Knowledge Portal

This study assesses the impact of cooperative membership among dairy producers in Selale, Ethiopia. Cooperatives are sometimes seen as being instrumental in poverty alleviation among dairy farmers and can provide a suitable environment for dairy intensification. However, the authors stress that in this case there were trade-offs between cooperative functions. »

This book written by Jelleke de Nooy van Tol discusses how we can support and accelerate the transition to agro-ecology practices worldwide. Lessons learned from the frontrunners show that personal leadership and individual action are utmost important. De Nooy van Tol emphasizes that knowledge systems need to change, since now they are too tightly knit to industrial agriculture, and monoculture production systems. New thinking in agricultural research for development is needed to facilitate change instead of providing “objective” knowledge. »

This paper assesses which policy approaches are most effective to achieve zero hunger in the world by 2050. Three different kind of policies were analysed: policies related to influencing demand, policies targeting consumer access to food and policies targeted at influencing producer supply. The authors conclude that the effectiveness of food security policies is determined by selecting the best bundle of policy instruments for the specific context and country and that trade-offs between policy instruments should be well-understood, in order to achieve the right goals and avoid perverse outcomes. »

This brief paper explores the opportunities for African banks in financing intra-African food trade, in particular using value chain financing mechanisms (also called structured financing techniques). Value chain financing is used widely in the continent’s agricultural trade, but mostly for exports to and imports from other parts of the world, not for intra-African trade. And most such value chain financing transactions are managed by international banks, with African banks having at best a supporting role. »

This report by Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment describes a current indigenous soil management system in West Africa, in which targeted waste deposition transforms highly weathered, nutrient- and carbon-poor tropical soils into enduringly fertile, carbon-rich black soils, hereafter “African Dark Earths” (AfDE). AfDE provide a model for improving the fertility of highly degraded soils in an environmentally and socially appropriate way, in resource-poor and food-insecure regions of the world. The method is also “climate-smart”, as these soils sequester carbon and enhance the climate-change mitigation potential of carbon-poor tropical soils. »

This working paper (PDF) from CGIAR synthesizes the most up-to-date knowledge on actions and institutions that bolster smallholder farmers’ climate resilience, drawing upon research from agricultural systems across CGIAR’s diverse portfolio. The adaptation measures are identified as taking place above the level of farmers’ practices on the field. »