smallholder farmers

The aim of this article 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. 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. »

This book shares new data relating to Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), with emphasis on experiences in Eastern and Southern Africa to answer key questions on the following five topic areas: (1) Climate impacts; (2) Climate-smart varieties; (3) Farm management; (4) Value chains; and (5) Scaling up. The papers illustrate, among other things, how practitioners can access free online tools,how new varieties of crops or better soil management can help farmers adapt; how information networks or entrepreneurial training can help the spread of promising technologies; how private-sector firms can promote CSA; and how farmer-to-farmer training can help bring CSA to scale. »

This paper aims to stimulate a discussion of how to raise the farmers’ income by providing another way of looking at prices. Since farmers do not earn a sufficient livelihood, alternative ways than market prices have to be looked at: the ‘fair prices’. »

This paper evaluates the effect of market accessed through farmer organizations on household income in Tanzania. Farmer organizations can benefit farmers by increasing their incomes and providing a good platform for the provision of farm inputs and marketing of produce, which can immensely enhance farm productivity and increase farmers’ incomes. »

This paper argues that closing the living income gap for small-scale farmer requires tackling the underlying imbalance in risk and market power that many of them face when engaging in global food value chains. The underlying imbalance is not accidental, but reinforced by structural barriers at the level of individual supply chains, commodity sectors, and public policy agendas. »

Area-based approaches to address environmental risk are gaining popularity in aquaculture management. Researchers in the GCP project SUPERSEAS recently published a study in the Geographical Journal that demonstrates the need to rethink the development and application of area‐based approaches, taking into account how farmers themselves understand environmental risk. »