Most African economies are often presented as being dual, comprising the formal and informal economy. However, in real practice the two parts function as a hybrid economy which borrows from the two parts. Nowhere is this scenario more visible than in the agriculture sector where there is a fusion of formal and informal approaches all Read more about The hybrid nature of most African economies[…]
A few years ago, it appeared supermarkets were the only place where consumers would find fresh fruits and vegetables in African cities. The situation has changed dramatically. Armed with new food safety knowledge and insights from consumers, informal and open fresh food markets have become preferred destinations for the majority of consumers. Imported fruits and Read more about Silent and health competition in African fresh food markets[…]
Although there is a tendency to treat the majority of African smallholder farmers as passive recipients of external information and knowledge, they are very good at learning from their experiences. In Zimbabwe, eMKambo has discovered that farming communities and individual farmers contribute to the national knowledge base more than they will ever know. They have Read more about Lessons from how farmers view wealth creation as a holistic system[…]
Many people who grew up in African communities practicing mixed farming, remember how taming young bulls or steers into a span of oxen was not easy. The situation was the same with taming a cow to milk it when it had just given birth to its first calf. In most cases you would not complete Read more about Taming agricultural value chains through data and evidence[…]
The majority of African economies are too complex to be fully exploited through current formal education systems that promote silos. While it is important to have expertise in crop production, livestock production, nutrition, road construction and natural resources management, what matters is how all these forms of knowledge can be integrated into a cohesive system. Read more about It will take integrative thinkers to fully exploit African resources[…]
If African agriculture is to be truly transformative, there is need for disruptive thinkers who can revisit boundaries between smallholder and large scale farmers. These boundaries have extended from physical (size of land) to the mind-set, creating unsustainable mental blockages. Most smallholder farmers have bought the myth that they cannot think big and challenge conventional Read more about African agriculture requires serious disruptive thinkers[…]
They may not advertise their products in the formal media, but informal agricultural traders have results-driven ways of capturing customer loyalty. Most of their skills have been honed over generations into unwritten intuitive laws that almost every trader is aware of. They understand customers more than customers know about themselves. According to traders in Harare Read more about How informal agricultural traders capture and preserve customer loyalty[…]
The formal education system in many developing countries is organised in such a way that the depth and breadth of knowledge imparted determines grades and qualification levels. Unfortunately, it is difficult to translate this arrangement into real life where societies do not function according to grades and degree qualifications. For instance, farmers and rural communities Read more about How much should farmers and consumers know about something?[…]
‘Best practice’ is not even a mouthful but what it means in practice remains unclear to many people who use the phrase. In African agriculture, it takes a lot for a farmer or trader to become a best practitioner. Most value chain actors face challenges in identifying sufficient quality evidence that can be translated into Read more about How to move from ordinary to best agricultural practices[…]
In every African community you can find people who are naturally curious and those who lack interest in learning. Those who are curious can describe many aspects of their local environment such as natural resources and man-made features like water sources, dip tanks, schools, markets and business centres as well as the history of their Read more about The power of curiosity and situational intelligence in African communities[…]