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Showing all content in Farms
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Project
Building capacity for the Ghana Commodities Exchange
Formally lauched in November 2018, the Ghana Commodities Exchange (GCX) is set to transform agricultural markets in Ghana. The GCX links farmers with traders more effectively, and provides facilities like grain storage and quality control. To ensure the smooth running of the exchange upon its opening, this project sought to build technical capacity amongst its...
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Blog post
The supply chain for seed in Uganda: Where does it all go wrong?
Seed quality is a major concern in Uganda Evidence from recent studies suggests low country-wide adoption of improved seeds by farmers. Farmers prefer to use home-saved seeds, indicating that they did not perceive the benefits of improved seed to be worth the cost (Tripp and Rohrbach, 2001; Remington et al., 2002; Sperling et al., 2008). This has been linked to several...
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Publication - Policy Brief
Impacts and sustainability of irrigation in Rwanda
Economic growth in Rwanda relies critically on agricultural growth, yet Rwanda’s agricultural sector faces critical constraints such as fragmentation, dependence on erratic rainfall, and challenging geography. As the country’s agriculture is mostly rain-fed, production is exposed to climatic variation and unreliable rainfall. As such, irrigation presents a...
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Project
Implementing the National Development Strategy: The pigeon pea value chain
This project aims to support the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economy & Finance in identifying policy measures to stimulate the development of the pigeon pea value chain. Pigeon pea is a highly promising crop that could potentially play an important role in the transformation of the Mozambican countryside, poverty reduction and foreign exchange earnings...
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Publication - Project Report
The pigeon pea value chain in Mozambique: Examining the 2017 price fall and its implications
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Project
State support for the agricultural sector in the EAC
As the members of the East African Community (EAC) negotiate the harmonisation of their domestic and border tax policies, agriculture and food security remain among the prioritised key areas of cooperation. Given the vital role of the agricultural sector and the importance of improving food security in EAC countries, policymakers face strong political incentives to consider...
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Project
Agricultural cooperatives in Ethiopia: Do they matter?
This project aims to provide first-hand empirical evidence on the potential of agricultural cooperatives in transforming smallholder and traditional farming in Ethiopia. Evaluating the effectiveness of these local organisations in terms of the promises they are supposed to deliver and facilitating agricultural transformation and commercialisation provides relevant...
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Publication - Growth Brief
Seeding success: Increasing agricultural technology adoption through information
Modern agricultural technologies have enormous potential to drive poverty reduction and economic growth, but adoption remains low in many countries. New models of information sharing could help resolve this. With over half of working adults in sub-Saharan Africa employed in agriculture, improving agricultural productivity is an important way to raise living standards. This...
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Blog post
All Peas in One Basket: Lessons from the 2017 Pigeon Pea Crisis
In recent years, the rapid expansion of pigeon pea production provided a boost to the rural economy of Central and Northern Mozambique. However, the 2017 price collapse created a crisis in the main production areas that calls attention to the need to improve the monitoring of market trends and to launch a joint effort aimed at diversification. During the past decade, the...
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Blog post
A socio-economic crisis in rural Mozambique
The districts of Middle and Upper Zambézia, in Central Mozambique, were most affected by the fall of the pigeon pea price in 2017. Most farmers did not have any financial return to their investment in the previous agricultural season, which created multiplier effects in the local economy. Mozambique has been going through difficult economic times since 2015. This has been...