R4D Agriculture Case Studies

Providing insights into global issues: reporting agriculture online

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 01:00:00 GMT

With over 200,000 readers around the world, New Agriculturist covers a wide range of stories and issues in agriculture and rural development

Maize Innovation Platform celebrates its first birthday in Rwanda's Eastern province

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Maize is an important staple crop in Rwanda with the potential for export if production can be significantly increased. The DFID-funded Research into Use Programme is working with a network of local partners to achieve that aim through a Maize Innovation Platform in Rwanda's Eastern Province.

Blazing a trail for forest rights...in Nepal

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Climate change is creating real changes in the Nepal Himalaya, and the effect is more pronounced in the mountains than in the low-lying areas. Georgina Smith visited the Sundari community to see how a DFID-funded Research into Use initiative is helping local communities to live with potential climate change induced vulnerabilities

Agriculture on-air

Thu, 21 May 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Recorded by Africans for Africans, the DFID-funded AGFAX monthly radio service, now in its 15th year, provides the latest information on agricultural and rural development to agricultural broadcasters and, through them, to millions of listeners across Africa

Integrated approaches halve pesticide use

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Using an integrated pest management strategy to control the aubergine pest - the eggplant fruit and shoot borer - has dramatically reduced pesticide use on the crop in Bangladesh and India. Control involved good sanitation practices in crops, resistant varieties, biological control methods, and a wide-scale publicity and promotion programme

Sharing knowledge - tell us a story

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Stories are a common tool used by farmers to communicate and get their message across. So could storytelling be a useful way for farmers to share experiences and information with scientists? An ICARDA-led Pilot Project is examining the value of storytelling, as a way of helping farmers to share their findings during plant breeding trials, and discuss their experience of farming more generally

Adapting to climate variability and climate change in Tanzania

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:00:00 GMT

With the help of the DFID-funded Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme, the women farmers in the semi-arid central region of Tanzania are gaining an understanding of how to adapt farming practices to better cope with the changing conditions

Seeding a message for farmers via the TV viewers of Kenya

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Makutano Junction, the Kenyan TV drama series responds to text messages from its regular TV viewers requesting follow up information on development issues and shows that the message is getting into farming areas

Sweet success of Bolivia's bitter potato

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 01:00:00 GMT

A regional initiative of the International Potato Center has been helping small farmers in Bolivia access high-value markets for their traditional freeze-dried potato products

A commodity-based approach to livestock trade

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:00:00 GMT

New standards proposed for livestock products from Africa could fundamentally change the way in which meat is imported into key markets and help poor livestock producers trade their way out of poverty

Encouraging growth in Africa's seed industry

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:00:00 GMT

The DFID-supported programme providing business development services to small and medium-sized seed companies is helping to transform Africa's growing seed industry

Sierra Leone takes a leaf out of Global Plant Clinic's book

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Poor farmers across Sierra Leone now have better and more regular access to reliable advice on plant health problems, after the DFID-funded Global Plant Clinic provided the Sierra Leone government with a way forward

Strategic opportunism in bridging research and policy in Latin America

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Research from the DFID Trade and Poverty in Latin America programme (COPLA), shows that the agricultural sector of the southern Peruvian Andes, where the poorest people in the country live, is vulnerable to the effects that the imports of goods from the US

Innovative techniques in rural road access open up areas for more food production

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

DFID's research programme SEACAP in South East Asia produces solutions for regional planning and local participation

Capacity strengthening for East African journalists

Thu, 22 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT

A pilot initiative to provide training to radio and print journalists from East Africa, alongside a major international conference, has helped to strengthen links between scientific researchers and the media

Managing climate risk in South Africa's Western Cape

Thu, 22 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT

A team of researchers led by the University of the Free State is working to give planners and farmers access to improved climate information and a range of options to help them prepare for a water-scarce future

Lessons on adapting to drought in north-east Niger

Thu, 22 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Lessons of the new farmers of Namary in Niger were captured through the

Pro-poor livestock policy and institutional change

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Searching for a new approach to livestock policy and institutional change to improve the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers has been the focus of a DFID-funded initiative

Water management in drought-affected North East Brazil

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Enabling long-term sustainable use of land and water, through management by local communities

Mitigating diffuse agricultural pollution

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Investigating the impacts of diffuse agricultural pollution on water quality and on livelihoods in intensively irrigated tropical and sub-tropical areas

Gardens for life

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:00:00 GMT

An innovative school gardening initiative in Kenya has been hailed a success following a pilot scheme, which also involved young people, teachers, project leaders, families and communities in the UK and India to garden and grow crops

Performance benchmarking your irrigation services

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Benchmarking procedures are promoted to improve the management of agricultural water services

Sweet Solutions to boost Vitamin A

Fri, 25 May 2007 01:00:00 GMT

The Vitamin A for Africa Programme (VITAA) successfully promotes a new orange-fleshed variety of sweet potato

Rice takes off

Thu, 24 May 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Paddy production in Africa has been on the rise for six years, helped by new varieties of rice known as NERICA introduced by WARDA

Fighting sleeping sickness in Uganda

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Protecting humans by treating animals. Helping livestock keepers apply insecticide only to the parts of the body of animals where tsetse flies like to feed is a low cost, sustainable way to fight trypanosomiasis

Taking a look at the bigger picture

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Farmers and fishers involved in adopting Integrated Floodplain Management in Bangladesh have benefited from higher catches, higher incomes from crops and greater community solidarity

FarmLime - sourcing low cost lime for small-scale farming

Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Agricultural lime is a farming input taken for granted in many countries; however this does not hold true in less-developed regions such as sub-Saharan Africa

Casting the net: a new approach

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:00:00 GMT

FMSP, A DFID-funded fisheries programme has developed a new learning approach towards better community fish-stock management

Equitable irrigation for the poor of Nepal

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:00:00 GMT

DFID-funded research results in more equitable distribution of water to poor farmers

Managing the world's fish resources

Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:00:00 GMT

Over 70 per cent of world fisheries are fully, or over exploited. This programme has developed guidelines, to improve resource management, because the sector directly supports over 200 million people