Gender Marker 0

Of the more than one billion global poor, 75 percent live in rural areas and most of these people depend on agriculture to survive. Enhancing farmers’ and agricultural workers’ livelihoods is thus key to addressing global poverty. While there are many problems, poor farmers regularly identify the most important as: 1) access to credit, 2) access to better market prices and 3) access to credible, relevant information.

The aspect of information access has received increasing attention, especially in terms of the potential role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to connect farmers with the information they need. ICT has already been shown to have the capacity to dramatically expand communication and improve access to information (and facilitate monetary transfers). However, the question more recently has been, how can the promise of ICT be realistically harnessed to help the world’s rural poor?

4R Nutrient Stewardship is a new innovative approach for fertilizer best management practices adopted by the world’s fertilizer industry. This approach considers economic, social and environmental dimensions of nutrient management and is essential to sustainability of agricultural systems. The concept is simple—apply the right source of nutrient, at the right rate, at the right time and in the right place—but the implementation isknowledge‐intensive and site‐specific

Genetics makes use of natural variation among animals. Selecting preferred animals as parents can yield permanent and cumulative improvements in the population. More efficient animals can greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and feed costs. Breeding, including cross-breeding between indigenous and imported species, can also improve resilience to diseases and heat stress and increase reproductive performance.

Improving milk production in East Africa faces multiple constraints, however lack of farmer understandingof the productive cows’ nutritional needs – and how to satisfy them – are frequently a “ rst-limiting”consideration. In recognition of this an intensive, four week training has been developed to improve farmer understanding and ability in this critical area. This manual forms the underlying learning material for this course and is also designed as a reference resource for all course participants.

Climate finance fundamentals present short introductory briefings on various aspects of international climate finance, designed for readers new to this critical area. In light of the fast pace of developments in climate finance, the briefs allow the reader to gain a better understanding of the quantity and quality of financial flows going to developing countries. 

Climate finance remains central to achieving low-carbon, climate resilient development. The global climate finance architecture is complex and always evolving. Funds flow through multilateral channels – both within and outside of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Financial Mechanism – and increasingly through bilateral, as well as through regional and national climate change channels and funds. Monitoring the flows of climate finance is difficult, as there is no agreed definition of what constitutes climate finance or consistent accounting rules. The wide range of climate finance mechanisms continues to challenge coordination. But efforts to increase inclusiveness and complementarity as well as to simplify access continue.

This is an informative poster that illustrates teh impacts of mulching on farming systems.

A practical 64-page A5 manual focusing on good agricultural practices for sorghum and millet production incorporating integrated soil fertility management techniques and practices. Produced by ASHC.

Having identified a general lack of knowledge about the value of livestock manure and integrated manure management at multiple levels in government and society, a concerted action led to the compilation of a training manual for extension workers on manure management in the (sub-)tropics. Covering the whole manure chain, from animal excretion to the final application, the manual describes the basic principles of integrated manure management. Although much information originates from more temperate regions, the manual focusses on farm practices in the tropics and subtropics.

The book uses an economic lens to identify the main features of climate-smart agriculture (CSA), its likely impact, and the challenges associated with its implementation.  Drawing upon theory and concepts from agricultural development, institutional, and resource economics, this book expands and formalizes the conceptual foundations of CSA. Focusing on the adaptation/resilience dimension of CSA, the text embraces a mixture of conceptual analyses, including theory, empirical and policy analysis, and case studies, to look at adaptation and resilience through three possible avenues: ex-ante reduction of vulnerability, increasing adaptive capacity, and ex-post risk coping.

The book is divided into three sections. The first section provides conceptual framing, giving an overview of the CSA concept and grounding it in core economic principles. The second section is devoted to a set of case studies illustrating the economic basis of CSA in terms of reducing vulnerability, increasing adaptive capacity and ex-post risk coping. The final section addresses policy issues related to climate change. Providing information on this new and important field in an approachable way, this book helps make sense of CSA and fills intellectual and policy gaps by defining the concept and placing it within an economic decision-making framework. This book will be of interest to agricultural, environmental, and natural resource economists, development economists, and scholars of development studies, climate change, and agriculture. It will also appeal to policy-makers, development practitioners, and members of governmental and non-governmental organizations interested in agriculture, food security and climate change.

The information utilized in this work is based on research done principally at the Choré Experimental Station of the Direction of Agricultural Research (DIA/MAG). Also used are experiences developed in pilot areas, especially in Paraguarí, Edelira, Minga Guazú, Caaguazú, Guairá, Caazapá, and San Pedro, among others. Diffusion and extension activities were carried out through the Direction of Agrarian Extension (DEAG), cooperatives, farmers’ associations, self-help groups, etc. The objective of this publication is to offer a reference material for extensionists, professors, agronomy students, technicians in general, and for farmers themselves. Through information that is up-to-date and richly illustrated, it strives to facilitate the adoption and diffusion of No-Tillage, the use of green manures, and the practice of crop rotation on small farms. The wealth of this work is that it brings together the experiences of farmers, extensionists, and researchers in a way that is simple, understandable, and practical. It describes the principal species of green manures and, at the same time, informs in detail how to insert green manures into small farm production systems according to soil fertility and major crops. It also deals with the residual effect of green manures on main crops and analyzes the economic implications of these practices. Furthermore, it describes the results obtained in the recuperation of extremely degraded soils. Finally, this work strives to show the way to achieve an agriculture that is more productive, profitable, competitive, and sustainable, with the objective of improving the quality of life of rural families.