R4D Agriculture

DFID UK Funding to CABI 2009–2010: The CABI Development Fund (CDF), Global Plant Clinic, Impact case studies. Annual Report: April 2009 – March 2010.

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:23 GMT

An Integrated System of Agroforestry in Zambia

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:07 GMT

Annual Report 2010: Technologies without borders: Sharing regional innovations for food security

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:38 GMT

Bioversity International Annual Report 2010

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 08:16 GMT

Making carbon finance for sustainable agriculture work for poor people

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 05:23 GMT

CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS)

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:04 GMT

Project Status: Current
Project Background:

The programme is structured around 4 main working themes:

Adaptation to progressive climate change;
Adaptation through managing climate risks;
Pro-poor climate change mitigation;
Integration for decision making.

Project Objectives:

CCAFS overall goal is to overcome the additional threats posed by a changing climate to achieving food security, enhancing livelihoods and improving environmental management.

In order to meet this goal, the programme’s objectives are to:

Identify and develop pro-poor adaptation and mitigation practices, technologies and policies for agriculture and food systems;
Support the inclusion of agriculture in climate change policies, and of climate issues in agricultural policies, at all levels.

Intended Outputs:

How CCAFS will make a difference:

Promoting more adaptable and resilient agriculture and food systems, leading to better food security, better livelihoods, and better environmental management;
Mainstreaming climate variability and climate change issues into national, regional and international development strategies and institutional agendas;
Enhancing peoples’ understanding of climate change issues, including the tradeoffs between food security, livelihoods and the environment, as well as measures for adapting to and mitigating climate change;
Informing actions to deal with climate change, and ensuring that decisions on policies and actions are based on the best information and data;
More resilient rural communities, in a better position to adapt to a changing climate and increase in food insecurity, while taking into account sustained livelihoods and the environment.

Actual Outputs:

CCAFS is still a newly established research program and impact has yet to be concluded.

The Introduction of Mobile Plant Clinics to Uganda. First Results and Lessons Learned 2005 – 2010.

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 02:42 GMT

A model for developing ICT based services for Agriculture Extension

Wed, 25 May 2011 07:55 GMT

Project Status: Completed

Project Objectives: Agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy and continues to be the single largest sector employing 48.4% of the total workforce, contributing almost 24% to the GDP. The Provincial Agriculture Extension Department is the main source of information for farmers on productivity issues. The Agriculture Extension Department is a huge enterprise with the Punjab province spending approximately £14.34 million in 2009. The Government’s extension services do not reach poor farmers due to their small holdings, geographical spread and low motivation of the extension staff in serving them.

Agriculture faces key challenges such as stagnating yields, wide gaps in yield between progressive farmers and average farmers etc. Research information exists that could help increase productivity but the farmer is unable to use it. This is due to any or all of the following factors; a) the farmer does not know about its existence, b) does not have access to it, c) does not have the means to interpret it, and finally, d) cannot pay for a, b &c combined.

Investment in agriculture should be a priority as investment in this sector is four times more effective than investment in any other sector in terms of its impact on poverty alleviation (World Bank, WDR 2008).

This research aims to test the hypothesis that using ICTs to provide actionable information to the farmers on a timely basis and at a low cost increases their ability to improve yields and thus their earning capacity.

Intended Outputs: Outputs Phase 1:

1 ) A thorough review of the current agricultural extension communication processes and evaluation of the potential use of ICTs.

2) A baseline survey using Most Significant Change methodology to identify current attitudes, behaviours experiences of a key group of farmers and extension personnel.

3) Research findings documented on how farmers respond to current mechanisms of extension communication and analysis of the potential for these farmers to adopt and use ICTS, e.g., mobile phones and/or help-lines.

4) An understanding of the behaviours required to overcome any identified constraints to the uptake of ICT based knowledge tools by the farming community.

5) Definition of ICT applications required to deliver the identified knowledge packages in synch with the proposed business model.

The CABI Development Fund (CDF) Mid-term report to DFID 2010-2011.

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 06:52 GMT

Planting without ploughing: zero-till wheat takes root.

Tue, 15 Mar 2011 04:48 GMT