technology and its range of relevant uses for providing detailed and on-demand data in order to enhance decision-making by farmers and hence facilitate much needed support. Drones for precision agriculture is a farming management concept which is based upon measuring and responding to inter- and intra-feld variability in crop and animal production. It is not just the application of new technologies, but rather it is an information revolution that can result in a more precise and effective farm management system. In agriculture, there are several major applications of drones, for example crop scouting/monitoring, crop volume and vigour assessments, crop inventory. Drones equipped with adequate sensors have the capability to generate remote-sensing data in near real time in the field. In comparison to satellites, drones can capture very high-resolution imagery under cloud cover and at desired time intervals. It is this increased ease and speed of acquiring the imagery from drones that has the biggest potential. The deployment of drone technology in Africa has four classified challenge categories: technological, economic, social, and legal and regulatory. The report considers drone technology for precision agriculture as a potential game-changer for the African continent. It is recommended that the adoption, deployment and upscaling of drones in the context of precision agriculture is considered as a priority. Key areas to be considered in upscaling the technology and realising its potential include capacity-building, enabling or supporting infrastructure, regulatory strengthening, research and development and stakeholder engagement. A recommendation on continental level is to develop a continental regulatory framework for the use of drones in Africa and harmonize policies across countries and regions. Moreover, South-South and regional collaborations, partnerships, networks and knowledge-exchanges to facilitate the upscaling and use of drone technology should be enhanced.

An egg for everyone: Pathways to universal access to one of nature’s most nutritious foods

F&BKP Office — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 13:07:07 +0000

This article (PDF) by the Maternal and Child Nutrition Journal collates country‐level data on egg production, availability, consumption, prices, industry structure, and contextual trends and use these to estimate current patterns and likely future outcomes under four alternative scenarios. Eggs are a highly nutritious food but have been shown to be infrequently consumed in many low‐income countries, especially by women and children. The first, base, scenario: incremental change based on expected growth and urbanisation, results in modest increases in production in low-income regions. The second scenario: enhanced productivity of independent small producers, can only boost rural consumption in a handful of countries where poultry ownership is unusually high and would be expensive and logistically challenging to scale. It is unlikely to significantly improve egg consumption at national level. Scenario three: aggregated production in egg hubs, is a more promising pathway to increasing availability in rural areas. An egg hub model that aggregates clusters of medium-scale producers might increase access to eggs for many poorer countries. The fourth scenario: the accelerated spread of large-scale intensive production, is needed to meet the needs or urban populations. It brings down prices significantly, allowing many poor households to access and consume eggs. Recent experience in countries such as Thailand confirms that this is both feasible and impactful. Future studies should look in detail at price differentials between rural and urban areas and factor this in to scenario modelling. It would be of great use to develop an economy‐wide model for egg production and consumption, which also allows researchers to investigate the differential impacts of policies on rural and urban populations. It would also be important to examine how medium‐scale production such as egg hubs can evolve over time into the industrial scale production needed to meet the needs of growing urban areas.

Index-based livestock insurance as an innovative tool against drought loss: Good practices and impact analysis from northern Kenya

F&BKP Office — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 14:54:32 +0000

This report (PDF) by CTA summarises findings from research activities and presents conclusions and recommendations on index-based livestock insurance (IBLI). IBLI is a donor-funded programme aimed at designing, developing and implementing market-mediated, index-based insurance products to protect livestock keepers, particularly in the drought-prone arid and semi-arid lands. The IBLI is based on satellite data, measuring the quality of pastureland every 10-16 days. These data predict livestock mortality. When evolving range conditions predict livestock mortality in excess of a critical threshold (say 15%) over a predetermined area, the insurance pays contract-holding pastoralists for their losses, allowing them to manage their individual risk. The aim of the IBLI pilot is to reduce poverty and promote asset retention and accumulation among its beneficiaries. However, its primary function is not poverty reduction per se, but to act as a drought safety net. In this sense its emphasis is on livelihood assets protection and livelihood promotion. As a drought safety net, IBLI was fairly effective at protecting beneficiary households in northern Kenya against the worst effects of the Horn of Africa drought. The IBLI therefore has a bigger impact on long-term livelihood security than on long-term poverty. Thus, while IBLI, at its current coverage rates, might provide a functional safety net against drought, it is unlikely to systematically move people out of poverty. This is because of the negative climatic conditions that are endemic to the region and the relative marginalisation of the population. The report concludes that the index-based livestock insurance currently implemented by ILRI in northern Kenya has shown great potential in providing an excellent alternative for mitigating drought-induced livestock asset losses for vulnerable pastoralist households. The product is uniform across spatial and temporal in its design and implementation, objective, validated and sufficient demand to make it commercially viable, which allows for easy scaling up, while keeping costs down.

Money matters: The role of yields and profits in agricultural technology adoption

F&BKP Office — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 11:21:57 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics contributes to the understanding of agricultural technology adoption by showing that a focus on yield gains may, in some contexts, be misguided. Despite the growing attention to technology adoption in the economics literature, knowledge gaps remain regarding why some valuable technologies are rapidly adopted, while others are not. Here a technology is studied in Ethiopia to improve chickpea production, where a chickpea improvement program bred new varieties and established seed grower associations for production and distribution. This technology does not have an impact on yield, but has nonetheless been widely adopted. The study shows that adoption of the technology results in reduction of total farm production costs and a significant increase in profits. Adopters are able to sell more of their chickpea crop, gain more income from the increased sales, and reallocate cropland to specialize in improved chickpea production. The results imply that the divergent adoption rates across contexts may be explained by the quality of the markets for the output. Without complementary economic gains, which require markets for surpluses, increased physical gains will likely be unattractive to potential adopters. So the results suggest that economic measures of returns may be more relevant than increases in yields in explaining technology adoption decisions. This suggests that focusing policy solely on the yield aspect of genetic gains may be misguided. Policy and future research should reorient in a direction that considers both the physical and economic returns as factors that influence the adoption of agricultural technologies.

The participatory market chain approach: Stimulating innovations along the indigenous African leafy vegetables market chain

F&BKP Office — Wed, 07 Nov 2018 16:04:54 +0000

This study (PDF) in the African Journal of Rural Development aimed at improving market access for smallholder farmers (particularly women) in the African Leafy Vegetables (ALV) market chain. ALVs play a significant role in alleviating malnutrition and contribute to income security for smallholder farmers. However, their potential to contribute to food, nutrition and income security has not been fully realized due to dysfunctional market chains. The Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA), which aims to stimulate gender-responsive innovations in commodity chains, was used to improve the performance of ALVs market chains in central Uganda. This research demonstrated that joint planning and enhanced collaboration among actors can improve the competitiveness of commodity chains. Results showed that collaboration in the ALV chain resulted into synergies which led to quick wins, stronger relations and improved functionality at the node and chain level. Farmers were able to access tailored services from research and extension which improved their productivity, while linkages to processors and traders improved sales and income. Improved linkages amongst the chain actors instituted a traceability ‘system’ which improved quality and consistency of supply to downstream actors. The joint innovations generated diversified the utility of ALVs but also led to greater visibility, acceptability and improved perception of ALVs. Future research could focus on improving the efficiency of the PMCA process in terms of time and resources. Technical research on multiplication of foundation seed, commercialisation and improvement of shelf-life of vegetable prototypes would significantly contribute to ALV improvement. Further research could also assess how farmers’ participation in the vegetable market value chain impacts the availability of ALV for consumption at household level.

Family poultry: Multiple roles, systems, challenges, and options for sustainable contributions to household nutrition security through a planetary health lens

F&BKP Office — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 11:12:37 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Maternal and Child Nutrition Journal addresses key issues associated with the production of family poultry eggs in support of improved nutrition and sustainable, nutrition-sensitive agricultural practices. Achieving sustainable production of eggs by family poultry production systems that meet both environmental health and welfare standards is a complex endeavour. There are four different family poultry production systems: small extensive, extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive; each varying in terms or inputs, outputs, gender dimensions, poultry health and welfare, and environmental impact. In rural areas where the inputs required to support efficient and humane intensive production of chicken eggs are not readily available, consideration can be given to supporting semi‐intensive and extensive chicken production. Family poultry production requires attention to husbandry practices, disease prevention and control in line with national and international animal health regulations, and food safety. Family poultry can give some challenges. The conservation of eggs and the hatching of chickens are important in situations of high chicken mortality, where replacement birds are essential. Following the introduction of effective improved family poultry production programs, it can take up to 2 years for households to feel confident that their poultry will no longer die in large numbers enabling them to consume poultry and poultry products in increased quantities. Additionally, in some communities despite efforts to improve maternal dietquality during pregnancy, the ability to influence maternal diets goes well beyond food availability. To ensure that bird, human, and environmental health can flourish, it is essential for interdisciplinary research and development teams to work in collaboration with communities to ensure the long‐term environmental and economic sustainability of family poultry production enterprises that are a good fit with local circumstances.

Sustainable agricultural mechanization: A framework for Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 31 Oct 2018 14:08:19 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO, presents priority elements for national strategies for Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Agriculture is crucial to Africa’s development but the sector is performing below its potential. The framework presented has ten key elements required for SAMA. There is a need to focus on a small number of priority commodities; the focus of sustainable agricultural mechanization (SAM) and the choice of crop to mechanize should be based on the level of total factor productivity to be achieved. Mechanization needs to be linked to market-oriented enterprises. Farm profitability should be seen as a condition that makes mechanization feasible, rather than as an outcome of mechanization. Policy environments that support the establishment and operation of viable and sustainabel businesses need to be prioritized by countries. Country-level SAM strategies should cover the entire agrifood value chain. Institutual issues that accomodate the interests of small-scale farmers, women and youth should be given priority. Human resources development at the artisan, technician and professional levels, and building of the capacity of farmers in commercial agricultural production are critical to the success of SAMA. Region-wide exchange of information and technologies should be created. Long-term commitment to SAM by key stakeholders in policy, strategy formulation, implementation and financing is critical to its success. Development of mechanisms to increase the flow of financial resources for agricultural mechanization investments from local financial institutions is essential. The institutional infrastructure that supports the development of agricultural mechanization at the national, subregional and regional levels should be strengthened. Regional cooperation is required for the attainment of economices of scale and scope and to create sustainable organiztion and institutions. Efforts to accelerate mechanization require substantial political and financial commitment. Governments and leader must remain streadfast in the process.

PUM and the global dairy sector in emerging economies

F&BKP Office — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 13:07:36 +0000

This paper (PDF) by PUM summarizes its approach and shares lessons learned of several dairy programmes with different stakeholders in emerging economies. An increasing demand for diary products globally has challenged the global diary sector. Dairy farming is an important rural activity in emerging economies, supporting livelihoods and generating food and income. Moreover, dairy product are key to nutrition and health. Emerging economies possess about 75% of the world’s dairy cattle and have the fastest growing dairy markets. Improving sustainable dairy production should therefore focus on the dairy sectors in the emerging economies to reach the increasing demand. PUM’s dairy programmes reach out to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) along the value chains in emerging economies, through which the programmes successfully reach out to dairy farmers on a large scale. This strengthens capacity building of SMEs and smallholders by setting up self-sustainable practical training centres and providing training. Moreover, the business link activities of PUM’s programmes provide investment opportunities for Dutch SMEs in emerging economies as well as export opportunities for SMEs in emerging economies. Lessons learned are that the value chain approach strengthens SMEs and smallholders to reach impact. By creating linkages between SMEs in the Netherlands and emerging economies, knowledge and skills are transferred and opportunities are created for investment. By reaching out to a large number of smallholders through SMEs, PUM’s experts transfer tailored knowledge that is adapted to the local situation of the farmers. By training the trainers and extension officers, PUM strengthens the capacity of both private and public trainers to assure that technical messages are embedded in local structures and delivery mechanisms. The practical training centre provides not only expertise but also a demonstration farm as a show model for the farmers. PUM helps to design the business model of such training centres to assure its self-sufficiency.

Making markets work for indigenous vegetables: Towards a sustainable food system in the Lake Naivasha Basin, Kenya

F&BKP Office — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 10:00:46 +0000

This paper (PDF) by ECDPM, looks at how to increase awareness and willingness of consumer to buy indigenous vegetables, and to ultimately make markets work for them. Like in other parts of Kenya, the population around Lake Naivasha produces and consumes various indigenous vegetables, such as black nightshade or amaranth. Despite their sustainability benefits, the local food system is reticent to expand the cultivation, marketability and consumption of indigenous vegetables. A key problem is that most Kenyan farmers rely on one crop: maize. Yet, monoculture often has repercussions for human health, agricultural biodiversity and the soil. A more systematic combination of indigenous vegetables and maize is particularly important in parts of Kenya, like Naivasha. One way to increase awareness would be to create labels or certificates to signal to consumer the sustainability benefits of indigenous vegetables. Options for this include ‘voluntary sustainability standards’, ‘landscape labels’ or ‘participatory guarantee systems’. These market schemes allow consumers to choose products that tend to be more nutritious, but often at a higher price. All three schemes are already used for various food products in Kenya. There are three recommendations for a process to set up similar schemes that could be possibly piloted: 1) Integrate sustainability benefits of indigenous vegetables into an existing market scheme; 2) Promote indigenous vegetables as organically produced food and benefit from the growing organic market in Kenya; 3) Involve public authorities closely in the set-up of a scheme to strengthen the policy, legal and institutional system that can support market development in favour of indigenous vegetables. Efforts to influence consumer demand should run parallel with strengthening and organising the supply of indigenous vegetables, meeting quantity and quality requirements. Concretely this means that action is needed in the first three phases of the value chain: provide high quality seed access, improve cultivation practices and improve harvest and post-harvest processing.

Unlocking the potential of blockchain for agriculture

F&BKP Office — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 08:21:34 +0000

This ICT Update magazine (PDF) by CTA focuses on the potential of blockchain for agriculture. Business transaction in agriculture have been transformed by the digitisation of the value chain. Despite this progress, there are still many challenges relating to the traceability of products and transparency in supply chain management. Database systems managing transaction records were managed in isolation, not open to all the other stakeholders in the chain; they were open to fraud, and transactions were difficult to secure. The blockchain technology has the potential to provide answers to a number of issues in agriculture. The articles in this magazine begin by providing a history and defining the blockchain. The blockchain is often a background addition to existing processes in the value chain and lends itself to recording transactions, thus ensuring issues of provenance and allowing certification. Applications use a mixture of public and private blockchains. Nearly everyone in the magazine agrees that some knowledge is needed before moving to select a solution. A number of questions should be answered to assess whether the system will need to be a public or private blockchain, and which function the system should be optimised for. If the main issue is traceability, this will lead to a different approach than for value transfers. The magazine shows projects being implemented around the world, about applications in Africa particularly covering electronic payments, how is benefits and challenges smallholder farmers and the limits and fallacies of blockchain. Recommendations of a workshop by CTA on blockchain are: 1) Promote agricultural value chain engagement and use of digital technologies in the agricultural sector; 2) Educate key stakeholders so they can seize its benefits; 3) Work closely with leading country-level outgrower and agricultural finance schemes to test blockchain solutions; 4) Support developers and startups to engage in the blockchain space; 5) Develop ecosystems promoting blockchain in agriculture.

Regionalisation in poultry development in Eastern Africa

F&BKP Office — Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:40:26 +0000

The Netherlands is very active in poultry development in Africa. Private companies, educational and research institutes, NGO’s and the Dutch government are all involved in various aspects of developing the poultry sector. To harmonize the country-oriented Dutch investments and development with increasing regional influences in poultry value chain developments, better insight is needed in the interdependency of the poultry sectors of different countries. This study (PDF) and learning trajectory by Wageningen Livestock Research and the Netherlands Africa Business Council (NABC) analyses the way in which national poultry value chains in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda are influenced by the dependency on inputs from and market outlets in other countries in East Africa (EA). The growth of the poultry sector in the various countries has not been equal. This has inevitably led to a situation whereby the poultry sector in some countries depends on the poultry sector in other countries, e.g. for inputs (day old chicks, vaccines) or for market outlets of eggs and poultry meat. This inter dependency is not necessarily always conducive for a more sustainable development of poultry sectors. Of the four Eastern African countries included in the study, Kenya’s poultry sector is the most mature. Still, all the other three economies have made significant strides towards developing and growing their own poultry sector in the past five years. In order to justify the case for regional approach to poultry development in Eastern Africa, three key issues were addressed. First the availability and production of good quality feed at competitive prices. Secondly the availability of Day Old Chicks (DOCs) across Eastern Africa is a challenge. Lastly access to markets; the East African Community (EAC) is both an economic and political block. Complimentary to these three issues is knowledge and training at vocational and tertiary levels in Eastern Africa. There is need for better and more specific training and education in the poultry sector. In the context of this study it is observed that in Eastern Africa a majority of poultry farmers are either small or medium scale farmers. Collective investments in feed, DOCs, animal health, knowledge transfer, capacity building, training and access to markets will greatly assist them become better farmers. In recognition of the increased significance of the poultry sector, various financing and financial institutions have become interested in poultry farmers and other poultry sector value chain actors. These developments coupled with increasing demand for animal protein make the sector very attractive not only for local actors but also for the Dutch private sector.

Do Dairy Market Hubs improve smallholder farmers’ income? The case of dairy farmers in the Tanga and Morogoro regions of Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 09:49:24 +0000

This paper in the Agrekon journal examines the effect of dairy market hubs (DMHs) on smallholder farmers’ income. The dairy industry has great potential to improve living standards for the poor in Tanzania and more so for smallholder farmers who account for the largest share of milk consumed nationally. To increase production efficiency and overall output, the Government of Tanzania and its development partners are promoting DMHs to enhance access to milk markets, inputs and services. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the degree to which these potential benefits translate into real benefits in dairy production and income, particularly for smallholder farmers. Using primary data collected from 461 smallholder dairy farmers in four districts in two regions of Tanzania (Tanga and Morogoro) the study employs quasi-experimental methods combining propensity score matching and difference-in-difference (DD) to estimate treatment effects. The results indicate that participation in DMHs increased household dairy income by 4.07 percentage points on average for the period 2014 to 2016. Participation is encouraged by group membership, land owned and quantity of milk sold. It relates negatively with milk price and negatively, though weakly, with age. These results suggest that it would be productive to support livestock producer groups across all potential dairy areas to move towards forming DMHs. The article discusses specific actions that could facilitate the move for livestock producer gruops to DMHs.

Postharvest losses and their determinants: A challenge to creating a sustainable cooking banana value chain in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 09:11:58 +0000

This paper (PDF), in the Sustainability journal, utilizes cross-sectional data to determine the extent and factors that are influencing postharvest losses in the cooking-banana value chain in Uganda. Postharvest losses (PHL) result in direct food and income losses to farmers and consumers globally. PHL reduction strategies offer unique opportunities to contribute to sustainable food systems for increased food security and farm incomes for more than 200 million food insecure people in sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of empirical information remains a major challenge to operationalization of PHL reduction strategies in many countries of the region. Results show that 14.9% of all the cooking bananas that are produced in Uganda suffer postharvest deterioration along the value chain (7.2% of the bananas deteriorate completely and have no residual value, while 7.7% deteriorate partially and are sold at discounted prices), mostly affecting retailers. At farm level, female headed households experience more losses than those headed by males. Household headship, household size, proportion of land allocated to banana production, and monthly banana production are the principal determinants of PHL at farm level. At retail level, such losses are mainly determined by sex of the vendor and group membership. The findings call for comprehensive and gender-responsive PHL reduction strategies. There is a need to sensitize key value chain stakeholders on PHL and their economic implications, and to involve them in the co-creation of strategies that are aimed at minimizing such losses. The pay-off of viable, co-designed strategies will come in the form of increased food security, particularly in areas where cooking banana is a staple, and reduced pressure on natural resources as less farmland and inputs are needed. Finally, reduced PHL imply higher value chain efficiency, and, consequently, lower costs that can translate into higher trader margins and lower consumer prices, making banana production more sustainable altogether.

Beyond the blockchain

F&BKP Office — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 12:51:45 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by Agriterra examines the opportunities of blockchain in agriculture for smallholder farmers. Technological development like blockchains are increasingly helpful to involve small-scale farmers in agricultural value chains. However, scaling up solutions are hindered by costs and the access to connectivity and digital literacy skills is limited. According to the magazine, the answer lies in involving the whole value chain in a common production plan and involving farmers themselves. The magazine offers concrete examples were value can be added; involving farmers in the development of internet applications, and train and advise farmers on connectivity, digital literacy skills, privacy and data ownership. Further, the magazine explores how farmers can be involved in the development of application for the Internet of Things (IoT). One article in the magazine is on Agri-wallet, a mobile wallet with a virtual currency based on blockchain technology. Agri-wallet gives farmers direct access to finance and allows them to save tokens (vouchers) that can only be spent on farm outputs. These investments, in combination with better knowledge, irrigation systems and pesticides, can help farmers increase their yield by up to 600%. Farmers also have easier access to financing via a worldwide network of investors. Data collected by the technology can help farmers optimise their production, for example to better understand the best price-quality ratio for seeds or the perfect harvest time. The article on the IoT for food and farming industries has an ambitious goal: make precision farming reality and move towards a sustainable food value chain. In this process, farmers need to be heard, to maintain control over their own data. This gives farmers the opportunity to start a counter-movement against the “bit agribusiness player”. Therefore, it is important to involve farmers in the development of IoT applications, advise and train them and help them make choices.

Development of goat milk and meat value chains in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 14:52:11 +0000

This paper (PDF) by ILRI analyses the value chain of goat mild and meat in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India. The dominant goat husbandry is a traditional low-input system with common grazing and lopped tree leaves being the major feed sources. Animal health care services are not reaching most goat farming communities. These issues together cause high mortality rates. Preventative vaccinations would be a first step to reduce mortality. Goats were adapted to harsh husbandry conditions. Improving the genetic potential would make sense only if feeding and heath care are improved. Goats are an important livelihood component for landless, marginal and small farmers and acts as a financial ‘safety net’. Productivity in the traditional system remains low. Stimulating the establishment of ‘commercial goat farmers’ is only moderately successful. Marketing and trading of goats in neither interfered with nor supported by the public sector. Nevertheless, goat farmers are generally well connected to markets through a wide network of traders. However, their bargaining position tends to be rather weak since most goat keepers sell only a few animals per year. The high degree of fragmentation in the goat sector would require a considerable amount of extension and advisory effort if individual farmers were to be targeted with intensified outreach programmes. Some NGOs are supporting farmer self-help organisations to reach large numbers of smallholders, mainly for women since they are mostly in charge of the goats. On the other hand, a ready market for goats exists and prices are expected to further increase. Any measure to increase productivity in the traditional goat sector will most likely contribute to poverty alleviation.

How big is the potato yield gap in Sub-Saharan Africa and why? A participatory approach

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 12:34:48 +0000

This study (PDF) in Open Agriculture is an attempt to develop an innovation consultation approach for yield gap assessment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), based on syngergies between modelling techniques and historical non-published data of potato experiments. The methodology to do so is novel and unique since it combines modelling and a comprehensive survey. Potatoes are likely to play a major rol in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, since cereals are likely to level off or decline because maximum achieved yeilds are closer to the crop potential yields. Potato farmers accross SSA can increase their current annual production, though it requires lots of efforts to close the huge potato yield gaps found in many countries in SSA, where limiting factors as water, nutrient and biotic, are yet to be controlled. Results showed that the Parameter Estimator is a good tool to estimate model parameters based on expert knowledge of the crop. The estimated yied gap was 58 Mg per hectare. The survey revealed that poor quality seed and bacterial wilt were the main yield gap drivers as perceived by survey respondents. The use of the moddeling tools was crucial for achieving the study goals. The validated methodology can be implemented with the online tools to substitute costly face-to-face workshops. The participatory approach through a community of practice proved to be effective for accessing knowledge. The yield gaps can be reduced with sound technological (seed, fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) service delivery, policy, infrastructure and capacity builing interventions.

Digital and data-driven agriculture: Harnessing the power of data for smallholders

F&BKP Office — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 13:19:50 +0000

This paper (PDF), by GFAR, GODAN and CTA, discusses the huge opportunities and the main challenges of data-driven agriculture for smallholder farmers, illustrates some data and agri-food system drivers that can help make data-driven agriculture more smallholder-friendly and proposes a few institutional and policy approaches to develop a data ecosystem that can enable farmers to fully harness the power of data. Investing in data-driven agriculture is expected to increase agricultural production and productivity, help adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change, bring more economic and efficient use of natural resources, reduce risk and improve resilience farming and make agri-food market chains much more efficient. Data-driven agriculture uses big data to supplement on-farm precision agriculture. The two main challenges for smallholders are to gain access to relevant data and to make sure that data sharing does not weaken their positions. There are four different data streams that farmers use, with different opportunities, challenges and risks for farmers. The provides, enables and handlers of data-driven services for and with farmers are critical actors in agri-food data systems. Data standardization is one of the biggest challenges for these actors. Smallholders are tough to reach but have much to gain from data. However, for smallholders to benefit from data-drive agriculture, tools and applications need to be designed for their situations and capacities. Making data-driven agriculture smallholder-friendly should be guided by agri-food system drivers that determine the effectiveness of data-driven improvements, and data system drivers that need to be factored into investments. There are three priority actions to help develop a data ecosystem to support smallholders: 1) Farmers data should be aggregated through joint action that empowers and givers voice to farmers; 2) Platforms that enable open data sharing should be established at different levels; 3) International agreements to facilitate data access, ownership and flows should be developed.

Land tenure and water sources for urban vegetable farmers in Asante-Mampong, Ghana

F&BKP Office — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 12:32:00 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Indian Journal of Science and Technology looks at existing vegetable farmlands use arrangement, irrigation water sources, awareness of wastewater irrigation and willingness of its practice in Asante-Mampong, one of the urban vegetable production centres in Ghana. Vegetable farming as part of (peri-)urban agriculture plays a significant role in urban societies. However, critical challenges exist and include issues of availability of land and water sources. Results show that most farmland sizes are not large enough and land ownership among farmers is very low as anticipated with urban farmlands. Most farmlands are used freely, but a good number are rented at expensive cash fees. Farmers feel insecure with the existing land tenure arrangements. The main water sources are rainfall and rain-dependent sources (rivers/streams), which could be liable to failure, especially in dry seasons. Farmers have limited awareness of wastewater irrigation with high unwillingness to practice it because of public health concerns about it. Farmers could not be making good gains, although the farms are sources of livelihoods for many. Recommendations are: 1) an exploratory study on financial viability of vegetable farms for maximum use of farmlands; 2) farmers should be educated on the benefits of exploring wastewater reuse as unavoidable alternative water source in the midst of water stress driven by climate change; and 3) issues regarding land tenure insecurity should be resolved before encouraging investments in on-farm wastewater treatment facility for irrigation.

Biotechnology for sustainable agriculture: Emerging approaches and strategies

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 13:40:34 +0000

This book by Elsevier is a collection of current research that integrates basic and advanced concepts of agricultural biotechnology with future development prospects. Using biotechnology with sustainable agriculture effectively contributes to gains in agricultural productivity, enhanced food security, reduced poverty and malnutrition, and more ecologically sustainable means of food production. Written by a panel of experts, this book is unique in its coverage of the broad area of biotechnology for sustainable agriculture. It includes intriguing topics and discussions of areas such as recombinant DNA technology and genetic engineering. Different chapters of the book focus, for example, on plant biotechnology and crop improvement, transgenic animal production, nanotechnology for sustainable agriculture, and impacts of climate change on agriculture and food security.

Socio-economic, marketing and gender aspects of village chicken production in the tropics: A review of literature

F&BKP Office — Thu, 02 Aug 2018 13:41:19 +0000

This paper (PDF) by ILRI reviews the literature that focuses on the socio-economic, gender and marketing aspects of chicken production in the tropics. Chicken production is an essential agricultural activity practiced by almost all rural communities throughout the developing world. Most importantly, chicken is a valuable asset to the local population, especially for the disadvantaged groups and less favoured areas of rural Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. This is because chicken production contributes to food security, poverty alleviation and gender equality. However, the level of production and productivity is still low and constrained by many social, economic, and market related factors. In most areas of the world (e.g. Africa, Latin America and Asia), the routine management of poultry are undertaken by women, Nevertheless, there are still big gaps to get gender-based disaggregated data to figure out women’s roles and responsibilities in the family poultry production. Furthermore, the review indicated that in most areas, chicken research was focused on production and productivity, with little attention for marketing. A few studies mentioned that biological aspects of chicken production, such as feeding and breeding, are efficient if it is accompanied by efficient marketing systems since, efficient marketing system is rewarding to all agents involved in the production, marketing and consumption of chicken. Therefore, an efficient marketing system has paramount importance in the chicken production. The role of poultry in escaping extreme poverty has frequently been indicted there are many constraints to the development of the smallholder poultry production. The main challenges for the development of smallholder chicken production include: disease control; protection against predators; better feeding; genetic improvement; better marketing; training and management; access to production inputs; poor infrastructure and access to capital; the lack of farmer organizations and the creation of conducive institutions and governmental policies. In this respect policies and actions need to focus on reducing the constraints related to chicken production.

Scoping study to strengthen the Technical Vocational Education and Training in the Dairy Sector in East Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 14:55:43 +0000

This study (PDF) by ICRA, AERES and commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality assessed the need, relevance, priorities, limitations and possible modalities of an East African Dairy Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) project. Dairy is economically important in the East African region. The Netherlands public and private stakeholders have been major players in dairy development in this region. They both agree that skills development is crucial, since there is a lack of practical skills of TVET and university graduates. The lack of instructors and suitable facilities and infrastructures at universities remain limitations. Labour market skill requirements in the dairy sector are relatively well defined. A great variety of organizations currently offer dairy training and education, from university programmes to short courses. Formal TVET sector has developed in countries having TVET policies. However, competency-based training (CBET) and accreditation mechanisms are still being developed. National educational policies notwithstanding, it is too simplistic to assume that most practical dairy training will be by formal TVET institutes. Given this, Netherlands support to a few organizations is unlikely to have a widespread and sustainable impact on the regional diary sector. A better potential to have impact at scale would be to support a range of interested training organizations. The Netherlands has an advantage and the capacity to develop practical blended-learning materials for the dairy sector. A generalised framework could greatly assist the variety of educational and training institutes to implement practical and/or CBET programmes already in operation or planned. There are a number of areas where Netherlands partners can usefully support processes related to the dairy sector, including: developing competencies of trainers and training, facilitate accreditation of dairy training programmes, and developing competencies of national TVET authorities. Advantages of a regional dairy skill development project are, for example, the greater potential for scaling and development impact, and sharing of significant costs and experiences. Disadvantages include greater project preparation and transaction costs. Three options for potential project options are: 1) fully integrated and comprehensive regional project; 2) independent national projects; 3) “mixed” model comprising a regional project to support national projects.

