The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030, endorsed by the Heads of States in the United Nations (UN) 2015, and the national discussions and implementation plans that followed, have put light on how intertwined and interdependent the various aspects of sustainability and sustainable development are (UN, 2015; van Noordwijk et al., 2015). This book on sustainable intensification of smallholder agriculture is relevant for many of the SDGs and in particular for achieving the following goals: reducing poverty (#1), achieving food security, improved nutrition and sustainable agriculture (#2), gender equity and empowering women (#5), conserving and sustainably using aquatic resources (#6, #14), and promoting sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems and reversing land degradation (#15). There are trade-offs and synergies between the SDGs and there is a need to balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. The scale at which the SDGs are implemented also matters for agricultural development: global (e.g. climate agreement), regional (e.g. trade pacts), national (e.g. policies and incentives) or local level (e.g. innovation platforms and networks).
Tag: agriculture
BASIC: Building Africa’s Scientific and Institutional Capacity in Agriculture and Natural Resources Education
From 23-25 November 2005, FARA convened a meeting of key agricultural networks involved in capacity building in Africa. This was done as part of the process of developing the FARA-led programme for Building Africa’s Scientific and Institutional Capacity (BASIC). The goal was to achieve harmony and complementarity among the different capacity building initiatives, projects and networks. The meeting was hosted by ANAFE at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi. BASIC is aimed at strengthening Africa’s ability to build capacity with special emphasis on undergraduate programmes in agriculture and natural resources. It is responding to major weaknesses in agricultural education programmes that affect the quality and relevance of agricultural graduates and impede the development of Africa’s predominant industry. BASIC will restore the capacity of African universities in the delivery of high quality and relevant agricultural education that prepares competent graduates for rural development and endogenous scientific and technological innovations. BASIC is a medium-term programme to which various components that address priority needs will be progressively attached. African universities will set the priorities and agenda and as far as possible assist one another. Additional resources for developing teaching and training approaches, methods and tools may be drawn (as needed) from non-African partners in conjunction with ICRA, NATURA and NASULGC among others. Up-to-date and locally relevant course materials will be developed in collaboration with the Training Community of Practice of CGIAR centres and National Agricultural Research Institutes (NARIs). The BASIC initiative is reaching out to the many already existing networks and scientific associations involved in building capacity in agriculture and naturalresources management in Africa. The purpose is to ensure that current experiences are taken into account and used in further development of the BASIC programme, and that the collaborative advantages of the various networks and associations are fully exploited, especially to fill gaps, minimize conflicts, and eliminate unproductive competition and duplications of effort. The main achievements of the meeting are: 1.The thematic and geographic coverage of each network was mapped and made known to peer networks. 2.The objectives, funding mechanisms, modus operandi and strategies of the various networks were shared and opportunities for synergy were identified. 3.Recommendations and action plans were formulated to enable the complementary networks to contribute to and benefit from BASIC. 4.This was the first ever meeting of networks involved in capacity building in agriculture and natural resources in Africa. The participants confirmed that further meetings would result in significant collaborative benefits. They agreed to hold similar conferences annually to enhance sharing of information and experiences, especially on agenda and strategies, and to build upon the achievements of this meeting. The BASIC Interim Implementation Committee (BIIC) attended the meeting and gained a great deal of information and encouragement for advancing BASIC in the wider context of the mandates and products of existing networks and projects. BIIC members informed participants about BASIC and provided guidance on future collaboration with the networks and projects.
Aspects of non-chemical control of postiferous termites in agriculture and agroforestry: recent experiences from eastern and southern Africa
A number of termite species are a major constrain in agriculture and forestry in the tropics.
