Africa

Reinventing Farming for Higher Productivity: A Financially Literate Farmer should be the Goal

In the business of agriculture, understanding financial concepts is an underrated skill and applying it in your day-to-day activities is the icing on the cake - a farmer cannot go wrong with it. Every farmer should have a good understanding of...

The Future of Food: There is a Need to Build an Efficient Indigenous Knowledge System

Farming is the practice of knowledge - understanding the soil to establish its suitability, cultivating the land using the appropriate equipment, using the appropriate seeds and upholding good agricultural practices to achieve maximum yield and...

Our Food System: Preparing for the Future

In the past, we have had a time where our food system was very solid and effective. We were able to produce sufficient food for our populace and enough for export. We earned good returns and used the proceeds to develop some critical infrastructures...

Reflection: Agricultural Policies don’t “Work” here, they are just “Ghost Workers”

In the last 7 years since I started writing this weekly series titled "A Letter to my Farmers", I have constantly upheld that working policies would significantly impact our food system, and achieving food security or zero hunger becomes a...

Access to Relevant Market Information will Always Win

The digital age is a critical period in the growth and development of agriculture, especially in the developing countries, as it is run purely on information. This is because a lot of data is being generated and agriculture is posed to benefit from...

Future-Proofing our Food System: Today for Insurance, Tomorrow for Food Security

In the world of farming, risks are numerous from pre-planting to post-planting activities, and any farmer who wants to remain in business must manage these risks efficiently and effectively by building risk mitigation strategies. Without these...

Beyond Increasing Yield, a Call for Food Safety

At a time like this when the need for more food is much more important, farmers are encouraged to cultivate more land, increase their productivity and yield, in order to meet the needs of the ever increasing population. In developing countries, the...

Looking Beyond Synthetic Pesticides

As the impact of climate change is being felt in many countries, farming communities have not been left out, causing major change in the ecosystem. Disruption in the ecosystem has led to increased incidence, causing major crop losses over the last...

Intergenerational Knowledge Sharing and Sustainable Business Models

In many developing countries, a smallholding farm is a business case; as it empowers and engages millions of rural populace in economic activities – a source of employment and livelihood. Also, it is transgenerational; smallholding enterprises are...

Food insecurity: More Hungry People, a Danger to Our National Security

Food is a powerful asset of any nation; it can serve as a weapon for the purpose of defense as well as for attack. So, having sufficient food at all times is a MUST and can only be achieved through deliberate efforts. Therefore, food security is a...

Food Security: Crisis and Recovery Management should be Intentional

Agriculture belongs to a sector that is vulnerable to several risks or shocks. These risks can crystallize anytime, especially those directly related to the impact of climate change. Beyond putting measures to mitigate the impact of these shocks, the...

A Productive Farmer Needs a Working Market

One of the key issues faced by farmers is accessing the market constantly for their produce and the ability of the market to absorb the large quantities of produce at all times (especially during the peak period). It is established that the majority...