Download or read book Insect and Hydroponic Farming in Africa written by Dorte Verner and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interestingly, some relief from today's woes may come from ancient human practices. While current agri-food production models rely on abundant supplies of water, energy, and arable land and generate significant greenhouse gas emissions in addition to forest and biodiversity loss, past practices point toward more affordable and sustainable paths. Different forms of insect farming and soilless crop farming, or hydroponics, have existed for centuries. In this report the authors make a persuasive case that frontier agriculture, particularly insect and hydroponic farming, can complement conventional agriculture. Both technologies reuse society's agricultural and organic industrial waste to produce nutritious food and animal feed without continuing to deplete the planet's land and water resources, thereby converting the world's wasteful linear food economy into a sustainable, circular food economy. As the report shows, insect and hydroponic farming can create jobs, diversify livelihoods, improve nutrition, and provide many other benefits in African and fragile, conflict-affected countries. Together with other investments in climate-smart agriculture, such as trees on farms, alternate wetting and drying rice systems, conservation agriculture, and sustainable livestock, these technologies are part of a promising menu of solutions that can help countries move their land, food, water, and agriculture systems toward greater sustainability and reduced emissions. This is a key consideration as the World Bank renews its commitment to support countries' climate action plans. This book is the Bank's first attempt to look at insect and hydroponic farming as possible solutions to the world's climate and food and nutrition security crisis and may represent a new chapter in the Bank's evolving efforts to help feed and sustain the planet.

Download or read book An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development written by Xinshen Diao and published by International Food Policy Research Insitute. This book was released on 2020 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara - especially for small farms and businesses - requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent's evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book's recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.

Download or read book Farming Systems and Food Security in Africa written by John Dixon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-12-09 with total page 896 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knowledge of Africa’s complex farming systems, set in their socio-economic and environmental context, is an essential ingredient to developing effective strategies for improving food and nutrition security. This book systematically and comprehensively describes the characteristics, trends, drivers of change and strategic priorities for each of Africa’s fifteen farming systems and their main subsystems. It shows how a farming systems perspective can be used to identify pathways to household food security and poverty reduction, and how strategic interventions may need to differ from one farming system to another. In the analysis, emphasis is placed on understanding farming systems drivers of change, trends and strategic priorities for science and policy. Illustrated with full-colour maps and photographs throughout, the volume provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of Africa’s farming systems and pathways for the future to improve food and nutrition security. The book is an essential follow-up to the seminal work Farming Systems and Poverty by Dixon and colleagues for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank, published in 2001.

Download or read book The New Harvest written by Calestous Juma and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: African agriculture is currently at a crossroads, at which persistent food shortages are compounded by threats from climate change. But, as this book argues, Africa can feed itself in a generation and can help contribute to global food security. To achieve this Africa has to define agriculture as a force in economic growth by advancing scientific and technological research, investing in infrastructure, fostering higher technical training, and creating regional markets.

Download or read book Atlas of African agriculture research and development written by Sebastian, Kate and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2014-06-30 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Atlas of African Agriculture Research & Development is a multifaceted resource that high­lights the ubiquitous nature of smallholder agriculture in Africa; the many factors shaping the location, nature, and performance of agricultural enterprises; and the strong interde­pendencies among farming, natural resource stocks and flows, rural infrastructure, and the well-being of the poor.

