Report

The Access to Seeds Foundation has commissioned a study focused on improving access to seeds by smallholder farmers. The report (PDF) provides baseline information on the East African regional seed sector detailing both regional and country specific scenarios. The research is based on existing literature and interviews with regional and national seed sector actors. Twelve countries are included: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. »

This publication (PDF) by IDS reviews how the various definitions of ‘youth’ relate to three dominant discourses about poverty and vulnerability in urbanising Africa: 1) food insecurity; 2) unemployment; and 3) violence/insecurity. The paper’s discussion of common youth definitions seeks to identify if and when these are responsive to the needs of urban youth as well as practical for policy efforts aimed at reducing poverty and vulnerability in urban areas. »

This report (PDF) by three partner organizations (IDF, FAO and IFCN) builds a knowledge foundation for animal feeding systems to serve as a valuable resource for the dairy sector and connected chain partners. The paper includes IFCN survey results on dairy cattle feeding systems for 44 countries; the IDF survey results on dairy cattle feeding systems »

This report (PDF) synthesises the findings from four country case studies produced for the DFID-ESRC project. The paper explores causes and consequences of food-related riots and right-to-food movements in Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Mozambique in the period 2007-2012. »

This report explores how gender matters in small-scale farm power mechanization in African agriculture, particularly in maize-based systems. It investigates how inter-household gender dynamics affect women’s articulation of demand for and adoption of mechanization in Ethiopia and Kenya. The study offers a conceptual approach to grasp these gender dynamics, a gender analysis methodology, and a set of recommendations. »

The FAO Food Outlook is a biannual publication (May/June and November/December) focusing on developments affecting global food and feed markets. This report (PDF) from October 2014 highlights that food markets are more stable and prices for most agricultural commodities are sharply lower than they have been in recent years. »