This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women’s empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity.

The Government of Pakistan has adopted a policy of providing agricultural extension services to promote agricultural production by disseminating appropriate knowledge and technologies to farmers. Consistent with this national policy, farmers in Balochistan have been provided with extension services by the provincial Department of Agriculture through their extension officials working with the District of Agricultural Extension Department.

The rise of new powers in development has generated much debate on the extent to which South–South Cooperation (SSC) constitutes a new paradigm of development more relevant to African needs or a disguise for a new form of imperialism. This paper critically examines the rise of Chinese and Brazilian technical and economic cooperation in African agriculture with two cases drawn from Ghana and Mozambique.

Relying on cross-sectional data from 300 smallholder rice farmers, the study examined the effects of agricultural extension on improved rice variety adoption and farm income in northern Ghana. A recursive bivariate probit (RBP) model was used to assess the effect of agricultural extension on adoption while regression with endogenous treatment effect model (RETEM) was adopted to evaluate the effect of agricultural extension on farm income. The results indicate a statistically significant effect of agricultural extension on both adoption and farm income.

In sustainability research, transdisciplinary (TD) approaches that involve practitioners in the research process have emerged as promising tools for enhancing real-world knowledge and engendering societal change. However, empirical insights into how such participation can contribute to the societal effects of TD research are scant and largely rely on single case studies, neglecting practitioners’ perceptions.

The purpose of this report is to present the findings from a study on the Economic Empowerment of Women through Resilient Agriculture Supply Chains: A Geospatial and temporal Analysis in Southwestern Bangladesh.

This review paper is based on secondary information. It presents the external (policy, technical assistance, public institutions and the private sector) and internal (institutional structures, objectives/programmes) factors that impact on agriculture development in general in developing countries with special focus on Pakistan. The contents carry the literatures that deal with such factors, starting with discussion on the comprehensive analysis of the role of extension services accompanied by its pros and cons, as well as the meager agricultural services in developing countries.

After years of neglect, there is a renewed interest in agricultural mechanization in Africa. Since government initiatives to promote mechanization are confronted with major governance challenges, private-sector initiatives may offer a promising alternative. However, given limited scientific studies on such private-sector options such approaches are often viewed skeptically. One concern is that multi-national agribusiness companies take advantage of smallholder farmers. Another concern is that mechanization causes rural unemployment.