Download or read book The Last Hunger Season written by Roger Thurow and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At 4:00 am, Leonida Wanyama lit a lantern in her house made of sticks and mud. She was up long before the sun to begin her farm work, as usual. But this would be no ordinary day, this second Friday of the new year. This was the day Leonida and a group of smallholder farmers in western Kenya would begin their exodus, as she said, "from misery to Canaan," the land of milk and honey. Africa's smallholder farmers, most of whom are women, know misery. They toil in a time warp, living and working essentially as their forebears did a century ago. With tired seeds, meager soil nutrition, primitive storage facilities, wretched roads, and no capital or credit, they harvest less than one-quarter the yields of Western farmers. The romantic ideal of African farmers -- rural villagers in touch with nature, tending bucolic fields -- is in reality a horror scene of malnourished children, backbreaking manual work, and profound hopelessness. Growing food is their driving preoccupation, and still they don't have enough to feed their families throughout the year. The wanjala -- the annual hunger season that can stretch from one month to as many as eight or nine -- abides. But in January 2011, Leonida and her neighbors came together and took the enormous risk of trying to change their lives. Award-winning author and world hunger activist Roger Thurow spent a year with four of them -- Leonida Wanyama, Rasoa Wasike, Francis Mamati, and Zipporah Biketi -- to intimately chronicle their efforts. In The Last Hunger Season, he illuminates the profound challenges these farmers and their families face, and follows them through the seasons to see whether, with a little bit of help from a new social enterprise organization called One Acre Fund, they might transcend lives of dire poverty and hunger. The daily dramas of the farmers' lives unfold against the backdrop of a looming global challenge: to feed a growing population, world food production must nearly double by 2050. If these farmers succeed, so might we all.

Download or read book Food Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Southern Africa written by Ambayeba Muimba-Kankolongo and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2018-02-07 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Food Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Southern Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Improvement evaluates traditional cultivation practices used by smallholder farmers, providing a synthesis of the latest information on increasing crop yield through adoption of research innovations. The book catalogs smallholder cultivation practices and recommends innovative strategies for improving the agriculture sector including: management practices that reduce net carbon emissions; technologies that improve soil structures and conserve the natural resources base; means of empowering female resources along value chains; and government commitment to adopt policies that enhance agriculture productivity by encouraging farmers to use environmentally sound cultivation technologies. Traditional farming techniques often produce negative impacts on the environment and ecosystem resulting in outbreaks of diseases and pests. In addition to the region’s recurrent droughts, these outbreaks of numerous diseases and pests, weeds and other invasive plants put thousands at risk of poverty and hunger, as well as malnutrition. This book presents enhanced agricultural production technologies for ensuring adequate food production, safety and nutritional quality for the population of Southern Africa and forms the basis for an increased SADC regional effort in food production through which financial and trade institutions can improve stakeholder capacities, encourage micro-enterprise development and enhance employment and regional trade. Provides a critical synthesis of data and information for increasing crop yield through adoption of research innovations Evaluates traditional and scientific interventions that address food security issues of the poor farmers in the region Presents agro-ecologies of countries in the region and how they relate to various cultivation practices Catalogs smallholder cultivation practices and recommends innovative strategies for improving the agriculture sector

Download or read book Out Of Africa written by Isak Dinesen and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Out of Africa, author Isak Dinesen takes a wistful and nostalgic look back on her years living in Africa on a Kenyan coffee plantation. Recalling the lives of friends and neighbours—both African and European—Dinesen provides a first-hand perspective of colonial Africa. Through her obvious love of both the landscape and her time in Africa, Dinesen’s meditative writing style deeply reflects the themes of loss as her plantation fails and she returns to Europe. HarperTorch brings great works of non-fiction and the dramatic arts to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperTorch collection to build your digital library.

Download or read book The Story of an African Farm written by Olive Schreiner and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Farm nonfarm Linkages in Rural Sub saharan Africa written by Steven Haggblade and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1988 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The links between agricultural growth and the rural nonfarm economy, known to be strong in Asia, are weaker in Africa but still important to the rural poor. Crucial for strengthening these links are policies and investments that (1) promote smallholders, (2) improve rural infrastructure, (3) encourage commerce and services, (4) foster the development of rural towns, and (5) explicitly recognize women as key actors in rural development.

Download or read book Farming While Black written by Leah Penniman and published by Chelsea Green Publishing. This book was released on 2018 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Farming While Black is the first comprehensive "how to" guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latino Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described--from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement." --

Download or read book Old Mikamba Had a Farm written by Rachel Isadora and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fabulous version of the classic nursery song “Old MacDonald” introduces children to a menagerie of African animals and their sounds. It is beautifully illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Rachel Isadora, with her signature collage-style artwork. Old Mikamba had a farm, E-I-E-I-O. And on this farm he had . . . a giraffe, a baboon, and an elephant! Meet Old Mikamba, who watches over a wide variety of animals on his game farm in the plains of Africa. Children will discover a whole new set of fun animal sounds as they are invited to sing along and roar with the lions, bellow with the rhino, whinny with the zebras, honk with the wildebeests, and more! A wonderful introduction to African wildlife that is great fun to read aloud, this truly irresistible rendition of a beloved song includes a list of animal fun facts and gives children a huge variety of animal sounds to imitate as they pore over the detailed animals, landscapes and patterns in the stunning illustrations.

