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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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Lessons from how informal markets keep agricultural knowledge fresh
Just as agriculture markets prefer fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs and other commodities, knowledge on all these commodities should also…
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Some of the reasons why small grains continue to resist winner take all commercialization
From Mali to Zimbabwe and South Africa to Southern Sudan, small grains remain an integral part of mainstream local food…
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The hybrid nature of most African economies
Most African economies are often presented as being dual, comprising the formal and informal economy. However, in real practice the…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
