Sub-Saharan Africa

This article reports findings on the steps and pathways thorugh with young people construct livelihoods in hotspots of agricultural commercialisation. Findings draw attention to a new potential area for intervention: the use of social protection measures to help minimise downside risks associated with hazards, so that the young people’s hard-earned assets are less vulnerable to loss. »

This study investigated youth employment challenge and rural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa for 54 independent African countries from 2010 to 2017. The new interest in young people as economic agents within Africa’s agrifood systems is to be welcomed. Empowering the youth is developing Africa through rural transformation. This may come quickly if youth employment becomes the litmus test of Africa’s development policies.  »

This brief summarises insights from a  study which examines the lessons that can be drawn from previous crises to inform responses to Covid-19 in rural Africa. How Covid-19 and responses to it will unfold in rural Africa is uncertain, but recovery from previous crises has often been quick and strong, even when the measures taken have been quite modest.  »

This article systematically reviewed the scholarly and gray literature on banana trait preferences, with specific attention to studies that document gender-differentiated traits. 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. »

This study uses a novel policy integration perspective to investigate the extent to which eight ministries in Uganda integrated nutrition concerns across their policy outputs between 2001 and 2017. The study found a shift towards increased integrated government action on nutrition over time. The 2011–2015 analysis period was a critical juncture where increased integration of nutrition was observed in all policy integration dimensions across all ministries »

This study examined the use of the household dietary diversity score (HDDS) to assess household nutrient adequacy in Ethiopia. he study found suggestive evidence within the food systems that improving household-incomes, access to health and transport services are beneficial to improve HDDS and nutrient consumption in Ethiopia. »