Tag: agricultural policy
Beyond averages: new approaches to understand heterogeneity and risk of technology success or failure in smallholder farming
In recent years, many studies have demonstrated the heterogeneity of the smallholder production environment. Yet agronomic research for development (R4D) that aims to identify and test options for increasing productivity has not consistently adapted its approaches to such heterogeneous conditions. This paper describes the challenges facing research, highlighting the importance of variation in evaluating the performance of soil management recommendations, integrating aspects of production risk management within the formulation of recommendations, and proposing alternative approaches to implement agronomic R4D. Approaches are illustrated using two multi-locational on-farm paired trials, each having one no-input control treatment and a treatment with fertilizer application for maize in Western Kenya and for beans in Eastern Rwanda. The diversity of treatment responses should be embraced rather than avoided to gain a better understanding of current context and its relation with past management.
Towards sustainable management of soil biodiversity in agricultural landscapes in Africa
Soil biodiversity constitutes an important part of the terrestrial food web and plays a major role in sustainable agriculture. However, the wider benefits of soil biodiversity have been largely ignored by traditional and conventional agriculture in Africa. This work synthesizes the current state of knowledge and highlights the unique challenges to management of soil biodiversity in African agriculture. The role of soil biodiversity in integrated pest management (IPM), maintenance of soil fertility and rehabilitation of degraded land is demonstrated. The analysis provides evidence supporting the hypothesis that agricultural intensification negatively impacts on soil biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Recognition of the role of soil biodiversity in agricultural and educational policies and adoption of multi-sectoral approaches could improve its sustainable management in Africa.
Consultancy on tree seed sector policy analysis. Back-to-office Report
This is a back-to-office report on a task carried out for the Provision of Adequate TreeSeed Portfolios (PATSPO) project. It is a report on an initial scoping mission that took place between 5th – 9th March 2018. The findings are based upon visits to and discussions/interviews in institutions around Addis Ababa (see Annex I), some limited fact-checking as was possible, and previous and subsequent desk research. Unfortunately, two planned visits did not happen. It was impossible to visit the regional seed centre in Sebeta as a result of civic unrest in Oromia. The planned visit to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources did not take place because the staff of the relevant directorate was on a week’s meeting outside of Addis Ababa.
Reducing Rice Imports in Côte d’Ivoire: Is a Rise in Import Tariff the Solution?
The first-difference version of a source-differentiated almost ideal demand system is used to estimate demand for Ivorian rice imports. The results indicate that Thailand will benefit most from an expansion of imports of luxury rice and broken rice products. Vietnam will gain from growth in the market for standard rice. The results also suggest that adoption of a new 35 percent tariff policy to protect the domestic industry will not be enough to improve social welfare in Côte d’Ivoire in spite of increased production value.
Enhancing co-production of knowledge: Visualisation and engagement approaches for evidence-based decision making within the Kenya Agroforestry Strategy
Shifting the relationship between science and decision making is a key challenge for sustainable development. We conducted a two-part behavioural study linked to the preparation of the Kenya Agroforestry Strategy. Two virtual workshops followed a data visualisation preference survey of 174 technical officers to compare the influence of a peer-led and a facilitated workshop on inclusive, evidence-based decision making. A post-workshop survey, facilitator or observer reports, coded transcriptions of group discussions, root causes capturing social actor perspectives, and strategy content were analysed. Results from the visualisation preference survey indicate that most respondents preferred more straightforward displays like tables and bar charts over the more complex ridge and box plots. Limited exposure to diverse visualisation formats calls for capacity development and innovative ways to share data in multiple formats. Engaging scientists in co-production processes allows more complex data to be accessed and understood by decision makers. Triangulation across diverse data sources associated with the workshops indicates facilitated groups had greater inclusion of participants and better integrated scientific and social actor perspectives in the strategies they developed. The importance of skilled facilitators and engagement processes are therefore highlighted. Small workshop sample sizes and complex interactions indicate that further studies are needed to validate our findings, but the results of this study provide valuable insights for knowledge translation and social learning as part of co-production to support inclusive, evidence-based decision making in agricultural and environmental policy processes.
Linking food, nutrition and the environment in Indonesia: A perspective on sustainable food systems
Highlights
- This brief reviews the interlinkages between food, nutrition and the environment in Indonesia, and the role of national food policies in addressing the challenges in these sectors.
- While Indonesia is a mega-biodiverse country, nationally supported agricultural production programs tend to focus on a few high-value commodities, contributing to low dietary diversity.
- Lessons from past food estate programs suggest that food system interventions that focus heavily on increasing monocropping, especially rice production, overlook the capacity of local people to develop their own food systems, while failing to provide healthy diets, and damaging the environment.
- To move towards sustainable food systems, we argue that policies need to: focus on delivering healthy and diverse diets; support local food production practices that are environmentally sustainable; embrace local cultures and values; re-evaluate centralized and top-down policies; and avoid overly focusing on production of rice.
- Policies that decentralize and localize food production can enhance resilience and the sustainability of food systems/