The Beekeepers’ Ordeal: Where are the Trees going?

In my over decades working with smallholder farmers, tree felling is an important activity that many farmers engage in. The felled trees serve as wood for various purposes such as fuel for cooking, materials for housing, canoe making amongst other...

Insecurity: My personal Story and Reflection

This is the first time I am putting down words from my trembling personal experience with insecurity. My story, though stitched with trauma, is one I have managed to carry, yet I know many farmers who have faced experiences far worse and continue to...

When the Market Fails, Market Systems Development could be a Viable Solution

A distortion along the agricultural value chain affects the whole chain and when barriers are added to the support functions and enabling environment, the market systems are crippled, inefficient and unreliable to deliver its services, resulting in...

Food Accountability: A Compromised Farmer Produces A Compromised Food

In the last few months, we have seen or read some disturbing news and videos on critical food safety issues happening around us. Some traders use harmful substances to ripen fruits faster and also some vegetable farmers use other substances to reduce...

When Farmers Prosper, Food Security becomes a reality

Developing nations, particularly those in Africa, possess vast potential to scale agricultural production and productivity. Yet, for years, achieving this potential has remained just a dream. The sector's underdevelopment and poor productivity stem...

Africa needs more productive agriculture and lower fertility rates (1)

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing three important social challenges: food insecurity, low average incomes and high unemployment rates. Agriculture can be a key sector to address each of these challenges. And progress can be accelerated by lowering...

Africa needs more productive agriculture and lower fertility rates (2): The Ghana case

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing three important social challenges: food insecurity, low average incomes and a high unemployment rate (10% among adolescents). The previous article argued agriculture can be a key sector to address these challenges and...

Sustainable Forest Management: It begins with us

Have you ever experienced the strong connection and tranquility in walking around in the forest? It is beyond what could be described in written words. Working in the rural communities will make one appreciate nature more, from the calmness of the...

Are Our Forests Disappearing while we Watch?

The challenges facing forest management in developing countries like Nigeria are multifaceted, whose root causes are combinations of three factors namely socioeconomic pressures, governance issues and ecological factors.

Agricultural Reform would be more of a Political Decision rather than an Economic Reason

Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy of many developing countries; creating and providing jobs for millions of people, as well as the main source of livelihood to the majority of rural people. Yet, the budgetary allocation into the sector has...

Market Development: A Call to Secure our Farmers’ Future

Market development is the critical lever for transforming agriculture in developing nations, shifting the focus from mere survival to sustainable prosperity. This places the farmer at the center; enhances food security and fuels economic growth. This...

Identifying and Addressing the Logistics Issues in our Food System

The distribution of food from production areas to major markets in most developing countries faces several significant and interconnected issues, resulting in high costs, increased food loss and ultimately, food insecurity. The main contributing...