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Empowering agricultural extension agents to deliver improved farming technologies
August 30, 2017 Editor 0
Taking charge: An extension agent talks to farmers in a field day meeting in Babati District, Tanzania (photo credit: Job Kihara/CIAT). One of the major paradoxes confounding agricultural development researchers today is: Why, in several instances, don’t smallholder farmers adopt agricultural innovations and technologies whose ability to improve livelihoods has been validated through scientific processes? […]
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Water management knowledge key in small-scale irrigation development
August 30, 2017 Editor 0
Small-scale irrigation development could positively benefit the intensification of crop-livestock mixed farming systems in the Ethiopian highlands because it improves climate resilience in the rainy season through supplementary irrigation and provides off-season benefits as it enables agricultural production in the dry season. The intensification of production can positively impact household income, nutrition and ultimately livelihoods […]
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Stakeholder involvement, knowledge, and gender norms key for effective rainwater management
August 1, 2017 Editor 0
Cattle cool off in the Awash River, Oromia, Ethiopia, after a long trek (photo credit: ILRI). Poor rainwater management (RWM) is a major challenge in the smallholder mixed crop-livestock farming system in Ethiopia. Success of previous RWM interventions by government and international organizations has been hampered by weakness in technical design, minimal community involvement in […]
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How Africa RISING interventions affecting production diversity and dietary quality
July 28, 2017 Editor 0
Addressing shortage of micro-nutrients in the diet, which is referred to as ‘hidden hunger’, is becoming an increasingly important goal in the human development agenda. The three regions in northern Ghana where Africa RISING intervened cover 40% of the nation’s land mass and have the highest poverty rate in the country. Smallholder farmers constitute a majority of the […]
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The use of a hybrid latent class approach to identify consumer segments and market potential for organic products in Nigeria
July 26, 2017 Editor 0
Abstract Using data from a hypothetical stated preference survey conducted in Nigeria, we show how the relative importance that consumers attach to organic products’ attributes varies strongly as a function of underlying attitudes. We specify a latent class structure that allows us to jointly analyze responses to stated choice and assignment to latent classes, while […]
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Expanding use of solar irrigation pumps in Ethiopia
July 25, 2017 Editor 0
A farmers in Lemo woreda with his newly installed solar irrigation pump (photo credit: IWMI/ Petra Schmitter). In the first phase of the Africa RISING project in the Ethiopian highlands, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) investigated technologies that could improve farmers’ access and use of the available water in their surroundings for better agricultural […]
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