The business case for a landscape approach to sustainable beef production in Brazil

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 14:40:15 +0000

This study (PDF) by IDH provides a business case for a landscape approach to sustainable beef production in Brazil. Cattle ranch São Marcelo is seeking to support the increase in production of sustainable, zero-deforestation, traceable beef in order to meet customer demand for such products. It does so by engaging in a landscape approach via the Produce, Conserve, Include (PCI) Regional Compact, that seeks to transform the region into a verified sourcing area for cattle and family agriculture products, through public and private partnership and engagement, generating income for the local population while conserving forests. Developing the Compact involves four key stages: 1) the scoping phase to collect baseline information; 2) the coalition building phase to engage key stakeholders; 3) building blocks for the compacts are established; 4) the PCI compact is signed by the coalition. The coalition works on increasing cattle production and sales, conservation/protection of forests and promising solutions on land tenure issues and supporting family agriculture value chains. Building this verified sourcing landscape has the potential to attract potential investors. Involvement of São Marcelo in PCI will engage the company directly with state government to align with activities and legislation around deforestation at state level. Furthermore, a strong buyer-seller relationships has been established, not only on quality but also on conserving forest and promoting inclusion. Participation in the Compact also resulted in key commercial opportunities, for example by satisfying unmet customer demand for sustainable beef. But also by achieving higher prices and securing new buyers due to market position as verified sourcing region for sustainable beef products. Moreover, it increases profitability trough differentiation based on quality and increases capacity and in turn increase volume of sales of certified beef.

How can health, agriculture and economic policy actors work together to enhance the external food environment for fruit and vegetables? A qualitative policy analysis in India

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 14:32:44 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Food Policy journal aims to identify opportunities to strengthen food system policy for nutrition, through an analysis of the policies relevant to the external food environment for fruit and vegetables in India. The existing policy context is characterised by growing government support for agriculture over the past decade, with a focus on employment, livelihoods and economic growth. However, there is little integration of nutrition and health considerations in agricultural practice and policy. This study identified three practical strategies for fruit and vegetable supply policy actors in India, which are likely to help address the interdisciplinary disconnect between nutrition on the one hand, and economics and agriculture on the other. The first is strategic Public-Private Partnerships that could be used to harness diverse expertise across the supply chain. Many of the challenges facing the supply chain in India will require collaboration between public and private sector actors. Second, creation of synergies between the agriculture/economic sectors and the health sectors in promoting increased fruit and vegetable supply – including both production and processing methods that maximize nutrition outcomes. Public health interventions and promotion of fruit and vegetable consumption can support demand in ways that align with seasonality and locality of production, and target specific populations. Better understanding of supply chain agendas among public health policy actors will also enable the strategic design of interventions to increase consumer access to – and demand for – fruit and vegetables. Third, strengthening surveillance of policy impacts on consumer access to fruit and vegetables. Public health actors can play a critical role in sharing – and scaling up – small-scale, local- and state-level innovation in fruit and vegetable supply chains.

Application of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology for the improvement of crops cultivated in the tropical climates: Recent progress, prospects and challenges

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 12:58:59 +0000

This review (PDF), in Frontiers in Plant Science, examines the use of CRISPR/Cas9 in improvement of tropical crops, how it can be applied to improve crops and product quality, and address challenges pertaining to tropical crops. CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to precisely modify genome sequence of any organism to achieve the desired trait. Compared to other genome editing tools, it is faster, cheaper, precise and highly efficient in editing genomes even at the multipex level. Further, it has shown great promise for quickly addressing emerging challenges in agriculture and application is emerging rapidly. CRIPSR/Cas9 is becoming a user-friendly tool to counteract effect of climate change and ensure food security. Many success stories on application of CRISPR/Cas9 in genome editing of tropical crops and crops cultivated in tropical regions have not been reported yet as compared to temperate crops. To have a greater impact on agriculture in tropical areas, further efforts are needed to optimize the CRISPR/Cas9 protocols for making it more user-friendly and freely accessible for research and practical applications. Development of an efficient transformation system for major tropical crops and crops such as Indica rice in tropical climates would facilitate the development of crops resilient to emerging pests and abiotic stresses. International collaboration through open data sharing and practice of open science are needed to rapidly tackle any emerging challenges in agriculture such as recent emergence of wheat blast disease in tropical areas of Asia. CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome edited (deleted or disruption of undesirable genes/sequences) crop plants should be considered as non-GMO for rapid application and acceptance of this technology at the field level. The authors foresee the application of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in various crops revolutionize agriculture in a second green revolution to ensure food and nutritional security of the ever-increasing population of tropical countries.

Assessment of production potential and post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables in northern region of Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 12:31:58 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Agriculture & Food Security journal, assesses the production potential and post-harvest losses of fruits and vegetables at farmer’s field and identifies the technological gaps in the existing production and post-harvest handling techniques, in Northern Ethiopia. Horticultural crops are not widely cultivated in Ethiopia due to small-scale farming systems and poor pre- and post-harvest handling techniques. It can be concluded that the horticulture crop producers in the Northern part of Ethiopia use different cultural practices adopted from innovative technologies and their own tradition cultural practice, and hence they have been increasing the potential for production of fruits and vegetables. However, there are many production constraints during cultivation, harvesting, transportation, marketing and consumption of fruits and vegetables, and hence post-harvest loss was listed as a main challenge to perishable crop producers. Therefore, designing further research on innovative technologies for access supply and consumption of horticultural crops should be required because they are more cash crops than other crops are. In addition, capacity building on post-harvest handling techniques of fruits and vegetables should be promoted. All stakeholders should work in collaboration to facilitate a sustainable production of fruits and vegetables in small-scale farmers with a long-term market access. Besides, involvement and participation of female headed households on production of horticultural crops should be practices to create awareness and sustain the livelihood of the community.

The influence of livestock-derived foods on nutrition during the first 1,000 days of life

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 08:47:17 +0000

This report (PDF) by ILRI synthesizes the best current evidence on the influence of livestock-derived foods (LDF), such as meat, milk and eggs, on the nutrition of pregnant and lactating mothers and infants during their first 1,000 days of life in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), especially in Africa and Asia. The study was driven by concern for still unacceptably high levels of child undernutrition. Consumption of LDF is rapidly increasing in most LMIC, but is still much lower than in higher income regions. Mothers and children only consume LDF occasionally. Moreover, significant regional variations in LDF consumption indicate that livestock and nutritional interventions must be tailored to local contexts. Especially since studies revealed that the consumption of LDF can improve growth, cognition and other nutrition outcomes in children. Furthermore, malnourished children benefit more from LDF consumption than healthy children. Livestock interventions do improve small-scale food production and increase incomes and household expenditure, and thus can improve nutrient consumption and diets in poor households and maybe nutritional outcomes. Livestock interventions are more successful at improving nutrition when targeted at women, include nutritional education and when they are integrated into larger interventions. There is a broad consensus that diets low in LDF and high in vegetables offer twin benefits to human nutrition and environmental sustainability. However, for LMIC there are several caveats. For example, ‘LMIC diets’ that incorporate LDF can use less land for food production than their plant-based alternatives and the type of land used is often different. LDF production is often using non-human-edible feed on marginal, otherwise unproductive, rangelands. Furthermore, diets considered sustainable in high-income countries often contain more LDF than in LMIC and the environmental aspect of sustainability often ignores social, economic and health dimensions.

A blog on this report can be found here.

Eyes in the sky: How drones and satellites can transform African agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 07:43:46 +0000

This blog by Business Fights Poverty is on precision agriculture, in which micro-level data on e.g. stress, moisture and the presence of pests, is gathered by drones or satellites and used to enhance decision making on the farm. Precision agriculture with drones or satellites could help farmers to exactly know what each of the plants needs, from the amount of water to the amount of fertilizer, at any given moment. This could improve yields, reduce costs and increase profits.The primary obstacle for this is the absence of a sustainable funding model for smallholder farmers. However, when farmers are organized in a contract farming arrangement with a well-funded agribusiness, there is a private-sector actor that could finance the investment. A pilot project was conducted to demonstrate the business case for providing drone services to African farmers. This pilot project was with a company that works with smallholders in Uganda, to address its major constraints: while demand for quality seeds is rising rapidly in Uganda, the company’s difficulty in monitoring production by smallholders has limited output. Accurate data could increase efficiency and expand operations of the firm, and improve yields and reduce costs for the farmers. Results demonstrated the potential real-world impact of the the precision farming model. Drone-monitored farms were estimated to generate 100% more seed. Furthermore, while drone-generated data increased monitoring costs and fertilizer application, spending on pesticide was projected to decline by 60%, because its use could be more precisely calibrated. Moreover, it was projected that on individual farms, the annual returns would expand. More research needs to be done, since the use of drones can also greatly reduce the costs of designing agricultural water reservoirs and planning urban areas in East Africa. The use of drones for these services would also make it more affordable for agribusinesses to employ drones, because it would spread the cost of the machines across industries.

The case study on the drone initiative is available here.

Factors influencing the adoption of new technologies in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: A review of the literature

F&BKP Office — Mon, 25 Jun 2018 09:28:47 +0000

This review article (PDF – in French) in the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics is on factors that influence the adoption of new technologies in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has not benefited sufficiently from the great revolutions in the agricultural world that have made it possible to increase productivity. Despite the existence of new technologies, levels of agricultural productivity remain low, and lower than those of other developing regions. A number of factors, including constraints on the adoption of new technologies, could explain this low productivity. Indeed, the adoption of new technologies in agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is influenced by several factors, including the socio-economic characteristics of households, the mode of operation and management of production, market practices, processing characteristics, and the degree of awareness and social networks. It is essential to consider these factors if new programmes and projects for introducing and disseminating new technologies are to be successful. This would help increase productivity, and thereby reduce poverty and food insecurity across the continent.

Foreign development investment and supply chains in horticulture: Diversifying exports and reducing poverty

F&BKP Office — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 12:31:56 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the Center for Global Development looks into supply chain creation in horticulture in Africa, Latin America and other developing regions. It looks at the role of foreign investors in launching export, examines similarities and differences with the spread of supply chains in manufacturing and assembly and examines the role of retailers and impact of international standards. Developing countries that manage to upgrade and diversify their export base experience faster growth and enjoy greater welfare gains than those that do not. This investigation of supply chain creation in horticulture highlights the importance of individual first-mover investors and retailers. Policies that attract multinational investors and retailers to link them to production and export opportunities in the host economy are important. Public-private partnerships for skill-building in farming and agribusiness constitute a strong magnet to attract foreign investors in horticulture. The most important ingredients in creating successful supply chains in horticulture contribute to a race-to-the-top among potential host countries in the developing world. A race-to-the-top in improving national doing-business indicators, in upgrading local infrastructure, in establishing effective investment promotion procedures, and in launching public-private vocational-training partnerships in farming and agribusiness. The paper thus demonstrates that expansion of international investment in horticultural supply chains offers significant potential for export diversification and poverty reduction in economies all across the developing world. Multilateral development banks and national aid donors might want to assign high priority therefore to investment promotion in horticulture, backed by the infrastructure upgrades needed to ensure success.

Food waste for livestock feeding: Feasibility, safety, and sustainability implications

F&BKP Office — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 14:25:16 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Global Food Security journal describes an analysis to demonstrate the feasibility, safety and sustainability implication of recovering food waste for animal feeding (ReFeed). ReFeed is a viable option that has the potential to simultaniously address waste management, food security and resource and environmental challenges. The analysis demonstrates that there is strong evidence that consumption-stage food waste is rich in major nutrients for nourishing livestock animals. Furthermore, contemporary treatment technologies can convert food waste materials, high in moisture content and prone to spoilage, into feed products that are nutritious, easy to handle and safe to use for animal feeding. Such feeds derived from food waste can replace some of the grains for conventional diets, bringing forth a cascading effect upstream in the food system with potential benefits of resource conservation and pollution mitigation. So, recovering food waste and converting it into animal feed with modern technologies can be a game-changer, providing the opportunity to simultaneously address food security, pollution prevention, waste management, and resource and climate challenges. Future research needs to address several important issues. First, more accurate date is needed on the complete nutrient profile of pre-treatment food waste and post-treatment feed products. Second, quantitative assessment to link feed grain replacement with resources and environmental benefits in the entire food system is needed. Lastly, comprehensive economic analyses need to examine the full spectrum of cost and benefits.

Weather data for agriculture

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 14:36:01 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by CTA portrays how various stakeholders in the data value chain are working with and creating agriculture services from weather data while showcasing some of the best practices and the most common challenges in this field. Agricultural stakeholders have an interest in accurate localised and reliable meteorological data. These raw weather data can be translated into accessible weather information, crucial for farmers to make well-informed farm management decisions and for effective mitigation. One article in the magazine emphasizes the importance of weather data for smallholder farmers and the fact that the support to farmers should go beyond being familiar and being able to work with data. It requires are broader view on standards, entrepreneurship, partnerships and ways to combine all kinds of data. The open weather data value chain should be demand-driven and as short as possible to reduce costs and make services cheaper. The key for sustainability of open weather data value chain are sustainable business models, which requires collaboration with many stakeholders. Another article aims to answer the question whether open data is ‘fit-for-purpose’; does it match the needs of being reliable, relevant, timely and accessible? The article suggests that the still scarce sources might suggest that open weather data are less fit-for-purpose, which might currently result in opting for paid, non-open services. Nevertheless, it can be expected that more open weather data will become available in the future, hopefully, better suited for the purpose of agricultural services for smallholders.

Post-harvest losses: Global scale, solutions, and relevance to Ghana

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 08:45:43 +0000

This report (PDF) by IFPRI focuses on post-harvest losses (PHL) in the horticulture sector of Ghana to quantify the extent and drives of loss of specific crops in specific contexts to identify the most cost-effective solution. Horticulture is an important sub-sector in Ghana’s agricultural economy with great growth potential, so returns to PHL prevention are expected to be high. PHL in the mango value chain is 20-50%, due to fruit fly presence, host of diseases, lack of cold chain facilities and long transit time. For tomatoes its about 10-30%, due to poor handling, transport damage, lack of infrastructure limiting their market accessibility. PHL can be addressed at different stages of the value chain. Innovations to reduce PHL can start before farm-level with development of varieties that have longer shelf-lives while maintaining their properties. Simple and cheap technologies that fit in with the existing value chain and marketing system have a high adoption rate and are sustainable in the long term. To ensure that practices and technologies to reduce PHL are adopted, policy makers must take into account economic and behavioural factors that influence farmers’ decision making. Three bottlenecks to adoption are risk aversion, timing of cash availability and need for technology, and over-valuing the present. Furthermore, coordination within and across stages in value chain is critical for the reduction of PHL. Improving postharvest management is thus of importance and reduction of PHL depends on simultaneous mobilization of key actors. When production is highly concentrated among a small number of farmers within a small geographical area, incentives may exist for the private sector to invest in making value chains more efficient. When private sector lacks sufficient capacity, public sector and non-profit actors can facilitate coordination among value chain actors and leverage private incentives that do exist. A critical role for the public sector is the provision of quality transportation infrastructure and electrification. Finally, gender has often been overlooked in PHL research.

Livelihood and climate trade-offs in Kenyan peri-urban vegetable production

F&BKP Office — Mon, 21 May 2018 12:31:54 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Agricultural Systems journal, investigates productivity and economic and climate trade-offs in soil fertility management strategies in smallholder African indigenous vegetable (AIV) production in Kiambu county, Kenya. Tade-offs between livelihood and environmental outcomes due to agricultural intensification in sub-Saharan Africa are uncertain. Yield, economic performance and nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions were measured of African indigenous vegetable (AIV) to investigate the optimal nutrient management strategies. In order to achieve this, an on-farm experiment with four treatments was performed for two seasons. The results indicate that, treatment with diammonium phosphate (DAP) alone resulted at least 14% greater yields, gross margin and returns to labour in absolute terms but had the highest emissions. Productivity-climate trade-offs, expressed as N₂OI, were statistically similar for DAP and mixed treatments. However, N₂OEI was minimized under mixed management, while maintaining productivity and gross margins. Thus, soil fertility management strategies that mix inorganic and organic source present a pathway to sustainable intensification in AIV production. Furthermore, this study has shown that the inclusion of economic value versus just productivity alone may change conclusions around the selection of which soil management practice is the best fit for purpose when wanting to optimise climate and livelihood trade-offs. Although limited in scope, these data provide a first indication of the importance of taking the trade-off analysis one step further to include economic value. It is therefore concluded that soil fertilisation from a mix of organic and inorganic nitrogen fertilisers is a promising agronomic pathway towards achieving optimal combined economic and environmental outcomes from vegetable production in peri-urban Kenya. Future work in this field should consider the limitations of considering productivity alone when trying to reflect the true nature of the trade-offs faced by farmers. Including economic performance when considering trade-offs should be considered when studying GHG emissions of crop production.

Emergency vegetable seed interventions: Can we expect improved nutrition and income generation among beneficiaries?

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 May 2018 09:06:26 +0000

This report (PDF) by Seed System examines whether vegetable seed interventions lead to better family nutrition and help families generate income during a crisis.Vegetable seed is most often supplied in areas of chronic insecurity and persistent drought. Nutrition goals are often more explicit in vegetable seed interventions than income goals, however, farmers often aim for both gains. While vegetable seed interventions were always done with conjunction with other project activities; however, it was not always clear how these activities formed a consistent approach to improve income or nutrition. Some organizations were more thoughtful at encouraging nutritional outcomes than others. Providing nutrition education and cooking demonstrations was recognized to give nutritional benefits. The projects were not in the habit of providing evidence of advancement in nutrition income goals. The article states that it still does not know if and how vegetable seed interventions impact beneficiaries’ nutritional status and income in either the short or long term. More data is needed on beneficiaries’ gardens, diets and incomes. When delivering a vegetable seed intervention, it is recommended to ensure that the situation non the ground is appropriate for a vegetable intervention. Farmers need to have access to land to grow crops and have basic agricultural inputs. Furthermore, conduct a vegetable seed system assessment to determine if vegetable seed access is poor and what the barriers are to access seed, before deciding to supply seeds. From the beginning, plan for a project in farmers want to attain nutrition and income goals, including measuring impact of small-scale vegetable selling. Vegetable seed deliveries should be incorporated into a broader nutritional strategy. The seed basket should be selected strategically to maximize nutritional value and income. Lastly, trainings should be designed to boost nutrition and income returns from the garden.

Agriculture on the blockchain: Sustainable solutions for food, farmers, and financing

F&BKP Office — Thu, 10 May 2018 08:16:21 +0000

This research (PDF) in SSRN explores applications of blockchain across the agricultural sector, beyond the typical finance use cases. In considering agriculture itself as a chain, a network that reaches from farm to fork, blockchain efforts are analysed to improve safety, efficiency, and accountability at every stage of the process. Traceability across the global food supply chain ensures food safety and is thus far the most adopted application of blockchain for agriculture. Smart contract and chain of custody records can mitigate instances of food fraud and identify untrustworthy middlemen and business practices that exploit both independent farmers and cooperatives. Sustainable agriculture and “local economy” cooperatives can generate economic activity and retain more value locally. Instantaneous transactions and accountable origin and route tracking of goods can transform a sprawling, complicated and decentralized food market into a local one with high trust and quality. Agriculture finance innovations, include transparent and efficient futures contract payment platforms, smart contract insurance against crop catastrophes and microfinancing opportunities for under-served communities that can grow from subsistence-level loans into investments in new businesses. One recommendation for decision-makers is to experiment with, and add blockchain capability to an organization’s food safety programmes. Further, partner with champions and key personnel of the organization’s value chain systems; such partnerships lead to coupling between blockchain and value chain systems. Participation in global standards initiatives is needed to ensure that the blockchain maps to the standards and bridges with other blockchains. Lastly, organizations should contribute time and money to a third party or consortium blockchain initiative to mitigate the risk of going at it alone.

Private and public costs and benefits of implementing a quality-based milk payment system in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Mon, 07 May 2018 14:08:22 +0000

This study (PDF) by Wageningen Livestock Research and 3R Kenya assesses the model of dairy processor Happy Cow Ltd as a pilot to introduce a quality-based milk payment systems (QBMPS) in Kenya that integrates smallholders as suppliers. QBMPSs could successfully control and improve the milk quality in Kenya along the dairy chain. Results of this pilot study reveal that among the milk value chain actors, farmers benefit the most from a well-functioning QBMPS, both financial as in terms of social inclusion. Meanwhile, collection and bulking enterprises (CBEs) and processors have additional costs, which will give them a loss for mixed milk. This will influence their commitment to QBMPS. The investments made in the project have improved the efficiency of milk collection, while better testing has improved the quality of milk. Apart from the private benefits to the value chain actors the QBMPS would result in reduced public health costs by reducing milk-related infectious diseases. Major external challenges proved to be: the lack of enforcement by relevant authorities, the lack of common strategy towards milk quality, no level playing field in regard to hawkers who buy milk directly from farmers and prolonged drought. Internal challenges were the low awareness, skill level and weak governance of the dairy value chain actors and inadequate basic infrastructure and milk quality policies. Recommendations on farm level include full level implementation of proper hygiene. CBEs should check the quality of milk delivered and develop and enforce strict standard operating procedures. These processes should be strictly monitored by processors, who should implement a robust milk quality tracking and tracing system. Governments should ban the use of plastic cans and phase out the raw milk market and implement entry barriers for CBEs. Furthermore, authorities should streamline the dairy sector towards a formal sector. Lastly, consumers should be duly informed about the difference in quality of milk that goes through a QBMPS.

A full report of the study can be found here.

Farmers’ perspectives: Impact of climate change on African indigenous vegetable production in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 14:29:49 +0000

This study (PDF) in the International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management aims to analyse how African indigenous vegetable (AIV) farmers perceive climate change in three different agro-climatic zones (ACZs) in Kenya, identify the main differences in historical seasonal and annual rainfall and temperature trends between the zones, discuss differences in farmers’ perceptions and historical trends and analyse the impact of these perceived changes and trends on yields, weeds, pests and disease infestation of AIV. Research showed that AIV farmers are aware that their area is getting warmer and drier. The main constraining factors identified in AIV production were increased temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns and inadequate rainfall. Farmers were aware of the moderate effect of climate on AIVs. The current volatility in rainfall patterns has made it difficult for farmers to plan their cropping calendar to suit the changes. Therefore, climate change (CC) adaptation programmes need to provide accurate projected weather patterns to farmers. Furthermore, farmer’s perceptions were significantly associated with their ACZs. Severity of pests and disease are more prevalent in dry than wet season. Too much rain and frequent dry spell conditions caused by CC alter the manifestation of pests and manifestation of diseases and growth of new weeds. This has resulted in lower yields for AIVs. Farmers should be made aware of the use of pesticides sustainably. The changes in severity of diseases also calls for more resistant cultivars of the AIVs. This could be designed with programmes aimed at ensuring that farmers benefit from opportunities. It is important to ensure that farmers gain access to good quality and affordable resistant seed varieties. Farmer’s perceptions and observed trends should be communicated to policy makers, which will provide a pathway for effective planning of context-specific adaptations and climate communication programmes. Further research is recommended to ascertain the quantity of yield losses because of pests, disease and CC.

From open weather data to accessible weather information services for smallholder farmers

F&BKP Office — Fri, 20 Apr 2018 09:27:37 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by CTA outlines the importance and benefits that can be derived from weather data in agriculture and nutrition, the challenges in the weather data value chain and recommendations to address these challenges. Weather data is used by providers of ICT services, extensionists, and farm advisors to generate added value through combining this data with soil data, crop data, agronomic knowledge and bringing this knowledge to farmers through a variety of services. Providing weather data-based support to farmers goes beyond being familiar and being able to work with weather data. It requires a broader view on standards, capacity development, entrepreneurship, partnerships and impact measurement. Policy recommendations are, firstly, that capacity building should be tailor-made for all stakeholders in the value chain, ranging from the provider level to the intermediary’s level and the level of end users. Secondly, increased technical support for data collection and exchange is needed. Thirdly, viable business models should be developed that provide incentives for various entities to collect and share weather data. Fourth, partnerships and collaboration between stakeholders is required for co-creating the open weather data value chain, bundling services and packaging different data sources. Finally, impact should be measured since it is critical to ensure weather data services are made sustainable in the long term.

Examples of research for development approaches to benefit the livestock sector in LMICs – ILRI’s approach

F&BKP Office — Tue, 17 Apr 2018 14:27:25 +0000

This report (PDF) by ILRI provides examples of how ILRI and its many partners are helping to meet specific SDGs. One of the examples is the effect of vaccinating farm animals in Tanzania and Kenya. Wide-scale vaccination of cattle against East Coast fever would remove one of the biggest obstacles facing smallholders and herders trying to increase their meat and milk productivity. The program found that the vaccination led to significant drop in cattle deaths, reduced household expenditure to keep animals healthy, the animals produced more milk, fetched higher market prices and displayed increase immunity. Another example is to improve milk production in Ethiopia. Most smallholder farmers have limited access to knowledge and technologies, but also higher-performing crossbreed cattle, veterinary services or quality animal feed. ILRI identified low-cost technologies, undertook research and provided support. Smallholders began producing milk using improved technologies and management practices. As a result, dairy productivity and market orientation increased. The report concludes that targeted investment in sustainable livestock research for development can provide much more food to nourish the world’s rapidly growing population. It can enhance the efficiency of livestock and related value chains, produce large employment opportunities, particularly for women and young people, and drive inclusive economic growth. Importantly, such investment—intellectual, political and financial—is essential to strengthening the resilience of developing-country peoples and conserving the natural resources upon which their wellbeing, and that of all people and the planet, depend.

A related news item on the report can be found here.

Webinar series: Farmers’ access to data

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 09:26:53 +0000

This webinar series by GFAR, co-convened with GODAN and CTA, on farmers’ access to data is a follow-up of the face-to-face course. The first webinar ‘Data-driven agriculture overview‘ provides a foundation for understanding the use of data for farming and across the agricultural value chain. It gives an overview of digital agriculture, the trends impacting it, and its advantages and challenges for smallholder farmers. The use of farm management information systems for decision support has shown great promise for improving farm yields and profitability. However, growers are often unsure of the value of the data that they are providing and/or receiving. The second webinar ‘Key data for farmers‘ explains the different key data streams, flow and sources that are vital to agricultural value chains. It identifies specific data needed by farmers, as well as potential sources. For data driven agriculture to happen the data streams in the food chain from pre-planting to consumption have to be distinguished. However, farmers may not be in a position to realize those streams and possibly what data and information is required to answer the food chain questions. These questions can be answered if the factual data or information is used or made available to the farmers. The third webinar ‘Crossing the Donga: Accelerating market adoptation and use of data by smallholders‘ examines some of the key challenges that are blocking adoption of digital architecture by smallholder farmers. This webinar will provide smallholder farmers, and those who support them, specific methods for ensuring farmer-centric solutions.

Technology and entrepreneurship

F&BKP Office — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 09:35:41 +0000

This magazine (PDF) by Sight and Life navigates various approaches in which technology and entrepreneurship can improve the nutrition landscape around the world. Technology plays an increasingly important role in enabling the implementation of high-quality public health nutrition interventions. Similarly, innovative entrepreneurial solutions are required to improve access to proven nutrition solutions and ensure sustainability. The article “New allies accelerate the fight against malnutrition” introduces five innovative products to dramatically improved field-based measurements of nutritional status, outlines their use and impact and highlights the continued need to champion the partnerships and investment that make breakthrough health innovation possible. “Using mobile technology for nutrition programs” offers a conceptual framework that nutrition practitioners can use to harness the potential of mobile health (mHealth) interventions. As malnutrition continues to overburden many health systems, mHealth offers huge potential for strengthening and improving existing initiatives and outcomes, so long as they can be implemented successfully. In “Nutrition entrepreneurs” a study to identify sustainable social enterprises that can integrate nutrition interventions at scale and benefit large numbers of underserved communities is described. Five promising business models: microfinancing, social franchising, network orchestration, freemium, and enterprise development can help guide practitioners, policy-makers and influencers in the nutrition sector in designing, replicating and implementing scalable nutrition programs.

Competitiveness of the Ghanaian vegetable sector: Findings from a farmer survey

F&BKP Office — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 14:11:41 +0000

This study (PDF) by IFPRI looks broadly at the state of vegetable competitiveness in Ghana; focusing on trade, production, profitability, and marketing. Ghana depends on import to meet local consumption requirements of horticulture foods. Seasonality is one reason that vegetable production cannot meet local demand, though a much larger area is suitable for vegetable production. Low-yields are another important reason for limited supply, possibly due to the varieties used. Making suitable varieties available is an important avenue for increasing productivity. Plant protection is also important for vegetable production; the knowledge of vegetable farmers of the chemicals and their proper use is now limited. Furthermore, there is also a need to improve soil management through crop rotation and application of (in)organic nutrient source. Despite low yields, average gross margins for the selected vegetables are much higher than can be obtained from the cultivation of crops. However returns are heterogeneous, which is explained by differences in yields and prices obtained. Unlike farmers, traders are well organized. Wholesalers who take produce to major markets have organized themselves into associations, which exercise control to various degrees. While imports usually meet the excess demand for vegetables in Ghana, there is some evidence that imports curtail domestic production. Expension of production may require improvements of both production conditions and marketing. First, irrigation makes year-round production feasible. Further, the use of improved varieties and better practices is necessary to make irrigated farming profitable. For marketing, the essential challenge is to overcome that producers of perishables must wait at their farm for buyers to pick up their output. Infrastructure for marketing is nearly non-existent at both farm and market levels. In sum, import-substitution of vegetables offers higher-return cropping opportunities for Ghanaian producers under both rainfed and irrigated conditions. Strategies to develop these opportunities are: improve yield under different conditions to encourage vegetable production and initiate measures to overcome trader-organized restrictions on entry to major markets.

Use of CRISPR systems in plant genome editing: Toward new opportunities in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 08:31:39 +0000

The present study (PDF) in Emerging Topics in Life Sciences reviews agricultural applications related to the use of CRISPR systems in plants from 52 peer-reviewed articles published since 2014. Considerable progress has been made in plant genome editing thanks to CRISPR/Cas systems. CRISPR/Cas allows straightforward, cost-effective and efficient gene editing compared with previous technologies. However, the method is still develloping and scientific efforts must continue to be made in order to obtain a mature technology and to realize the full potential of the technology. The heritability and transgene-free character of the generated plants by CRISP/Cas has been demonstrated, confirming that this should no longer be a concern for agricultural applications. This opens up many opportunities for different industrial applications of CRISPR systems. The review shows that the application of CRISPR/Cas systems is mainly achieved directly in crops. The most important group of target applications relates to yield traits followed by the achievement of biotic or abiotic stress tolerance. The most studies crop is rice, followed by maize, tomato, potato, barly and wheat. The emergence of biofortification in the list of applications can be related to that of metabolic engineering. An extensive knowledge of plant biology and gene functionalities is required before using CRISPR/Cas systems in a specific species for a particular application. The application of Cas gene editing requires the precise definition of the target DNA sequence and the availability of good genome sequence data of the studied species in order to allow design of single-guide RNAs.

