Knowledge Portal

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. »

The Food Price Crisis Observatory by the World Bank is an interactive information platform for policymakers, civil society and global organizations, the private sector and anyone else interested in identifying multi-country food crises as they unfold, tracking where and why food riots take place, and monitoring country-specific policies that can mitigate food price crises. Four modules are covered, providing an integrated approach to food crisis monitoring. »

This discussion paper (PDF) by IDS explores the views of people living on low and precarious incomes on the connections between food price changes and climate and environmental change. It is based on the 2012 findings of the four-year (2012–2015) Oxfam–IDS research project “Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility”. »

This briefing by IIED highlights the need to adapt the rural-urban production-based debate on food security narratives: urban dwellers are not all ‘over consumers’; rural communities are not exclusively producers. The authors argue that it must be considered how consumption and urbanisation are transforming rural spaces and economies, food systems and food security. »

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 »