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Why the elite should stop imposing their expectations on smallholder farmers
Bankers expect smallholder farmers to repay loans at a particular interest. For economists, African smallholder farmers are supposed to master…
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How to move from ordinary to best agricultural practices
‘Best practice’ is not even a mouthful but what it means in practice remains unclear to many people who use…
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Learning from Invisible CoPs: The role of informal actors and relationships in African food systems
Background Climate change-induced food insecurity and global socio-economic instability compels us to continuously revisit food demand and supply models, especially…
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How market price is not a major determinant of profit in agribusiness
A keen interest by African farmers to know the price of commodities on the market is understandable. However, tracking activities…
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Mastering the benefits of adding value to agricultural commodities
Like many well-intentioned phrases, ‘value addition’ is not just an expression. It is a practice whose dynamics are yet to…
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From Corporate Social Responsibility to Sustainable Agribusiness Modelling
The failure of donor-funded programmes to transform African agriculture is resulting in more attention turning to the private sector as…
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How the market can inform better farmer characterization
In a rapidly changing knowledge economy, it no longer makes sense to continue characterizing farmers in developing countries by the…
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How developing countries over-rate foreign currency
Many African developing countries have a deliberate bias towards exports in the hope that this can bring foreign currency that…
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Using market evidence to protect smallholder farmers from price variability
That most African smallholder farmers can produce enough commodities for household consumption and surplus for the market is now beyond…
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The power of knowledge retention in farming and rural communities
In addition absence of appropriate information at the right time, lack of knowledge retention mechanisms is a big challenge for…
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Knowledge-driven ways to assess the socio-economic impact of agricultural interventions
Measuring the authentic impact of development interventions remains a big challenge for many development organizations and governments, mainly in developing…
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When old knowledge prevent adoption of new socio-economic practices
One of the dominant facets of colonization is visible in the structure of African formal food industries. Many African countries…
