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  Investment in research and human capacity building is proven as one of the best approaches for increasing agricultural production and reducing food insecurity. The FoodAfrica Programme has striven towards these objectives for almost four years. We may conclude that the Programme has managed to achieve tangible results in most of its activities. However, more efforts are needed for completing the on-going capacity building aspirations and dissemination of research outputs. …

In early November rural women in Uganda were involved in qualitative interviews discussing decision making in the households. Women have a very central role in the farming households, but their possibility to influence decision making varies greatly. We travelled to the district of Kiboga in Uganda to conduct some qualitative interviews with twelve women from the sample. The goal was to get a deeper understanding of household decision-making and what …

In October the African Network for Agriculture, Agroforestry and Natural Resources Education (ANAFE) organized a training on communicating research results to users of knowledge. Important user groups can be found at all levels – from the field to the policy making table. For more than a year I was involved in the planning of ANAFE’s training andwas more than happy to be part of the team when the training was …

Adapting to climate change is possible but it requires resources. These resources and opportunities are distributed unevenly between different genders and age groups. It’s important to know which groups need special support for their coping strategies. The Ferlo pastoral region in north Senegal is facing climate variability. Herd owners in Ferlo have the capacity to adapt to undesired arid conditions. Their coping strategies are based on the dynamics of socio-ecosystems …

Blog post by Martti Esala: Healthy soils are the key to Green Revolution in Africa

Dissemination of research results is the key to improving food security. As the research project budgets are limited, the resources need to be used as efficiently as possible to bring the knowledge to the end-users. Therefore Luke and the FoodAfrica programme are mapping out possibilities for cooperation for maximal impact. Last week directors and researchers from Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) met …

Food and nutritional security can be increased by keeping farmers informed about relevant research results. Traditionally print media, audio and oral narratives have been used to give advice to farmers on improved practices and advances in agriculture and technology. In today’s digital era, enriched media and especially videos complement the extensionist communication tools. They also reach out directly to farmers. FoodAfrica partner Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) is facilitating …

  New market information systems and services based on mobile communication technologies create opportunities to reduce the cost of linking buyers and sellers, thus developing opportunities to reduce poverty. FoodAfrica work package 6 is using randomized control trials in Ghana and Uganda to study the impact of agricultural market information delivered to farmers’ mobile phones on the prices they receive for their crops, marketing patterns, and income. Results of te …

The future food production in West Africa is challenged by climate change. Water availability might be threatened, which would have effect on agriculture, and therefore majority of the West African population. There are concerns regarding water availability under different climate types and how we can cope with a degrading resource that is the primary production factor for irrigated agriculture in the coastal area of Senegal, the Niayes region. “This raised …

Western Africa occasionally suffers from drought spells. The risk of drought calls for methods which can reduce vulnerablity to climate shocks and secure local food production also during the drought periods. The need for drought risk management can be expected to increase due to climate change. For instance, in Senegal, where FoodAfrica is examining resilience to climate change, the temperatures are expected to increase and rainfall to decrease in the …