From Corporate Social Responsibility to Sustainable Agribusiness Modelling

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The failure of donor-funded programmes to transform African agriculture is resulting in more attention turning to the private sector as a potential source of better agricultural outcomes. Several multi-million dollar donor programmes have been launched with pomp and media saturation but the end has often not been as loud as the beginning.  At the end Read more about From Corporate Social Responsibility to Sustainable Agribusiness Modelling[…]

How the market can inform better farmer characterization

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In a rapidly changing knowledge economy, it no longer makes sense to continue characterizing farmers in developing countries by the size of land on which they produce agricultural commodities. Informal agriculture markets provide various ways through which African farmers can be characterized beyond the smallholder, communal, commercial and other forms which are becoming inadequate. For Read more about How the market can inform better farmer characterization[…]

How developing countries over-rate foreign currency

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Many African developing countries have a deliberate bias towards exports in the hope that this can bring foreign currency that is expected to stimulate economic development. However, it seems foreign currency is a preserve of the elite who have developed a taste for foreign toys like large vehicles, expensive furniture, clothes, wine and other expressions Read more about How developing countries over-rate foreign currency[…]

Using market evidence to protect smallholder farmers from price variability

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That most African smallholder farmers can produce enough commodities for household consumption and surplus for the market is now beyond question. The majority of committed farmers have mastered the art of producing almost any commodity.  What remains outside their control are market dynamics such as prices as well as supply and demand trends. The situation Read more about Using market evidence to protect smallholder farmers from price variability[…]

The power of knowledge retention in farming and rural communities

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In addition absence of appropriate information at the right time, lack of knowledge retention mechanisms is a big challenge for African farming and rural communities. Unfortunately most resources continue to be directed at the dissemination of ideas from policy makers and development actors.  As a result many development interventions remain projects at the end of Read more about The power of knowledge retention in farming and rural communities[…]

Knowledge-driven ways to assess the socio-economic impact of agricultural interventions

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Measuring the authentic impact of development interventions remains a big challenge for many development organizations and governments, mainly in developing countries. Terms like Value for Money (VfM) and Social Return on Investment (SROI) are being mentioned repeatedly as organizations try to ascertain the value of millions of dollars that continue to go towards development. While Read more about Knowledge-driven ways to assess the socio-economic impact of agricultural interventions[…]

When old knowledge prevent adoption of new socio-economic practices

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One of the dominant facets of colonization is visible in the structure of African formal food industries. Many African countries are stuck with infrastructure designed for supporting manufacturing of a few agricultural commodities, mainly for the export market. Such commodities include maize, beef, coffee, tea, cocoa, soya bean, tobacco and wheat. The biggest mistake by Read more about When old knowledge prevent adoption of new socio-economic practices[…]

Making sense of differences between communicating evidence and facilitating its use

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Besides promoting linear ways of communicating information, most efforts by policy makers and development agencies in Africa continue to confuse dissemination of evidence with facilitating its use. Instead of speeding up the adoption of new knowledge, social media is also generating noise which gets in the way of adoption. If they were facilitating adoption and Read more about Making sense of differences between communicating evidence and facilitating its use[…]

Key elements of market – informed agribusiness Models

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Like all businesses, agribusinesses should be built around a product/service and a niche market. Ideally, more products and services spawn more business models with some models eventually becoming separate business units.  When that happens, it becomes easy to assess the viability of each business model. Contrary to some beliefs, in a business model, money is Read more about Key elements of market – informed agribusiness Models[…]

If acronyms were a solution, poverty would be history in many African communities

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Almost all development interventions into Africa are framed into acronyms. eMKambo will not give examples because there are far too many acronyms to mention and you know what we mean. Although they are designed to make programmes easy to remember, most acronyms turn development interventions into slogans. As if that is not enough, acronyms have Read more about If acronyms were a solution, poverty would be history in many African communities[…]