Agrifood supply chain, private-sector standards, and farmers’ health: evidence from Kenya
This article evaluates the impact of adoption of European Union (EU) private-sector standards on farmers health in rural Kenya. The study utilizes cross-sectional farm household-level data collected in 2006 from a randomly selected sample of 439 small-scale export farmers.We estimate the casual impact by utilizing a two-stage Poisson regression model, two-stage standard treatment effect model, as well as by regression based on propensity score, to assess the robustness of the results.Using these techniques, we demonstrate that the pesticide-ascribed incidence of acute illness symptoms and the associated cost of illness significantly decrease with the adoption of standards. Ceteris paribus, farmers who adopt standards experience 70% lesser incidence of acute illness and spent about 5060% less on restoring their health than nonadopters. Although standards can potentially prevent resource-poor smallholders from maintaining their position in lucrative export markets, they can also result in positive changes in the health of those farmers who do adopt them, as shown by these results. This implies that, if adopted on a large scale, standards may reduce production externalities, corroborating the view that they may serve as a catalyst to transform production systems in developing countries.
Agroforestry, nutrition and health
Agroforestry is an ancient land use practice and modern science involving the deliberate management of trees on farms and in surrounding landscapes. Agroforestry systems vary greatly in tree species mix, complexity, configuration, and input requirements, producing a wide range of products and services. With appropriate technical and institutional support, the practice of agroforestry can contribute to rural food and health systems and help buffer households against health and nutrition shocks. As a science, agroforestry integrates perspectives from agriculture, ecology, and rural development. For the practice of agroforestry to yield its full potential, it needs to bring health and nutrition to the fore. The figure presents a simple conceptual framework of agroforestry, health, and nutrition linkages that focuses on five pathways between agroforestry and health, dubbed the MINER pathways: M—medicinal plant conservation, domestication, and propagation; I—income earned and inputs saved through improvements in the farm resource base and products for sale; N—nutritious agroforestry foods, including fruits and leaves; E—changes in ecosystem structure and function that affect disease risk and transmission; and R—responses of agroforestry priorities and program design to changes in farmers’ circumstances resulting from health and nutrition problems. The rest of this brief briefly discusses the five MINER pathways
The scientific basis of climate-smart agriculture: a systematic review protocol
Climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA)—agriculture and food systems thatsustainably increase food production, improve resilience (or adaptive capacity) of farmingsystems, and mitigate climate change when possible—has quickly been integrated into theglobal development agenda. However, the empirical evidence base for CSA has not beenassembled, complicating the transition from CSA concept to concrete actions, andcontributing to ideological disagreement among development practitioners. Thus, there is anurgent need to evaluate current knowledge on the effectiveness of CSA to achieve its intendedbenefits and inform discourse on food, agriculture, and climate change. This systematicreview intends to establish the scientific evidence base of CSA practices to inform the nextsteps in development of agricultural programming and policy. We will evaluate the impact of73 promising farm-level management practices across five categories (agronomy,agroforestry, livestock, postharvest management, and energy systems) to assess theircontributions to the three CSA pillars: (1) agronomic and economic productivity, (2)resilience and adaptive capacity, and (3) climate change mitigation in the developing world.The resulting data will be compiled into a searchable Web-based database and analyticalengine that can be used to assess the relative effectiveness and strength of evidence for CSA,as well as identify best-fit practices for specific farming and development contexts. Thisrepresents the largest meta-analysis of agricultural practices to date.
