Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper explores some aspects of contract farming with public–private partnerships that combine the expertise and profitability goals of the private sector with the enabling policies of governments. Contract farming (CF) has demonstrated its positive impact as an institutional innovation. Even smallholders can benefit: by reducing – if not eliminating –transaction costs, CF provides markets, finance and technology to smallholders. »

This article explores the role of insufficient production of fruits and vegetables and the effects of food waste and public policy in achieving recommended fruit and vegetable consumption. Even under the most optimistic socioeconomic scenarios (excluding food waste), many countries fail to achieve sufficient fruit and vegetable availability to meet even the minimum recommended target. »

This article focuses on the relationship between informality and food deserts in African cities. Informal settlements in rapidly-growing African cities are urban and peri-urban spaces with high rates of formal unemployment, poverty, poor health outcomes, limited service provision, and chronic food insecurity. Traditional concepts of food deserts developed to describe North American and European cities do not accurately capture the realities of food inaccessibility in Africa’s urban informal food deserts. »

This book lays the groundwork for more effective multisectoral action by analysing and generating emperical evidence to inform the joint targeting of nutrition-sensitive intervention. One fundamental ingredient of a successful strategy is the scale-up of interventions by agriculture (food security), health care, and WASH that are jointly targeted to geographic areas with high prevalence of stunting. »

This research assessed the impact of the main factors contributing to yield improvement of potatoes: improved varieties, healthier seed, better stored seed, late blight disease control and fertilisation. It was shown that it is possible to double yields and economic returns under the growing conditions in Burundi when growers plant healthy pre-sprouted seed of a new variety and apply chemical fertilisers and fungicides. »

This technical brief aims to examine the quality of farmer-produced seeds that smallholder farmers use for planting in Zimbabwe. Smallholder farmers in eastern Zimbabwe have the capacity to produce sorghum seed that matches formal seed certification standards. This emphasises the need for relevant stakeholders to recognise and promote the resilience of farmer-led seed systems »