The development of improved agricultural technologies has tremendous potential for improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Conservation agriculture (CA) has been widely promoted to improve farmers’ productivity and decrease their vulnerability to climate change....

Many of the agricultural input subsidy programs (ISPs) currently being implemented in Sub-Saharan Africa include among their objectives raising farm incomes and reducing rural poverty. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on the extent to which ISPs are achieving these objectives....

Raising agricultural productivity to meet growing food demands while increasing the resilience of rain-fed farm systems to climate variability is one of the most pressing contemporary development challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Anchored on the three core principles of minimum tillage...

The successive maize bumper harvests experienced by Zambia in recent years mean that the country has to find long lasting and sustainable ways to deal with persistent maize marketing challenges facing the smallholder farmers. The government has continued to struggle with the price-dilemma where...

This study examined the use of various sources of cooking energy among urban households in Zambia, and analyzed urban households’ energy choice and charcoal consumption decisions using econometric models. Overall, charcoal is the most common source of main cooking energy in urban areas,...

This paper assesses the relationship between agricultural productivity and market participation and performance following an increase in market prices in Mozambique. We use panel data before and after the change in price regime to identify the relative importance of market access/participation...

This study compares models for university engagement with private and public sector employers in Africa. It compares engagement models in countries with more developed food systems (South Africa) and a sample of selected African countries with less developed food systems - Kenya, Uganda,...

This study focuses on the skills requirements and the development thereof among 109 interviewed formal sector agribusiness companies in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and South Africa. The study was conducted in the context of anticipated dramatic changes in Africa’s food consumption...

Economists have long held that broad-based agricultural growth is the most powerful source of poverty reduction in developing countries where most of the rural population is engaged in agriculture (Johnston and Mellor 1961; Mellor 1974; Lipton 2006). However, in Zambia’s case, despite sustained and...

Two decades after initiating sweeping market reforms in their agricultural sectors, governments across Sub-Saharan Africa continue to maintain an active role in staple food markets. At the heart of this highly interventionist approach to food market development is a persistent and widespread...