Nutritional Impacts of Transitioning from Homegardens to Industrial Farms in Uganda
Uganda’s agriculture is currently confronted with a major government decision, set to transform the country’s farming landscape. The national development plan (Vision 2040) calls for a transition from small-scale farming, which currently supports the majority of Ugandans, to large-scale commercial agriculture. While this plan is likely to boost staple crop production, its impacts on human nutrition have not been adequately explored. Given its multifaceted and complex nature, an ex-ante evaluation of Vision 2040 requires the integration of knowledge and systems thinking from beyond the discipline-specific approaches that are often used. To this end, decision analysis, a decision-support approach from the private sector, offers tools for including ‘intangible’ factors that are important for the decision but difficult to measure. We applied Bayesian Networks (BN), a probabilistic causal modelling technique, for decision analysis concerning Vision 2040’s impact on the nutritional situation of Ugandans. To project future supply of micro and macronutrients, we convened a team consisting of technical experts and potentially affected stakeholders to construct a BN impact model.We used various group-work techniques to produce a consensus model that included the perspectives of all participants. To structure the analysis, participants identified five decision-relevant questions, relating to (1) dietary diversity, (2) human displacement, (3) expected changes in urban and rural diets, (4) future income prospects for displaced farmers and (5) changes in crop diversity. For each question, team members designed graphical models that were then reconciled into one comprehensive model projecting the nutritional impacts of Vision 2040. The model was converted into a BN, which was parameterised with probability distributions elicited from participants. To ensure accuracy in this step, participants were trained in techniques aimed at reducing estimation bias (e.g. overconfidence). Results indicated little change in terms of macronutrient deficiency (Hunger) but a worrying increase in micronutrient deficiency (Hidden Hunger) with the implementation of Vision 2040. The BN approach proved effective in generating a comprehensive working model of the implications of ‘Vision 2040’ for the nutritional status of households in Uganda. Such methodologies and model outputs hold promise for helping decision makers gain insight into the important linkages between nutrition and policy.
Homegardens and the future of food and nutrition security in southwest Uganda
Governments around the world seek to create programs that will support sustainable agriculture and achieve food security, yet they are faced with uncertainty, system complexity and data scarcity when making such choices. We propose decision modeling as an innovative approach to help meet these challenges and offer a case study to show the effectiveness of the tool. We use decision analysis tools to model the possible nutrition-related outcomes of the Ugandan government’s long term agricultural development plan termed ‘Vision 2040’. The analysis indicates potential shifts in household nutritional contributions through the comparison of the current small-scale diverse systems and the envisioned industrial agricultural systems that may replace them. A Monte Carlo simulation revealed that Vision 2040 plans outperform homegardens in terms of energy and some macronutrients, yet homegardens are likely to be better at producing key vitamins and micronutrients, such as Vitamin A. Value of information calculations applied to Monte Carlo outputs further revealed that gathering more data on the annual yields and nutrient contents of staples, pulses, vegetables, and fruits could improve certainty about the nutrition contribution of both scenarios. We conclude that the development of Uganda’s agricultural sector should consider the role that agrobiodiversity in the current small-scale agricultural systems plays in national food and nutrition security. Any changes according to Vision 2040 should also include farmers’ voices and current crop management systems as guides for a sustainable food supply in the region. This modeling approach may be a tool for governments to consider agricultural policy implications, especially given the data scarcity and agricultural variability in regions such as East Africa.
Reversing Land Degradation in Africa by Scaling-up Evergreen Agriculture. Inception Workshop 26-29 September 2017
The inception workshop generated a participatory developed action plan for the four-month inception phase, draft guidelines for scaling methods and adoption criteria and collaborative buy-in from consortia members to engage in the partnership through continuous learning and adaptation and clear communication to achieve the ambitious project goals.
National strategy for Agroforestry research in Indonesia 2013-2030
Agroforestry has been widely practiced by Indonesian community since centuries ago. Nevertheless intensive research in agroforestry was only started in the last three decades. It can be understood if agroforestry has not yet been adopted in mainstreaming forestry and agriculture development in Indonesia. This paper aims to report the National Strategy on Agroforestry Research in Indonesia for the next two decades. The strategy was prepared by the team of authors following several phases, which include: a) review of research status of agroforestry, b) focus group discussions to involve team of experts and related stakeholders in formulating research topic priorities and implementation strategies; c) dissemination of the strategy concept to wider stakeholders to obtain feedbacks, and d) launching of the national strategy in front of wide stakeholders that include representatives from research institutes, universities, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and other related parties. The National Strategy of Agroforestry Research is proposing four priority research topics that will be the major research agenda in the field of agroforestry in Indonesia over the next two decades. These four priority topics are: 1) Smallholder production systems and markets of agroforestry practices; 2) Community based forest management on state forest areas; 3) Harmonization of agroforestry practices with global climate change, and 4) Enhancing agroforestry practices for environmental services. In addition to these priority research topics, the national strategy also describes the implementation strategy of the mentioned priority research topics