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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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How market price is not a major determinant of profit in agribusiness
A keen interest by African farmers to know the price of commodities on the market is understandable. However, tracking activities…
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Mastering the benefits of adding value to agricultural commodities
Like many well-intentioned phrases, ‘value addition’ is not just an expression. It is a practice whose dynamics are yet to…
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From Corporate Social Responsibility to Sustainable Agribusiness Modelling
The failure of donor-funded programmes to transform African agriculture is resulting in more attention turning to the private sector as…
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How the market can inform better farmer characterization
In a rapidly changing knowledge economy, it no longer makes sense to continue characterizing farmers in developing countries by the…
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How developing countries over-rate foreign currency
Many African developing countries have a deliberate bias towards exports in the hope that this can bring foreign currency that…
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Using market evidence to protect smallholder farmers from price variability
That most African smallholder farmers can produce enough commodities for household consumption and surplus for the market is now beyond…
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The power of knowledge retention in farming and rural communities
In addition absence of appropriate information at the right time, lack of knowledge retention mechanisms is a big challenge for…
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Knowledge-driven ways to assess the socio-economic impact of agricultural interventions
Measuring the authentic impact of development interventions remains a big challenge for many development organizations and governments, mainly in developing…
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When old knowledge prevent adoption of new socio-economic practices
One of the dominant facets of colonization is visible in the structure of African formal food industries. Many African countries…
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Making sense of differences between communicating evidence and facilitating its use
Besides promoting linear ways of communicating information, most efforts by policy makers and development agencies in Africa continue to confuse…
