Written and coordinated through a ‘writeshop’ approach, this book stands up for traders – who are often treated with mistrust by smallholder farmers. It aims to improve the relationship between producers and traders, thus contributing to more sustainable value chains that provide access to markets for local producers in Africa. Full of short stories that are unique and rich in information, Trading up’s 15 richly illustrated case studies cover a wide range of countries and commodities.

This study was conducted to characterize the traditional milk production and marketing system, and to identify constraints and opportunities for further development. It was conducted in Mieso District of Oromia Regional State, located 300 km east of Addis Ababa and at about 200 km east of Adama. Five rural kebeles, Dire Kalu, Gena, Huse Mendera, Hunde Misoma and Welda Jejeba, that have milk production potential were selected. Farmers/agro-pastoralists from each rural kebele were also selected.

This paper examines a process - the spontaneous enclosure of the range by livestock owners - which may rise new problems but also permit new approaches to the development of the African livestock industry. Drawing on case material from Sudan and Somalia, the opening section of the paper discusses some of the spontaneous range enclosure.

Rainfed agriculture is and will remain the dominant source of staple food production for the majority of the rural poor in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). It is clear that larger investments in agriculture by a broad range of stakeholders will be required if this sector is to meet the food

In the Sahelian rangelands biomass production is constrained by soil moisture in the drier (100-250 mm) parts and by soil nutrients in the wetter parts. Similarly, for a given Sahelian range, nutrient deficiency would be more prominent in good than in poor rainfall years. To test this hypothesis, fertiliser trials were carried out at sites distributed along the bioclimatic gradient in the Gourma (Mali) over contrasting rainfall years between 1988 and 1992.

Livestock systems globally are changing rapidly in response to human population growth, urbanization, and growing incomes. This paper discusses the linkages between burgeoning demand for livestock products, growth in livestock production, and the impacts this may have on natural resources, and how these may both affect and be affected by climate change in the coming decades. Water and land scarcity will increasingly have the potential to constrain food production growth, with adverse impacts on food security and human well-being.

Discusses the Kenya Rangeland Ecological Monitoring Unit (KREMU), mentioning its objectives, initial tasks related to identifying ecological units, testing survey methods, training of staff & designing appropriate computer programmes; describes the Unit's achievements, with emphasis on ecological surveys & censuses carried out within the framework of on-going ecological monitoring programmes; outlines problems encountered.