Doctoral dissertation: Women’s empowerment key to improved farming efficiency in Africa

Innovation capacity and empowerment of women are crucial for enabling small-scale farmers in Africa to meet global challenges, according to a doctoral dissertation completed at the University of Helsinki. Climate change, biodiversity loss and population growth are major threats to food security in Africa. Most of the food consumed in Africa is grown by small-scale farmers. However, farming efficiency is not even close to what it could be. “This is …

”FoodAfrica made me a farmer” – a snapshot from our field trip to Machakos

During Nairobi Innovation Week, we had an opportunity to meet some of the Kenyan farmers that FoodAfrica has trained. So, the direction toward the county of Machakos, and off we went! Alex Mutuku Munyao has a small farm on a hillside close to Machakos town. Among other things, he farms maize and avocado, which flourish in a warm and humid environment. Rains in the area come in cycles, so Alex …

FoodAfrica programme has trained 20,000 farmers in sustainable farming practices

Nairobi, Kenya, 6 March 2018 – 20,000 farmers in Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal and Uganda have improved the security and quality of their food supply thanks to the FoodAfrica Programme. In addition to those farmers and their communities, it is estimated that the programme has also had an impact on the lives of over 200,000 people. “FoodAfrica has been an extremely interesting and rewarding programme,” said Mila Sell, a …

An updated results booklet of FoodAfrica is now available!

6 years, 6 countries, and numerous researchers, farmers and other partners working hard to increase food security in West and East Africa. The FoodAfrica Results booklet gives you an overview of what was achieved. Key results include: Training almost 20,000 local farmers on ecologically and economically sustainable farming Decreasing the level of aflatoxin contamination in Kenya Improving the income from milk production in Senegal And many more… Read the brochure …

Meet us in Nairobi Innovation Week, 5–9 March for new business opportunities!

FoodAfrica team will participate in the Nairobi Innovation Week in early March to showcase the key results of the programme. As part of the dissemination work of the results, the programme aims to create new business opportunities for local and international companies. Since 2012, FoodAfrica has worked hard to increase food security in six African countries. Now it’s time to see what we, together with numerous local farmers and other …

FoodAfrica trained Ghanaian students on methods to analyse agricultural markets

What is a value chain? How to analyse market data or how to conduct an experiment in agricultural markets? These and many other questions were pondered in a training course offered by FoodAfrica WP6 team. Analysis of agricultural markets is a timely topic. A well-conducted analysis can help stakeholders to make informed decisions. “However, obtaining robust information on how, for instance, market shocks or interventions influence the value chain is …

FoodAfrica researchers participated in a conference on Impact of International Agricultural Research in Nairobi

In July, CGIAR organized a conference on assessing the impact of international agricultural research, in Nairobi. FoodAfrica held its own annual meeting in connection to the event, which gave the FoodAfrica researchers an opportunity to engage with other relevant partners and share the FoodAfrica results. The conference was a three day event held at ICRAF in Nairobi, including engaging plenary sessions with invited papers and discussions, and a number of …