Knowledge Portal

This report presents the lessons from a regional finance fair in Mbarara, Western Uganda. The objectives of the fair were to provide a platform for building business links and brokering deals between farmer entrepreneurs in the livestock sector and financial service providers as well as jointly find solutions to other challenges in the livestock value chain. »

This policy note by the Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii) makes the case for agricultural insurance in the context of food security, explains the role of regulation to make effective risk protection work and highlights some of the challenges in regulating innovative index-based insurance approaches. »

This briefing paper highlights the fact that while governments in recent years have begun to take seriously the issue of undernutrition and have made a series of commitments at the global as well as the national level in this area, levels of aid and domestic financing of nutrition interventions still lag behind this political ambition. In this briefing paper, Generation Nutrition shows how global progress towards the World Health Assembly targets on stunting and acute malnutrition in under-fives needs to be accelerated. It also examines the current funding gaps for nutrition and proposes remedies – both at the international and country level. »

This factsheet discusses women’s triple work burden in the household, as producers and at community level. The competing demands linked to this triple role make women time poor. This affects their quality of life and decision making, puts their health at risk and prevents them from taking full advantage of economic opportunities through engagement in income generating activities. »

This blog on Takepart describes an interesting technological innovation serving smallholder farmers in Nigeria. For resource-poor farmers, labor shortages often leads to under-cultivation, poor harvests and lost income. Targeted farm mechanization has proven to be an effective solution to these shortages. Despite this, small farmers throughout Africa lack access to tractors to improve farm productivity. The company “Hello Tractor” has designed an innovative, low-cost “Smart Tractor” specifically for small farmers unique needs. »

The study in the International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology aimed to determine the effects of rural-urban youth migration on farm families in Benue state, Nigeria. The study recommends that Nigerian government should provide adequate physical and social infrastructure in rural areas in order to encourage youths to remain in agriculture, reduce rural-urban youth migration as well as sustain agriculture for enhanced food security. »