Many small-scale irrigation systems are characterized by low yields and deteriorating infrastructure. Interventions often erroneously focus on increasing yields and rehabilitating infrastructure. Small-scale irrigation systems have many of the characteristics of complex socio-ecological systems, with many different actors and numerous interconnected subsystems. However, the limited interaction between the different subsystems and their agents prevents learning and the emergence of more beneficial outcomes.
This article addresses the impact of Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) on food security among smallholder farmers in three countries of southern Africa (Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Malawi). Southern Africa has suffered continued hunger despite a myriad of technological interventions that have been introduced in agriculture to address issues of food security, as well as poverty alleviation.
Various authors have identified the potential relevance of innovation system approaches for inclusive innovation, that is, the means by which new goods and services are developed for and by the poor. However, it is still a question how best to operationalize this. Innovation platforms (IPs) represent an example of putting an inclusive innovation system approach into practice by bringing different types of stakeholders together to address issues of mutual concern and interest with a specific focus on the marginalized poor.
This project was undertaken to examine the suitability of 8 keys crops in Bhutan under current conditions and future climate scenarios (RCP 8.5) up to 2050. This was a collaborative initiative between MoAF, CIAT and UNEP, funded through the Asia-Pacific Climate Technology Network and Finance Center (AP-CTNFC). The project had two principal objectives: Objective 1: Build capacities of key technical staff to produce suitability maps for a wider range of crops under different emission scenarios.
The first part of the working document on the global strategy brings together the ideas of some 40 experts involved in gender and participatory research who took part in the workshop ‘Repositioning Participatory Research and Gender Analysis in Times of Change’ in Cali, Colombia (June 16–18, 2010).The workshop participants firmly believe that gender responsive participatory research (GRPR) offers some of the most powerful and useful approaches for achieving sustainable development, including alleviating poverty, improving well being, achieving sustainable levels of natural resource use, and
Esta publicación es el resultado de un proceso de sistematización participativo facilitado por el Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) para el Programa de Gestión Rural Empresarial, Sanidad y Ambiente (PROGRESA). En este documento se comparte la experiencia de la implementación de 8 iniciativas de negocios con mujeres como actoras directas en las cadenas de valor de ganado y hortalizas en los municipios de El Jícaro, Jalapa, Palacagüina, Telpaneca, Ciudad Darío y la Concordia
El mapeo de actores y organizaciones sirve para representar la realidad institucional del territorio. Se utilizaron métodos de investigación cualitativos como observación, entrevistas abiertas semiestructuradas y grupos focales. Los métodos de investigación cualitativos apuntan a reconocer a las personas como sujetos de investigación y no objetos, valorando sus saberes, vivencias, experiencias. Así mismo, consideran la subjetividad e identidades para la transformación-cultural-evolutiva, que se precisa para llegar a la equidad e igualdad de género.
Este diagnóstico de capacidades de género se realizó para identificar cuáles son las capacidades de género existentes en los socios de LAF en Nicaragua, en sus zonas de intervención. Los resultados permitirán formular respuestas adecuadas de desarrollo de capacidades de género para incrementar la habilidad de los diferentes socios del programa, para que de manera efectiva y eficiente, puedan desarrollar funciones, resolver problemas, así como establecer y lograr objetivos con enfoque de género.
Climate variability and change threaten and impact negatively on biodiversity, agricultural sustainability, ecosystems, and economic and social structures – factors that are all vital for human resilience and wellbeing. To cope with these challenges, embracing sustainability in food production is therefore essential. Practising sustainable agriculture is one way of ensuring sustainability in pro-poor farming communities in low-income countries.
Since development agencies often implement interventions through collective-action groups such as farmer cooperatives and self-help groups, there is a need to understand how participation is affected by group-level and leader attributes. This study collected gender-disaggregated, quantitative and qualitative data on sixty-eight self-help groups in Zambia to understand the participation of men and women farmers in different crop-production activities. Results show that participation rates of men and women are the same across all maize production activities except harvesting.