Knowledge Portal

The analysis presented in this paper (PDF) in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, reflects specifically on those proposals based on a common aspect: the need to transform the governance of the EU present-day food system, that is, who makes decisions, how are those decisions made, and which changes need to be made to empower food consumers. The introduction of reforms to change these models is proposed. »

In this blog post, Sophie Theis and Delia Grace relate findings from a recent A4NH/International Livestock Research Institute analysis of 20 livestock and fish value chains in Africa and Asia that reveal how gender differences in value chain participation influence risk exposure. »

The authors provide evidence for a “conceptual lock in” in rural advisory services, one that constructs farmers as male regardless of the reality of female farmers on the ground. They show that this not only hampers access by women to advisory services, it also fails to tackle the underlying gender inequalities that prevent both women and men from maximizing their decision-making capacity and economic potential. »

This working paper discusses emerging policy implications for economic diversification in rural sub-Saharan Africa. While continuing to prioritize rural investments in the economic and social sectors, governments should mainstream rural development within national strategies and commit to the long term. »

This report (PDF) by Grow Africa and IDH, offers a first set of insights, distilled from the knowledge of leading practitioners, on how to successfully integrate smallholders into value chains through effective service delivery and smallholder aggregation models. »

This paper by Future Agricultures aimed to explore in a systematic way the perspectives of rural young people, their parents and development officials on a series of questions relating to work in general and agriculture in particular. The study presents the results of a series of Q Methodology studies with secondary students and parents in Ghana, and with development officials. »