Multi-scale measurements show limited soil greenhouse gas emissions in Kenyan smallholder coffee-dairy systems

F&BKP Office — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 09:09:54 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Science of The Total Environment journal aims to quantify soil greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at different spatial (between farms, among fields within farms, and between fertilised and unfertilised locations within fields) and temporal scales (between seasons, wet and dry periods) in smallholder integrated dairy-coffee systems in Kenya. GHG measurements were carried out for one year, comprising two cropping seasons, using vented static chambers and gas chromatography. Sixty rectangular frames were installed on two farms comprising the three main cropping systems found in the area: 1) coffee; 2) Napier grass; and 3) maize intercropped with beans. Within these fields, chambers were allocated on fertilised and unfertilised locations to capture spatial variability. Results revealed that 66% to 94% of annual GHG fluxes occured during rainy seasons. Furthermore, across the farm plots, coffee received most of the N inputs and had 56% to 89% higher emissions of N2O than Napier grass, maize and beans. Within farm plots, two to six times higher emissions were found in fertilised hotspots – around the perimeter of coffee trees or within planted maize rows – than in unfertilised locations between trees, rows and planting holes. Background and induced soil N2O emissions from fertiliser and manure applications in the three cropping systems were lower than hypothesized from previous studies and empirical models. Advances towards overcoming the dearth of data will facilitate the understanding of synergies and trade/offs of climate-smart approaches for low emissions development in sub/Saharan Africa.

Small-scale poultry and food security in resource-poor settings: A review

F&BKP Office — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 09:21:34 +0000

This review (PDF) in the Global Food Security journal highlights the multitude of avenues through which small-scale poultry (SSP) production can contribute to improved household food and nutrition security in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with limited resources (resource-poor settings). As a highly available and accessible form of livestock in rural, resource-poor areas that often experience food insecurity, SSP are a significant source of income, nutritionally-rich foods and security for the poorest of households. In particular, the importance of these systems to the livelihoods of women, children, the elderly, and the chronically ill should not be overlooked. Furthermore, they also improve food security in indirect ways, such as enhancing nutrient utilisation and recycling in the environment, contributing to mixed farming practices and women’s empowerment, and enabling access to healthcare and education. Barriers to maximising the potential impact of SSP production systems are significant, with high burdens of disease and predation limiting production and utilisation of poultry products. Many of these constrains can be addressed through improved agricultural and livestock extension and community animal health networks. For small-scale intensive systems, feed price fluctuations and inadequate biosecurity are major constraints. Recognition of the ability of local chickens to survive and reproduce in harsh environments, their value as a rich source of genetic biodiversity, and their potential to contribute to sustainable development should promote interest in investing in the protection and conservation of local breeds kept in SSP systems.

Protected cultivation of vegetable crops in sub-Saharan Africa: Limits and prospects for smallholders. A review

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 13:52:41 +0000

This article in the Agronomy for Sustainable Development journal presents an overview of the agronomic, economic, and environmental performances of low-tech protected cultivation techniques (PCT) in sub-Saharan Africa. Vegetable production in sub-Saharan Africa faces numerous agronomic constraints to feed the increasing population and to fight malnutrition. Technology transfer and the adoption of low-tech PCT affordable for smallholders are believed to be able to meet this challenge. PCT are a set of agricultural practices aimed at artificializing the crop environment to increase the yield and quality of vegetable crops and extend their production periods worldwide. However, the transfer of these techniques in sub-Saharan Africa raises questions about their agronomical performances, their profitability and their environmental impacts. So the question is if low-tech protected cultivation techniques are adapted to the sustainable production of vegetables by smallholders in sub-Saharan Africa? The major conclusions are; 1) Low-tech PCT are not suitable in all climatic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa and need to be combined with other methods to ensure adequate pest control; 2) The profitability of PCT relies on the capacity to offset increased production costs by higher yields and higher selling prices to be obtained with off-season and/or higher quality products; 3) Major obstacles of adoption of PCT are breaking with existing cropping systems, the lack of technical support and skills, and the limited access to investment funding; 4) Life cycle assessments suggested that more efficient use of agricultural inputs would offset the negative impacts of protected cultivation techniques if they are properly managed. Further research is needed to; 1) Understand the impacts of low-tech PCT on climatic conditions and insect pest populations; 2) estimate the profitability of the techniques for smallholders so as to design suitable and affordable cropping systems.

Can agricultural aspirations influence preferences for new technologies

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 09:02:34 +0000

This paper (PDF) by IFPRI describes a choice experiment framed around the hypothetical subsidized purchase of a drip irrigation system in Pakistan. Specifically, it examined how participants with different levels of drip experience value various aspects of a hypothetical subsidy for drip irrigation. There is a critical need to improved water-use efficiency. Drip irrigation is a high-efficiency irrigation technology that can improve water-use efficiency. Adaptation of this is low in Pakistan. This study identified a clear increase in the valuation of the drip system by farmers after a few years of drip experience, suggesting that farmers may be unaware of the opportunities for drip irrigation or the benefits that may accrue from its use. Additionally, farmer’s aspirations for cropping systems under drip were better predicators of the valuation of drip systems than current cropping patterns, implying that a different agricultural landscape might reasonably emerge under improved adoptation of drip. Aspirations differed across different agroecological zones and water regimes. Aspirations to substitute wheat crops for fruits and vegetables were associated with a higher appreciation of the subsidy level, whereas aspirations to expand wheat were associated with higher appreciation of the area covered by the drip initiative. These findings imply a degree of control over the extent of wheat production in the landscape via careful design of the drip subsidy program. So, the linkage from aspirations to valuation of drip subsidy programs suggests that the expansion of drip use may have a transformative effect on the agricultural landscape and enhance adoption of these systems.

A qualitative evaluation of CSA options in mixed crop-livestock systems in developing countries

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 13:00:45 +0000

This book chapter (PDF) from the book Climate Smart Agriculture published by Springer summarizes the climate smartness of different alternatives in the mixed crop-livestock systems in developing countries from both a technical and an institutional perspective. The mixed crop-livestock systems of the developing world will become increasingly important for meeting the food security challenges of the coming decades. The synergies and trade-offs between food security, adaptation, and mitigation objectives are not well studied, however. The crop and livestock management interventions included span the range of crop and grazing land management, water management, and livestock management, and include options related to food storage and processing, insurance, and use of weather information. From a technical perspective, there appear to exist no “silver bullets” for achieving climate-smart mixed systems. From an adoption perspective, a range of different constraints exist that may impede the widespread adoption of all these innovations. These may be to do with investment and/or running costs and access to technology and knowledge of how to implement it, as well as social acceptability and local governance issues. Additionally, for some of the interventions evaluated, there are significant trade-offs between meeting shorter-term food production or food security objectives and longer-term resilience objectives. These temporal trade-offs may be difficult to resolve in many local contexts, and the triple wins involving these interventions will sometimes be elusive.

Gendered perspectives on smallholder cattle production and health management in three sites in Tanzania

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 24 Jan 2018 13:48:36 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security provides a gender analysis of animal health in small-scale dairy farming and the food security implications in three villages of Tanzania. Dairy farming offers opportunities to address poverty and food security among small-scale livestock keepers in Tanzania, particularly rural women. Animal health problems greatly hinder dairy farming in the country, making animal health interventions critical for achieving food security. The findings show that both women and men respondents were involved in animal health management and had similar knowledge of diseases. Yet, women were found to face more constraints than men in accessing vet services, information on diseases, and animal medicines. All respondents argued that animal diseases impact on overall household food security by: increasing expenditures for medicines; decreasing milk production which increased expenditure on food—less milk for household consumption and less milk revenues; increasing the time needed to look after sick animals; reducing income from animal sales; and reducing manure and traction power that reduced crop production. Supporting women’s groups is suggested as a way of enhancing women’s control over livestock and revenues, and access to animal health information and income generating opportunities. The paper recommends enhancing the capacity of service providers in gender-responsive approaches, and of organizing community outreach activity that highlight the benefits of intra-household shared decision making.

The financial feasibility of producing fish and vegetables through aquaponics

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 10:00:58 +0000

This article in the journal Aquacultural Engineering uses a cost-benefit analysis to assess the financial feasibility of an investment in a small-scale aquaponics system in the province of Negros Oriental, Philippines. Using this case study, in addition to refereed papers and grey literature, generic recommendations for up- and out-scaling of aquaponics are presented. Aquaponics, producing fish and vegetables in a closed-loop water system, reduces fertilizer use and water discharge, and is therefore promoted as a sustainable venture. A recent global study found that the majority of 257 surveyed aquaponics farms made losses, but the reasons have been poorly analyzed. This paper aims to assess the factors contributing to an appropriate level of returns. In the Philippines, vegetables are relatively well-priced, but if catfish were produced, a venture producing 1250 kg fish, 6000 kg lettuce, and 300 kg tomato per year would have a Net-Benefit-Cost Ratio of below 1.3 after 20 years. Depending on the species of both fish and vegetables, the quantity of nutrients coming from the former component imposes a fish volume: vegetable area ratio ranging from 1:30 to 1:100, thus the quantity of marketable fresh vegetables determines the size of an aquaponics enterprise. As a consequence, the investments in the fish component are relatively high and weigh heavily on the financial balance. For producers to successfully adopt aquaponics, they need to consider starting first with catfish, and then, as they get to master the system’s management, they can shift to a high-value fish species for niche markets.

Horticultural exports and food security in Senegal

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 10:20:56 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Global Food Security investigates the effect of horticultural export growth on food security in Senegal. Horticultural exports from developing countries are expanding. While concerns are rising about the consequences of this growth for local food security, there is no empirical evidence that directly measures this impact. Therefore, this paper aims to provide evidence for Senegal, one of the African countries with a sharp growth in horticultural exports. Using secondary data and panel survey data, the link between horticultural exports and the availability, access, utilization and stability components of food security is analyzed. Results suggest that horticultural exports contribute to the capacity to import food, and do not jeopardize availability of food at the macro-economic level. At the micro-economic level, it is found that female wage employment in the horticultural export sector reduces the probability of self-reported food insecurity, improves the quality of food consumption, and shortens the hunger season. For male wage employment no significant effect was found. These effects are likely related to the higher income levels of households with employees, differences in expenditure patterns across gender and a low competition for land and labor between production for the export sector and the domestic market.

A related article by the same researchers can be found here.

African leafy vegetables: A review of status, production and utilization in South Africa

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:40:44 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Sustainability documents the state of utilization and production of African leafy vegetables (ALVs) in South Africa. ALVs are mostly gathered from the wild, with few selected species being cultivated, usually as part of a mixed cropping system in home gardens or smallholder plots. They have important advantages over exotic vegetable species, because of their adaptability to marginal agricultural production areas and their ability to provide dietary diversity in poor rural communities. Despite their significance in food and nutrition security, there is limited availability or access to these crops leading to underutilization. There is lack of suitable production systems, innovative processing, and value-adding techniques that promote utilization of ALVs. Furthermore, there is a perception that ALVs are food for the poor among the youth and urban folks, while, among the affluent, they are highly regarded as being nutritious. Some of the challenges hindering promotion of ALVs include lack of sound agronomic information due to limited research, shortage of seeds as currently there are no registered varieties for most of ALVs and lack of value-adding technologies. For leafy vegetables to move from underutilized crops to commercial-level production there is a need to generate production information as has been done on major crops. Promotion of ALVs needs engaging of policy-makers who will incorporate it into government policies and programs.

Leveraging ICT innovations to support farmers and farmers’ organisations

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 14:04:29 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) of CTA discusses policy actions needed to empower smallholder farmers to leverage information and communications technology (ICT) innovations for greater productivity and efficiency. The data revolution is helping us make better decisions in all areas of our lives, and farmers are no exception. However, the smallholder farmer is being left behind as more data applications are developed for commercial farming. What appears as a lack of interest in farming development may purely be a lack of resources, even where knowledge exists. The policy action needed include: 1) promote enabling environments and uptake of ICT solutions that respond to the needs of smallholder farmers; 2) strengthen the capacity of small-scale farmers to use ICTs; 3) improve the training and ICT proficiency of national extension agents; and 4) use ICTs to deliver data-driven products and services and develop associated business models that drive improved productivity, profitability and resilience of farmers. In the absence of functioning farmer organisations, ICT will not be able to generate the expected sustainable impact, and any benefits will entirely depend on external support to farmers with limited input from them and no value added through their efforts. Agricultural development, especially in Africa, needs to focus on the basics of organizing farmers as business entities and positioning them to take advantage if the ICT revolution.

Where food safety meets nutrition outcomes in livestock and fish value chains: a conceptual approach

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 10:54:35 +0000

This paper in the journal Food Security proposes a conceptual approach to integrate food safety and nutrition assessments in livestock and fish value chains combining knowledge from food sciences, public health, nutrition and economics. There is increasing interest in the links between food safety and nutrition. Animal-source foods contribute to fulfilling important micronutrient requirements by supplying vitamin B12, high quality protein, iron, zinc, vitamin A of high bioavailability, riboflavin and calcium. However, high meat and dairy consumption may raise health concerns related to the risk of non-communicable diseases and food safety, especially if upscaling of livestock and fish value chains does not follow recommended hygiene and biosecurity practices. A recent report by the World Health Organisation indicates that food-borne diseases from animal-source foods constitutes an important health burden worldwide. Only a few studies explore nutrition outcomes and food-borne diseases simultaneously and integrative approaches may be difficult due to limited understanding of disciplinary paradigms. The paper offers six analytical dimensions with explanations of key disciplinary paradigms and methodological characteristics that can cause pitfalls for integration and provides recommendations for joint assessments. The insights arising from this work on methodology for interdisciplinary research can assist those who engage in collaboration to integrate food safety and nutrition research in livestock and fish value chains.

Pathway analysis of vegetable farming commercialization

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 10:23:27 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Economic Journal of Emerging Markets analyzes factors that determine farmers’ intention to commercialize vegetable farming; and the effect of commercialization on farmers’ income. Data for this study were compiled from a quantitative survey of 360 farm households located in four major vegetable producing regions of Eastern Indonesia. Results indicate that commercial vegetable farming provides economic advantage in terms of increased income and benefits for the whole rural community. In response to increasing expansion of vegetable production in other regions, it is recommended that intensive vegetable farming technology should be introduced in communities where farmers have easy access to credit, are relatively mature, and have good experience in vegetable farming. In such communities, intensive vegetable farming will be adopted widely by farmers as a process of commercialization. Where farmers are already familiar with use of mobile phones, they will adopt commercial vegetable farming, as they will have access to accurate market information. Vegetable market and agronomic technology that support intensive vegetable farming should be provided, and market information should be regularly updated. In terms of agronomic technology, the government in collaboration with private sectors need to provide more choices of fast-harvesting cultivars. Providing vocational education and training—particularly on agricultural subjects—in rural areas will encourage youth to engage in promising agribusinesses.

Internet of things for agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 19 Dec 2017 11:29:31 +0000

This webinar series, by the World Bank Group in collaboration with USAID and Feed the Future, highlights the innovation, business models, and demonstration of results on the ground for applying Internet of Things (IoT) in agriculture. IoT – networks of objects that communicate with other objects through Internet – holds potential to transform today’s agriculture by enabling more precise resources management through low-cost sensors and generating large amount of data for effective decision-making. While the IoT for agriculture has so far been visible mostly in developed countries, it holds prospects of benefiting the farmers in developing regions due to the combination of three contributing factors: rapid decline in sensor costs, increasing penetration of smart phones, and expansion of global mobile broadband coverage. Once the appropriate enabling conditions are in place, IoT solutions can be realized through various technology applications such as satellite-based remote sensing, on-ground wireless sensors network, and unmanned aerial vehicles like drones. This webinar presents the application of precision agriculture by IoT technologies to tackle the horticultural challenges in Vietnam. Another webinar discusses the SmartMoo IoT Platform which can synthesize data across the agricultural dairy supply chains. Also an autonomous irrigation system using tensiometer sensors placed in the ground near the plants, which saves water and fertilizer and increases crop yields, is discussed in this webinar. All webinars of this series can be found here.

Adapting Gambian women livestock farmers’ roles in food production to climate change

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 13 Dec 2017 15:28:04 +0000

This article (PDF) in Future of Food: Journal on Food, Agriculture and Society focuses on key climate change adaptation issues confronting women livestock farmers. Women livestock farmers are very productive and contribute greatly towards ensuring food security of their nations. However, their efforts are sometimes limited by climate-related hazards. This case study of The Gambia used content analysis, interviews, consultative seminars, policy mapping and dialogues to examine climate change adaptation issues confronting women livestock farmers. Consequences of climate hazards, such as drought, flood, and temperature variability, have been experienced in The Gambia. Domestication of fast-growing small animals, use of resilient livestock breeds, stock size management, feed gardening and conservation, bushfire control, and regular supply of water to animals can reduce farmers’ exposure to climatic variations. While each adaptation option can help address the challenges of climate change and food waste in The Gambia, no single option is sufficient by itself. This study generated evidence that gender differences sometimes exist between male and female livestock farmers in terms of the climate change adaptation strategies used in food production and management. It is recommended that this gender difference is considered in developing climate change adaptation strategies, interventions and policies. Furthermore, effective implementation of adaptation strategies needs to be enhanced through favorable policies and cooperation of relevant stakeholders at all scales: the government, research institutions, extension service agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector have varying but complementary roles to play.

An assessment of constraints faced by the farmers in peri-urban vegetable cultivation

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 11:22:16 +0000

This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences identifies key production constraints faced in peri-urban vegetable cultivation in India. The constraints in practicing peri-urban agriculture were enlisted from practicing farmers, agricultural scientists, and also from literature. Further, all the identified constraints were categorized into five groups: technological, economic, labour, marketing and environmental constraints. Among the technological constraints the most important constraint was unavailability of inputs including fertilizers at the right time, followed by lack of suitable varieties. Unavailability of labour at the harvest season was the foremost among the labour constraints. Other important production constraints are attack by insects and pests; heavy incidence of diseases; perishable nature of the product market and price fluctuations; and high costs of fertilizers, manures, plant protection chemicals and labour. It was obvious that all the enlisted constraints were important in one way or the other. However, still those related to the technological aspects had a major role in creating obstacles to peri-urban agriculture. The following suggestions were mentioned by the farmers to solve the constraints in peri-urban agriculture: more government shops or centers should be opened to ensure adequate and timely supply of inputs at fair price; infrastructural facilities for post-harvest management should be strengthened; procedure and official formalities for getting loan from the bank should be simplified; and proper demonstration of the new technologies should be made.

Technology adoption and value chains in developing countries: Evidence from dairy in India

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 08:14:30 +0000

This article in the journal Food Policy analyzes farm-level technology adoption in the dairy chain in India, using unique survey data. Adoption of modern technologies in agriculture is crucial for improving productivity and welfare of poor farmers in developing countries. Not much is known about how value chains do (not) affect technology transfer and/or adoption in food chains in developing countries. The dairy chain in India is an important case because the Indian government has promoted development of the dairy sector for its potential for ‘pro-poor’ growth. Additionally value chain initiatives had strong effects on dairy farm technology in other countries with imperfect markets and growth in demand. Results show that despite rapid growth in milk consumption and production, technology adoption in the form of better hygienic practices, better feed and improved livestock was mixed, and low for certain regions and technologies. So far, the role of value chains in the adoption of new technologies seems to be minor.

Women, village chickens, and animal source food consumption in Timor-Leste

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 14:11:04 +0000

This blog by the CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) discusses promotors and inhibitors of animal source food consumption in rural households. It focuses on the links between village chickens, maternal and child diets, and nutritional status in Timor-Leste. Village chickens are where women, livestock, and nutrition intersect, which is discussed in this article. Chickens are particularly important in households with few other assets. Importantly, chickens are often the only livestock women have complete control over, giving them additional significance in women’s empowerment and household nutrition. In Timor-Leste, 82 percent of all livestock-owning households own chickens; however, flock sizes are small due to disease and predation. Theoretically, increasing local production of chickens and eggs can lead to increased consumption, but it may not. It is important to understand the positive influences and barriers to animal source food consumption within households. Women are largely responsible for finding, preparing, and distributing food within the household; however, decisions about the variety of foods consumed are constrained by time, money, and nutritional knowledge. Village chickens are an important component of household food security, they can be sold or slaughtered when in need of food. To increase chicken production in Timor-Leste, it is important to control Newcastle disease, for which a gender-sensitive program to vaccinate chickens was piloted. Increasing village chicken and egg production using a gender-sensitive approach has great potential to improve the nutritional status of women and children in vulnerable households.

From farm to phone to table: A case study series explores the impact of digital tools on agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 21 Nov 2017 14:36:15 +0000

This blog by NextBillion discusses a case study series by USAID, which highlights different approaches to digital tool adoption and how these tools impact organizational culture, operations and programming. A key focus of the series is on understanding the collective impact of digital tools while trying to assess the status quo without them. Each case study examines the specific digital landscape in which the activity is operating and how this affects the choice of tools and options for dissemination. No two digital integration experiences are the same, and the case studies reveal the adoption of a diverse set of digital tools ranging in complexity, customization and focus. In Senegal, for instance, Naatal Mbay is using basic tools like Microsoft Excel and Dropbox to demonstrate to producer-serving organizations the power of data for more effective programming. In contrast, One Acre Fund built a custom tablet app to enroll clients faster and with fewer mistakes. The new app replaces a paper-based process for field officers and prompts them to nudge clients about new and tailored products available for purchase. Musoni, a completely cashless micro-finance institution, designed a loan product specifically for smallholder farmers, with flexible terms and a customizable grace period based on a farmer’s seasonal cash flow. More case studies will be published here.

Modern agri‐food systems, horticultural employment and women’s empowerment

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 11:23:28 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the University of Göttingen addresses the question of female empowerment through horticultural employment. The transformation of global agri-food systems has led to the increased establishment of export-oriented horticultural plantations in developing countries. These labor intense production sites are associated with feminized employment patterns for the delicate handling of fruits and vegetables and therefore provide employment opportunities for women in rural areas. However, the social implications of these developments for women workers’ roles in their households remain hardly understood. This study addresses this research gap by assessing a wide range of indicators reflecting women’s empowerment. Primary survey data of 422 married households in Ghana, living in areas of large-scale pineapple plantations are used. Results show that large‐scale, export‐oriented horticultural plantations can contribute to women’s empowerment through horticultural employment. It is found that female horticultural wage workers contribute a major share to the household’s income, are more mobile, have better control over assets and reduced responsibilities in household chores. Women workers also report having more input into household decision-making; they have more say regarding major expenditures, household food and cash crop production as well as wage labor activities. Ultimately, the results of the study emphasize that employment effects are important to consider when analyzing the implications of modernization of agriculture and increased high‐value exports. Employment opportunities for income generation and empowerment should be reflected in the context of pro‐poor development strategies.

Grazed and confused

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 19 Oct 2017 12:05:58 +0000

This report (PDF and summary) by the Food Climate Research Network addresses the role of ruminants in grazing systems and their relationship with climate change. The potential contribution of grazing ruminants to soil carbon sequestration is small, time-limited, reversible and substantially outweighed by the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions they generate. The ambitious claims made by advocates of grass-fed livestock about grazing as a significant mitigation opportunity are thus unfounded. While grazing livestock have a beneficial role to play in some contexts, and better management of grazing is a worthwhile objective, when it comes to climate mitigation, its potential contribution is minor. Rising animal production and consumption risks driving damaging changes in land use and associated GHG release. Grazing livestock produce only a fraction of global protein supply, but ruminants collectively use about a quarter of the earth’s usable surface. It is simply not possible to carry on eating as much meat and dairy as trends indicate and obtain it through grass-fed systems alone (even with the additional feeding of agricultural by-products and food waste). The challenge for now and the coming years is to figure out the environmentally least-bad way of using land and other resources to nourish ourselves and meet our other developmental goals. The prevailing assumption that animal production must grow to meet demands for high animal protein diets in affluent and increasingly in emerging economies needs questioning.

More about this topic can be found in the related blog and news item.

Urban agriculture and vertical farming

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 16 Oct 2017 09:48:27 +0000

This article in the Reference Module in Earth Systems and Environmental Sciences introduces the novel agricultural practice of vertical farming /urban agriculture. This practice can help deliver safe and nutritious food for a growing world population, in environmentally and socially sustainable ways – improving global food security and citizen health and wellbeing. An effect of this new agricultural revolution is a notable increase in crop yields and quality. World agriculture is undergoing a transition to new technological paradigms driven by innovations in sustainability and resource use efficiency. The development of this new paradigm is enabled by the ongoing “precision,” “info,” and “smart” revolutions, and new demands of the markets. This related article in the journal Global Food Security argues that vertical indoor farming should be taken seriously. Vertical indoor production of vegetables may contribute to better nutrition. Additionally, vegetable production in controlled environments reduces climate change risks and vertical indoor farming would help reducing water usage in agriculture. However, the author states that there is an urgent need for economic assessments of vertical indoor farming.

Tapping the economic and nutritional power of vegetables

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 09 Oct 2017 13:29:47 +0000

This review article (PDF) in the journal Global Food Security explores the potential for vegetables to provide new opportunities for economic growth for smallholder farmers in low-income countries and to advance food and nutrition security for consumers. Intensified vegetable production has the potential to generate more income and employment than other segments of the agricultural economy. Additionally, a strengthened focus on vegetables may be the most direct and most affordable way to deliver better nutrition for all. Today, however, neither the economic nor the nutritional power of vegetables is sufficiently realized. The longstanding focus on staple food crops must be adjusted to take in a broader view. Governments and donors need to raise the priority given to increasing the productivity of vegetable production systems, reducing postharvest losses, and increasing affordability and market access. With a growing understanding of the linkages between dietary quality and health, policymakers must also be prepared to support additional interventions to promote vegetable consumption. Vegetable consumption must therefore be nurtured through a combination of supply-side interventions and behavioral change communication emphasizing the importance of eating vegetables for good nutrition and health. To fully tap the economic and nutritional power of vegetables, governments and donors will need to give vegetables much greater priority than they currently receive.

Development of market opportunities through post-harvest processing of the African indigenous vegetables in Tanzania

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 28 Sep 2017 14:44:46 +0000

This research paper (PDF) in the African Journal of Business Management examined the challenges associated with production of processed African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) and possible market opportunities. AIVs have gained prominence in the recent past due to nutritional and health benefits. The low requirement for high value inputs has enabled low resource farmers to practice AIVs production. Post-harvest processing of AIVs provides market opportunities for the farmers. Value addition occasioned by increased shelf life provides better chances for farmers and processors to get good prices and better farm incomes. The share of processed AIVs in the total consumption of the vegetables was 25% and demand for all types of processed AIVs is increasing. Quality of processed AIVs was perceived to be same as that of the fresh AIVs and consumers were willing to pay more money for processed AIVs. It was established that processors did not have the necessary skills, knowledge and training required for processing of AIVs in more economically attractive ways. There was no diversity in the processing methods and processed products, and processors did not have special storage facilities for the AIVs. Proper packaging should be associated with good storage to avoid spoilage. It is necessary to create awareness amongst the processors regarding the need for high quality AIVs products, roles of the regulatory organizations and the importance of operating within the required legal framework.

Farmer-led innovations and rural household welfare: Evidence from Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 27 Sep 2017 12:21:02 +0000

This article in the Journal of Rural Studies analyzes the effect of farmer-led innovations on rural household welfare, measured by income, consumption expenditure, and food security. It is well recognized that agricultural innovations could emerge from many sources, including rural farmers. Yet the numerous micro-level studies on impacts of agricultural innovations have largely focused on externally promoted technologies, and a rigorous assessment of impacts of farmer-led innovations is lacking. Therefore, this study was done using household survey data from northern Ghana. Results show that farmer-led innovations significantly increase household income and consumption expenditure per adult equivalent. The innovations also contribute significantly to the reduction of household food insecurity by increasing food consumption expenditure, by decreasing the duration of food shortages, and by reducing the severity of hunger. Furthermore, it is found that these effects are more pronounced for farm households whose innovative activities are minor modifications of existing techniques. Overall, the results show positive welfare effects of farmer-led innovations, and thus support increasing arguments on the need to promote these innovations (which have been largely undervalued) as a complement to externally promoted technologies in food security and rural poverty reduction efforts.

Microalgae as feed ingredients for livestock production and meat quality

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 25 Sep 2017 14:15:45 +0000

This article in the journal Livestock Science unveils the dietary microalgae effects currently known on production and meat quality of livestock species (ruminants, pigs, poultry and rabbits). These small-sized algae, have been studied as a natural marine resource for a number of economically relevant applications, including animal feed. Research evidence so far has shown that the inclusion of microalgae in animal diets could improve growth and meat quality in ruminants, pigs, poultry and rabbits. These findings are highly dependent on microalgae own composition and their amount in the diet. The use of microalgae as feed ingredients is very promising as an alternative to corn and soybean, thus mitigating the current competition among food-feed-biofuel industries. In addition, they contribute for the protection of environment and natural resources, namely land degradation and water deprivation. Microalgae also provide a sustainable alternative for n−3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (n−3 LCPUFA) availability, thus protecting worldwide fatty fish stocks. However, the cost-effective production and use is a major challenge in the near future. In fact, the current cultivation technology should be improved to reduce their production costs. Overall, the inclusion of microalgae in feed represents a very promising strategy for the maintenance and development of livestock sector, as an environmental friendly alternative to balance food-feed-biofuel industries.

Beyond the hype: Mobile phones and the web to improve agricultural value chains

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 15:03:11 +0000

This technical brief (PDF) by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) summarizes the lessons learned from seven ICT4Ag projects, offering key recommendations for future projects. The brief highlights the importance of understanding users’ needs by interacting with potential clients before designing an app and then pilot-testing it to fine tune the services provided. Another key recommendation is that a text-based service is cheaper and easier than developing and maintaining a graphical interface, and works better with the low availability of smartphones. Next, face-to-face promotion and training familiarize users with the app and help build a large client base. In the medium term, however, user fees are unlikely to sustain such services; they will still depend on other sources of income, especially donor funds. Last, it is found that partnerships are vital, both as a source of data to analyze and disseminate, and for support in promoting the app among clients. Details of the final outputs of the seven ICT4Ag projects are provided in separate briefs. One of these briefs (PDF) explains the progress in scaling up satellite-based information services in South Sudan to provide farmers with targeted extension services. Another brief (PDF) describes efforts to scale-out mapping services using geospatial technology to smallholder farmers across Ghana. Also the work of collecting cashew market prices from across Ivory Coast and sending the information to cashew growers via text is discussed (PDF).

Socioeconomic impacts of innovative dairy supply chain practices: The case of the Laiterie du Berger in the Senegalese Sahel

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 06 Sep 2017 12:52:42 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal International Food and Agribusiness Management Review analyzes the Laiterie Du Berger (LDB)’s milk supply chain and its contribution to strengthening the food security and socioeconomic resources of Senegalese Sahelian pastoral households. The main innovations generated by the LDB consist of (1) settling dairy farmers within a 50 km radius of the dairy; (2) organizing six daily milk collection routes; (3) providing animal feed through a check-off recovered on future milk sales; and (4) providing technical support to farmers. Data for this research were obtained through individual surveys, focus groups and in-depth interviews of LDB managers and milk suppliers. This study has shown that the innovative raw milk supply chain developed by the LDB in Northern Senegal has allowed the dairy to increase its number of pastoralist suppliers, and the quantity and quality of the milk they sold to the processing plant. Results suggest that by contributing to stabilizing suppliers’ dairy incomes in the dry season, diversifying income sources and enabling households to keep capitalizing into substantial livestock herds, the LDB’s milk supply chains could have played an important role in securing some of its supplier households’ food security. The LDB innovations contribute by helping herders access biophysical and economic resources, leading to better livestock feed and household food security.

