Africa

This expert opinion of Dominic Clover assesses to what extend India’s thriving seed sector can play a role in delivering affordable, high-quality seeds to African farmers. Clover argues that India shares some of the diverse agro-ecologies and crops found in Africa, so technologies and methods used by Indian farmers might also be relevant to African situations. India’s development story, as an emerging economy with millions of its own small-scale cultivators, might indeed provide relevant knowledge, expertise and investments to help develop the seed sector in Africa. »

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 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 report by FARA identifies barriers to scaling up/out climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices and proposes strategies and practical actions to remove the barriers and enhance adoption of CSA in Africa. The publication highlights that Early Warning Systems (EWS) are critical for monitoring major uncertainties when making decisions regarding the bio-physical, management and ecological barriers to adoption of CSA. Successful CSA practices at farm, landscape and entire food system levels are essential to be up and out-scaled. »

This article elaborates on the importance of informal seed markets for African family farmers. Using a comprehensive data set with 9660 observations across six countries and covering 40 crops, the authors show that farmers access 90.2 % of their seed from informal systems with 50.9 % of that deriving from local markets. However, current investments are mostly geared towards formal markets instead of informal ones, while the informal sector remains the core for seed acquisition in Africa. »

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) & The International Labour Organizattion (ILO) prepared a background paper for the Feeding Africa conference of October 2015. The paper highlights several challenges and opportunities in involving youth in agribusiness. The authors stimulate the development of a special program to promote youth in agribusiness. »

This article 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. »