Making sense of invisible advantages in rural African communities
Many rural African communities have seen development programmes and business models come and go. What has kept these communities alive is their invisible advantages in…
ANALYSIS:What has gone wrong with the groundnut market in Zimbabwe?
Groundnut has traditionally been a famous cash cow in Zimbabwe. Many Cabinet ministers, captains of industry, academics and bankers can testify to have gone to…
The joys and benefits of learning directly from plants and animals.
In spite of the current obsession with formal learning approaches where people are encouraged to learn from each other, many African farmers remain convinced they…
What makes informal institutions superior at embedding Knowledge!
Where formal organizations try to store their knowledge in the form of corporate processes and procedures, informal institutions like people’s agriculture markets pack their knowledge…
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 systems. There are many reasons…
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 two parts function as a…
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…