Beyond nutrition, investing in livestock can also deliver on health

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 07:41:35 +0000

This blog by The World Bank describes how the livestock sector could contribute to nutrition and public health, while also describing the risks on the human-animal interface. Animal-sourced foods are important sources of nutrition and health, providing a broad spectrum of nutrients, energy and protein. The author states that as we increase livestock production and productivity, we need to make sure this translates into improved nutritional status. This is not always straightforward. For example, in Ethiopia, which has the largest livestock population in Africa, nutrition paradoxically remains a challenge for many households. Ensuring efficient and functional food markets is key to overcome this challenge, by increasing the welfare levels of producers and consumers simultaneously. Improvements in livestock production, including food markets, are among several underlying factors that could contribute to higher socio-economic status. This should promote a more diverse diet. Additionally, interventions to ensure that improved diets benefit target groups are also important. However, the connection between livestock and public health goes beyond nutrition. It is estimated that two thirds of infectious diseases in humans have their origin in animals. Therefore, maintaining animal health and welfare is a major factor in reducing the burden of infectious diseases in human populations, preventing outbreaks and controlling epidemics. The author concludes that today more than ever, we need to seize the opportunity to use livestock as a vehicle to deliver on health and nutrition.

Making vegetable markets work for smallholders in Myanmar

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 08:10:03 +0000

This case study (PDF), developed under the initiative of the Seas of Change by Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and Reuver+Co Communication Design, discusses challenges and lessons learned from the ‘Making Vegetable Markets Work for the Poor’ Program. This program focuses on improving the vegetable market chain throughout Myanmar and the income of smallholder farmers by utilizing the market systems development approach. The case study explores the collaboration between East–West Seed Myanmar and Mercy Corps. The challenges include the tough investment climate in Myanmar, and the infancy state of both the seed sector and the vegetable sector. One of the lessons learned from the partnership is that it is essential for donors to take a critical look at the duration of projects and their objectives in terms of achieving sustainable systemic change. Donors need to consider that it takes time to set up partnerships and to go through several crop cycles. The case study also shows that in the case of Myanmar’s domestic vegetable chain the duty to provide knowledge and new technology falls on the shoulder of the companies in form of embedded or after-sales service. However, the question of who should be paying for this remains. The “cosharing” approach described in this case study is a good example of how to share the burden between public and private sector actors, both for extension services and input supply.

The rising costs of animal-source foods in Ethiopia: Evidence and implications

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 08:59:48 +0000

This working paper by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI) analyzes animal-source foods (ASF) price patterns in the last decade (2007-2016). In many developing countries in which staple foods dominate the composition of diets, higher consumption of ASF is associated with significant nutritional benefits. Prices are important for consumption decisions in these settings. Therefore, this study was performed, relying on a large-scale price dataset collected in 116 urban retail markets in Ethiopia. Several typical patterns in ASF and livestock pricing can be highlighted. First, there is price seasonality mostly driven by changes in demand. Second, there are significant spatial patterns with higher prices in cities and in commercial livestock areas. Third, ASF are relatively expensive, with average prices of ASF per calorie and per kg about ten times as high as for staple cereals. Results show, worryingly, that real prices of ASF have been increasing in the last decade by between 32 to 36 percent for three major ASF, namely milk, eggs, and meat. This price trend is in contrast with staple cereals for which real prices stayed at similar levels. The authors estimate that a price increase of this magnitude would reduce consumption of ASF by approximately 25 percent. This requires more investments and attention to the production of ASF and the livestock sector to reduce ASF prices and increase their consumption in Ethiopia.

Innovations improve farming yield and earnings

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 12:59:52 +0000

This news item in The East African discusses several new, technological innovation by Feed the Future that help farmers in East Africa. From technological innovations, like iProcure Ltd, smallholder farmers are able to get quality inputs for better productivity. iProcure is a digital platform through which farmers can order for inputs and have them delivered through co-operatives to ensure that they get genuine and affordable inputs. Its objective is to get tools closest to the farmers with timely delivery, even in remote areas. The innovations by Feed The Future are cushioning farmers against agriculture shocks such as droughts and diseases. An example of this is an implement called Tutrack which has been helping tomato farmers specifically to get information on how to get rid of pests. Tutrack is a pheromone-based mass-trapping system for Tuta absoluta consisting of a lure and a trap. Another innovation is EasyMa 6.0 milk weighing systems, which is a technology that is assisting farmers to get real time digital weighing scale connected to dairy enterprise. Before, it would often be rounded off to one liter, but now the technology makes sure the weight is captured to two decimal places and they get paid to the last drop. The innovations have also enabled farmers’ access to extension services, livestock insurance and financial products.

Estimates of the willingness to pay for locally grown tree fruits in Cusco, Peru

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 08:25:49 +0000

This article in the journal Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems presents a choice experiment of the preference of local fruits versus non-local equivalents. Urbanization, changes in the retail sector and economic growth in developing countries may offer new opportunities to build connections between urban consumers and nearby farmers. The design of strategies to build such connections will require deeper insights into the food preferences of urban consumers. Therefore, this choice experiment was performed with locally grown apples, avocados and pears and nonlocal equivalents with 300 consumers in a traditional market in Cusco, Peru. Willingness-to-pay estimates are derived from a multinomal logit analysis. The authors found that consumers who are younger and more educated and those with young children tend to be willing to pay more for locally produced apples, avocados and pears. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of the research for advancing efforts to localize food systems in developing countries and opportunities for future research.

Pastoralist societies in flux: A conceptual framework analysis of herding and land use among the Mukugodo Maasai of Kenya

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 13:32:12 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Pastoralism illustrates the relationship between globalization and apparent transformations in pastoralist behavior in recent years. The paper focuses specifically on the links among climate, land use, and herding in rural northern Kenya. Subsistence pastoralism, in isolation, no longer exists. It has declined as a practice because of increasingly erratic rainfall, dried out and dying grasslands, rapid population growth, and restrictions on household and herd mobility. Also, the emergence of globalized markets have forced many pastoralists to shift their economic strategies of production to accommodate these evolving markets. A novel conceptual framework was used that incorporates both traditional interactions between pastoral ecology and resource generation and modern opportunities by linking pastoral families via their pastoral production and other economic activities to the cash economy, modern diets and nutritional status (health), and public and private assistance and programs (such as food aid). This framework makes it possible to articulate the recent environmental and economic shifts leading pastoral families to move outside of the pastoral sector and tap into the global economy. It is found that poor pastoralist families are dependent on social welfare programs to feed their families, since neither milk production at home nor livestock sales alone can sustain these families. Ultimately, by fighting to maintain local resources under their immediate control, pastoralists seek reliability in an inherently unpredictable and competitive global world.

From agribusiness to subsistence: High-tech tools now available to all

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 09:52:19 +0000

This news item in The Guardian discusses the potential of precision agriculture to increase the yields of smallholder farmers. Precision agriculture is closely associated with technology, like GPS tractors, and its application to large-scale farms in developed countries. But there’s a growing body of research now to support the idea that small-scale farmers can benefit from precision agriculture. The technology which has driven precision agriculture in the global north is becoming more widely accessible. For example, a new handheld device known as the GreenSeeker can be used to measure the health and nitrogen status of plants, enabling farmers to make more precise assessments of fertilizer requirements. Some technologies are becoming more affordable though still expensive for many small-scale farmers. It is suggested that enterprising farmers may find ways round this once they see the potential benefits. Authors from the Accenture Innovation Awards discusse in this news item that innovation is needed to drive down production costs of the technologies and to allow for widespread adoption of precision agriculture. High investment costs and lack of technological knowledge are among the key barriers of implementation of precision farming in many developing countries. Last year’s Awards winner, developed a portable device that lets farmers measure the quality of their soil, thereby allowing them to optimize their crop yield and prevent the wastage of food and resources.

The contribution of Swaziland Dairy Board on dairy farmers’ productivity

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 12:20:13 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Agricultural Studies aimed to establish the contribution of Swaziland Dairy Board (SDB) policy goals on smallholder dairy farmers’ productivity. The SDB was established to promote increased dairy production to satisfy the domestic and export market. Despite numerous efforts of SDB through its dairy policy goals, Swaziland is failing to achieve self-sufficiency in liquid milk production, and can hardly sustain its local demand. Therefore, this study was performed, using primary data from 120 dairy farmers through the use of a structured questionnaire in the Mbabane sub-region. On average dairy farmers milk 2 cows per day, and each cow yields averagely 10 liters and 13 liters per day for non-SDB and SDB members, respectively. The SDB farmer’s milk yields were higher than non-SDB farmers, although SDB farmers’ milk productivity is still regarded relatively low. Moreover, the results revealed that farmers trained by SDB were practicing more of the recommended animal husbandry practices compared to non-SDB farmers. Factors influencing productivity of milk among smallholder dairy farmers included sex of the farmer, age, dairy sales incomes, number of milking cows, market distance, use of supplementary feed, dairy records keeping and the breeding system. Therefore, local milk production can increase if the stakeholders in the dairy industry can adopt SDB policy strategies, dairy related services and good livestock husbandry practices. Additionally, government should encourage the youth to participate in dairy farming by providing technical, financial and commercial support.

A study on cauliflower based intercropping system

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 26 Jul 2017 09:41:53 +0000

This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences (IJCMAS) studies the performance of cauliflower based intercropping system. The experiment consisted of seven treatments, where one with sole cauliflower as monocrop and in the remaining six French bean, pea, beet, carrot, palak and coriander were included as intercrops with the cauliflower. The experiment was laid out in the randomized block design with three replications. Sole crop of cauliflower recorded the highest performance for all the growth characters, yield attributes and yield. However, when taking into account the yield of intercrops, the combined gross yield was higher for all intercrops except that of cauliflower with coriander. Whereas, inclusion of legumes in intercropping system was helpful towards improvement of physical as well as bio-chemical properties of cauliflower curd. The land equivalent ratio (LER) also improved with legume intercropping. However, the combined gross biomass production, net return in monetary value and benefit – cost ratio were at a bit higher side with beet, carrot and coriander intercropping system. So, from the overall point of view it may be concluded that intercropping in all the cases proved beneficial compared to that of mono culture. The study directed towards the fact that intercropping with root crops may be advocated for more return per unit area, while to get promising quality of cauliflower legume intercrops are always preferable.

Blockchain: The evolutionary next step for ICT E-Agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 25 Jul 2017 14:36:16 +0000

This article (PDF) by the Environments journal, reviews blockchain-based concepts associated with ICT-based technology. Moreover, it proposes a model ICT e-agriculture system with a blockchain infrastructure. An evaluation tool is presented to determine context specific technical and social requirements of blockchain technology for ICT e-agriculture systems. The proposed system and tool can be evaluated and applied to further developments of e-agriculture systems. According to this article, ICT e-agricultural with a blockchain infrastructure is the next step in the evolution of ICT e-agriculture. Blockchain distributed networks do not require pubic trust in a centralized authority. E-agricultural can increase economic efficiencies, food safety, and reduce uncertainty risk while achieving sustainable agricultural development. When ICT e-agricultural systems with blockchain infrastructures are immutable and decentralized record management systems, baseline agricultural environmental data is safeguarded. The model of an ICT e-agricultural system with blockchain infrastructure compiles water quality data from irrigation water monitoring data collected by remote sensors throughout Taiwan. Further development and incorporation of agricultural data is required. Though centralized databases may be suitable for agriculture environmental data management programmes within ICT e-agriculture systems, technical and social needs can change. The evaluation tool can dual-assess the technical and social requirements. Blockchain technology, while still challenged with key limitations, will become ubiquitous as the fast pace of technological advancement proceeds. Future work on the implementation of blockchain technology in real-world e-agriculture case studies or current agricultural environmental monitoring systems, such as our prototype, may further elucidate the feasibility of applying this technology in environmental data and agricultural monitoring initiatives and national ICT e-agriculture in general.

Capitalising on the potential of women in livestock development

Nynke — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 07:54:11 +0000

This article by Isabelle Baltenweck from ILRI emphasizes the importance and benefits of the inclusion of women in livestock development. She argues that the frequent exclusion of women from livestock ownership, resources and decision-making – an inequality that remains all-too-common in low- and middle-income countries – is a major factor in hindering households from escaping poverty. With references to ILRI research, the author states that this women in livestock development opportunity means that given the same resources and opportunities, women would be in position to equal men in transforming their family farms into profitable and environmentally sustainable enterprises. Contributing 40 percent or more of agricultural GDP in poor countries, the livestock sector offers huge opportunities to improve lives and livelihoods. To capitalize on this will, however, require greater participation by women. For this to happen technologies and resources that make livestock farming more efficient and productive should be made readily available to women and have access to formal financing and credit. Nevertheless there are risks related to increased labor-burden on women and capturing of businesses when they become profitable by men.

The role of wild fruits and vegetables in delivering a balanced and healthy diet

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 14:52:17 +0000

This review in the Food Research International Journal explores literature on wild fruits and vegetables with a special emphasis on some of the poorest regions of the world and with the lowest consumption figures of fruits and vegetables. Additionally, it looks at the role of wild fruits and vegetables in the diet with a view to uncover their possible role in delivering a healthy and balanced diet, considering amongst others their nutritional composition. The results indicate that wild fruits and vegetables are nutritionally rich and high in phytochemicals, especially antioxidants. Therefore they can possibly play a significant and positive role in delivering a healthy and balanced diet. However, the major challenge are the acceptability, accessibility as well as a lack of interest in wild fruits and vegetables. People need to be educated on the nutritional and health benefits of these wild food plants with a view to bring them from the forest to the plate. Furthermore, researchers need to channel more efforts towards domesticating them for ease of access. Lastly, governments need to incentivize the subsistence or commercial production of wild fruits and vegetables in order to encourage farmers to cultivate them. However, seeds and/or seedlings need to be made available and affordable to the farmers.

Fruit production and consumption: Practices, preferences and attitudes of women in rural western Kenya

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 07:43:57 +0000

This study in the Food Security Journal identified practices, preferences, attitudes and decision-making for fruit consumption, production, and the use of income generated from these activities. Additionally, it assessed the contribution of fruits to closing nutritional gaps in Western Kenya during two different seasons (rainy and dry). Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted, during which the same respondents were interviewed, with a total of 272 women responsible for food preparation in the household participating. This study found that fruit consumption is far below the recommended amount of fruits per day. Yet, this study was able to show that fruits contribute significantly to closing the nutrient gap of vitamin A and C during the dry season and their increased availability and consumption during both seasons could help to close the remaining nutrient gaps identified. As most respondents stated that they would like to eat more fruits, the situation in the study area is one of high potential demand and interest but low or inconsistent supply. Even though most households grew fruit, the diversity of fruits produced and consumed was rather low. In addition to developing suitable production-side interventions, there is a need to improve consumption through integrated agriculture-nutrition interventions. These programs should consider local practices, preferences and cultural attitudes in order to promote the consumption of a diversity of nutrient rich fruits and consequently better diets and nutrition.

Digitisation: Game changer for rural Africa?

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:00:16 +0000

This issue of the Rural 21 Journal presents technologies and initiatives with practical relevance, that bear a potential for up-scaling, are locally adapted and can above all benefit small-scale farmers and the young generation. The first article (PDF) discusses how smallholder farmers can benefit from digital technologies. The author takes a look at various agricultural services in the mobile-phone branch, from weather and price information through credit schemes to supply chain management. It shows which systems have the biggest prospects of success and why others are doomed to failure. Additionally, the issue demonstrates which areas could still make significant progress on reaching inclusive rural digitization. One solution to make digitization more inclusive is an innovative approach to bypass the constraint of ICT illiteracy among farmers in developing countries by channeling information through children of the households (PDF). Another article (PDF) discusses the need for young innovators and entrepreneurs to develop ICT applications for agriculture to address the crucial employment issues faced by the younger generation and unlock the potential of agribusiness. This article focuses on promoting entrepreneurship as one of the numerous formats for engaging youth leveraging on digital technologies developed by CTA. Digital technologies hold a great potential to trigger changes in African agriculture. But the issue of who actually benefits from new developments and whether they are not increasing pressure on those who are already marginalized instead of supporting fair participation should not be overlooked (PDF).

Country-driven innovations and agrifood value chains for poverty and hunger reduction

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 14:48:37 +0000

This blog at the Food Security Portal discusses a book chapter by IFPRI Director General Shenggen Fan. In this chapter, Fan suggests that more innovative, better focused, and more cost-effective measures are needed to more effectively address hunger. These innovations must be driven by developing countries themselves. Increasing agricultural investments to spur growth in this sector is essential. However, how these investments should be prioritized will depend on each country’s specific needs, capacities, and resources. Developing countries themselves need to take a leading role in determining their priorities, earmarking investments, and driving innovation in the agricultural sector. Government policies that strengthen the position of smallholders need to support their integration into the agri-food value chains. Policymakers need to allow impartial monitoring of value chain activities and adjust their policies based upon the interventions that are most successful for smallholders. Additionally there should be a focus on reducing food losses. To achieve this, several developing technologies should be monitored to determine their effectiveness. Crop diversification, the development of more stress-resistant crops and improved planting and growing practices could help reduce losses before harvest. However, the best channel through which to avoid losses at all levels in developing countries is investment in rural infrastructure, transportation, and food and packaging industries. In conclusion, more and continued country-driven efforts that include global, national, and local actors are needed to reduce hunger and poverty at the global level.

Livestock and household nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 21 Jun 2017 14:23:03 +0000

This learning series by Land O’Lakes International Development and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) tackles a broad set of issues affecting the design, implementation and monitoring of livestock development interventions intended to improve impact on household nutrition. The first webinar (Link to recording) on measuring and promoting nutrient-rich value chain commodities, addresses critical development and monitoring questions. Challenges and possible solutions to the collection of data for the new indicator for nutrition-sensitive agriculture are discussed. Additionally, lessons-learned in collecting consumption data in the field were shared, as well as the overall role of livestock and animal-sourced foods in impacting household nutrition. The most recent event (Link to recording) on animal source foods for nutrition impact reviews evidence and good practices to ensure informed project design. The webinar elaborates on the livestock-nutrition pathways; demonstrates how animal source foods can contribute to nutritional outcomes; and digs into the evidence of when and how nutrition results are achieved in livestock programming. Another seminar on livestock markets, animal source foods and human nutrition, considers program tensions and aims at bridging the gap between livestock ownership, market systems and increased consumption of animal source foods by rural and producer households for improved household nutrition. Links to recordings and presentation slides can be found here.

Trade-offs for climate-resilient pastoral livelihoods in wildlife conservancies in the Mara ecosystem, Kenya

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 08:02:34 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Pastoralism aims to understand how wildlife conservation and tourism may be enhancing or restricting climate-resilient pastoral livelihoods. It looks at the ability of conservancies to serve as an alternative livelihood opportunity for pastoralists that mitigates risk and maintains resilience in a changing climate. The paper analyses how conservancies contribute to and integrate with pastoral livelihoods, and how pastoralists are managing their livestock herds in response to conservancies. Findings show that wildlife conservancies offer important, reliable, all-year-round payments and opportunities for pastoralists to access good-quality forage even during dry season. Still the conservancies caused trade-offs as livestock and other livelihood activities are restricted, since these conservancies reduce access to large areas of former grazing land and impose restrictions on livestock mobility. Furthermore, because the income received from conservancy payments is not more than that received from livestock production, conservancies do not adequately compensate landowners for the restrictions placed on their other livelihood activities. Also, income is based on land ownership, which has inequity implications: women and other marginalized groups are left out. The authors conclude that conservancies aim to replace livestock, rather than to fully integrate with livestock within the same landscape. However, livestock landscapes need to be part of the conservation agenda, because livestock support livelihoods and can contribute to protecting biodiversity.

What holds vegetables farmers back? Conflict, governance and markets assessment making vegetable markets work for smallholders program

F&BKP Office — Sun, 11 Jun 2017 13:16:44 +0000

This report (PDF) by Mercy Corps used a political economy analysis to provide a nuanced, contextual understanding of the vegetable market system in Myanmar. Overall, the research finds that vegetable farmers are highly vulnerable to a range of factors that limit their willingness to take on risks. This reduces the scope to innovate and to buy good quality inputs. Unless this vulnerability is tackled, it is unlikely that smaller farmers in particular will be able to respond optimally to new market opportunities. Technical advice on better farming methods may not be heeded for rational reasons of risk avoidance. Volatile market prices make farmers reluctant to invest in case they end up in debt. Major agricultural input suppliers have more scope to influence market conditions and increase profit margins. Farmers are typically knowledgeable and make rational choices but have limited access to impartial information on new methods or the effectiveness of different inputs. Limited access to affordable credit is a further major constraint for farmers and for farm-related businesses. The article comes with a number of innovations and options or future engagement. First of all, the risks that farmers face should be reduced, for example by recognizing the constaints that farmers operate under, and condering how to promote sustainable and just contract farming. Second, coalitions should be build and advocacy opportnities found. Herefore, conflicts of interest should be recognized, especially between input companies and farmers. Besides, there should be advocated for measures that might smooth price volatility, for better mangement of imports and facilitation of specific exports, ad for reduce input consts and better regulation of legal and illegal inputs. Third, conflict shoud be better managed. It has to be recognized that conflict and ethnic tensions are a core aspect of politics and governance and local resource conflict management has to be integrated into approaches.

Banana as a cash crop and its food security and socioeconomic contribution: The case of Southern Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 09:17:39 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Environmental Protection assesses the potential contribution of banana production to food and income security in Southern Ethiopia. The paper also explored the major banana production maximization bottlenecks. Interviews with 63 farmers and discussions with government officials were used for primary information. Banana production is significantly contributing to food security as well as to livelihood opportunities in Southern Ethiopia. But, technical works on the value chain of the crop are still minimal. This could have a tangible impact on the national income in terms of export earnings and food security. The result showed that, banana production was having a significant role for the well-being of the community explained in terms of food security, income source and it is serving as source of feed for livestock. However, many of the primary producers, namely farmers, are not making the advantage of production related transformations. This is a result of low savings culture of the local producers and weak market linkages and systems in the value chains of the crop. As a result, the wholesale traders are the one benefiting more than the producers. Problems associated with marketing and post-harvest handling are also identified as production problems. Therefore, community awareness development, improving production systems and developing the culture of saving could help to have a sustained impact of banana production in the region.

Container gardens to meet vegetable needs during dry season for reproductive age women and their children in northern Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 30 May 2017 11:36:25 +0000

This article in the Offical Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) investigates the feasibility of producing widely consumed iron rich vegetables using container gardens during the dry season in Ghana. These container gardens can help to overcome limited irrigation capacity and access to land. The study also investigates the feasibility of generating income to sustain the garden and to purchase micronutrient rich foods. In northern Ghana there is a high burden of malnutrition and notably endemic iron deficiency anemia which worsen during the prolonged dry season when staple nutrient-rich vegetables, cereals and legumes/pulse are limited. In the trial fifty five women from two different communities were recruited and each community received twenty containers. The containers were mainly used for iron rich hibiscus sabdariffa production but also for income-generating cabbage production. Groups were given training on container gardening by an experienced gardener. Results show that one container is capable of providing one mother-child pair at least three hibiscus meals per week and income from one container for cabbage could meet their monthly needs for iodized salt and fish consumption. The authors argue that container garding could be able to provide hibiscus sabdariffa in the dry season, provide dietary iron and income adequate enough to purchase iodized salt and dry fish.

Women’s struggle in food value chains

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 22 May 2017 07:42:25 +0000

This article in the GREAT Insights magazine of May/June 2017 by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) discusses women’s struggle in food value chains, in particular the dairy value chain. Women in sub-Saharan Africa play a key role in informal and formal stages of food value chains, including as producers, processors, traders and consumers. At the same time, fostering food value chains has become both a priority and a challenge for many stakeholders in Africa. This is important in the broader context of economic transformation and the need to create more and better jobs, with a particular focus on women and youth. To be efficient, any intervention affecting food value chains should look at the link between more productive and efficient value chains, and gender equality. An example of the Kenyan dairy value chains shows well how to better link the aforementioned dimensions. To achieve the modernization and sustainable development of value chains while ensuring gender equality and women’s empowerment, three points should be taken into account: 1) Involving both women and men appropriately in consultation, design and monitoring processes is crucial; 2) An integrated gender approach is needed; 3) Gender-disaggregated data coupled with an understanding of the cultural, socio-economic and political context allows designing context-specific and innovative responses, such as the redesign of credit instruments or financial services.

An assessment of mobile phone-based dissemination of weather and market information in the Upper West Region of Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 18 May 2017 08:48:12 +0000

This article (PDF) in Agriculture & Food Security Journal assesses the usefulness, constraints, and factors likely to influence farmers’ decisions to patronize mobile phone-based weather and market information. The rapid growth of mobile phones in Ghana has opened up the possibility of delivering timely and useful weather and market information to farmers at costs lower than traditional agricultural extension services. The study uses primary data from 310 farmers in the Upper West Region. Results show that contact with agricultural extension agents and farmer-to-farmer extension services significantly influences farmers’ decision to patronize mobile phone-based weather and market information. Regardless of sex, income status, and age group, farmers generally rate mobile phone-based weather and market information as very useful. The constraints to the utilization of mobile phone-based weather and market information include inexact information, complex text messages, information that are too costly to implement, and poor infrastructure. In order to improve the utilization of mobile phone-based weather and market information, disseminators of mobile phone-based information such as Esoko should constantly update and provide client-specific information. Improvements in mobile phone networks and related services will enhance the utilization of mobile phone-based weather and market information. Furthermore, agricultural extension projects should consider introducing toll-free calling and messaging services. Alternatively, agricultural projects could provide free mobile phone services for a lead-farmer who would then serve as a nucleus source of information for a host of farmers since farmer-to-farmer extension seems to be effective.

Impact of school gardens in Nepal

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 18 May 2017 08:35:23 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Development Effectiveness evaluates the combined impact of school gardens linked to complementary lessons and promotional activities about gardening and nutrition. The impact is measured as the nutritional awareness, knowledge, perceptions, eating behaviour and nutritional status of 10- to 15-year-old schoolchildren in Nepal. Data was collected from 30 schools and a sample of 1275 and 785 schoolchildren for the 2014 and 2015 school years, respectively. Three intervention components were implemented in all intervention schools and targeted at grades 6 and 7: 1) school gardens for the cultivation of nutrient-dense vegetables by the schoolchildren; 2) a teaching curriculum about gardening, nutrition and, water, sanitation and hygiene; and 3) promotional materials for children and parents to reinforce the lessons learned and to strengthen impact. After one year of intervention, a significant increase in children’s awareness about fruit and vegetables, their knowledge about sustainable agriculture, their knowledge about food, nutrition and health and their stated preferences for eating fruit and vegetables was found. However, these improvements in intermediary outcomes did not translate into significant improvements in fruit and vegetable consumption or nutritional status. To influence children’s food decisions, it may be required to work more intensively with parents and to increase the availability of fruit and vegetables at the household and community level so that children are better able to practice what they learn at school.

Small-scale poultry and food security in resource-poor settings

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 15 May 2017 12:17:46 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Global Food Security Journal reviews how small-scale poultry contributes to improved household food and nutrition security. Small-scale poultry production systems are mostly found in rural, resource-poor areas that also experience food insecurity. Poultry systems are accessible to vulnerable groups of society, and provide households with income and nutritionally-rich food sources. It also improves food security in indirect ways, through enhancing nutrient utilization and recycling in the environment, contributing to women’s empowerment, and enabling access to healthcare and education. In extensive small-scale poultry production systems, significant impediments to achieving these contributions are disease and predation. Additionally, feed price fluctuations and inadequate bio-security are major constraints. To successfully address these barriers, management practices need to be assessed for local sustainability, cost-effectiveness and the greater involvement of women. The barriers can be reduced through improved agricultural and livestock extension and community animal health networks. Finally, small-scale poultry may contribute to several of the Sustainable Development Goals, and to future food security through maintaining bio-diverse genomes. According to the authors, small-scale poultry’s value as a rich source of genetic biodiversity, and its potential to contribute to sustainable development should stimulate investments in the protection and conservation of local breeds kept in small-scale poultry systems.

Agricultural innovators in Ethiopia: Lessons from the food security and Rural Entrepreneurship Innovation Fund

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 02 May 2017 15:13:03 +0000

This publication (PDF) by AgriProFocus, ICCO Cooperation, The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Fair & Sustainable (F&S) Ethiopia, and The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN) introduces the Food Security and Rural Entrepreneurship (FSRE) Innovation Fund and explains how it contributes to rural innovation in Ethiopia. The fund supports ideas that have the potential to become scalable innovations that improve food security and strengthen rural entrepreneurship. The FSRE Fund takes into account the following factors when deciding whether an innovation has the potential to be upscaled: technical feasibility; farm economics; access to markets; organizational set-up; food security; rural entrepreneurship; and gender, environment and social-cultural aspects. Some innovators worked with improved seeds, amongst other for wheat, potato, chickpeas, tumeric and ginger. One company experimented with harvesting chickpea with a wheat combine harvester, which was the first time chickpea was harvested mechanically in Ethiopia. Another example of an innovation are plastic liners installed, which can be welded to any shape, to cover the inside of a grain store to reduce grain losses. Another example is the Hundee’s innovation project to test promising upgrades for the dairy sector. Cooled milk collection centres were installed for two cooperatives. In addition, youth groups were organized around specific business opportunities, such as fodder production, veterinary services and bull services.

Horticultural exports – a threat or a boost to food security?

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 13:44:18 +0000

This article (PDF) in Rural21 Journal assesses the impact of horticultural exports on food security in the exporting country. Horticultural produce is mostly destined for high-income countries and it contributes to food intake there, however it is unclear what their food security consequences are in the countries of origin. Many countries that have become important suppliers of horticulture produce to the world market – such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Peru and India – have high rates of poverty and food insecurity within their borders, and especially so in rural areas. In this article, a variety of direct and indirect effects of horticultural exports on food security in these exporting countries are discussed. Four components of food security are considered: food availability, food access, food utilisation and stability. The authors conclude that there is very little evidence on the impact of horticultural export growth on food security. The discussion on the various impact pathways shows that horticultural exports do not necessarily jeopardise food security and may actually contribute to improved availability, access, and utilisation of food. Especially the development of rural labour markets and participation of women in wage employment in horticultural companies may lead to improved food security. Newly created employment opportunities for women in export companies lead to a higher share of income controlled by women, which might improve households’ food access. Yet, for stability in food security, important challenges remain, such as the provision of secure employment at remunerative conditions by export companies and the sustainable use of water resources.

Open data benefits for agriculture and nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 18 Apr 2017 11:31:46 +0000

This issue of ICT Update (PDF) by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN) portrays how GODAN and other stakeholders are creating a global open data movement in agriculture and nutrition from the perspectives of its users by showcasing some of the best practices and the most common challenges in this field. The article ‘The impact of open data on smallholder farmers‘ discusses the degree to which more freely available data could be of use to smallholder households and the current impact of existing open data initiatives. There is a lot potential, but a lack of reliable and contextualised data is currently working against smallholder farmers. Potential benefits for smallholder farmers are identified as increased participation and self-empowerment, improved or new products such as logistical, extension, financial, input and trade services, more efficient value chains with better access to markets, higher and less perishable yields, greater availability of inputs and better pest control. However, in general, the impact of open agricultural data in developing countries is low. Often, this is because the data needed to have local impact does not exist, or is not openly available. Meteorological data is an area where open data is starting to make a contribution to smallholders. The article refers to the working paper ‘Open data and smallholder food and nutritional security‘ (PDF) by CTA and Alterra. This working paper highlights corporate data sharing as the most effective channel for producing finely tuned information about the smallholder sector and providing better services to assist its development.

