The fact that African agriculture is beset by narrow margins and slow growth elevates the need to invest in data and evidence. People who get into agriculture expecting quick returns are often disappointed because African agriculture is no longer a one-step dance. Obsession with quick returns is one reason why opportunists tend to congest one Read more about Responding to narrow margins and slow growth in African agriculture[…]
For a very long time, each country has had what it considered a staple food for its citizens. However, climate change, globalization and changes in consumption patterns are disrupting traditional staple foods. My word web describes staple food as a necessary commodity for which demand is constant. Rather than continue promoting a few staple commodities, Read more about How informal food markets disrupt and correct the notion of staple foods[…]
Background Climate change-induced food insecurity and global socio-economic instability compels us to continuously revisit food demand and supply models, especially in developing countries. Conventional approaches like the notion of formal value chains are no longer enough to fully understand food systems. In many African countries, it seems invisible Communities of Practice (CoPs) such as informal Read more about Learning from Invisible CoPs: The role of informal actors and relationships in African food systems[…]
A keen interest by African farmers to know the price of commodities on the market is understandable. However, tracking activities in informal agricultural markets by eMKambo over the past few years has proved that price is not a major determinant of profit-making in agribusiness. Profit-making is a result of creatively managing production costs, quality, losses Read more about How market price is not a major determinant of profit in agribusiness[…]
Like many well-intentioned phrases, ‘value addition’ is not just an expression. It is a practice whose dynamics are yet to be fully understood and embedded, especially in African agriculture. More than 80 percent of agricultural commodities in developing countries are consumed in a raw state. Lack of modern value addition technology makes it difficult to Read more about Mastering the benefits of adding value to agricultural commodities[…]
The failure of donor-funded programmes to transform African agriculture is resulting in more attention turning to the private sector as a potential source of better agricultural outcomes. Several multi-million dollar donor programmes have been launched with pomp and media saturation but the end has often not been as loud as the beginning. At the end Read more about From Corporate Social Responsibility to Sustainable Agribusiness Modelling[…]
In a rapidly changing knowledge economy, it no longer makes sense to continue characterizing farmers in developing countries by the size of land on which they produce agricultural commodities. Informal agriculture markets provide various ways through which African farmers can be characterized beyond the smallholder, communal, commercial and other forms which are becoming inadequate. For Read more about How the market can inform better farmer characterization[…]
Many African developing countries have a deliberate bias towards exports in the hope that this can bring foreign currency that is expected to stimulate economic development. However, it seems foreign currency is a preserve of the elite who have developed a taste for foreign toys like large vehicles, expensive furniture, clothes, wine and other expressions Read more about How developing countries over-rate foreign currency[…]
That most African smallholder farmers can produce enough commodities for household consumption and surplus for the market is now beyond question. The majority of committed farmers have mastered the art of producing almost any commodity. What remains outside their control are market dynamics such as prices as well as supply and demand trends. The situation Read more about Using market evidence to protect smallholder farmers from price variability[…]
In addition absence of appropriate information at the right time, lack of knowledge retention mechanisms is a big challenge for African farming and rural communities. Unfortunately most resources continue to be directed at the dissemination of ideas from policy makers and development actors. As a result many development interventions remain projects at the end of Read more about The power of knowledge retention in farming and rural communities[…]