Agroforestry World
Faced with the unreliable weather patterns in a changing climate, high population, and shrinking farm sizes, subsistence farmers in Africa are turning to various coping mechanisms in order to ensure a crop and some income. A survey in...
Cultivation of the wild indigenous fruit tree, Dobera glabra, could help to achieve greater food security in dry regions of Ethiopia. Dobera glabra has great potential as an agroforestry species in dry areas due to its ability to...
To support the decision whether and how to engage in alternative charcoal production, the Biomass Technology Group (BTG) on behalf of NL Agency has developed the Alternative Charcoal Tool (ACT). If you want to know how to produce...
To overcome poverty, hunger and malnutrition as well as their close bedfellow environmental degradation, we would all do well to heed the dozen principles discussed in a new article by Roger B. Leakey. Instead of giving farmers cash...
Agricultural development policies in Africa to date have largely centered on lifting smallholder farmers out of poverty while improving food security. But Phil Dobie, Senior Fellow at the World Agroforestry Centre, argues that a continued focus on smallholders...
“I have learned how farmers have changed in the last ten years. They are open and keen to use new technologies,” says Gebrekirstos. She recounts what a female farmer in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia said during one of the...
Often, it is assumed that all farm-related decisions in rural Africa are made by the head of the household, usually the oldest male. As part of her PhD research, Seline Meijer went to Malawi, where she has been...
Active ingredients found in wild flowers, trees and bramble have been used for millennia to control pests and diseases. Different parts of the plants are processed into decoctions or applied directly to crops or livestock, protecting them from...
By Arsene, Ahijah, Hubert, Inna, Mélodie and Sabrina (students at Lycée Denis Diderot, Nairobi). On 21 March 2014, World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) researcher Mary Njenga visited Lycée Denis Diderot (LDD), the French School in Nairobi, and gave a...
Planting trees and livestock-keeping might well go hand-in-hand in helping farmers both mitigate and adapt to a changing climate. Livestock are often adapted to relatively marginal environments and can diversify rural production, promoting climate resilience. At the same...
It was touted as a wonder crop to improve farmer incomes and aid rural development, but jatropha failed miserably in Kenya. Scientists have been analysing what led farmers to grow jatropha in the absence of reliable markets for...
Are men really the ones who make most of the decisions about planting trees on the farm? And if they make these decisions, will more trees actually get planted than if these decisions are made by women? A...
A new initiative launched on 28 February 2014 will be carry out projects in Kenya and Vietnam, projects whose success could serve as an example for integrated and sustainable land and water management for productive landscapes. The...
By Rebecca Selvarajah Two new articles in the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics highlight the role of the ‘Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D)’ approach in Africa. The approach integrates markets and innovation platforms (IPs). FARA,...