The President-Elect of the African Farming Systems Research and Extension Network sent a request to the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa inviting Mr. G.I. Abalu, the Commission's Senior Regional Adviser in Food and Agricultural Policy and Planning to attend the…

Report identifies numerous situations where poor data lead to incorrect estimates of African land and labor productivity. The report argues that better coordination of macro, meso, and micro data collection, reporting, and analysis efforts can lower costs and improve our ability to monitor…

The objective of this technical paper is to shed insights on ways of reversing the spiraling decline of the land and the economy in rural Rwanda, with focus on the forces behind productivity decline in the Rwandan agricultural sector. The results are based on collaborative research between the…

There is clearly a link between agricultural incentives and the environment, but quantitative data on such topics as soil quality and land use are inadequate for sound analysis.Mamingi studies the literature on how agricultural prices and macroeconomic policies affect agricultural supply and how…

This research report provides an in-depth understanding of many aspects of Senegalese agricultural policy, its historical impact, and more recent farmer responses to government attempts to recent farmer responses to government attempts to stimulate growth in the agricultural sector. Addressed…

Key findings and policy implications discussed in this document—Promoting Farm Investment for Sustainable Intensification of African Agriculture— include the following: Farmers are much more likely to invest in both productivity and land protection when they can produce cash crops. Livestock…

Report draws attention to the structure of landholding as a set of mechanisms through which demographic changes in agrarian societies can alter the natural environment: demographically-induced change in the structure of landholding: farm holdings generally become smaller as an ever-increasing…

The important position and role of mixed farming systems in land use intensification in subSaharan Africa is reviewed. This is done by examining the current situation that is followed with a justification for mixed farming. Further sections follow on changing patterns of land use, including the…

The workshop participants were clear that now is the time for choices, and that without the will to make those choices, the likelihood of success in boosting agricultural growth on a sustained basis would be small. Without such growth, it will not be possible to improve food security or halt…