Africa

This article elaborates on the possibilities of climate-smart livestock technologies in rural Tanzania. Crop-livestock production systems play an important role in the livelihoods of many rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) but are vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Understanding which farming options will give the highest return on investment in light of climate change is critical information for decision-making. »

This article in the Food Security journal explores the link between resilience and child malnutrition in Africa. Using detailed survey data from Mali, this paper examines whether the resilience capacity of households is a determinant of child malnutrition. The empirical evidence presented here demonstrates that higher resilience capacity is associated with both lower probability of having malnourished children. »

This policy briefing by IDS focuses on the increasing of youth participation in livestock production in Kenya. Agriculture is a primary source of employment in Kenya. Most employment takes the form of smallholder crop and livestock farming, either as a main or supplementary livelihood activity. In recent years, youth have been found to prefer employment in non-farm livelihood activities to farming. »

This article in PLOS ONE, analyses the role of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) for agricultural innovation and scaling. Multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) are seen as a promising vehicle to achieve agricultural development impacts. By increasing collaboration, exchange of knowledge and influence mediation among farmers, researchers and other stakeholders, MSPs supposedly enhance their ‘capacity to innovate’ and contribute to the ‘scaling of innovations’. »

This artice examined the influence of food consumption diversity on adequate intakes of food calories, proteins and micronutrients among households in rural Nigeria within the framework of panel data econometrics using a nationally representative data. The authors found that substantial proportion of households suffered deficiency of calories, proteins and certain micronutrients. »

This article uses remote sensing with a high spatial resolution (30 m) to monitor agricultural expansion in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso ranges amongst the fastest growing countries in the world with an annual population growth rate of more than three percent. This trend has consequences for food security since agricultural productivity is still on a comparatively low level in Burkina Faso. In order to compensate for the low productivity, the agricultural areas are expanding quickly. »