Mechanisation can help eliminate the laborious tasks involved in smallholder rice farming.
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Through collaboration and resource sharing, smallholder rice farmers can enhance their productivity and achieve a fully mechanised farming system.
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We know industrial farming needs to change. But regenerative agriculture may not be the transformation our global food system needs.
A woman cuts “bodwe”, an edible weed that is often sold at markets in Lusaka, Zambia.
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The herbicide revolution reduces the availability of edible weeds, which may undermine food and nutrition security.
The constitutional right to food puts food systems and agricultural development firmly on the national development agenda.
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South Africa needs a more holistic approach to farming systems.
The farmers’ predicament can’t be viewed in isolation and must be understood within the context of global processes beyond their control.
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The state controls and regulates small farmers’ environmental practices without addressing what forces them to follow these practices.
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The internet and smartphones have enabled customers to make more informed choices by using sites where customers share their experiences.
A woman checks maize crop on a small scale farm in Chinhamora, about 50 km north of Harare. ALEXANDER JOE/AFP via.
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Insurance, stress-tolerant seeds and tailored credit can make smallholder farming profitable.
A vegetable farmer with her produce.
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A new study faults a well-established concept that informs land-use policies in developing countries.
Zimbabwe holds important lessons for the COP26 global climate change talks.
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The focus of climate talks has been on how little time is left is for global action. But climate change has already made tobacco farming, potentially a route out of poverty, unviable for some.
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Zimbabwe’s 2021 bumper harvest is a welcome development but, it’s important to know what’s behind this success and what challenges remain.
Financial inclusion in Nigeria must target smallholder farmers.
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Sustainable financial inclusion in Nigeria requires interventions that strengthen financial capability, participation and well-being of small-scale farmers.
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Burkina Faso’s genetically modified cotton success narrative was built on studies with methodological problems.
Palm oil development is not just about the economy but also needs to consider social and environmental costs.
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There are studies showing that farmers can have economic benefits from palm oil. However, they can also be impoverished by the commodity.
Belo Horizonte’s traditional food market.
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The interplay of poverty, inequality, urbanisation and the industrial food system leaves low-income families with limited access to fresh, healthy foods.
Developing countries present an opportunity for agroecological innovations to help small-scale farmers.
Farmer-led irrigation comes in many different shapes and forms.
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The green revolution: small-scale, informal irrigation is expanding in Zimbabwe and small scale farmers are leading the way.
Rapid urbanisation is one of the reasons that Nigeria’s demand for rice is so high.
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Nigeria’s agricultural sector simply isn’t equipped to produce the amount of rice to meet demand.
A diversity of seeds on sale in Nanyuki market, Kenya.
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Developing countries could leapfrog industrial agriculture systems by moving to agroecology.
Cassava leaves at a market in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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Technology is changing how plant diseases are recognised and dealt with by small scale farmers in Africa.
Promoting mechanisation for small scale farmers in Africa is proving incredibly difficult.
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Mechanisation of agricultural activity can help many African countries unlock underutilised agricultural potential. But there are serious obstacles which must be removed.