Silent and health competition in African fresh food markets
A few years ago, it appeared supermarkets were the only place where consumers would find fresh fruits and vegetables in African cities. The situation has…
Lessons from how farmers view wealth creation as a holistic system
Although there is a tendency to treat the majority of African smallholder farmers as passive recipients of external information and knowledge, they are very good…
Taming agricultural value chains through data and evidence
Many people who grew up in African communities practicing mixed farming, remember how taming young bulls or steers into a span of oxen was not…
It will take integrative thinkers to fully exploit African resources
The majority of African economies are too complex to be fully exploited through current formal education systems that promote silos. While it is important to…
African agriculture requires serious disruptive thinkers
If African agriculture is to be truly transformative, there is need for disruptive thinkers who can revisit boundaries between smallholder and large scale farmers. These…
How informal agricultural traders capture and preserve customer loyalty
They may not advertise their products in the formal media, but informal agricultural traders have results-driven ways of capturing customer loyalty. Most of their skills…
How much should farmers and consumers know about something?
The formal education system in many developing countries is organised in such a way that the depth and breadth of knowledge imparted determines grades and…
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 the phrase. In African agriculture,…
The power of curiosity and situational intelligence in African communities
In every African community you can find people who are naturally curious and those who lack interest in learning. Those who are curious can describe…
Many African farmers can perform like Gold Medalists
If agriculture was an Olympics competition, many African farmers would certainly be gold medalists. Zephaniah Phiri, the late world class water harvester of Zvishavane in…