Download or read book African Farm Management written by Martin Upton and published by CUP Archive. This book was released on 1987-10-08 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Successes in African Agriculture written by Haggblade, Steven and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sub—Saharan Africa is one of the poorest regions of the world. Because most Africans work in agriculture, escaping such dire poverty depends on increased agricultural productivity to raise rural incomes, lower food prices, and stimulate growth in other economic sectors. Per capita agricultural production in sub—Saharan Africa has fallen, however, for much of the past half—century. Successes in African Agriculture investigates how to reverse this decline. Instead of cataloging failures, as many past studies have done, this book identifies episodes of successful agricultural growth in Africa and identifies processes, practices, and policies for accelerated growth in the future. The individual studies follow developments in, among other areas, the farming of maize in East and Southern Africa, cassava across the middle belt of Africa, cotton in West Africa, horticulture in Kenya, and dairying in East Africa. Drawing on these case studies and on consultations with agricultural specialists and politicians from across sub—Saharan Africa -- undertaken in collaboration with the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development -- the contributors identify two key determinants of positive agricultural performance: agricultural research to provide more productive and sustainable technologies to farmers and a policy framework that fosters market incentives for increasing production. The contributors discuss how the public and private sectors can best coordinate the convergence of both factors. Given current concerns about global food security, this book provides timely and important resources to policymakers and development specialists concerned with reversing the negative trends in food insecurity and poverty in Africa.

Download or read book Conservation Agriculture for Africa written by Amir H Kassam and published by CABI. This book was released on 2016-12-14 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tillage agriculture has led to widespread soil and ecosystem degradation globally. This is especially so in Africa where traditional and modern tillage-based agricultural practices have become unsustainable due to severe disturbance and exploitation of natural resources, with negative impacts on the environment and rural livelihoods. In addition, agriculture in Africa today faces major challenges including increased costs of production and energy, the effects of climate change, and the lack of an effective paradigm for sustainable intensification, especially for small- and medium-size holdings. Africa is facing a serious challenge to food security and as a continent has not advanced towards eradicating hunger. In addition, the population is still growing much faster than on most other continents. This pressure has led to the emergence of no-till conservation agriculture as a serious alternative sustainable agriculture paradigm. In Africa, in recent years, conservation agriculture techniques and methods have spread to many countries, as greater development, education and research effort are directed towards its extension and uptake. This book is aimed at agricultural researchers and scientists, educationalists, and agricultural service providers, institutional leaders and policy makers working in the fields of sustainable agriculture and international development, and also at agroecologists, conservation scientists, and those working on ecosystem services.

Download or read book Agriculture Diversification and Gender in Rural Africa written by Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contributes to the understanding of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa through addressing the dynamics of intensification and diversification within and outside agriculture in contexts where women have much poorer access to agrarian resources than men

Download or read book Building a Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture in Sub Saharan Africa written by Abebe Shimeles and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-06-01 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What are the challenges and action points for agricultural sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa? This open access collection of papers offers technical analyses, policy recommendations and an overview of success stories to date. Each carefully selected paper provides valuable insights for improved policy making and defines relevant strategic priorities on Africa’s sustainable transformation process, which is in line with the international development agenda. Although agriculture remains the main source of income for Africa’s population, the sector is rain-fed subjecting it to the vagaries of weather and climate change. This volume demonstrates the rationale of developing a competitive, inclusive and sustainable agribusiness sector for Africa’s food security and structural transformation. From the impact of Bioenergy crop adoption and Drought Index Insurance to Agro-Industrialization, this volume is important reading for individual researchers, academic associations and professional bodies interested in African agricultural development.