How can we measure the cost of lost knowledge in the agriculture sector?
One of the enduring challenges in African agriculture is defining effective metrics to measure the value of knowledge. In most agricultural value chains, knowledge is…
From individual rewards to community incentives
Socio-economic challenges facing many developing countries are revealing the shortcomings of rewarding individual performance. Most problems have become so complex that individual people or organisations…
African agriculture is witnessing a shift from physical to value chain collateral
While African financial institutions are still stuck with traditional banking models invented in the West, African agricultural value chains have shifted in ways that threaten…
How can agricultural policy makers stay ahead of trends?
The way public and private institutions have been set up in most developing countries does not create space for adequately absorbing feedback from many people.…
How informal markets are redefining agricultural extension
Given their openness and competitive nature, informal agriculture markets enable farmers to see their knowledge gaps. This shows up in a comparative sense where farmers…
From acronyms and buzzwords to building local institutions
In spite of promises surrounding mobile technology, African communities still face enormous barriers to accessing reliable, relevant and usable information and knowledge. Over the past…
How do we stop financial inclusion from becoming financial slavery
Financial inclusion has become one of the buzzwords in many African countries including Zimbabwe. It is as if financial institutions, development agents and policy makers…
How can Africans move from chatting to serious wealth creation?
Like any other innovation, the explosion of ICTs and social media has come with merits and demerits in most developing countries. Although it is always…
Why farmers should understand consumers and the pains of knowledge sharing
In a world increasingly driven by ICTs, farmers should not be satisfied with feedback from supermarkets and contract companies. Nothing stops them from speaking directly…
How agriculture markets are more than just memorizing facts and figures
A close look at informal agriculture markets across Africa shows they thrive on implicit knowledge that cannot be manipulated through software or codified into a…