GFAR and FARA are leading the facilitation of a Collective Action embedding foresight into agricultural research and innovation in Africa. Climate change, population growth and migration are some of the challenges that face the future of agriculture. Caught in the middle of these challenges are smallholder farmers and rural communities who produce a substantial proportion of the world’s food. For them... More

Agriculture and food production are highly dependent on climatic conditions and a host of ecosystem services, without which it will be impossible to feed the growing population of the world.  This recognition of the inter-dependent relationship between agriculture and climate – and some of its key drivers/effects such as loss of biodiversity and land degradation among others – is one of... More

Getting rid of extreme poverty and hunger have always been at the centre of the global development goals. These goals appeared as number one on the list of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – the precursor of the current Sustainable Development goals (SDGs). On the SDGs list, they are number 1 and 2 among the issues the global community is committed... More

“A lot of times, data are released (or made open) when they are no longer really useful”. That was the view of Summer Allen, a research coordinator in the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); and one of the panellists at the Open data for agricultural innovations sessions organised recently by the Global Open... More

With a population of close to 35m people, a total area of 241,038 square kilometres, and a forest cover of 4.9 million hectares, which represent just around 14.5% of the total area, Uganda is the most deforested country in East Africa. Besides, between 1990 and 2005, it experienced a 15% decrease in forest cover driven by increased land use for agriculture... More

Agriculture accounts for almost 30% of the average GDP of the economies of East Africa countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia). It also provides employment and livelihood for more than 40% of people in the region. However, with a combined population of 154.4m people (minus Ethiopia) based on 2014 estimates, and a youth unemployment burden that ranges from 10.7% in Burundi to 17.1% in Kenya –... More

Mona Zoghbi, Global Landscapes Forum youth participant. It is counter-productive to discuss agricultural sustainability unless agriculture is made more appealing to today’s youth. Indeed young people are those who have the best capabilities for change on a long term, for a climate-smart agriculture - that’s to say, for a productive agriculture that doesn’t deplete our environment. This was the viewpoint and... More

Farmers and youth are key players in putting agriculture on the agenda in the UN Climate Talks It is not always usual to find such a diverse group from different backgrounds, views and ages come together to discuss issues, especially in a small room. But when farmers, youth and the indigenous people’s representatives sat together with scientists, climate change negotiators and other... More

It was the first day of June in the serene and sunny – but slightly windy – city of Montpellier, and from all around the world researchers and academics in the fields of agriculture and family farming were gathered: experts in international development, decision makers, NGOs, as well as farmers organizations’ and private sector representatives. The stage had been set for... More

It was the first day of the Africa Agriculture Science Week (6th edition)– hosted by the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) in Accra, Ghana – and like every other young social reporter/blogger for the conference I was struggling to find my way around the International Conference Centre and locate the venues for the side events I had penciled down... More

Like any other society, there are many unwritten rules, norms or social behavioral codes borne out of culture in Africa – especially in my country Nigeria, for which I can speak out of experience. One of those norms is that a youth does not talk where his elders are talking, he can only watch, listen and observe – even if s/he... More

“I have started to realize the importance of youth in the future of a food-secure world… (and) no matter how many new seeds or crops we bring on the market, no matter how many new systems of irrigation, land and water use, cattle breeding systems, food storage improvements…, unless we have young people interested in… agriculture… it will all fail” dixit... More

“45% of households in Africa are led by women…  Women are the source of 80% of food produced in countries stricken by famine and malnutrition… however less than 10% [of these] women can access financial resources for farming.” Those were the words of Dr. Lindiwe Sibanda, the keynote speaker at the side event called “Empowering women and youth for improved productivity... More

Seven years ago, as a fourth year agriculture undergraduate student in the mandatory one year on-farm only period, I was posted with my group to live for 2 weeks in a village that barely existed on the map, lacked access road (we had to pass through a sandstone surface), had no school, no portable water (not even a well), no power,... More

  Arguably the most heated topic of discussion in the schoolyards growing up in my home country of Nigeria was, “What are you going to be when you grow up: a teacher? Or a farmer?” As far as I remember, the number of guys wanting to be a teacher always far outweighed those wanting to be a farmer — and that... More

“Almost 1.2 billion people are going hungry in the world; a third of those are in Africa and sadly a lot of those are actually farmers themselves.” Those were the portentous words of Sean de Cleene, a senior vice president of Yara International (a leading fertilizer company based in Norway with businesses in Africa) and member of the World Economic Forum’s ‘New Vision for Agriculture’... More

Years ago, I asked a friend whose father was first an agriculturist before becoming a politician (a serving senator) how his father got rich, and he told me pointedly that “through farming”. Ever inquisitive, I asked “How?” and his response was “Bunmi, if you go into real agriculture, though you might struggle for some time, but once you become established then... More

Next time you pass by a surface run-off, stream or polluted river with its heavy load of human, domestic, industrial and municipal waste, instead of covering your nose to ward off the stench you will do well to observe the kind of wastes in those waters, because a sizeable portion (20% global average) of what you eat come from plants irrigated... More