Assessing use of the Mazzican to transport and improve milk quality in Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 08:05:09 +0000

Plastic milk containers commonly used in milk handling and transportation of raw milk by traditional farmers and milk traders contribute to the poor bacteriological quality of milk commonly observed in smallholder dairy value chains in Tanzania. These plastic containers are often not made from food grade plastic material or designed for milk handling but they are commonly used because they are more affordable than recommended metal containers. A new and more affordable food grade plastic container (the “Mazzican“) that was developed and shown to be an appropriate vessel for improving the hygiene of milk handling during milking and transportation to the market in other countries of East Africa was tested. This report (PDF) from the CGIAR Livestock and Fish research program presents results of field testing performed in Mvomero District in Morogoro Region in Tanzania to assess acceptability and validate the efficacy of the Mazzican for improving the bacteriological quality of milk when the vessel is used for handling and transportation of raw milk by agro-pastoralists and smallholder farmers in the area. Results showed that there was a dramatic reduction of 76.3% in the total plate count (TPC) in raw milk samples from the pastoralist farmers as a result of switching from jerry cans to the use of Mazzicans. The reduction in TPC in milk was salso dramatics but lightly lower (69.5%) among the smallholder farmers. Total coliform counts (TCC) also reduced upon switching but the reduction was less dramatic (42.3%) compared to TPC. The results confirm that the Mazzican is a much better container than plastic jerry cans for use in milking, transportation of raw milk and maintaining good bacteriological milk quality under smallholder and traditional cattle milk producer’s conditions in Tanzania.

Enhancing the Uganda pig value chain through capacity building and multi-stakeholder platforms

F&BKP Office — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:52:19 +0000

This research brief (PDF) by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) highlights specific action research and capacity development interventions to address identified challenges and generate evidence for wider applicability along the pig value chain in Uganda. The smallholder pig value chain in Uganda was identified by the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish as a sector where research investment was most likely to make a major difference to the livelihoods of poor people. Approximately 90% of all pork is supplied by smallholder pig farmers as pig keeping offers an attractive alternative to ruminants. Pig farming comes with smaller investment costs, does not compete for pasture land and can be used for transforming kitchen waste into food. Moreover, the short reproductive cycle of pigs allows for a quick financial turnover. Despite this, the pig sector in Uganda is highly marginalized and has not been given due priority in the country’s national agricultural sector policy framework. Some of the interventions that were pilot-tested include capacity development support to farmers on improved husbandry and biosecurity practices for the control of African Swine fever (ASF); capacity development support to butchers on appropriate pig slaughter and pork handling practices in the control of ASF; and the establishment of pig multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) for information sharing, improved stakeholder interaction and increased visibility of the pig sector. Subsequently, the evaluation assessed changes in butcher and farmer knowledge, attitudes and practices as a result of the targeted interventions. The evaluation also reviewed performance of the MSPs in the value chain.

Creating mutual benefits: examples of gender and biodiversity outcomes in horticultural activities

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 08:12:22 +0000

On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Bioversity International has launched a series of factsheets on “Creating mutual benefits: examples of gender and biodiversity outcomes from Bioversity International’s research”. Three of these factsheets take place in forest and agroforestry landscapes and have interesting lessons for horticultural activities. The factsheet ‘Promoting gender equality, social inclusion and biodiversity conservation in Nepal’s home gardens’ (PDF) shows that home gardening has benefits for biodiversity, nutrition and livelihoods. Home gardening can increase production, consumption and income of the rural poor, and it can make an important contribution to strengthening the capacities of farmers and promoting more equitable gender relations. The factsheet ‘Gender responsive value chain development and the conservation of native fruit trees through an inclusive learning process: a case study in Western Ghats, India’ (PDF) describes participatory research activities to improve incomes earned from forest resources and make insitu conservation activities more gender and socially inclusive. The research process increased skills of men and women about production and marketing of non-timer forest products, and it resulted in sharing of knowledge and ideas. The factsheet ‘Participatory research to elicit gender differentiated knowledge of native fruit trees’ (PDF) discusses a participatory study with the aim to better understand the ecological, organizational and marketing aspects of native fruit trees in Malaysia. Results show gender and age-specific knowledge exists about forest resources and benefits. The factsheets highlights that excluding women from research-for-development initiatives is problematic because of the specific knowledge they have, and because it can limit their access to the benefits derived from improved management and use of fruit diversity.

Satellite-based assessment of yield variation and its determinants in smallholder African systems

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 03 Apr 2017 08:52:38 +0000

This article (PDF) in PNAS Journal, demonstrates the potential to track smallholder maize yield variation in western Kenya, using a combination of 1-m imagery and intensive field sampling on thousands of fields over 2 years. The emergence of satellite sensors that can routinely observe millions of individual smallholder farms raises possibilities for monitoring and understanding agricultural productivity in many regions of the world. Results show that satellite-based measures are able to detect positive yield responses to fertilizer and hybrid seed inputs and that the inferred responses are statistically indistinguishable from estimates based on survey-based yields. These results suggest that high-resolution satellite imagery can be used to make predictions of smallholder agricultural productivity that are roughly as accurate as the survey-based measures traditionally used in research and policy applications. Results also indicate a substantial near-term potential to quickly generate useful datasets on productivity in smallholder systems, even with minimal or no field training data. Such datasets could rapidly accelerate learning about which interventions in smallholder systems have the most positive impact, thus enabling more rapid transformation of rural livelihoods. The authors stress that the results suggest a range of potential capabilities, including inexpensive estimates of yields, which could enable better targeting of agricultural interventions and better evaluation of their impact, the broader characterization of the source and magnitude of yield gaps, and the development of financial products aimed at African smallholders.

Dairy production systems and the adoption of genetic and breeding technologies in Tanzania, Kenya, India and Nicaragua

F&BKP Office — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 08:18:43 +0000

Development of the livestock industry and its role in poverty alleviation in developing countries depends on how adaptive the production systems are to changing global environmental and economic trends. This paper (PDF) in the Animal Genetic Resources Journal, characterizes dairy production systems in India, Tanzania, Kenya and Nicaragua, and describes the genetic and breeding technologies that hold promise for the advancement of global development goals. In all the countries, a large number of smallholder farmers operating mixed crop–livestock production systems play a significant role in dairy production. In Tanzania, Kenya and Nicaragua, milk is predominantly produced by cattle of genotypes that differ both across countries and among production systems within the same country. In India, buffaloes contribute to a larger proportion of the national milk than cattle. Information on productivity per animal and on optimal genotypes to utilize within the smallholder production systems of all the countries is however limited. Crossbreeding and artificial insemination were identified as the most widely utilized breeding and reproductive technologies. Only in Kenya is there a national organization conducting livestock recording and monitoring productivity, however, the proportion of the dairy cattle population enrolled in the recording system is small (<2.5 percent). In all the countries, enhanced and adequately planned use of breeding and reproductive technologies, complemented with the relevant infrastructure, is needed to sustainably increase dairy productivity. The capacities of actors in the dairy value chain need to be developed in order to properly implement and manage improvements.

Community forum on employment creation in the horticulture sector in Kenya

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 28 Mar 2017 14:13:20 +0000

This report (PDF) by INCLUDE explains the key messages that emerged during the forum on ‘Employment creation in the horticulture sector in Kenya’ in Nairobi on 19 January 2017. This forum was hosted by The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) in collaboration with the Centre for African Bio-Entrepreneurship (CABE) and brought together 35 policy actors, practitioners and researchers. The horticulture sector employs over 10 million people, mostly women and youth, and it offers better pay and terms of employment than other agricultural sub-sectors. However, there are some challenges for the horticulture sector; one being the change in agroclimatic conditions in Kenya resulting in high investments to maintain production. Another issue is that smallholder farmers produce low quantities and they are also involved in numerous value chains, which makes it difficult for them to satisfy any single value chain/market. It would help smallholders to form aggregation, but they have difficulties with this. To tackle the problems for smallholders it is important to organize smallholder farmers to aggregate their produce, which will make it easier for them to obtain information, implement standards and access markets. Another strategy suggested during the forum to improve the situation in the horticultural sector is to diversify horticultural produce and shift the focus from mainly roses to include other products, which will create opportunities for other agri products. Agricultural transformation could also contribute in the form of skills development, development of local innovations and technologies and dissemination of available technologies.

The World Vegetable Center’s approach to household gardening for nutrition

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 14:28:34 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the World Vegetable Center (AVRDC) aims to articulate their approach to household gardening based on experience and published evidence of what works. The World Vegetable Center is committed to alleviating poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the increased production and consumption of nutritious and health-promoting vegetables. Household gardening is an age-old practice to supply a diverse range of fruit and vegetables to the home, but its potential has yet to be fully exploited. The Center’s approach aims to address important gaps in the optimal design of household garden interventions. The publication covers all relevant aspects including intervention design, impact evaluation and the approach to form partnerships to deploy household gardens at scale. It also defines the role of the World Vegetable Center as a research organization in this area and lists the relevant research questions that need to be addressed. Some of the key knowledge gaps surrounding household garden interventions that have been identified include: Do household garden interventions improve the nutritional status of those household members most vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies? And: what are the most effective and efficient models for scaling household garden interventions leading to sustainable impact?

Dairy matters: Inspiring stories on dairy development in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 11:30:59 +0000

This book (PDF) by SNV Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) and Wageningen University & Research (WUR) intends to give an insight into the work that SNV’s Kenya Market-led Dairy Programme (KMDP) has been doing over the past four years. KMDP is implemented by SNV and partners in Kenya and funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Nairobi. KMDP-I runs from 1st July 2012 – 31st December 2016 and KMDP-II covers the period 1st October 2016 – 30th June 2019. The programme works at all levels with stakeholders and partners who aim to enhance efficiency, productivity and profitability of the industry. KMDP has partnered with smallholder-owned dairy societies, medium and large scale dairy farmers, commercial fodder producers, milk processors, training institutions, service providers and input suppliers, financial institutions and investors – both local and international. The positive impact of this programme on the sector has been described in various reports, but the personal stories of the people involved is the best testimony of the real effect of the programme in practice. This book introduces 18 of these farmers, farmer cooperatives and companies to illustrate KMDP’s impact in the field. These inspirational stories trace the successes and struggles that have lead to changes in attitudes and significant improvements in management practices on dairy farms in different regions in Kenya.

The impact of the use of new technologies on farmers’ wheat yield in Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 10:07:16 +0000

This conference paper (PDF) by IFPRI examines the impact of the Wheat Initiative technology package promoted by the research and extension systems in Ethiopia on wheat yield. The package includes certified wheat seed, a lower seeding density, row planting, fertilizer recommendations, and marketing assistance. A sample of 490 wheat growers was randomly assigned to one of three groups: the full-package intervention group, a marketing-assistance-only group, and a control group. The results suggest that the full-package farmers had around 14% higher yields. Implementation of the Wheat Initiative was successful in terms of making certified seed and fertilizer accessible and increasing uptake, though only 61 percent of the intervention group adopted row planting and few farmers received marketing assistance. So whereas changing material input rates when they are made available is not that difficult, changing farmer behavior takes more time. From a design perspective, the drawback of using a “package” is that we do not know which components of the package contributed most to the yield increase, and which components could have been either minimized or dropped altogether because they did not contribute to the goal. Additive designs can help shed light on how important different pieces of such packages are to attaining goals. Another important consideration when planning package interventions is the change needed in labor allocations when adopting a new technology or technique. From a policy perspective, the results show that intensification through the promotion of such packages is quite possible, but expectations about increases in productivity that would be observed will necessarily lag substantially behind those of yield trials.

Vegetable diversification in cocoa-based farming systems Ghana

F&BKP Office — Tue, 21 Mar 2017 08:50:02 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Agriculture & Food Security Journal assessed the extent of diversification of vegetables among farmers in Ghana’s cocoa belt and determined the factors that explain the variability in the diversification indices. A small-sample-size formula that was based on an estimated population of the sample was used to arrive at 621 farmer respondents from the Ashanti and Western Regions of Ghana. A combination of proportional and random sampling was employed to select farmers for the interview. It was found that marital status of the household head and total land endowment were the major determinants of diversification. Unlike most other studies found in the crop diversification literature, this study used econometric data reduction procedures to select the appropriate diversification indices, and selected the most appropriate fractional regression functional form from the four modelled. It was concluded that vegetable diversification offers great potential for improving livelihoods of cocoa-based farm households in the study area.

Mapping of beef, sheep and goat food systems in Nairobi: A framework for policy making and the identification of structural vulneralbilities and deficiencies

Nynke — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 09:15:48 +0000

In this article (PDF) in the journal Agricultural Systems the authors map the Nairobi beef, sheep and goat systems structure and flows to identify deficiencies and vulnerabilities to shocks. Nairobi is a large rapidly-growing city whose demand for beef, mutton and goat products is expected to double by 2030. A mapping analysis was done in three different dimensions: people and product profiling (interactions of people and products), geographical (routes of animals and products) and temporal mapping (seasonal fluctuations). Results for the beef food system showed that 44–55% of the city’s beef supply flows through the ‘local terminal markets’, but that 54–64% of total supply is controlled by one ‘meat market’. Numerous informal chains were identified, with independent livestock and meat traders playing a pivotal role in the functionality of these systems, and where most activities are conducted with inefficient quality control and under scarce and inadequate infrastructure and organisation, generating wastage and potential food safety risks in low quality meat products. Large processing companies, partly integrated, operate with high quality infrastructures, but with up to 60% of their beef supply depending on similar routes as the informal markets. For the small ruminant food system, 73% of the low season supply flows through a single large informal market, where no grading is done for these animals or the meat produced. Lack of traceability and control of animal production was a common feature in all chains. The mapping provides a framework for policy makers and institutions to understand and design improvement plans for the Nairobi ruminant food system. The structural deficiencies and vulnerabilities identified here indicate the areas for intervention.

Rwanda dairy competitiveness program II: Efficiency gains in dairy production systems decrease GHG emission intensity

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 14 Mar 2017 14:55:12 +0000

This info-note (PDF) by CGIAR, USAID and FAO presents the results on the decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the Rwanda Dairy Competitiveness Program II (RDCP). It was estimated to have resulted in a strong decrease in the GHG emissions intensity of milk production, defined as the GHG emissions per unit (liter) of milk produced. Extensive cattle production systems reduced their GHG emission intensity by an estimated – 4.11 tCO2e per 1000 l of milk (-60%), while intensive production systems reduced their intensity by an estimated -1.7 tCO2e/1000 l (- 47%). The decrease in GHG emission intensity is evidence that RDCP made the value chain more efficient and sustainable in climate change mitigation terms. RDCP’s productivity-oriented interventions increased livestock herd size and cow weight. As a consequence, total annual GHG emissions in the project area increased by an estimated 18,980 tCO2e due to increased herd size and 34,904 tCO2e due to increased cow weight, when compared to business-as-usual practices. This represents a 12 percent increase in GHG emissions. The increase in milk output was proportionally much larger than the associated increase in GHG emissions. This increase in the efficiency of dairy production systems was the basis for a transformation to more sustainable production patterns in intensive and extensive dairy systems.

Monitoring rice agriculture across Myanmar using satellite data

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Mar 2017 15:53:23 +0000

This article in the Remote Sensing Journal highlights new opportunities for monitoring agriculture. Assessment and monitoring of rice agriculture over large areas has been limited by cloud cover, optical sensor spatial and temporal resolutions, and lack of systematic or open access radar. The use of dense time series of open access Sentinel-1 C-band data at moderate spatial resolution offers innovative opportunities for assessment and monitoring of agriculture. This is especially pertinent in South and Southeast Asia where rice is critical to food security and mostly grown during the rainy seasons when high cloud cover is present. In this research application, time series Sentinel-1A Interferometric Wide images (632) were utilized to map rice extent, crop calendar, inundation, and cropping intensity across Myanmar. An updated (2015) land use land cover map fusing Sentinel-1, Landsat-8 OLI, and PALSAR-2 were integrated and classified using a randomforest algorithm. Time series phenological analyses of the dense Sentinel-1 data were then executed to assess rice information across all of Myanmar. The broad land use land cover map identified 186,701 km2 of cropland across Myanmar with mean out-of-sample kappa of over 90%. A phenological time series analysis refined the cropland class to create a rice mask by extrapolating unique indicators tied to the rice life cycle (dynamic range, inundation, growth stages) from the dense time series Sentinel-1 to map rice paddy characteristics in an automated approach. Analyses show that the harvested rice area was 6,652,111 ha with general (R2 = 0.78) agreement with government census statistics. The outcomes show strong ability to assess and monitor rice production at moderate scales over a large cloud-prone region. In countries such as Myanmar with large populations and governments dependent upon rice production, more robust and transparent monitoring and assessment tools can help support better decision making. These results indicate that systematic and open access Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can help scale information required by food security initiatives and Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification programs.

Capitalizing on the livestock revolution; ILRI corporate report 2015–2016

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 14:07:48 +0000

This report (PDF) by ILRI provides best practice examples in the livestock sector of putting science into practice, facilitating evidence-based decision-making and developing the capacities of livestock. The report has five chapters of interlinked areas: livestock genetics and breeding; livestock feeds and forages; livestock and human health; policies, value chains and livelihoods; and sustainable livestock systems. These include better smallholder livestock production systems; improved human nutrition and health; more quality food; higher household incomes; climate-smart livestock; fewer human and livestock diseases; environmental protection; gender equity and inclusive growth; and enabling policies and institutions. One of the examples of putting science into practice is about a research in Botswana. It revealed the importance of reducing input prices to increasing technical efficiency rates and profit margins of smallholder livestock and crop–livestock farmers, with current levels below 60% of potential. Recommendations include helping livestock keepers gain greater access to croplands so their animals can feed on crop residues and to off-farm employment as a way of acquiring investment capital. The challenges, opportunities and trade-offs in livestock production worldwide are highly diverse. That sectorial diversity must be acknowledged and acted on with a matching diversity of development approaches. Only a varied menu of interventions will facilitate a healthy, sustainable and equitable transition of livestock systems across the world.

Assessing the environmental impacts of livestock and fish production

F&BKP Office — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 08:40:16 +0000

This brief (PDF) by the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish introduces different streams of work to develop and test tools to assess the environmental impacts of livestock and fish production in developing countries. While livestock production has for some time been linked to deforestation, land degradation, biodiversity loss and water scarcity, more recent studies, and particularly the publication of the 2006 FAO report ‘Livestock’s long shadow’ indicate that livestock is also a significant source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As demand for livestock products continues to grow, driven by rising population and dietary shifts, there is an urgent need to develop strategies to reduce the environmental footprints and GHG emission intensity from livestock. The first step in this process is to develop tools to estimate potential impacts of such strategies. One way of reducing impacts is to cut consumption of livestock products. However, these sectors make a valuable welfare contributions in many economies. Reduced consumption could threaten the livelihoods of vulnerable producers and value chain actors as well as the nutrition security of large populations in the developing world. Another option is improve the resource-use efficiency of livestock practices which is believed would result in rapid environmental gains. Tackling this requires that we have reliable tools to estimate and model potential impacts of improved livestock practices along value chains (see a review of assessments). In recent years, the Livestock and Fish CGIAR Research Program developed and tested tools to estimate the environmental impacts of livestock value chains under the CLEANED project – mainly with dairy value chains in Tanzania and Nicaragua. Results of the assessments carried out in Egypt, Nicaragua and Tanzania show that there are clearly identifiable win–win scenarios where immediate benefits, such as increased productivity, incomes and ecosystem services, such as soil fertility, water availability and biodiversity, can incentivize farmers to adopt improved practices and technologies, while reducing environmental impacts.

Geodata and ICT solutions for inclusive finance and food security

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Feb 2017 14:57:19 +0000

This study ‘Geodata and ICT Solutions for Inclusive Finance and Food Security’ (PDF) commissioned by NpM, Platform for Inclusive Finance, presents an overview of the possibilities and challenges of using geo-data and ICTs to improve agricultural production and access to finance for smallholder farmers. In light of a growing demand for food, smallholder farmers are crucial in supplying the world with sufficient food. Besides access to finance, smallholder farmers need more and better information for their farming decisions. This could improve agricultural production and market access, ultimately increasing their incomes and food security. Geo-data and information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as geographic information systems, drones, and cloud computing are now being used to boost smallholder’s production and their income. The publication is based on an analysis of 250 projects, you can access the ICT map with all 250 cases here. The authors identified several areas that are relevant for speeding up developments that benefit smallholder farmers and the financial institutions that serve them: 1) a good policy and regulatory environment; 2) appropriate information packages for farmers; 3) guidance and support to (rural) financial institutions; 4) high risk and long term capital investments. From this paper, it becomes clear that innovative partnerships are required. This is especially shown in the Geo for Agriculture and Water (G4AW) programme. New players entering the field and organizations that develop new services outside their traditional area of work also bring about innovations, such as telecom companies providing input loans. The authors argue that in order to catalyse the development of technologies that focus on improving agriculture and finance, even more collaboration, knowledge sharing and testing is needed.

Chinese agriculture in Africa: Perspectives of Chinese agronomists on agricultural aid

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 09:19:41 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) presents the reflections of more than 160 Chinese agronomists who have spent time implementing Chinese agricultural technologies in Africa. Chinese actors are increasingly engaging in African agriculture. Despite China’s innovative approaches to aid and assertions of comparative advantage in agriculture technologies, experience shows that technologies that have worked well in China may not offer the same benefits when transferred to Africa. The local contexts in African countries provide a continuous challenge to even simple technology-transfer models; often, the effectiveness of aid depends on the resourcefulness of aid experts and staff on the ground. Although Chinese agricultural aid in Africa dates back to the 1950s, there has never been an attempt to systematically gather the perspectives of practitioners implementing these projects on the ground. This research, conducted by the newly constituted research division of the Foreign Economic Cooperation Centre (FECC) of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, can be seen as a first step to gain insight into their experiences. Out of the research comes a need for innovation and adaptation of Chinese technologies is reflected strongly in the research, and there are examples of achieving this in the field; but assessing adaptation potential is not yet integrated systematically into project design.

Measuring the role of livestock in the households’ economy

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 11:00:47 +0000

This Guidebook (PDF) by LSMS, part of the World Bank, presents a module template for including livestock in multi-topic and agricultural household surveys in low- and middle-income countries. The objective of this Guidebook is to provide a tool for practitioners tasked with collecting high-quality data on livestock and livelihoods in the context of the national statistical system and through the implementation of multi-topic household surveys. The Guidebook offers a template for module design that users are advised to tailor to their specific needs. Recognizing that different users will have different priorities in terms of what they need to measure, monitor, and analyze, and that they face different constraints in terms of implementation, the module template comes in three forms. The first is a short version of around 30 questions that focuses on the basic characteristics of the herd, computing a measure of livestock income and some limited informationon livestock production and constraints. The second is a standard version of about 100 questions that has more detail on all of the above, and collects additional informationon animal husbandry practices and livestock services and onthe individual roles of household members. The third is an extended version of around 170 questions that collects more detailed information on all of the above.

The template can be downloaded here.

Temperature sensitivity of food legumes: a physiological insight

F&BKP Office — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 09:16:40 +0000

This review in the Acta Physiologiae Plantarum Journal, describes the progress made towards the adverse effects of abnormal temperatures on various growth stages in legumes and propose appropriate strategies to resolve these effects. Of the various environmental stresses that a plant can experience, temperature has the widest and most far-reaching effects on legumes. Temperature extremes, both high (heat stress) and low (cold stress), are injurious to plants at all stages of development, resulting in severe loss of productivity. In response to unfavorable temperatures, plant biomolecules such as stress proteins, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants, organic osmolytes and phytohormones come into play, usually, as a part of the plant defense mechanisms. The accumulation of these molecules, which may be useful as metabolic indicators of stress tolerance, depend on the plant species exposed to the temperature stress, its intensity and duration. Some of these molecules such as osmolytes, non-enzymatic antioxidants and phytohormones may be supplied exogenously to improve temperature stress tolerance. Legumes show varying degrees of sensitivity to high and low-temperature stresses, which reduces their potential performance at various developmental stages. To address the ever-fluctuating temperature extremes that various legumes are being constantly exposed, efforts are being made to develop tolerant plant varieties via conventional breeding methods as well as more recent molecular breeding techniques.

Interactions between intervention packages, climatic risk, climate change and food security in mixed crop–livestock systems in Burkina Faso

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 10:03:07 +0000

This article in the Agricultural Systems journal test the impact of climate change on mixed crop-livestock systems. It presents a study that test the impacts of different interventions in two contrasting mixed farms in Northern Burkina Faso against the background of plausible current and future climate scenarios. Smallholder crop–livestock farming systems have an important role to play for food security in Sub-Saharan Africa, but they have to cope with the effects of climate variability and change. The authors developed a dynamic farm-household modeling framework around existing tools: crop and animal production models APSIM and LivSim, the household model IAT and the climate generator Marksim. The inter-annual distributions of net income show that the use of external inputs increases both upside and downside risks, i.e. the probability of getting both very high and very low results. This is because the interventions are more effective at increasing the highest yields in good years than at preventing the low production levels of some years. The 2050 climate scenario has a negative impact on energy production and potential income, especially for the scenarios with high input levels. Downside risks could partly explain why farmers do not currently use optimal input levels, and the results suggest that these constraints could intensify with climate change.

Innovative farming and forestry across the emerging world: the role of genetically modified crops and trees

F&BKP Office — Mon, 30 Jan 2017 13:35:56 +0000

This book published by the International Industrial Biotechnology Network (IIBN), highlights the importance of biotechnological innovations for sustainable development of agriculture and industry, illustrated by means of case studies from growth economies and developing countries. The book focuses on (near) commercial applications of transgenic technologies in agriculture and forestry and provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of commercial farming using transgenic breeding across the emerging/developing world. It seeks to support the factual debate on biosciences and technology for developing and emerging economies. The book argues that careful applications of biosciences and technology to clearly identified development challenges can result in positive outcomes of communities, farmers and enterprises, environment and society at large. The book provides a compilation of selected case studies from different emerging and developing countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia, that illustrate either the potential or demonstrated value of a particular biotechnology application for sustainable agricultural innovation and/or industrial development. Special emphasis is given to approaches adapted to meet heterogeneous local needs and help support more inclusive growth in low and middle-income countries. The authors highlight the way forward as improved and constructive dialog on technology, enabling policies that stimulate the flow of needed technology and investment and the international cooperation in technology development and deployment.

Gender assessment of dairy value chain: Evidence from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Rwanda

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 14:14:05 +0000

The FAO presents a gender assessment of the dairy value chain in Ethiopia (PDF), Kenya (PDF) and Rwanda (PDF). The Ethiopia report focuses on selected sites in Ethiopia: North Shoa Shewa (Degem woreda), East Gojam (Dejen woreda) and Gamu Gofa Arba Minch (Arba Minch Zuria woreda). It aims to formulate country-specific recommendations for Ethiopia, and to contribute to developing general guidelines on how to implement gender sensitive initiatives in the dairy value chain. It relies on evidence gathered through fieldwork complemented by a review of specialized background documentation. The findings confirm that women’s empowerment is vital for sustainable dairy value chain development and that projects supporting dairy production need to increase their efforts to be gender inclusive. The study provides country-specific recommendations for Ethiopia, which also feed into a more general knowledge base on how to develop gender-sensitive dairy value chains. The assessment considered:

women and men’s roles and responsibilities, their different benefits, opportunities, needs, constraints and challenges along the value chains;
economic opportunities arising along the value chains, as well as women and men’s capacity to access them;
and factors contributing to reduce gender inequalities in the value chains.

How promoting consumption of traditional African vegetables affects household nutrition security in Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 09:26:36 +0000

This article in the Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems Journal studies how promoting of consumption of traditional African vegetables affects household nutrition security in Tanzania. Traditional African vegetables have recently received considerable attention for their contribution to food and nutrition security and opportunities for enhancing smallholder livelihoods. Promoting the production and consumption of traditional vegetables is expected to enhance household nutrition among urban and rural households. The Good Seed Initiative (GSI) program promoted production and consumption of nutrient-dense traditional African vegetables in Arusha region in Tanzania to reduce malnutrition through diet diversification. The researchers estimated the impact of promotion activities on households, women, and children’s dietary diversity. The study used cross-sectional data from 258 and 242 households in intervention and control regions, respectively, and applied matching techniques and inverse probability weighting to control for unobserved heterogeneity and selection bias, which could otherwise bias the outcome estimates. It was found that households benefiting from traditional vegetable promotion and demand creation activities had significantly higher dietary diversity of children under 5 yr and women in reproductive age. No significant impact of promotion activities on households’ dietary diversity was found. The policy implication is that scaling up promotional and demand creation activities to encourage consumers to grow and eat traditional African vegetables would be an important element in initiatives to increase dietary diversity, particularly for children under 5 and women in Tanzania.

Farming Matters: Listening to Pastoralists

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 08:56:59 +0000

This issue of Farming Matters (PDF) by ILEIA explores the different ways pastoral societies are joining forces to challenge the policies that undermine their culture and way of life. For millennia, pastoralist societies have managed the rangelands of the world’s most challenging environments, producing food and providing ecosystem services for millions of households. The experiences, opinions and perspectives presented in this issue highlight the importance of pastoral societies for agroecology and the transformation of entire food systems. For example, the Pastoral Parliament in India is discussed. The Pastoral Parliament is a two-day discussion forum organised annually where pastoralists from across Gujarat meet to set a political agenda and address the issues that impact and affect them, without political, religious or caste-based segregation. Also participatory and inclusive processes for land management and land policy development in Somalia are discussed. Traditional common property regimes, vital for local pastoralists, are under pressure from enclosures, population growth and charcoal production.Arabian Pastoralist. In the Middle East the Arabian Pastoralist Communities Network emerged from one community’s struggle to assert their land rights. A case study in Tanzania shows that women are most impacted by each case of land grabbing and therefore more active in claiming their rights.

Understanding agricultural drivers of deforestation through remote sensing: opportunities and limitations in sub-Saharan Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 10:27:10 +0000

This working paper (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) highlights opportunities and limitations for understanding agricultural drivers of deforestation through remote sensing. Effective monitoring of deforestation and cropland expansion in Africa requires reliable estimates of land cover area. However, continental scale land cover datasets generated solely or partially through remote sensing technologies show large differences in the extent and spatial distribution of forest and cropland. In this working paper, 14 of the most commonly used land cover data products are identified, with summarised spatial data, temporal and thematic properties, and estimates of forest and cropland area are compared. The limitations to land cover data that result from their divergent predictions are described and the implications for using this data to assess the agricultural drivers of deforestation in Africa are discussed. TA key finding found was that disagreement between data products is apparent at continental, national and regional scales, being particularly elevated at the smallest spatial scales. Forest area estimates agree most strongly in areas of dense forest and where forest is clearly not present (eg deserts). Agreement between estimates of forest area is poor in areas of woodland and savannah. Crop area estimates show greater disagreement than for forest area, and may be particularly uncertain where agriculture is small scale and spatially scattered as is dominant in much of Africa. Data products agree better on locations where agriculture is limited rather than widespread.

