agricultural production

This article examines the linkage between farm production diversity and household dietary diversity in rural Ghana and how that linkage changed between 2005–06 and 2012–13. Results suggest that farm production diversification, as well as household income growth, continues to be strongly associated with increased household dietary diversity. Recent agricultural transformation seems to have not yet markedly improved integration of rural food and agricultural markets into the wider economy. »

This paper examines the effect of conflict on agricultural production of small farmers and whether households respond differently to conflict shocks and uncertainty brought about the presence of non-state armed actors. Shocks may arise when either government or non-state armed actor is hegemonic in the region »

This article measures farmlevel postharvest losses for three main crops—maize, soy, and groundnuts—among 1,200 households in Malawi. To optimally design interventions targeted at reducing losses, it is important to know where losses are concentrated between the farm and fork. Farmers answered a detailed questionnaire about losses during harvest and transport, processing, and storage. The findings indicate that fewer than half of households report suffering losses conditional on growing each crop. »

This series of Technical Guidance Documents by FAO and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) addresses the need for mainstreaming biodiversity and ecosystem services into agriculture, at the national level. More specifically, it is aimed to assist countries in developing and implementing their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSA Ps), to consider ecosystem services – and opportunities for their management – in agricultural production systems. »

This article analyzes four gender myths about women, agriculture, and the environment persist. 1) Women account for 70% of the world’s poor; 2) Women produce 60 to 80% of the world’s food; 3) Women own 1% of the world’s land; 4) Women are better stewards of the environment. »

This article by the Worldbank Group is a product of the “Agriculture in Africa—Telling Facts from Myths” project. It challenges the common knowledge of the contribution of women in Africa’s agricultural. The contribution of women to labor in African agriculture is regularly quoted in the range of 60–80%. Using individual, plot-level labor input data from nationally representative household surveys across six Sub-Saharan African countries, this study estimates the average female labor share in crop production at 40%. »