Developments

Assuring food and nutrition security in Africa: putting the pillars in place

Our young have become 'agrophobic' lamented a keynote speaker from Malawi at the international conference on 'Assuring Food and Nutrition Security in Africa by 2020', which was held in Uganda from 1-3 April. It was just one of several urgent challenges that African policy-makers and civil society leaders gathered to address in Kampala.

Conserving animal genetic resources - the race is on

Action to conserve livestock genetic resources lags seriously behind plant conservation and the consequences for agriculture are potentially very serious. Ex-situ conservation of genetic resources is effective but too costly. In-situ breed survival, on farm, is both cheaper and more effective...

Hotting up the market for chillies

In Malawi the National Smallholders Association of Malawi (NASFAM) has demonstrated how its members can be helped in accessing markets for rice, groundnuts, paprika, cotton and chilli. Various contractual arrangements have been negotiated for NASFAM members with financiers, input suppliers and traders...

Research partnerships - potential unfulfilled

Research and development is urgently needed in most agriculture-dependent countries, but funding is invariably lacking. An obvious remedy would be for public and private research to pool expertise and share resources. Why then are such joint endeavours relatively rare?

Local control of forest resources holds opportunities and challenges

Hope for a reversal in rampant deforestation and the gripping poverty that millions of people suffer from in developing countries as a result of resource mismanagement must lie in participation of local communities...