Building agricultural networks of farmers and scientists via mobile phones: case study of banana disease surveillance in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 10:00:54 +0000

This article in the Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology highlights an important challenge that is threatening agriculture in Africa: the difficulty in collecting timely data on disease spread and effectiveness of on-farm control methods. This study served as a case study for assessing the viability of a participatory GIS (Geographic Information System) to enable a plant diagnostics network with fieldworkers. The use of mobile phone applications and a centralized database were integrated to provide a blueprint for how a range of agriculture-focused field organizations can collect data, explain events, predict outcomes and adapt and refine strategies with more accurate, cost-efficient and timely information. Over the course of 2 months, 38 Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) using mobile phones, MTN Mobile Internet and GPS devices collected 3018 surveys documenting the presence/absence of three banana diseases: Banana Xanthomonas Wilt (BXW), Fusarium Wilt (FW) and Banana Bunchy Top disease (BBTD) in Bushenyi and Mbale districts in Uganda. Costs were saved by only mobilizing CKWs who then trained the communities on methods of banana disease detection, preventative measures and disease control procedures; only when doubts over identification or control occurred did the IITA and NARO technical team then prioritize visits. Although the CKWs provided an efficient and cost-effective information channel that can be leveraged to integrate the efforts of scientists with the needs of rural communities, there were significant gaps in prior farmer knowledge on the three targeted diseases, including how to identify or control them, despite extensive awareness campaigns preceding this initiative. Factsheets used for reference following training greatly improved CKW prior knowledge of disease recognition and control methods; hence, 90% of the surveys conducted during the second month met the data quality standards based on survey completeness, GPS accuracy and quality of symptomatic plant photos. There was significant and consistent demand by farmers for CKW services throughout the pilot period. In-depth training and continuous support of CKWs is thus essential. The technology infrastructure is scalable, and further integration of technology components promises a customizable web-based tool for data collection, GIS analysis, information dissemination and management of agriculture extension operations.

Unleashing the potential of pastoralism to develop West Africa

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 13:04:13 +0000

This book (PDF) by KIT and SNV aims to identify the trends affecting pastoralism and pastoral productivity, which helps to understand the current changes in the performance of value chains which play a key role in pastoral adaptation. The book puts into perspective the conditions for sustainable growth of production that supports entrepreneurial performance and competitiveness of local actors in dynamic markets. The authors observe a clear move towards livestock production becoming more market-oriented, which influences the position of all actors in the various value chains. This move implies that instead of being considered a production system unsuited to meet modern market requirements, pastoral systems should be considered adequate in managing their resources and using them in a flexible manner and along good principles of entrepreneurship, to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. To do this, there are a number of prerequisites to be met to support this evolution towards a true realisation of the pastoral potential. The following are critical: securing mobility and sustainable management of natural resources, applying a conducive legislative and regulatory framework, and effective early warning systems and safety nets as protective measures, given the high level of vulnerability and risk.

The book is written in French. The conclusion, page 81-84, is also written in English.

Strengthening agricultural water efficiency and productivity on the African and global Level

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 09:33:29 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO targets agricultural water extension agents and technical experts, providing them with clear indications on how to improve water harvesting capacity for agricultural production as well as how to select feasible and suited water harvesting techniques for different geographical areas. The assessment outlined in this report forms part of the ‘Strengthening Agricultural Water Efficiency and Productivity on the African and Global Level’ project, which aims at reducing hunger and poverty in three African countries (Burkina Faso, Morocco and Uganda) by focusing on the improvement of agriculture water management and mainstreaming it in national frameworks and processes. This report summaries the assessment of 42 water harvesting best practices across the three case study countries using Multi-Criteria Analysis. Water harvesting holds a great potential in increasing yields and improving food security in rain-fed farming areas such as those found in Morocco, Burkina Faso and Uganda. One important way in which water harvesting contributes to more productive and climate resilient rain-fed systems is by influencing microclimates. In the three countries it emerges that a combination of measures, rather than stand-alone techniques, is the most effective way to match the flexibility needed to increase crop production across the range of farming communities present in these regions.

Herding livestock programs toward nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 11:34:25 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) examines the ways in which livestock and animal-sourced foods contribute to better nutrition. A case study of a Feed the Future dairy program in Rwanda is presented to understand how Feed the Future livestock programs can contribute to better outcomes for under nutrition. Despite this potential, livestock programs, including those led by Feed the Future, are rarely designed to address chronic undernutrition. Rather, they are primarily focused on catalyzing changewithin dynamic market systems, improving terms of production and trade for smallholders. Decisions on what afamily eats, however, are made at the household level, and it is hard to change nutrition behaviors through markets alone. The Feed the Future dairy program in Rwanda was designed to build linkages between dairy farmers, milk processors, and endmarket consumers. Addressing chronic undernutrition was not a part of the dairy program’s original goal, nor was it part of the broader Feed the Future strategy for Rwanda. However, a combination of strong leadership and flexibility on the part of both the donor and the implementing partner helped Feed the Future in Rwanda shift gears to intentionally address chronic undernutrition. Using creative behavior change communications interventions, the Rwanda dairy program successfully built nutrition strategies into existing activities in addition to developing new activities.

Gender dynamics in the cattle sector in Central America: A literature review

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 13:04:22 +0000

This literature review (PDF) by CGIAR summarizes the research published about gender in the cattle sector in Central America. This includes the findings that (1) women lack access to and control over productive resources in the cattle sector and (2) extension services and training do not focus on women, likely because women’s contributions are undervalued. Cattle production is an important economic activity throughout Central America. Dairy production, in particular, is an important activity for many smallholder farmers in Costa Rica and across the Central America region. Women’s role in cattle production tends to be poorly valued and recognized, however. The paper then describes a successful project in Nicaragua and recommends areas for research. There is an urgent need to fill the enormous knowledge gap on gender dynamics in the dairy and cattle production value chains in the Central America region, especially in Costa Rica. This knowledge will increase recognition of women’s roles and contributions to the dairy and cattle valuechains; increase membership; and facilitate increased impact and uptake of training, credit facilities, and technologies for sustainable cattle production. Considering the important role women play in the management of cattle production and in decisionmaking concerning different activities and production technologies, their inclusion in extension programs would contribute to more effective uptake of new technology by farm households.

Prospects for livestock-based livelihoods in Africa’s drylands

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 15:04:43 +0000

This book (PDF) by the World Bank examines the challenges and opportunities facing the livestock sector and the people who depend on livestock in the dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. It presents a novel way of thinking about pastoral development, grounded in a conceptual framework that focuses on the multiple shocks that drylands livestock keepers face and how those shocks can be addressed. The study is drawing on a state-of-the-art literature review carried out by scientists of leading research institutes and development organizations, and integrating the results of an innovative approach to modeling development options for the drylands livestock sector. Looking to the future, the picture is mixed. On the positive side, demand for red meat is expected to strengthen in domestic and regional markets, suggesting that livestock keepers will have good market opportunities. On the negative side, a large majority of livestock keepers are classifi ed as poor, and the natural (feed) resource base is likely to be suffi cient to enable improved meat and milk production for the growing human population. Prospects for the livestock sector through 2030 vary by aridity zone. In arid and semi-arid zones, a reasonable goal for 2030 is to have land use, training, and microfinance systems established that promote an appropriate balance between human and livestock carrying capacities, featuring mainly grassland/pastoral systems that reliably and sustainably satisfy the minimum income needs of herder households.

Youth e-agriculture entrepreneurship

Nynke — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 11:27:55 +0000

This ICT-Update magazine (PDF) published by CTA focuses on youth e-agriculture entrepreneurship. Young innovators in Africa, the Caribbean, and Pacific region, have recognized the need for creative solutions to raise agricultural productivity and the huge prospective market for their ICT-enabled services in agriculture (ICT4Ag). Young innovators face some specific challenges. For example, they often have limited understanding of the agriculture sector, specifically the functioning of value chains and the diversity of stakeholders. Specific gaps frequently mentioned by young entrepreneurs include the lack of business courses in agriculture and ICT curricula, the lack of capacities and sustainability in innovation hubs and incubators, the limited availability of venture capital and an unfavorable business environment in general. Although young e-agriculture entrepreneurs still face many challenges, the magazine argues that they have the potential to transform agricultural value chains in developing countries. The majority of ICT4Ag applications focus on the production segment, in particular on the provision of extension and advisory services. Other innovative examples include GPS-based tracking of livestock, “smart” tractors integrating geo-localisation services, SMS features for communication between farmers and tractor owners, and data collection on usage. The issue includes articles with many examples and challenges of scaling-up initiatives and ensuring inclusive initiatives and on how to set up healthy, supportive eco-sytems for ICT start-ups in agriculture. It also offers practical advise on how young e-agriculture entrepreneurs can fund their initiatives and on how to develop a business strategy.

Nutrition-sensitive value chains: the case of vegetables in Yayu biosphere reserve, Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 10 Nov 2016 07:32:57 +0000

This report (PDF) by PROIntenseAfrica provides advice on and prospects of the sustainable intensification of the value chains of different fruits and vegetables in Ethiopia and the potential impacts on the various stakeholders. There is growing recognition of the emergence of a “triple burden” of malnutrition with hunger, overconsumption, and micronutrient deficiency (“hidden hunger”) occurring simultaneously among low-income countries. Horticulture can help to overcome malnutrition and poverty and improve health conditions of both the rural and urban poor by increasing the production, quality, consumption and profitability of nutritious and health-promoting fruits and vegetables. This study uses a nutrition-sensitive value chain approach for horticulture development in Yayu biosphere reserve in Ethiopia. The objective is to investigate the process of intensification in the context of the value chains of different fruits and vegetables in multi-storey cropping systems. It is based on a research and capacity building project carried out by the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and was conducted as a light case study for PROIntenseAfrica program. Two intensification pathways of vegetable production are considered in the analysis: intensification of traditional vegetable production and diversification of multi-storey cropping systems by introducing vegetables for better nutrition through the NutriHAF project. The proposed research agenda is crucial for intensification processes in Yayu region, but probably also in other regions of Ethiopia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Impact and cost-effectiveness of women’s training in home gardening and nutrition in Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 09:40:25 +0000

This study in the Journal of Development Effectiveness quantifies the impact and cost-effectiveness of training poor rural women in Bangladesh in home gardening and nutrition. The researchers used baseline and follow-up data for 646 intervention and control households and apply a difference-in-difference estimator. It was found that the intervention significantly (p < 0.01) increased vegetable production (+16.5 g/person/day), vegetable consumption and the micronutrient supply from the garden. Using the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) approach, the authors show that the intervention can be considered cost-effective in abating iron, vitamin A and zinc deficiencies. Home garden interventions can therefore make an effective contribution to addressing micronutrient undernutrition.

Applications of Whole Genome Sequencing in food safety management

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 10:01:19 +0000

This technical background paper (PDF) published by the FAO in collaboration with the WHO, discusses recent advances in Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) technology that have the potential to play a significant role in the area of food safety. WGS provides rapid identification and characterization of microorganisms, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with a level of precision not previously possible. With the rapidly declining cost of this technology, WGS applications in food safety management, including the opportunities it provides for enhanced integration of information from other sectors, such as human and animal health, could contribute to enhanced consumer protection, trade facilitation, nutrition and food security. However, the level of understanding of the concepts and potential use of WGS in food safety management vary among countries. This document aims to take the first steps in addressing these gaps, and providing answers to some of the questions which food safety officials (particularly those in developing countries) need to ask and consider if they are to make informed decisions about WGS and its potential value in food safety management in their context. Four real-life case studies are presented to highlight key benefits and potential drawbacks of WGS in food safety management.

Improved forages and milk production in East Africa

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 14:05:45 +0000

This report (PDF) by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) describe a climate-friendly way to close the gap in the availability of livestock and dairy products in Sub-Saharan Africa, using improved forage varieties. The authors assess the potential economic impact of the development and release of improved forage varieties of the Brachiaria genus in six East African countries using an economic surplus model. Results are presented across a range of potential scenarios involving different adoption rates and percentage increases in productivity. For all but the lowest levels of adoption and productivity increases, improved forages have the potential for positive return on investment. Using these results, the authors present a formulae that help readers calculate the adoption rate or percentage increase in productivity necessary to achieve specific desired levels of net benefit. Overall, the model output suggests that investment in a forages research program related to both the qualities of the forage itself as well as programs to enhance dissemination and adoption of new materials would be low risk and with high likelihood for positive outcome, generating discounted net benefits on the order of potentially tens of millions of dollars.

Taking stock of Africa’s livestock emissions

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 09:23:27 +0000

This article out of the September issue of Down to Earth Magazine highlights a study, performed by scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya. The study challenged the estimates of greenhouse gasses from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). According to the scientists, the emissions of African livestock are two times lower then IPCC suggest. The study found that faecal methane emissions are two times lower, 10-20 times lower for faecal nitrous oxide (NO2) and two times lower for urine. The difference in estimates can be clarified by the lack of data that the IPCC collects in the developing world. Most data used in the studies of the IPCC is collected in Europe and Northern America and does not take in to account the different livestock systems around the world. For example, in Kenya and most of the African countries the feed that cattle consumes differ per season because of different climates, what makes that the emissions in cattle manure varies. This study shows that it is important to add local studies to establish the accuracy of the IPCC data.

Assessment of traditional African vegetable production in Burkina Faso

F&BKP Office — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 09:57:49 +0000

Lack of dietary diversity is a key causal factor of malnutrition in Burkina Faso because the population consumes mostly cereals crops. Nutrient‐dense traditional African vegetables provide an excellent means to complement cereal staples for better nutrition, in particular for women and children, as well as for income generation. This study (PDF) in the Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development characterized the production of traditional African vegetables in Burkina Faso based on a questionnaire administered to 250 respondents. Results indicate the majority (75%) of the producers had no formal education and generally practiced gardening in lowland areas near water damsandstreams. Tomato was cultivated by 35% of the respondents, followed by okra (32%) and African eggplant (20%). Overall, more land was used for traditional African vegetables compared to exotic species, but individual global vegetables occupied more space than traditional vegetables; tomato was produced on 467 m² and okra on 315 m². About 98% of the producers practiced manual irrigation with watering cans, compared to only 1% for drip irrigation. Soil and water conservation options such as mulching and zaï were practiced by 76 and 21%, respectively. The producers were quite familiar with and had access to improved seeds (73.2%), chemical fertilizers (72.4%) and nursery techniques (69.6%), but were less knowledgeable about postharvest handling, integrated pest management and biological control. There is ample scope for improving vegetable production practices through capacity building coupled with sensitization for increased consumption of traditional African vegetables.

How big data will revolutionize the global food chain

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 19 Sep 2016 16:21:16 +0000

This article by Mckinsey shows in what way the advanced analytics of big data opens vast untapped potential for farmers, investors, and emerging economies to reduce the cost of goods sold. By taking advantage of big data and advanced analytics at every link in the value chain from field to fork, food companies can harness digital’s enormous potential for sustainable value creation. Digital can help them use resources in a more environmentally responsible manner, improve their sourcing decisions, and implement circular-economy solutions in the food chain. For food producers, the opportunities begin upstream and end downstream. At the upstream end, the agricultural practices followed by dairy farmers, cacao and coffee producers, wheat and barley producers, cattle farmers, and so on result in enormous variations in commodity costs in an industry where raw materials represent easily 60 percent of the cost of goods sold. The opportunities for digital innovation in the food chain are enormous and vary by context, with some well suited to emerging markets and others more appropriate to mature economies. Emerging markets can tap the potential of digital in the food chain through innovations such as precision agriculture, supply-chain efficiencies, and agriculture-focused payment systems.

Livestock development and climate change: The benefits of advanced greenhouse gas inventories

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 16 Sep 2016 13:23:41 +0000

This booklet (PDF) by CGIAR shows how advanced inventory methods (Tier 2) can support climate change and productivity goals and help broaden countries’ policy options. The authors show that Livestock development and climate change outcomes can support each other. More productive and efficient farm systems generally produce food at much lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per unit of product. However, many countries use simple (Tier 1) methods for estimating livestock emissions in their GHG inventories. Tier 1 inventories estimate emissions by multiplying the total number of animals with a fixed emission factor. This approach assumes that emissions per animal do not change and are the same for both young and mature, breeding and non-breeding animals. In contrast, Tier 2 based inventories use information on the animal’s gross energy or dry matter intake to estimate their actual emissions. Tier 1 methods are unable to capture the reductions in emissions intensity that result from improvements to livestock farming. An inventory based on Tier 2 methods is by its nature more detailed than a Tier 1 inventory, but it does not have to be much more complicated. The key to success is to start with as simple a structure for Tier 2 methods as possible. The inventory itself can then guide priority areas for further improvements in terms of data sources and detailed characterisation of different livestock systems.

Horticultural exports and food security in developing countries

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 14:27:09 +0000

This article in the Global Food Security Journal, reviews the channels through which horticultural exports affect food security in developing countries. The authors describe the trends in horticultural export chains and investigate the macro- and micro-level effects on the different components of food security, including availability, access, utilization and stability. The available evidence suggests that horticultural exports contribute to food security in developing countries, particularly through the development of rural labor markets and female wage employment in companies. Important challenges remain; most notably the provision of secure employment at remunerative conditions and the sustainable use of water resources. Overcoming these challenges requires tighter national legislation but also private food standards may contribute. Empirical evidence that directly measures the impact of horticultural exports on food security and the underlying impact pathways is still completely missing and highly needed.

Positioning smallholder farmers in the dairy innovation system in Malawi: A perspective of actors and their roles.

F&BKP Office — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 12:32:44 +0000

This paper in the Outlook on Agriculture Journal applies a historical analysis of the progressive development and complexity of Malawi’s dairy innovation system through phased emphasis on technological, organizational and institutional development to illustrate the centrality of smallholder dairy farmers in the innovation system. A social network analysis is applied to assess the influence of smallholder farmers on other actors. The existence and growth of the diary innovation system in Malawi is founded on the resilience of smallholder dairy farmers to produce milk. Whereas the smallholder farmers are the most connected in terms of interaction, they have the least influence on other actors in the innovation system. To take advantage of their central position to maximize benefits, smallholder farmers can only rely on their collective power to influence other actors. Organizing farmers in groups and associations is a step in the right direction, but deliberate interventions by innovation brokers as intermediaries needs to focus on empowering these groups.

Climate-smart livestock interventions in West Africa: a review

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 16 Aug 2016 13:59:57 +0000

This review (PDF) by CGIAR and ILRI focuses on livestock-related climate smart agriculture options in West Africa looking at herd management, feed, grazing management, animal breeding strategies, manure management, and policy options. The livestock sector is one of the major contributors in agriculture, by some estimates contributing up to 18% of the global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Of this, about one third is reported to be due to land use change associated with livestock production, another one third is nitrous oxide from manure and slurry management, and roughly 25% is attributed to methane emissions from ruminant digestion. Recent analysis suggests that developing world regions contribute about two thirds of the global emissions from ruminants, with sub- Saharan Africa a global hotspot for emissions intensities, largely due to low animal productivity, poor animal health and low quality feeds. These numbers suggest, therefore, that there are opportunities for easy gains to be made in terms of mitigation in the livestock sector, as improving feed resource use efficiencies would improve livestock productivity as well as reduce emissions per unit of product. In this context, climate-smart agricultural practices are necessary in the West Africa region and in sub-Saharan Africa in general.

Sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition: what roles for livestock?

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Aug 2016 09:24:20 +0000

This report (PDF) by The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition July 2016, recognizes the unique role of pastoral systems. It identifies the key challenges that pastoralism is facing. Chapter 1 elaborates a conceptual framework and a typology of livestock farming systems, which are used to structure the report. Chapter 2 describes the main drivers and trends of agricultural development. Chapter 3 identifies the main sustainability challenges for agricultural development, with a focus on livestock. Chapter 4 proposes pathways and responses to address those challenges, both globally and in specific farming systems. The report concludes by providing a set of action-oriented recommendations addressed to states and other stakeholders. The recommendations include enabling the mobility of pastoralists, strengthening the role of local pastoralist organizations, improving social services and market access for pastoral communities and strengthening security, tenure and title of customary lands, property rights and governance of grazing resources.

Hello Tractor: smart tractors for smallholder farmers

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 09:41:35 +0000

This blog on Takepart describes an interesting technological innovation serving smallholder farmers in Nigeria. For resource-poor farmers, labor shortages often leads to under-cultivation, poor harvests and lost income. Targeted farm mechanization has proven to be an effective solution to these shortages. Despite this, small farmers throughout Africa lack access to tractors to improve farm productivity. The company “Hello Tractor” has designed an innovative, low-cost “Smart Tractor” specifically for small farmers unique needs. Equipped with various attachments, owners can tailor its use for a variety of crops and stages of the production cycle, allowing them to serve their customers throughout the year. The “Smart Tractors” come equipped with data analytics capabilities that allows Hello Tractor to track “Smart Tractor” usage and gather data on location, market trends, and uptake. Hello Tractor also offers Smart Tractor Financing that requires no collateral and has flexible repayment schedules. Hello Tractor has developed low-cost smart tractors that smallholder farmers can either buy or rent along with a driver, via SMS. The company works with service providers who can deliver the tractors when individual farmers text message into the Hello Tractor’s virtual cloud. Hello tractor pings the service provider when a farmer needs tractor service, and the machine is delivered in less than two weeks. The farmer then pays for the service via mobile money, which is a technology pioneered in Kenya but is widely used is sub-saharan Africa. IITA Youth Agripreneurs is partnering with Hello Tractor to train young Agripreneurs in Nigeria on the use of a ‘Smart Tractor’.

The evolution of collective land tenure regimes in pastoralist societies: Lessons from Andean countries

F&BKP Office — Thu, 21 Jul 2016 09:36:49 +0000

This research paper (PDF) from the ELLA Programme, aims to analyse how land tenure regimes of pastoralist societies living in the Andean altiplano have transformed over the last 50 years. It also discusses the implications of these transformations for the sustainability of resource management in these areas, based on the premise that a better understanding of customary land tenure regimes can help to inform public policy and decision making. This study employs a historical institutional analysis method to examine a specific case study: the land tenure regimes in the highlands of Caylloma Province in Arequipa. The authors first explain changes to land tenure regimes and the main drivers. Next, the implications of these processes for the sustainability of resource management are explored. Findings show that land tenure regimes in pastoralist societies have changed over time in order to adapt to new environmental, political and economic conditions. Two main external drivers for change have been state intervention and market development. The paper gives several recommendations for policy makers, including the promoting of collective land tenure regimes by stimulating the formation of herders’ associations as a way of improving access to collective pastures.

Livestock wealth and social capital as insurance against climate risk: A case study of Samburu County in Kenya

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 20 Jul 2016 14:40:33 +0000

This article, published in the Agricultural Systems journal, uses data from 500 households in Samburu County (Kenya) to explore how natural environment and market accessibility affect coping and adaptation strategies of pastoralists. In particular, the authors ask whether households accumulate livestock wealth and invest in structural and cognitive social capital to protect themselves against climate risks. They find weak evidence that households accumulate livestock wealth in response to living in a drier environment, and no evidence that households invest in either structural or cognitive social capital as insurance against climate risks. However, coping strategies vary across social groups. For example, while rainfall does not robustly affect cognitive social capital (trust)— the authors find that the “poor” and “financially-integrated” households (i.e., those who have relatively good access to credit and capacity to save money) show greater mutual trust in drier environments. The results from this study can be used for priority setting by policy makers and development agencies for programs aimed at safeguarding household livelihoods in arid and semi-arid lands.

Science, technology, and the politics of knowledge: The case of China’s agricultural technology demonstration centers in Africa

Babs — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 09:56:13 +0000

This paper in the World Development Journal, studies the role of Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre (ATDC) in Africa. The ATDC has been considered as an alternative model to pursue sustainability of Chinese foreign aid to African countries. This paper attempts to examine the ATDC scheme, particularly focus on the knowledge construction at macro level of design and the knowledge encounter at micro level of daily operation based on the case studies in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Our study finds multiple facets of the ATDC, i.e., the cleavage between the macro-level of policy design and micro level of implementation realities; the interplay between knowledge and politics, and appearance of possible alternative development pathways stimulated by ATDCs in African countries. The paper argues that even though the ATDC is a technology-centered scheme, it is inevitably a social and political process in implementation, resulting in the discontinuity of the policy results. With a whole set of ideas and imaginaries being delivered, frustrated, and negotiated, the ATDC creates a very different vision to the established CG system, or the western bilateral aid programs. As an embodiment of a “traveling technocratic rationality”, the ATDCs are important sites for negotiations over knowledge and politics, and the meanings of aid, investment, and development, as part of the wider playing out of China’s engagement in Africa.

Livestock for sustainable development in the 21st Century

F&BKP Office — Tue, 31 May 2016 14:28:54 +0000

The document (PDF) by the Livestock Global Alliance focuses on the potential of livestock as solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It portrays the broad diversity of the livestock sector, ranging from grazing to industrial systems. In a time when countries sign the Paris Agreement, this is a call for more targeted funding in the development of the livestock sector in order to enhance its contribution to achieving the 17 SDGs. The paper highlights that in order to harness livestock for the greatest good for people and the planet, it is essential to grasp the huge diversity in livestock practices, livelihoods, enterprises and consumption patterns throughout the world.

Impact of nutritional perceptions of traditional African vegetables on farm household production decisions

F&BKP Office — Mon, 23 May 2016 10:32:00 +0000

This paper in the Experimental Agriculture Journal investigates the determinants and pathways for smallholder participation in traditional African vegetable production and identifies entry points for farmers to increase traditional vegetable production by linking nutritional awareness and promotion with potential high value markets. Recent years have seen increasing political interest and growing public health awareness and advocacy for diversifying diets into highly nutritious traditional vegetables, fruits and other nutrition-sensitive crops as a more viable approach to mitigate the growing scourge of malnutrition due to unhealthy and imbalanced diets. These foods contribute essential micronutrients, vitamins, antioxidants, and other health-related phytochemicals to staple-based diets. Despite their nutritional benefits and the high farm gate values per unit of land, the production and marketing of traditional vegetables from Tanzania and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa are constrained by factors such as poor quality seeds, lack of appropriate market information and support systems, and lack of consumer awareness of their nutritional importance. A primary survey of 181 traditional vegetable growers from five regions of Tanzania indicates that perceptions about the nutritional value of traditional African vegetables are a main driver of household production decisions in the sector. The results of this study provide evidence that farmers tend to grow more African traditional vegetables as compared to other crops based on their increased level of perception towards nutritional value of traditional vegetables along with other factors such as their market value, timely availability of quality certified seeds, willingness to invest in labour, required training for women and better access to credits. Farm size negatively affects growing traditional vegetables, implying that on a comparative basis, smallholders tend to grow more traditional vegetables than larger-farm operators. Thus, more attention should be given to reducing production and its associated transaction costs by ensuring timely access to quality certified seeds, ensuring optimal use of inputs and increasing labour productivity, particularly for smallholders.

Drones on the horizon: New frontier in agricultural innovation

Nynke — Tue, 17 May 2016 11:29:08 +0000

This issue of ICT Update (PDF), published by CTA, elaborates on the potential of drone technology for agriculture. Drone technology could help farmers around the world monitor their crops, fend off pests, improve land tenure, and more. But to realize its full potential, regulatory regimes are necessary, while keeping citizens’ safety and privacy rights secure. Crop insurers and insurance policy holders also benefit from readily-available and easily repeatable drone imagery: in India, insurers plan to use UAVs to conduct assessment of crop losses after natural disasters, allowing them to more accurately and quickly calculate pay-outs, while large US crop insurers like ADM have begun running their own drone tests. Drones also have proven useful to agricultural planners, greatly reducing the time and cost required to conduct an accurate survey. UAVs can be used to conduct volume estimates, to create irrigation and drainage models, and to collect the data needed to generate high-definition, geographically accurate elevation models and maps. In an example described in this issue, a team tasked with planning a Nigerian rice farm used drone imagery to make decisions on the layout of both rice paddies and irrigation and drainage systems – and, thanks to the drone imagery, were able to quickly determine that their original design was poorly suited to the terrain that was actually available to them. The issue further elaborates on the needed regulations and capacity building to ensure the adoption of the drone-technology will be functional in remote areas and in line with privacy law.

The issue is also available in Spanish (PDF) and Swahili (PDF).

Reducing rural women’s domestic workload through labour-saving technologies and practices

Nynke — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 13:33:50 +0000

This toolkit from IFAD provides practical papers on how labour-saving technologies and practices can promote inclusive development through reducing the domestic workload and freeing up time to perform productive tasks, but also to participate in decision-making processes and development opportunities. Labour-saving technologies can also make rural areas more attractive places for younger people. When the domestic workload is reduced, women are the principal beneficiaries but men also benefit, depending on the extent to which they perform these tasks. The toolkit is composed of: a “How to do note“, that offers practical guidance on design and implementation of project, best practices and more resources; “Lessons learned“, that provides from a IFAD’s water investments impacts on time-savings of household; a “Compendium“, that showcases some labour-saving technologies.

Analysis of village poultry value chain in Ethiopia: Implications for action research and development

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 10:38:26 +0000

This study (PDF) by LIVES is aimed at developing a baseline understanding of poultry producers in order to identify potential areas of improvement for action research and poultry value chain system development. The results of this study are based on analysis of data drawn from a cross sectional baseline survey of 5004 smallholder households in Ethiopia. The ultimate goal of this study was to explore existing constraints, opportunities and then identify, prioritize and recommend technological, institutional and organizational interventions for action research to facilitate poultry valuechain development. Even the limited research and development initiatives undertaken to improve village poultry production in the country tend to focus only on the technical aspects of poultry keeping in the belief that these constitute the principal constraints. It is, however, increasingly recognized that value chain system development including marketing opportunities and other institutional environments are crucial to capitalize on improved technologies by generating cash income. There are little research and development efforts directed at village poultry in Ethiopia resulting in the sub-sector being highly underdeveloped in terms of its productivity and linkages between producers and consumers. Consequently, the nation is not benefitting much from the potential of village poultry in nutrition or income.

Policy and institutional frameworks impacting on vegetable seed production and distribution systems in Cameroon

F&BKP Office — Thu, 14 Apr 2016 10:12:01 +0000

Vegetables, especially traditional species, are an important source of micronutrient rich foods and diversified sources of income for rural people. However, farmers’ access to quality vegetable seeds is a critical bottleneck in most communities, while enabling government policies to facilitate the establishment of an efficient vegetable seed supply and distribution systems are lacking. This article in the Journal of Crop Improvement assesses policy and institutional frameworks impacting on vegetable seed production and distribution systems to establish benchmark indicators for successful integration and/or diversification of vegetables into existing farming systems in the humid forest area of Cameroon. Results revealed four categories of seeds: hybrid, composite, “washed,” and farmers reserved seeds. Many actors that could be motivated to work on vegetable seeds if an enabling environment was created were identified. The major constraints observed in the vegetable seed sector included the inadaptability of legal instruments to the vegetable seed sector, absence of effective processing and storage facilities, absence of seed-testing facilities, poor knowledge of seed production, and the heterogeneity/adulteration of seeds. Consequently, farmers were obliged to use poor quality seeds with low germination rates of 5% to less than 80%. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the national agricultural policy to make special provisions on the production and distribution of vegetable seeds. Such provisions will increase collaboration and coordination between major seed value chain actors and stakeholders (i.e., national agricultural research system, the ministry of agriculture, and the private sector), remove critical bottlenecks in the seed-supply chains, and examine the existing opportunities in the systems for improvement.

The hidden effects of dairy farming on public and environmental health in the Netherlands, India, Ethiopia, and Uganda, considering the use of antibiotics and other agro-chemicals

Nynke — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 13:07:20 +0000

This article (PDF) in Frontiers in Public Health discusses the differences and similarities in dairy farming in the Netherlands, India, Ethiopia, and Uganda and its effect on public and environmental health. It explores the linkages between food quality and dairy farming characteristics. It emphasizes the strategies that have been developed during a project to reduce the use of antibiotics and other chemicals in dairy farming. The impact of antibiotic use on human health through antibiotic use, the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, and the lack of adequate control systems are discussed as well as the effects of dairy farming on the environment. These include agrochemical pollution and subsequent loss of biodiversity, changes in pasture management, and the loss of genetic diversity and local breeds. A five-layered strategy based on the experiences in the four countries is proposed to stimulate a more sustainable and healthier approach to dairy farming and to help reduce the use of antibiotics and improve milk quality.

The adoption problem; or why we still understand so little about technological change in African agriculture

Nynke — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 07:20:43 +0000

In this article (PDF) in Outlook on Agriculture the authors argue that a re-conceptualization of adoption of technology is needed. The notion of adoption is central to efforts to measure technological change in African agriculture, and plays an important role in the evaluation of returns on investment in agricultural research and technology development. However, the adoption concept, as it is commonly used in both the literature and development research practice, is seriously flawed and leads to inaccurate and misleading conclusions. The authors argue that the concept of adoption currently used is too linear in both spatial and temporal terms, too binary, too much focused on individual decisions, and blind to many important aspects of technological change. The authors outline a design specification for a replacement concept that would provide a better basis for robust empirical research on the economic, social and environmental impacts of investment in agricultural technology development and promotion. They propose that this new concept can contribute to a better and more nuanced understanding of the impacts of technology development interventions. The new concept they propose would include sociologically and anthropologically informed conceptions of technology and technological change; encompass change processes that are emergent, iterative and incremental; include partial or adaptive change processes; include the diversity of technologies of diverse complexity; encompass the multiple levels and scales at which technology operates.

Small scale dairy production system challenges and prospects in Fafen Zone, Eastern Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:56:08 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Animal Production Advances examines the existing challenges and opportunities of small scale dairy production in Ethiopia. The importance of dairy livestock as a source of livelihood for pastoralists in eastern Ethiopia cannot be overstated. A study was carried out in eastern Ethiopia in Jigjiga, Gurusum and Babile districts that inhabit the area and rearing of major dairy livestock production. The primary and secondary data were collected to assess the impact of dairy management and information whose dissemination was underway on the husbandry of dairy livestock. The interview questions for households targeted different aspects of dairy livestock management husbandry and feeding. Analysis of the data revealed malpractices in the areas of husbandry management, feeding, health and watering, among others. The major constrains faced were feeding shortage, water scarcity, drought and disease. In the study areas, the results further indicated that the pastoralists were aware of the challenges facing their dairy animals but did not have the knowledge to adequately deal with the constraints and prospective. This study concluded that the small scale dairy livestock prospects and information on dairy management have great potential to improve dairy performance if widely disseminated among the studied districts. Awareness creation among pastoralists and agro pastoral on the dangers of the current malpractices, vigorous dissemination of the technologies/information and follow-up to ensure utilization and/or application are strongly recommended.

Cooperative membership and dairy performance among smallholders in Ethiopia

Nynke — Tue, 15 Mar 2016 14:01:57 +0000

This study in Food Policy journal assesses the impact of cooperative membership among dairy producers in Selale, Ethiopia. Cooperatives are sometimes seen as being instrumental in poverty alleviation among dairy farmers and can provide a suitable environment for dairy intensification. However, the authors stress that in this case there were trade-offs between cooperative functions. The empirical analysis showed that cooperatives are strong in facilitating technological transformations and commercialization but weak in offering better prices. The authors selected ten impact indicators, ranging from proportion of dairy income to the share of milk production that is processed at the household level. The findings suggest structural trade-offs between different domains of cooperatives’ action. Overall, the study concludes that cooperatives can be efficient business institutions to foster rural development and food security.

Determinants and welfare effects of smallholder participation in horticultural markets in Zambia

F&BKP Office — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 14:31:04 +0000

This article (PDF) in the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, examines smallholder participation in horticultural markets in Zambia, with two main questions in mind: 1) who participates in horticultural markets? and 2) how does participation affect household income and other welfare outcomes? To control for self-selection bias in the estimation of impacts, the authors used an endogenous switching framework on nationwide representative data over two agricultural seasons pooled, but controlling for district-level fixed effects. We found that participation is associated with labour availability, farm size, lagged productive assets, social capital through blood kinship links to the chief or headman, level of community participation in the government’s input subsidy programme, and high rainfall variability measured by its coefficient of variation. Participation significantly increased income by 285% overall, increasing to over 300% for femaleheaded households, those cultivating less than one hectare and the extremely poor. These findings provide an empirical foundation to support Zambian policy-makers’ crop-diversification and poverty-reduction agricultural policy objectives.

Milking the data: Measuring milk off-take in extensive livestock systems. Experimental evidence from Niger

Nynke — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 13:57:33 +0000

This article in the Food Policy journal argues that our understanding of the role of dairy production in livelihoods and nutritional outcomes is hindered by the lack of decent quality household survey data. It shows that reasonably accurate estimates via recall methods are possible, and provides a clear ranking of questionnaire design options that can inform future survey operations. While milk is an important source of cash and nutrients for many households in developing countries, data on milk off-take for human consumption are often difficult to collect in household surveys. This paper presents results from a validation exercise implemented in Niger, where alternative survey instruments based on recall methods were administered to randomly selected households, and compared to a 12-month system of physical monitoring and recording of milk production. It concludes that while there are limits to the external validity of the results, the findings are strong enough to be already incorporated in future questionnaire design by National Statistical Office and researchers.

Agricultural service delivery through mobile phones: Local innovation and technological opportunities in Kenya

Nynke — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 15:28:07 +0000

This book chapter published by Springer elaborates on the spread of mobile phone use across Kenya and the opportunities this brings to improve service delivery for smallscale farmers. International and local companies have already started to capitalize on these opportunities, although many mobile phone-enabled services (m-services) are still at an early stage. Kenya has emerged as a leader in m-service development in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors assesses the key factors that have helped the local innovation scene to emerge and reviews existing agricultural m-services that provide Kenyan farmers with access to information and learning, financial services, and input and output markets. They particularly point to the start-up/innovation environment, the government policy, the mobile banking services already in place, and the growing customers base. The author concludes by stressing that m-services can only ever be part of a broader solution. Farmers in the developing world face a multitude of challenges, some of which can be addressed through m-services, but many others of which cannot. Therefore, m-service should be embedded in complementary support programs and infrastructure developments to tackle other production and marketing limitations. Such complementary measures do not necessarily need to be implemented by the m-service provider, but can be the responsibility of other actors, such as companies, non-governmental organizations or government departments.

Limiting livestock production to pasture and by-products in a search for sustainable diets

Nynke — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 14:39:15 +0000

In this article (PDF) in the Food Policy journal a method was developed for designing ‘fair’ diets (not using more than globally available arable land per capita) and for assessing the sustainability of such diets. The diets were based on the principle of ‘ecological leftovers’ for livestock production, i.e. raising livestock on pasture and by-products not suitable for or wanted by humans. The method was applied to Sweden using three different scenarios for livestock production, all taking the starting point that semi-natural pastures should be grazed by ruminants for reasons of biodiversity conservation. The scenarios also included differing use of by-products (from crop production and food processing) to either boost milk production (I-Milk scenario) or produce eggs and pig meat (E-Milk and Suckler scenarios). The environmental impacts of the diets were assessed using the planetary boundaries framework. The results showed substantially lower environmental impacts compared with the average current Swedish diet, but the strict absolute climate boundary and the N and P input boundaries were still exceeded for all diets. The approach adopted, of letting the ecological resource capacity act as the constraining factor for livestock production, is in line with agro-ecology principles and efficient use of land to improve food security, and could be useful in discussions about sustainable consumption of animal products.

Also see this related blog of one of the authors on FCNR.

Weather forecasting and monitoring: Mobile solutions for climate resilience

Nynke — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 15:33:41 +0000

This paper (PDF) from GSMA and DFID explores new cases for weather monitoring and forecasting through mobile phones to enhance climate resilience. The authors advocate for increasing focus and investment from mobile network operators (MNOs), value added service (VAS) providers and donors into enabling technologies that can provide more localized and accurate service. In the developing world, the availability of localized, granular weather forecasts can benefit smallholder farmers who depend on rain for their agricultural activities and food security. With changing climates the need for accurate weather information is becoming greater. In theory, the dependency of the agriculture sector on rain should translate into high demand for weather forecasts. However, the lack of reliable data and resources, particularly from national meteorological agencies, has meant that weather forecasts available today through radio, TV and mobile have hardly provided value to people depending on agriculture. The authors urge that need to put weather forecasting and monitoring at the core of climate adaptation funds, and should focus on mobile-centered projects in order to increase the opportunity to scale services and generate socioeconomic impact.

The second report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

Nynke — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 14:26:25 +0000

The Second Report on the State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PDF) was published in 2015 by FAO. According to the report some 17 percent (1,458) of the world’s farm animal breeds are currently at risk of extinction, while the risk status of many others (58 percent) is simply unknown due to a lack of data on the size and structure of their populations. Nearly 100 livestock breeds have gone extinct between 2000 and 2014. Some of the key findings of the report are that livestock diversity is important to improve the adaptation capabilities and resilience of production systems to future climate challenges; that roles and values of genetic resources remain diverse, especially in poor people’s livelihoods; and that the impact of livestock-sector trends are increasingly impacting the animal genetic resources. The report stresses that the world’s livestock diversity remains at risk and that institutional frameworks for the management of animal genetic resources needs to be improved.

The report serves as an update of the first report (PDF) The State of the World’s Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, published in 2007.
Also see this expert opinion of José Gariano da Silva, Director-General of FAO, where he argues that livestock diversity is critical for future food security and this news article of FAO.

Impact of export horticulture farming on per capita calorie intake of smallholder farmers in Eastern and Central Provinces in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 14:58:02 +0000

In attempting to achieve household food security for smallholder farmers, synergies and tradeoffs exist between cash cropping, food cropping and food security. Available evidence on the impact of cash cropping on food security shows mixed results. The objective of this paper in the International Journal of Food and Agricultural Economics was to assess the impact of export horticulture farming on food security of smallholder farmers in Kenya in two provinces in different agro-ecological zones with different resource and infrastructural endowments, crop growing and marketing conditions. This was done using propensity score matching. The results indicate a positive impact on food security in high potential area and a negative impact in the arid area that is already food deficit. Encouraging export horticulture or cash cropping, aiming at achieving household food security, may not be a one size fit all. Regional differences and particular growing and marketing conditions as well as intra household income distribution patterns play a role and should be considered.

Milk in the data: Food security impacts from a livestock field experiment in Zambia

F&BKP Office — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 12:16:10 +0000

This article (PDF) in the World Development Journal studies the effect of livestock gift program in Zambia on household food security. Smallholder livestock ownership has potential to enhance food security by raising incomes of the poor and by increasing the availability of nutrient-dense foods. This paper exploits the staggered rollout of livestock distribution by Heifer International in Zambia to identify the effects of livestock using statistically similar treatment and control groups in a balanced panel of households. Results indicate that livestock ownership improves dietary diversity through both direct consumption of animal products produced on farm and through increased consumption expenditures. Further results indicate that expanded livestock ownership alters the local food economy to influence food consumption by households lacking farm animals.

Impacts of feeding less food-competing feedstuffs to livestock on global food system sustainability

Nynke — Fri, 15 Jan 2016 14:46:08 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Royal Society Interface explores how sustainable livestock production can be designed to limit its impacts on the environment and available resources. There are several strategies to curb the adverse environmental impacts of the livestock production: increase efficiency; reduce the share of animal products in human consumption or implement sustainable livestock production. In this last strategy, livestock feed components that compete with direct human food crop production are reduced. This study models the impacts and constrains of this sustainable livestock production strategy. In the outmost scenario, animals are fed only from grassland and by-products from food production. The authors show that this strategy could provide sufficient food and reduce environmental impacts compared with the reference scenario (compiled from FAO’s agricultural projections). These results occur despite the fact that environmental efficiency of livestock production is reduced, which is the consequence of the grassland-based feed for ruminants and the less optimal feeding rations based on by-products for non-ruminants. This apparent contradiction results from considerable reductions of animal products in human diets (protein intake per capita from livestock products reduced by 71%). The authors show that such a strategy focusing on feed components which do not compete with direct human food consumption offers a viable complement to strategies focusing on increased efficiency in production or reduced shares of animal products in consumption. The article shows, zero use of food competing foodstuffs would deliver substantial environmental improvements across a range of indicators as compared with the reference scenario (i.e. business as usual in 2050), and small improvements with the exception of freshwater use.

Sustainable livestock production? Industrial agriculture versus pastoralism

Nynke — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 14:58:12 +0000

In this policy brief from the Centre for Development and Environment (CDE) the authors urge that not all forms of livestock production are wasteful and energy-intensive. People who herd animals or combine livestock keeping and cropping at a smaller scale – called pastoralists or agro-pastoralists – can sustainably produce meat, milk, and other animal products. But they require support, especially in resource (e.g. pasture) management, livestock health, and marketing. This policy brief therefor presents the advantages of pastoralism and explains its untapped potential.

Published 2015

Biodegradable mulch – a solution for small-scale horticulture?

F&BKP Office — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 09:40:03 +0000

This article in The international journal Rural 21, focusses on the use of a biodegradable alternative to polyethylene sheeting. Polyethylene sheeting is widely used in vegetable growing to create optimum mulch conditions for seedlings. It helps to control weeds, conserves soil moisture and increases soil temperature which generally has a positive effect on vegetable yield and quality. However, it is a considerable environmental hazard. The World Vegetable Center has tested a biodegradable alternative, which is simultaneously labour- and time-saving, arriving at the result that it is promising but not yet practical. AVRDC plans further trials to fine-tune information on biodegradable mulch material thicknesses, quality and their degradation rates over the length of the growing season for specific crops in subsequent seasons.

Effects of co-operatives and contracts on rural income and production in the dairy supply chains: Evidence from Northern Ethiopia

Nynke — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 14:14:56 +0000

This article (PDF) in the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AFJARE) pays particular attention to the impact of co-operatives and contracts on dairy production and the income of dairy farmers in the local food chains in Northern Ethiopia. Farmer-induced collective action (co-operatives) or buyer-driven contracts are often in place in global agrifood chains. Their economic contribution is well recognized, although the exclusion of smallholders remains. A structured survey of 415 dairy farmers was undertaken in four districts of Northern Ethiopia. Dairy farmers largely use marketing co-operatives because the perishability and demand for a secure market for milk attracts them. Moreover, government and NGO support to build the capacity of the smallholder dairy farmers is channeled through these organisations. This association with the government and NGOs enables co-operatives to receive processing and quality control technology, which enhances buyers’ trust and confidence. The authors suggest that strengthening co-operatives may enhance and upgrade the dairy sector/chain, improve the livelihoods of smallholders, and facilitate the link to global food chains.

Can smallholder fruit and vegetable production systems improve household food security and nutritional status of women? Evidence from rural Uganda

F&BKP Office — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 15:07:42 +0000

This paper by Nassul Kabunga, Shibani Ghosh and Jeffrey K. Griffiths, aims to empirically infer potential causal linkages between fruit and vegetable (F&V) production, individual F&V intake, household food security, and anemia levels for individual women caregivers of childbearing age. Using a unique and rich dataset collected from rural smallholder Ugandan households, the authors show that the use of a qualitative tool to measure household food insecurity is robust and applicable in other contexts. They also show, using robust econometric methods, that women living in F&V-producer households have a significantly higher intake of F&Vs than those living in nonproducer households. Furthermore, F&V-producer households are potentially more food secure, and women caregivers in producer households have significantly higher levels of hemoglobin, rendering the prevalence rates of anemia lower among F&V-producer households. It is argued that these effects, modest as they are, could be further improved if there were deliberate efforts to promote the intensification of smallholder F&V production.

Perceptions and practices of farmers on the utilization of sweetpotato, and other root tubers, and banana for pig feeding in smallholder crop-livestock systems in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 15:08:21 +0000

This study of the International Livestock Research Institute highlights the major practices and strategies deployed by pig farmers in response to feeding constraints in Uganda. While there is potential for the use of sweet potato and other root tubers as pig feed in the smallholder pig farming systems, their use is limited due to the lack of knowledge across production, processing, conservation and utilization of the residues from both species. Limited access to quality feeds and reliable feed supply are among the priority constraints of smallholder pig farming in Uganda. Therefore strategies for conserving these valuable feed resources for pig feeding need to be explored, validated and scaled out. This study revealed that the majority of pig farmers in the study area use sweet potato and other root tuber crop residues as animal feed. However, the full potential of the residues is not yet fully exploited since farmers accept that a large amount is wasted. A major constraint for the exploitation is the poor access to technologies for preserving these resources. Therefore, there is a need for further exploration of strategies to conserve sweet potato and other root tuber crop residues during the harvesting period to ensure their use as pig feed during times of feed scarcity.

New storage bags decrease agricultural waste and increase rural smallhoders’ income

F&BKP Office — Thu, 03 Dec 2015 16:45:53 +0000

This article on the Inter Press Service (IPS) elaborates on the so-called PICS bags which can cut agricultural waste and increase the incomes of rural smallholders. The PICS bags are big plastic storage sacks made of triple-lined plastic that can hold up to 90 kilograms of cowpeas (also known as black-eyed beans) or other farm produce. The bags costs 2 dollar a piece. The acronym stands for Purdue Improved Crop Storage bags. By hermetically sealing dried produce, the PICS bags protect the crops from insects. This increases the potential value of the food that farmers grow, as they lower the risks of losses from insects that were known to destroy crops when traditional storage methods were used. With their crop better protected, smallholders can increase their own food security and can command higher prices at the market since they are not forced to sell the produce directly after the harvest season. An early analysis found that cowpea farmers raised their income by almost 50 per cent by using the bags. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) is trying to promote the use of these bags in Nigeria.

mAgri Design Toolkit: user-centered design for mobile agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 16:43:15 +0000

This toolkit (PDF) of GSMA, a global association for the mobile telecoms industry, provides operational guidance on the product development process to better connect services offered by mobile network operates to the needs of the farmers and other key actors. Often, programs launched by mobile network operates to support the usage of mobile phones and information sharing in developing regions for better agricultural practices have suffered from low user adoption, despite coming from leading mobile network operators and value-added service (VAS) providers. This toolkit is a collection of instructions, tools and stories to help develop and scale mobile agriculture products by applying a user-centered design approach. It provides guides for different stages in a product development cycle elaborating on the tools and displaying stories from the field.

Legitimizing informal markets: A case study of the dairy sector in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Mon, 16 Nov 2015 16:23:40 +0000

This brief (PDF) by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) reflects on informal dairy markets and their legitimization. It shows that in developing countries, perishable food is mostly sold in informal markets and does not meet national food safety standards. The brief argues that government regulation in informal markets has not improved food safety in the past and formalization does not guarantee safe food. New approaches, based on gradual improvements and an inclusive path to formalization, show greater promise. A scheme to train and legitimize dairy traders in Kenya has revealed benefits for public health, farmers, vendors and consumers. The authors plead that governments must withstand pressure from vested interests and show genuine commitment to supporting progressive, effective and inclusive policies if these are to be successful.

Cattle keepers’ preference for hub options for dairy business in Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 16:05:19 +0000

This brief (PDF) of the International Livestock Research Institute elaborates on solutions for the dairy value chain in Tanzania. Since demand for milk in Tanzania increases, there is a need for new mechanisms to increase productivity and market orientation. The brief argues that improved organizational models are needed to enhance access to inputs and services, increasing farm-level cow productivity and production. Traditional approaches involving cooperatives are not sufficiently commercially orientated to ensure efficient linkages to input and output markets and therefore cattle keepers prefer hub arrangements with higher prices; bundled inputs and credit services; and credit or check-off as payment methods for bundled inputs and services.

African leafy vegetables: a nutritious income source in Benin

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Nov 2015 11:33:36 +0000

This video ‘L’importance des legumes locaux – The importance of local vegetables’ (in French with English subtitles) on Biodiversity International explains about traditional leafy vegetables in Benin tells us about their important nutritional benefits and how they are grown, bought and sold in local food systems. Furthermore, the video highlights the contribution that these vegetables make to the livelihoods of farmers, market vendors, delivery service providers and other members of the vegetable value chain. Traditional African leafy vegetables are valuable for many different reasons. They hold cultural importance, are well adapted to the environments they are grown in, and often have much higher nutritional value than more widely known crops such as lettuce and cabbage, with many being rich in iron, vitamin C and vitamin A. Some vegetables are even used for their medicinal benefits or as nutritional supplements (nutraceuticals), and they are also important sources of income. In Benin, Bioversity International has been working with national research partners to further investigate the nutritional value of different species such as wild African black plum (Vitex doniana), African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon) and waterleaf (Talinum triangulare). These vegetables, whether wild or cultivated, make up an important part of the Beninois diet, but have in recent years been overlooked or sidelined by more popular Western vegetables, often because their nutritional value is unknown. Bioversity International has been working with local NGOs, national research institutes, extension agents, schools and hospitals to raise awareness of the benefits of these vegetables and bring them back to people’s attention. Improving the value chains of traditional vegetables is vital to ensure the availability of diverse nutritious species at the market and to enhance farmer incomes at each step. One example shown in the video is the importance of improving transport links between the farm and the market, especially for vegetables that are highly perishable.

Recent developments in the dairy sector in Eastern Africa: Towards a regional policy framework for value chain development

F&BKP Office — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 16:25:34 +0000

This briefing note (PDF) by European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) argues that while the dairy sector is crucial for rural development, poverty reduction and food and nutrition security, its potential remains under-exploited. Despite a strong interest from policymakers and investors and the on-going re-structuring of dairy value chains, a number of production, marketing and trade constraints hinder their development. This note shows that there are opportunities to strengthen or build upon existing regional structures and market complementarities, to activate stronger regional levers and coordinate actions across countries around a regional strategy. Various stakeholders have indicated that the related priority areas should be creating a regional regulatory framework and developing capacities.

Field assessment of rapid market estimation techniques: a case study of dairy value chains in Tanzania

Nynke — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 14:05:33 +0000

This article (PDF) in the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics uses rapid market estimation techniques to quantify the informal milk market in two Tanzanian municipalities. Market information and research is essential in dairy value chains to ensure less dairy is wasted and poor people have access to this nutritious food. Many market research techniques do not document the informal components and therefore producers only have access to limited information. In this action research project, the participants tried to quickly gather key information to inform the design of interventions to upgrade small-scale urban dairy production. The research briefly reviewed three rapid appraisal methods and makes a comparison of all results of these methods in the wider context of establishing reliable, rapid and cost-effective research tools for the analytical and diagnostic phases of pro-poor market development projects. The authors concluded that the most accurate rapid estimation of markets for consumable products may be obtained by triangulating producer data with consumer surveys (informal market) and adding reliable (and usually relatively easily obtained) data from processors and retailers to capture trade through formal channels.

Analysis of participation of women in horticultural activities

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 09:40:42 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research investigates the involvement of rural women in various horticultural activities. A survey was conducted with 300 respondents of six villages of two districts of Odisha. The present study concludes that women play a significant and crucial role in production of various horticultural crops. Participation of women was higher in various production and post production activities of vegetables than of fruits and flowers. The lower participation of women in fruit cultivation activities may be due to lesser repetitive activities in fruits crops as compared to vegetables. The lower participation in flower cultivation may be due to lesser area under cultivation of flower crops in the surveyed villages. The data reveal that stubble collection, seed cleaning, seed treatments, transplanting and weeding were major farm activities which were mostly done by farm women. Women do more than half of the work of field preparation, manure application, cleaning and collection of produces, and sorting and grading in horticultural crops. While on the other hand women are not much involved in pit digging, training and pruning, planting of fruit trees, levelling of field, fertilizer application, and plant protection measures. The study also depicts that age, family income and land holding influence the participation of women in cultivation of horticultural crops, while type of family, education level and caste did not affect their participation.

Crop Monitoring for Improved Food Security

Nynke — Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:16:00 +0000

This FAO and ADB report summarizes the outcomes of the Expert Meeting on Crop Monitoring for Improved Food Security in February 2014 at Vientiane, Lao PDR. This expert meeting, gathered over fifty experts and focused on best practices and methodological issues related to crop monitoring and food security. Estimates and forecasts of crop area and yield are of critical importance to policy makers for the planning of agricultural production and monitoring of food supply. The possible links between poverty and crop yields, which depend upon a variety of factors such as cultivation practices, availability of irrigation, access to resources to buy agricultural inputs for adoption of new technology, cannot be fully understood without reliable estimates of crop area and yields. In the absence of reliable information on crop productivity the reasons behind food insecurity of agricultural households cannot be precisely identified. The report contains a series of technical papers presented in the meeting and some reference papers, and also tries to identify challenges for future research work.

Success stories on information and communication technologies for agriculture and rural development

F&BKP Office — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:36:43 +0000

This publication (PDF) from FAO presents seven case studies in innovative use of emerging technologies to improve the living standards of farming communities. The paper covers case studies from India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Thailand and Papua New Guinea wherein technology is used to share knowledge on farming method within local circumstances, to combat illegal fishing or to create smart irrigation systems. Smallholder resource-poor farmers are confronted by many challenges and at the same time, agriculture is becoming increasingly knowledge intensive. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have provided opportunities to address such challenges to improve agricultural production and productivity, and enhance value chains. Linking knowledge to innovation is crucial to addressing the information and knowledge gaps in the agriculture sector. Therefore, ICTs can play a very important role in bridging information gaps. This publication showcases a few case studies where innovative use of emerging technologies together with capacity development has brought about rich dividends. The authors highlights ICT as an important means of communication for sharing of information and innovations among all players of the agriculture sector.

The publication is a follow up to the FAO publication Information and communication technologies for sustainable agriculture (PDF).

2015

Increasing the efficiency of the dairy value chain in Uganda: Determinants of choice of milk marketing channels by dairy farmers

F&BKP Office — Tue, 06 Oct 2015 16:30:13 +0000

The article in the Livestock Research for Rural Development Journal argues that while the Ugandan dairy sector has experienced continuous growth the sectors milk marketing has remained largely informal. Government and other stakeholders have been carrying out several activities such as training on quality and quantity of milk production, handling, and marketing. The purpose of this study was to determine factors influencing farmers’ choices and the total proportions of milk sold to the formal milk marketing channel by dairy farmers. Results revealed the most significant determinants of formal marketing choice and the total milk proportions sold to formal channel were household size, total volume of milk produced, payment period, source of market information, milk selling price and distance to the milk collection centers. The study recommends public investment in infrastructure development, such as roads and electricity to support formal milk marketing. Also, more investments by the government and other development partners in farmer training and extension services activities tailored towards quality and quantity milk production and handling are needed to increase surplus milk production for sale in formal channel.

Institutions and policies to implement the Ethiopia livestock master plan

F&BKP Office — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 13:46:41 +0000

This International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) research brief (PDF) identifies institutional and policy issues in the Ethiopian livestock sector. While national policies do exist there is a lack of enforcement capacity and need for updates. Despite significant progress in increasing livestock production in Ethiopia, analysis of livestock production and consumption show a huge shortfall in the supply of livestock products. Detailed interdisciplinary research provides clear empirical evidence of the potential benefits of a comprehensive livestock master plan (LMP) for Ethiopia. Without investment, these gaps are likely to grow and cause food insecurity and other important economic and social repercussions. The brief identifies four institutional and policy issues for attention: 1) The availability and provision of land for livestock production and processing; 2) Research on secondary production, like processing and food manufacturing; 3) Enhanced capacity in the Ethiopia Livestock State Ministry to undertake the monitoring and evaluation of the impact of new investments, and policy and institutional changes; and 4) Strengthening of targeted policies and practices in the area of animal health, and the dairy, poultry, hides and skins, live animal and meat sectors, breed improvement, and in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas.

Report of INCLUDE’s working conference on building policy-knowledge communities on ‘productive employment in horticultural value chains’

F&BKP Office — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 09:51:30 +0000

To build policy-knowledge communities in Africa, the Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies (INCLUDE) organised a two-day working conference in Nairobi, Kenya. The conference, held on 11-12 May 2015, brought together about 70 policy stakeholders, including Platform members, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners from international development organisations and NGOs from Africa and beyond. A policy-knowledge communities on ‘productive employment in horticultural value chains’ was established. The conference was co-hosted by the Africa Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Kenya. An executive summary and a full report (PDF) on the working conference are available. Major policy questions on productive employment in horticultural value chains are how best to organize smallholder farmers integration into value chains? What modalities are most suitable for this? What are the best practices? Responding to the knowledge needs, INCLUDE studies are investigating new contracting models that smallholder farmers can use to access markets; setting up service centers to enhance farmers’ access to services in rural areas; and how policies influence development in horticulture among other focus areas.

Gene therapy for a changing climate

Nynke — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 15:14:25 +0000

This blog on Agriculture for Impact elaborates on some examples in which genetic improvements for seeds and livestock varieties provided benefits to smallholders. Genetic intensification incorporates conventional breeding and the use of biotechnology to cultivate crops and livestock breeds that satisfy a number of needs and can overcome challenges, such as climate change. Although many of these technologies remain controversial, they are gaining wider acceptance. The author argues that these technologies will need to become an important part of the response to reducing food insecurity in Africa, especially as climate change threatens agricultural productivity and livelihoods.

Women’s Empowerment in Rwanda: Evaluation of women’s economic leadership through horticulture planting material business

F&BKP Office — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 10:07:26 +0000

This report (PDF) by Oxfam, documents the findings of a quasi-experimental evaluation carried out in March 2014 that sought to assess the impact of the activities of the ‘Women’s Economic Leadership through Horticulture Planting-Material Business’ project. This project was implemented in four districts of Rwanda by Oxfam in partnership with Duterimbere, a local organization, between 2011 and 2014. The project aimed to strengthen women’s capacity for engaging in the production of pineapple planting material, and thereby to enhance women’s socio-economic status at household and community level, while also strengthening the capacity of the microfinance division of Duterimbere to provide finance and business services to women in the planting-material business. The Effectiveness Review provides clear evidence of the project‟s impact on engagement in the pineapple planting-material business. There is strong evidence that the project has enabled project participants to generate more revenue from sales of agricultural products. Furthermore, the project has had a significant positive impact on various characteristics of women‟s empowerment. Some of these are directly related to the project activities, such as the increased access to credit among participants in Nyagatare District, increased participation in producers‟ groups, and an increase in women‟s confidence to engage in business. However, there were also significant differences found in terms of characteristics less directly linked to the project activities, including attitudes towards women‟s rights and women‟s economic roles, social connections, and involvement in decision-making in the household or community. These factors suggest that the project has, to some extent, been successful in bringing about more wide-ranging changes in participants‟ position in their households and communities.

Innovation platforms to improve smallholder dairying in India and Tanzania

Babs — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 10:00:06 +0000

This report by ILRI reflects on the potential role of innovation platforms as spaces to identify and spread useful innovations associated with dairy production and feeding. It draws examples from MilkIT, a project to promote milk production in India and Tanzania. The idea of innovation platforms is introduced and it is shown how they can be used to define the key issues quickly. Furthermore, various changes in local practices that innovation platforms can stimulate are highlighted. The report also considers how local innovations can move beyond innovation platforms, and strategies to ensure that innovation platforms generate wide-scale changes are outlined. Important lessons from the report include: consider scaling early on, set a realistic time horizon and pay special attention to building sufficient local capacity in facilitation.

Bubble desalination latest effort to boost crop growth

Babs — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 14:22:19 +0000

The article in Desalination explains the Bubble-Greenhouse: A holistic sustainable approach to small-scale water desalination in remote regions. The Bubble-Greenhouse idea develops an existing seawater greenhouse concept, which uses the evaporation and condensation of salt water to produce fresh water for irrigation and to create a cool, humid environment inside a greenhouse, meaning crops need less water to grow. The new approach moves the evaporation and condensation processes outside the greenhouse. Inside two water-filled ‘bubble columns’, streams of thousands of tiny bubbles create a large surface for water to evaporate or condense. A unique property of seawater prevents the small bubbles joining to form big bubbles, thus maintaining a large surface area. Remote, arid places could be provided with a low-tech, low-maintenance way to turn salt water into fresh water to grow food. As the technology is conceptually simple to implement, it holds great potential for community participation, empowerment, skills development and capacity building of local people in remote locations.

LivestockPlus: Forages, sustainable intensification, and food security in the tropics

Babs — Mon, 07 Sep 2015 13:11:58 +0000

This article (PDF) in Ambio Journal elaborates on the ‘LivestockPlus’ approach, as an effort to intensify in sustainable ways the management of grasses, shrubs, trees, and animals in the tropics. By decoupling the human food and livestock feed systems, these efforts would increase the resilience of the global food system. Effective LivestockPlus approaches take one of two forms: (1) simple improvements such as new forage varieties and animal management practices that spread from farmer to farmer by word of mouth, or (2) complex sets of new practices that integrate forage production more closely into farms’ other agricultural activities and agro-ecologies. The authors highlight that efforts by forage experts to coordinate with other development and conservation agencies and NGOs can help motivate appropriate use of forages throughout rural landscapes. Furthermore, forage-focused sustainable intensification could represent part of a larger trajectory of desirable agricultural changes that would enhance human food security when there is a central coordination by larger organizations with national or international mandates to achieve sustainable intensification.

Policy incoherence in smallholder dairying in Bihar, India

F&BKP Office — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:46:11 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by CGIAR, explores the dairy innovation system of Bihar mainly to explore the critical bottlenecks in the policy environment that constrain smallholder dairying in the state. The authors maps the existing innovation capacity of the smallholder dairy sector through an analysis of patterns of interaction among the various actors and identifies the major institutions and policies that currently constrain development of improved capacity for innovation. The paper argues the need for addressing the policy incoherence in the smallholder dairy sector in Bihar through organization of a multi-stakeholder policy working group which focuses on ways of addressing policy gaps, enhances capacities for policy implementation and facilitates policy learning.

Innovation systems and technical efficiency in developing-country agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:38:55 +0000

In this article in the Agricultural Economics Journal, the authors argue that policy makers should focus on differences across countries when trying to combat low productivity and formulating global strategies and national policies for agricultural development. They showed how different components of an agricultural innovation system interact, to determine levels of technical inefficiency in developing-country agriculture. Using a model they compared the technological advancement of different countries and found that depending on the level of technological efficiency, different interventions were most effective. In some cases agricultural output is determined by the availability of agricultural labor force, size of arable land and the area of land equipped for irrigation, while in others productivity is boosted by increased fertilizer use and the availability of arable land.

Restoring community livelihoods and food security through livestock asset during drought disasters: case study of Mwingi, Kenya

F&BKP Office — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 13:26:53 +0000

This article (PDF) in The African Journal of Food, Agriculture, and Development elaborates on mitigation strategies used to prevent the impact of droughts on livestock and food security in Mwingi, Kenya. Since in Mwingi, people’s primary source of income is keeping livestock, the impacts on livelihoods were severe when during a previous drought almost half of the livestock died. Therefore a new integrated and collaborative approach was developed to mitigate both immediate and long-term effects. This strategy included participatory drought analysis and needs assessment in combination with the deployment of a drought response team which secured and restored livestock. The management of livestock during a drought crisis helped to safeguard livelihoods and food security of the affected region. By the end of the disaster management there were perceived benefits in terms of improved body condition of the animals, avoided animal deaths and indirect benefits derived from surviving livestock. The cost-benefit analysis indicated that the intervention generated $2.74 of benefits in the form of avoided losses for every $1 spent. If the time period was extended to 3 years, the benefit-cost ratio increases to $6.69 in benefits for every $1 spent. This case demonstrates that interventions on drought crisis focusing on animal welfare could help maintain and restore the livestock as a livelihoods asset of the regions’ farmers and help to enhance their food security.

Fruit consumption and production: habits, preferences and attitudes of rural households in Western Kenya

F&BKP Office — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 09:26:46 +0000

Currently, fruit consumption in Eastern Africa is far below recommended allowances and has implications for micronutrient malnutrition while little is known about the patterns and determinants of fruit production, consumption and marketing. The main research question of this paper (PDF) by Bioversity International and the World Agroforestry Centre was therefore: what are key trends in gender-disaggregated preferences, attitudes and decision-making processes of rural households for fruit consumption, production, and income generated from this activity? Data from 370 households was collected during a survey in July/August 2013 in five different agro-ecological zones (AEZ) along a transect of humidity in Western Kenya. Results showed that also in Western Kenya with favourable conditions for fruit tree growing fruit consumption is far below the recommended allowance. As a majority of participants would like to increase fruit consumption this should be seen as an incentive for increasing fruit production in Western Kenya.

Export horticulture – empowering female small-scale farmers in Kenya?

F&BKP Office — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 07:59:06 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Journal of the Geographical Society of Berlin is the outcome of a study on the international partner project “Changing Gender Roles in Sub-Saharan Horticultural Family Farming” funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Export horticulture is one of Kenya’s most dynamic sectors, with the Mount Kenya Region playing a crucial role as a result of its professional large- and small-scale production and marketing structures. The sector is consequently referred to as a “success story of African regional development”. A qualitative case study was carried out to understand the impacts on gender inequality of the integration of horticultural smallholdings into the fresh fruit and vegetable (FFV) supply chain to the European market. It will be outlined how export horticulture affects female small-scale farmers with reference to local distribution channels, the organisation of the farm as a group or an individual player, and the specific organisation of labour on the farm. The focus here is on the traditional division of labour, ownership and mobility patterns, as well as on knowledge and income. The study shows that the influence of the integration in the FFV chain on gender inequality is conditioned by both the type of relations to the buyers and the internal and institutional organisation of the smallholding. Surprisingly, in some areas of the primarily male-dominated rural society, an integration in the form of outgrower schemes that resembles Gereffi et al.’s model of a captive value chain, with women farmers exclusively responsible for export production, can enhance gender equality, as women gradually gain more decision-making power and greater independence.

Picking the fruits: Making horticulture sector development in emerging economies more successful

F&BKP Office — Sat, 25 Jul 2015 07:44:27 +0000

This paper (PDF) is prepared by Frank Joosten, Director of Advance Consulting BV and Research Fellow at LEI Wageningen UR for the Centre for Development Innovation (CDI) at Wageningen UR under assignment by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands. The purpose of this paper is to support policy makers, development practitioners and private companies with some guidelines for the design and implementation of successful horticulture development strategies. This discussion paper aims to provide some answers to these key questions: (a) How to assess the business case for horticultural growth and development in an emerging economy? (b) What are feasible options for inclusive growth in different horticultural supply chain arrangements? (c) What sort of external (public) support is required and justifiable to achieve inclusive growth and development? In the first part of the paper, the context for horticultural development is summarized. Main trends and specific characteristics of the sector are listed and general conclusions for the opportunities to realise the objectives are drawn up. The second part of the paper provides guidelines for the design and implementation of different support interventions in the horticultural sector. More details can be found in the annex to this discussion paper which elaborates on a number of issues raised in this discussion note.

e-Agriculture 10 Year Review Report: Implementation of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Line C7. ICT Applications: e-agriculture

F&BKP Office — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 16:13:34 +0000

This report (PDF) by the FAO, provides a comprehensive overview on the topic of ICTs in agriculture and rural development, not only covering achievements but also bringing together a large number of practical examples that have proven their effectiveness. Furthermore, the report reflects on what has been done, identifies challenges and upcoming trends as well as plan the use of ICTs into future work in a more effective, sustainable and innovative way. Positive trends observed include mobile applications for agricultural information, mobile services and stronger integration of ICTs into agriculture and e-agriculture strategies. Several challenges are highlighted: ineffective knowledge exchange and management of information content; limited human and institutional capacity; and inadequate sensitivity to gender and diverse needs of different groups. An important recomendation of the report is that linking knowledge to innovation is crucial in addressing the information and knowledge gaps in the agricultural sector.

Gut feelings and possible tomorrows: (where) does animal farming fit?

Babs — Thu, 16 Jul 2015 12:48:18 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the Food Climate Research Network (FCRN) focuses on the future of livestock production or rather on a range of different livestock futures. This paper takes a closer look at who the stakeholders are in the debate around livestock, the different narratives that they construct about the livestock problem and the solutions they propose. It does this by constructing four scenarios, each of which imagines a different livestock ‘solution,’ and explores the values that underpin them: 1) What might happen if the world were really like this?; 2) How is success defined in these futures; 3) What sort of dynamic tensions might start to manifest themselves; and 4) What new problems might emerge? The final part of the paper focuses on this ‘so what?’ question and makes the case for more self-critical, exploratory approaches to research, policy and advocacy.

How can we improve agriculture, food and nutrition with open data?

Nynke — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 15:40:52 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) elaborates on the role of open data in solving practical problems in agriculture and nutrition sectors. The authors state that alongside the challenges the world faces with regard to food security, there are also great opportunities due to the emerging global data infrastructure. The paper highlights three ways open data can contribute to increase food security: 1) Enabling more efficient and effective decision making; 2) Fostering innovation that everyone can benefit from; 3) Driving organisational and sector change through transparency. They present 14 cases that show how open data can be useful in different stages of agriculture, food production and consumption. From managing scarce water resources during the California drought or helping farmers in Africa estimate the outbreak of animal diseases. Open data can become a valuable tool for policy-makers, industry, small-scale farmers and consumers alike.

See also this CTA Working Paper (PDF) on open data and smallholder food and nutrition security (February 2015).

Responses of vegetation and soils to three grazing management regimes in a semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock system

F&BKP Office — Tue, 14 Jul 2015 14:26:25 +0000

In this article (PDF) in the African Journal of Ecology, three grazing regimes currently applied in Tigrai region of northern Ethiopia were compared to identify the best grazing management in key native vegetation and soil attributes. The methods used include a vegetation sampling, a soil sampling and a data analysis. The indigenous vegetation and soil parameters measured in the three grazing regimes suggest that grazing systems in the semi-arid highland mixed crop-livestock farming in Ethiopia were able to regain key vegetation attributes and soil properties provided that proper management in the form of seasonal resting is applied on regular basis.

How does the fruit and vegetable sector contribute to food and nutrition security?

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 15:33:47 +0000

This explorative study (PDF), conducted by LEI Wageningen UR within the Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP), looked at the potential of the fruit & vegetable sector for Food and Nutrition Security (FNS). The methodology consisted of a focused literature review mainly concentrated on the following countries: Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Indonesia and Vietnam; and semi-structured interviews amongst different growers, traders and workers in the Ethiopian fruit and vegetable sector. The development of the fruits & vegetables sector in developing countries has a positive impact on the FNS of the people engaged in the sector and for urban and rural consumers. Households with fruit and vegetable cultivation appear to have less nutrition-related health problems, which was particularly noticeable amongst women. The fruit and vegetable production and marketing sector are important sectors in terms of employment, income and scale of production. Increased levels of income have widely improved access to fruit and vegetables for African consumers. The production of vegetables has a comparative advantage with cereals and other food crop sectors particularly under conditions where arable land is scarce and labour is abundant. Vegetables have a lower comparative advantage when labour and access to inputs are limiting factors. The background and a more extensive summary of this report can be found here. The Food & Business Knowledge Platform is actively involved in the theme of Fruit and Vegetables: the latest news, events, and our own publications on this theme can be found at the theme page on Fruit and Vegetables.

Reviews highlight successes and challenges of Tanzania dairy innovation platforms

Babs — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 12:43:32 +0000

These reports by CGIAR review capacity building training of dairy innovation platforms in Tanga (PDF) and Morogoro (PDF) in Tanzania and highlight key opportunities and challenges in improving dairy production in the country. The outcomes of training programs held in December 2014 and January 2015 are highlighted, targeting dairy innovation platform leaders in the two regions to enhance their capacity and understanding of the functioning and usefulness of innovation platforms established by MilkIT dairy development program. An important lesson learned is that since most platforms consist mainly of producers based at the village level, widening their scope could potentially help them incorporate more players such as researchers, extension officers, farmer organizations, private enterprises, NGOs and policymakers. Lessons learned for building a dairy innovation platform can be watched in this movie. Recently, the MoreMilkIT project has started, aiming to implement dairy market hubs in the country to increase milk production to meet an increasing demand.

Uses of geothermal energy in food and agriculture: opportunities for developing countries

F&BKP Office — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 13:13:46 +0000

This book by FAO reviews the use of geothermal energy in agriculture and agro-industry around the world. With a simple format and illustrations and models, the book is accessible to a wide range of interested readers, including those with no technical background. It shows that geothermal resources have the potential to provide long-term, secure energy for the agriculture and food industry in both developed and developing countries. The book covers basic concepts, geothermal energy uses in practice around the world and the role of the public sector. It concludes with the main constraints and challenges to the use of geothermal energy in the agricultural and food industries of developing countries: i) policy and regulatory barriers; ii) technical barriers; and iii) financial barriers.

New biogas plant improves waste management in Kampala pig abattoir

Babs — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 13:07:31 +0000

Projects led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and partners are improving waste management at Wambizzi, the only pig abattoir in Uganda, as part of wider efforts to improve pig production and pork marketing in the country. A new biogas plant, funded by ‘More Pork For and By the Poor’, transforms waste from the pig slaughterhouse into methane gas. This clean power can be used for cooking and electricity as well as reduce the pathogen burden at the slaughter house premises and rendering slaughter waste into a product safe to use as fertilizer or even animal feeds. Efficient waste reduction and reduced use of firewood are indicated as major benefits of the biogas plant as well as reducing risks of cross contamination and environmental pollution.

Global strategy for the control and eradication of PPR

Babs — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 13:02:30 +0000

This joint publication (PDF) of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) introduces a Global strategy for the control and eradication of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR). PPR is a highly contagious disease of sheep and goats caused by a Morbillivirus closely related to rinderpest virus and is considered to be one of the most damaging livestock diseases in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The document is divided in three parts. Part A of the Global Strategy describes the rationale for controlling and eradicating PPR and other major small ruminant diseases, the general principles and the tools to be used. Part B describes the successive elements of the strategy and the four main stages. Part C explains how the principles and mechanisms will be used to provide coordination at both the global level and the regional level. For the French publication, please visit this link.

CARE’s dairy value chain: Making markets work for smallholder farmers in Bangladesh

Babs — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 12:55:19 +0000

In this book by CARE: Making Markets More Inclusive, in-depth, behind-the-scenes lessons are highlighted from CARE’s work in the dairy value chain in northwest Bangladesh. The book provides a top five of lessons on how to make markets work: 1) work along the entire value chain – not just with farmers; 2) experiment and learn; 3) skilfully empower women; 4) design for scale from the start and 5) making markets and value chains work for poor producers. The book can be of interest to practitioners, funders, companies and governments interested in dairy/ agricultural value chain development for the benefit of smallholder farmers.

Drought and food security – improving decision-support via new technologies and innovative collaboration

Babs — Mon, 18 May 2015 14:43:47 +0000

This article in Global Food Security focusses on improved decision-support for agricultural droughts that threaten the livelihoods of people living in vulnerable regions. The authors claim that new strategic partnerships are required to link scientific findings to actual user requirements of governments and aid organizations and to turn data streams into useful information for decision-support. Furthermore, they list several promising approaches, ranging from the integration of satellite-derived soil moisture measurements that link atmospheric processes to anomalies on the land surface to improved long-range weather predictions and mobile applications. The latter can be used for the dissemination of relevant information, but also for validating satellite-derived datasets or for collecting additional information about socio-economic vulnerabilities. According to the authors, the added value of these technologiesis could be a translation of early warning into local action, strengthening disaster preparedness and avoiding the need for large-scale external support.

The most critical scientific & technological breakthroughs required for food security & agricultural development

F&BKP Office — Thu, 14 May 2015 14:14:46 +0000

The main purpose of the 50 Breakthroughs study by LIGTT is to identify where game-changing technologies for sustainable development are most required. The study’s main objectives are to: 1) foster a thought-provoking conversation about the role of technology in solving the world’s most pressing problems, 2) provide contextual background for technologists; and 3) provide decision-makers a guide to asking the hard–but important—questions. This report on food security & agricultural development focuses on the key factors that can improve food production and smallholder farmer incomes: increasing yield, preserving food, improving market access, reducing workload (especially for women), and making agriculture more sustainable. The report is divided into chapters on: irrigation; fertilizers and plant nutrients; biotic stresses; post-harvest handling and storage; extension services; livestock; and sustainable agriculture. Each chapter covers three parts: core facts and analysis, key challenges, and scientific and technological breakthroughs. The study identifies a number of breakthroughs that are needed in agriculture such as new methods to produce fertilizers to replace current processes, which are extremely capital intensive and have significant environmental footprints.

Global trends in antimicrobial use in food animals

Babs — Tue, 12 May 2015 13:51:50 +0000

This study by experts from Princeton University, ILRI and other institutions is the first to measure global antibiotic consumption by livestock. Antimicrobials are used in livestock production to maintain health and productivity, however these practices contribute to the spread of drug-resistant pathogens in both livestock and humans, posing a significant public health threat. The paper presents a global map (228 countries) of antibiotic consumption in livestock. The researchers are expecting that due to urbanisation, increased wealth and changing diets, antimicrobial consumption will rise which will cause a risk of creating drug-resistant “super bugs”. Asia is the main region of concern as this is where demand for livestock products is growing fastest.

East African dairy farmers implement innovative livestock insurance

Babs — Mon, 11 May 2015 12:33:22 +0000

This article by Northrift News highlights an innovative livestock insurance project for dairy farmers in Kenya. East African dairy farmers who have opted for crossbred or exotic animals face the challenge of how easily the animals die due to hunger, disease or other factors, compared to hardy indigenous animals. The crossbreeds and exotics are often a liability, slowing down dairy production and limiting milk incomes, but farmers within Heifer International’s East Africa Dairy Development (EADD) project and across Kenya can now benefit from a new, low-cost animal insurance.

Global assessment of manure management policies and practices

Babs — Mon, 11 May 2015 08:57:48 +0000

This study (PDF) by the Livestock and Manure Management Component, part of CCAC, studied manure management policies and practice in 34 developing countries (in Asia, Africa and Latin America). Furthermore, an in-depth assessment of manure management practices in Bangladesh, Viet Nam, Ethiopia, Malawi, Argentina and Costa Rica was conducted. The focus of the report is on the global challenge of reducing climate emissions from livestock while improving food security and livelihoods. The report provides insight on manure management at farm level, barriers to adoption of integrated manure management practices, and understanding of the existing policies, institutional and incentive frameworks. Key barriers identified include: 1) lack of awareness; 2) low levels of knowledge and missing knowledge infrastructure; 3) limited access to financial credits or other incentives and 4) ineffective policies and legislation. As a result of the assessment, six opportunities for actual practice change will be carried out in the coming year.

Milk production pays off – Experiences of a DPPP approach in Northern Sri Lanka

Babs — Tue, 28 Apr 2015 12:16:52 +0000

In 2013, an international packaging company and a local retailer enterprise set up a project in Sri Lanka called “develoPPP initiative” (development partnerships with the private sector). The project aims at an increased quality and quantity of milk production and medium-term coverage of the regional demand, with a special focus on involving women and creating jobs for young people along the dairy value chain. Within a couple of months, the monthly collected amount of milk has increased from 3,100 litres to 35,610 litres, and the number of participating farmers has increased tenfold. The following three pillars are crucial to its success: 1) Setting up a dairy hub; 2) Constant training and advisory services; and 3) The establishment of rural milk producer groups. If you would like to learn more on improved food security through dairy, also read about this example from Zambia.

World mapping of animal feeding systems in the dairy sector

Babs — Mon, 20 Apr 2015 16:51:51 +0000

This report (PDF) by three partner organizations (IDF, FAO and IFCN) builds a knowledge foundation for animal feeding systems to serve as a valuable resource for the dairy sector and connected chain partners. The paper includes IFCN survey results on dairy cattle feeding systems for 44 countries; the IDF survey results on dairy cattle feeding systems for 15 countries; and the FAO survey results on dairy cattle, water buffalo, sheep and goat feeding systems for 43 countries. By comparing simple indicators a better understanding feeding systems throughout the world is possible, resulting in an overall mapping of the global situation on this issue. A total of 47 different feeding systems were characterized. The report can be used both to compare and improve feeding systems already in use by examining the success of similar systems from around the world and for the development of new feeding systems.

The African greenhouse: A toolbox

F&BKP Office — Sat, 11 Apr 2015 10:18:16 +0000

This toolbox (PDF) by Wageningen University and Research – Greenhouse Horticulture is to design greenhouse production systems in various climate zones and locations in Africa. Selection of a limited number of climate zones that are representative for Africa limits the variation in designs to be evaluated and makes the approach more effective for the Netherlands supply industry. The toolbox will result in a number of greenhouse cultivation systems that are most suitable for a given location, weighing perspectives such as greenhouse type, greenhouse installation, climate, production and economic viability. The toolkit will follow the ‘adaptive greenhouse approach’ in which models for greenhouse, crop and finances are combined. This report provides a basis for the toolbox. An overview of African climates is given, followed by options for greenhouse design: greenhouse constructions, greenhouse covers, climate systems, screens, substrates, water management, energy, fertigation systems, crop protection, and post-harvest issues. These are placed in the context of a number of production systems, viz., subsistence farming, small to medium farms, medium to large farms, farms growing speciality crops, urban and metropolitan horticulture, and agroparks. The expected future developments and the transitions from current situations to likely future situations are briefly described. Anticipating likely future developments enables an analysis of the potential of a certain farm type, the requirements for further development, and the options for Netherlands involvement.

A diagnostic tool for integrated analysis of complex problems and innovation capacity

Babs — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 14:24:23 +0000

This paper published in the Agricultural Systems journal introduces Rapid Appraisal of Agricultural Innovation Systems (RAAIS), a diagnostic tool that can guide the analysis of complex agricultural problems and innovation capacity of the agricultural system in which the complex agricultural problem is embedded. The tool focuses on the integrated analysis of different dimensions of problems, interactions across different levels and the constraints and interests of different stakeholder groups. Innovation capacity in the agricultural system is studied by analysing (1) constraints within the institutional, sectorial and technological subsystems of the agricultural system, and (2) the existence and performance of the agricultural innovation support system. The application of RAAIS is described for conducted analysis in Tanzania and Benin, demonstrates the use of the diagnostic tool and providing recommendations for its further use.

Unleashing science, technology and innovation for food and nutrition security: Developing a road map

Babs — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 14:24:47 +0000

The 2014 CTA international forum on “Unleashing Science, Technology and Innovation for Food and Nutrition Security: Developing a Road Map” brought together leading ACP and EU scholars, senior scientists/researchers/academicians, policy-makers, development practitioners, innovators, farmers and private sector representatives to deliberate on these interlinked issues which have national and global significance. The Forum covered four strategic issues: novel pathways for agricultural innovation; optimising resources (human and physical); the enabling policy and institutional environment; and the way forward. The final report (PDF) presents an integrated Road Map addresses critical gaps which were prioritized for the strategic areas considered relevant when going forward. The Road Map focuses on the means to upscale institutional change and to harness STI knowledge for business /social enterprises and entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities, enhance effectiveness and impact, and strengthen governance systems.

Livestock population dynamics and pastoral communities’ adaptation to rainfall variability in Botswana

F&BKP Office — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 16:05:20 +0000

In this study in Pastoralism Journal, drought severity and the impact of rainfall variability on livestock population and adaptation practices were investigated in Kgalagadi, Botswana, a district that is vulnerable to recurring mild droughts. The study found that livestock population In Kgalagadi, particularly goats, tend to be positively associated with mean annual precipitation. Pastoral farmers’ adaptation practices include destocking, supplementation and mobility. It was concluded that current grazing policies that promote fencing could therefore increase the pastoral farmers’ vulnerability to droughts, as it limits their mobility.

How a mix of livestock and crops on small farms will feed the world

F&BKP Office — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 12:53:49 +0000

This article in the Kenya’s Standard Digital newspaper, highlights the important role that mixed livestock and crop farms will play in feeding the world in coming years. The article cites research by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) that showed that ‘farmers and policymakers need to turn their attention to mixed farming systems’. The article highlights that farmers who mix growing crops with rearing livestock not only boost food security efforts, but also earn much needed income in the process. For more information on crop-and-livestock agricultural systems, see this slide presentation by ILRI director general Jimmy Smith and this map by ILRI.

Six innovations revolutionising farming

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:20:37 +0000

In this article by The Guardian, six innovations in farmer technology as are highlighted relating to the increased agricultural productivity of the last half century. These include: 1) dairy hubs (see example); 2) fertiliser deep placement (FDP); 3) mobile apps, such as VetAfrica or Farming Instructor; 4) high-roofed greenhouses (see example); 5) new feeding systems that meet animal’s nutrient requirements and 6) farm management software (see example) and training

Kenya-Dutch PPP puts new twist on ancient farm technology

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:09:49 +0000

SNV Kenya and the Dutch company Land Life Company joined in a public-private partnership to improve the water efficiency and survival rates of young trees in dry-land Kenya. For avocado trees as well as mango trees, a Land Life Box is provided, a donut-hole centred box that delivers water slowly and over time to the roots of young saplings planted. The boxes are made from recycled composite material or pulp and consist of a reservoir and a wick, a tree shelter, an evaporation sheet and mycorrhiza fungi. In this way, ancient practices are used with a modern technological twist.

Nanotechnology in agriculture, livestock, and aquaculture in China: A review

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:07:07 +0000

Nanotechnologies have been less developed in agronomy than other disciplines, due to less investment, but nanotechnologies have the potential to improve agricultural production. In this article at Springer Link (PDF), the authors review more than 200 reports on nanoscience in agriculture, livestock and aquaculture in China since the 1990s. The major findings of the research are: 1) nanotechnologies used for seeds and water have improved plant germination, growth, yield and quality; 2) nanotechnologies could increase the storage period for vegetables and fruits; 3) for livestock and poultry breeding, nanotechnologies have improved animal immunity, oxidation resistance, reduced use of antibiotics and less manure odour; 4) nanotechnologies for water disinfection in fishpond increased water quality and increased yields and survivals of fish and prawn; 5) nanotechnologies for pesticides increased pesticide performance threefold and reduced cost by 50 %; and 6) nano urea increased the agronomic efficiency of nitrogen fertilization by 44.5 % and the grain yield by 10.2 %, versus normal urea.

Biodigesters to improve milk production in Bolivia

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:03:08 +0000

In this project in Bolivia with financial support from Hivos and the technical support of SNV, a technology is used to convert dung into biogas that can be used for cooking and lighting. The slurry left over from this process is used as an organic fertilizer in order to increase the existing pasture yield and improve grass to feed cows, therefore boosting the productivity and quality of Bolivian milk production. There are already successful biogas programs running in Africa and Asia.

Participatory evaluation of chicken health and production constraints in Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 09:45:05 +0000

This study in Preventive Veterinary Medicine aims to investigate, using participatory research methods, the constraints facing both backyard and semi-intensive chicken farmers in and around Debre Zeit, Ethiopia. The goal of the study is to identify key issues to be addressed in order to facilitate the role of chicken production as a means to reduce poverty in Ethiopian livelihoods. Participants identified 9 categories of constraints: the most important overall were disease and access to feed. Despite generally detailed knowledge of disease risk factors, biosecurity measures were lacking or ineffective. The authors suggest that although many of these constraints may be viewed as technical issues to be overcome, the findings highlight underlying social factors that must also be addressed. An important recommendation of the report is that the low involvement of women in semi-intensive production needs to be recognized by poultry development schemes.

Assessing societal changes from changing dairy value chains in Sahelian pastoral communities

Babs — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 12:09:52 +0000

In this article by ILRI, a method is introduced that is being tried out in Senegal to measure the social impacts of dairy supply chain innovation in pastoralist societies. To collect and add value to milk from local herders and to help meet increasing demand for milk products in Dakar, a dairy plant has adapted its supply chain to the social customs of the Fula herders of this region. Women and children now stay put with the producing dairy cows and no longer travel with the men and the rest of the herd as they used to. Societal cohesion in the community has increased due to the increased dairy incomes, which are enabling the women to buy house building materials and to start consuming goods and services that were formerly out of their reach.

Optimum crossbreeding systems for goats in low-input livestock production system in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 09:31:17 +0000

This study in the Small Ruminant Research, aimed to maximize the amount (kg) of high value meat arising from surplus males and females per kilogram of the goat population and, maximize weight gains to turnoff age. Subsequently, the study aimed to decrease turnoff age, maximization of reproduction rates and minimization of the mature weight of does in the low-input livestock production system in Kenya. Three crossbreeding systems and a synthetic breed development were evaluated. A model was developed to compare these crossbreeding systems, and showed the optimum numbers required in each stage of a cross to maximize production. The findings showed that a multi-breed composite is required to form an optimum cross that would productively and efficiently perform in the low-input livestock production system. Generally, the information presented in the current study could provide an avenue for planning and successful execution of community-based goat genetic improvement initiatives in the slowly changing pastoral production circumstances in tropical environments.

Success stories for the Crop-Livestock integration project in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 08:18:36 +0000

From 2011 to 2013, ASARECA and the National Livestock Resources Research Institute (NaLIRRI) implemented a project “Harnessing crop-livestock integration to enhance food security and livelihoods resilience to effects of climate change in Eastern and Central Africa”. The aim of the project was to enhance productivity and value of smallholder crop-livestock systems in Uganda. This was done by promoting market-oriented smallholder dairy and vegetable production units, while developing innovations to boost the resilience of these units to the effects of climate change and variability. This document summarizes farmers’ experiences in testing climate smart agriculture technologies and innovations in Masaka and Ngora districts of Uganda.