Africa RISING Baseline Evaluation Survey (ARBES) report for Ghana


Book Description

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) leads an associated project on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of AR activities. As part of the evaluation efforts of the AR program in three regions of northern Ghana (i.e. Northern, Upper West and Upper East), the M&E Team at IFPRI has contracted Pan African Field Services Limited (Panafields) to conduct the Ghana Africa RISING Evaluation Survey (GARBES), which has the primary objective of collecting highly credible and unbiased baseline data to evaluate the effectiveness of AR’s activities. In particular, the main development hypothesis that GARBES aims to test is whether AR interventions, in the form of sustainable intensification of agricultural practices, lead to an increase in agricultural productivity, income and welfare indicators (both monetary as well as non-monetary). The collected evidence on the overall effectiveness and on the specific causal pathways will also allow to draw conclusions on whether and how to scale up the program in the future.




Africa RISING Baseline Evaluation Survey (ARBES) report for Tanzania


Book Description

This report presents overall summaries and cross-tabulations, and empirical means-difference tests across household type, location, wealth, and gender of head, for data that cover 810 households in Africa RISING areas in northern and north-central Tanzania in three districts (Babati, Kiteto and Kongwa) and twenty-five villages in which Africa RISING was either operational or pre-operational at the date of the survey (February-April 2014). Following a description of the report and of the survey from which its data are drawn, its main findings are presented in two parts, providing description and analysis of household- and community-level data, and these also include a series of tables and graphs to further illustrate the descriptive results. Each part contains six sections. For household-level data, these include household demographics, health and nutrition, dwelling characteristics and asset ownership, agriculture, household consumption, and shocks and vulnerability. And for community-level data, these cover community demographics, access to services, extension advice and farmer groups, land and major crops, shocks, and food prices.




Africa RISING Baseline Evaluation Survey (ARBES) report for Mali


Book Description

As part of its Feed the future Initiative, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) supported the development of an innovative research for development project to promote the sustainable intensification of small-scale agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. Smallscale agriculture represents the main economic activity of the majority of sub-Saharan African population. Therefore, to address global hunger and poverty, the Feed the Future initiative (FtF) developed Africa RISING (Research In Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation). Africa RISING is an agricultural research program aiming to provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for small holder families, in particular for women and children, through the development of farming systems that can sufficiently improve nutrition and income security, while conserving or enhancing the natural resource pool.




Africa RISING impact assessment report


Book Description

This report summarizes lessons from cross-country analyses of the impact of the Africa RISING (AR) program. Implemented in six countries—Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali, and Ghana—AR aimed to provide pathways out of hunger and poverty for smallholders by sustainably intensifying their farming systems in order to enhance income and food security, particularly for women and children, while conserving or enhancing the natural resource base. Phase I (2012–2016) focused on the validation of demand-driven sustainable intensification (SI) innovations, while Phase II (2016–2022) focused on the scaling of a subset of validated SI innovations in partnership with development partners. Our impact assessment studies covered all program countries, except Zambia, and are based on two rounds of household panel survey data, excluding Ethiopia for which program effect is estimated using one round of survey data. Impact is estimated using the difference-in-differences method for countries with panel data or, for Ethiopia, based on simple comparison of outcomes between program beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The choice of impact indicators is guided by the Sustainable Intensification Assessment Framework (SIAF) framework and survey data availability. Impact indicators encompass the five sustainable intensification (SI) domains discussed in the SIAF: environment, productivity, economic, human, and social.




A user guide to Ghana Africa research in sustainable intensification for the next generation (Africa RISING) baseline evaluation survey data


Book Description

The Ghana Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation (Africa RISING) Baseline Evaluation Survey (GARBES) survey was implemented from May to July 2014 as part of IFPRI’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of Africa RISING. Africa RISING aims to create opportunities for smallholder farmers in Africa south of the Sahara (through action research and development partnerships) by sustainably intensifying their farming systems and improving food, nutrition, and income security. Initiated in 2012, the program is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of the U.S. government’s Feed the Future (FTF) initiative. The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) leads a sustainable intensification effort focusing on the cereal-based farming systems in the Guinea Savannah Zone of West Africa (Ghana and Mali) and East and Southern Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia) while the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) leads the research activities focusing on the crop-livestock systems of the Ethiopian highlands. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has been tasked with M&E of the three projects. Ghana Africa RISING is being implemented in Northern, Upper East, and Upper West regions of Ghana, within the FTF Zones of Influence. The research activities are led by IITA and Wageningen University (WUR). GARBES collected detailed household- and plot-crop level data addressing various topics: employment (agricultural and non-agricultural); health; agricultural land; crop inputs, harvest, storage, and sale; livestock ownership, feed, and water; agriculture-related challenges and coping strategies; credit and off-farm income sources; housing condition and ownership of various durable assets; subjective welfare and food security; household-level food consumption; non-food expenditure; agricultural shocks; and child and women anthropometry. The community survey collected data on access to basic services; extension services; social organizations, mobility, and village-level shocks; access to natural resources; metric conversion units; and prices of crops and food items. GARBES covered 1,284 households and 50 communities drawn from the three project regions. Data were collected using structured questionnaires in multiple local languages through Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (using SurveyCTO).







Diversifying Food and Diets


Book Description

Currently 868 million people are undernourished and 195 million children under five years of age are stunted. At the same time, over 1 billion people are overweight and obese in both the developed and developing world. Diseases previously associated with affluence, such as cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, are on the rise. Food system-based approaches to addressing these problems that could enhance food availability and diet quality through local production and agricultural biodiversity often fall outside the traditional scope of nutrition, and have been under-researched. As a consequence, there remains insufficient evidence to support well-defined, scalable agricultural biodiversity interventions that can be linked to improvements in nutrition outcomes. Agricultural biodiversity is important for food and nutritional security, as a safeguard against hunger, a source of nutrients for improved dietary diversity and quality, and strengthening local food systems and environmental sustainability. This book explores the current state of knowledge on the role of agricultural biodiversity in improving diets, nutrition and food security. Using examples and case studies from around the globe, the book explores current strategies for improving nutrition and diets and identifies key research and implementation gaps that need to be addressed to successfully promote the better use of agricultural biodiversity for rural and urban populations and societies in transition.




Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural Intensification of the Humid Highland Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

The humid highlands in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are characterized by high population densities and require intensification. The Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA) has set up a research for development platform in various mandate areas in DR Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda, aiming to identify improved production, market, and nutrition options and facilitating the access for development partners to these options. This platform is supported by capacity building, multi-stakeholder dialogue, and monitoring and evaluation efforts. The conference, facilitated by CIALCA, aimed to (i) take stock of the state-of the art in agricultural intensification in the highlands of SSA and (ii) chart the way forward for agricultural research for development in the humid highlands of SSA, and more specifically in the recently launched Humidtropics Consortium Research Programme, through keynote, oral and poster presentations, and strategic panel discussions.




An African Green Revolution


Book Description

This volume explores the usefulness of the Asian model of agricultural development for Africa, where, even before the recent world food crisis, half the population lived on less than on dollar a day, and a staggering one in three people and one third of all children were undernourished. Africa has abundant natural resources; agriculture provides most of its jobs, a third of national income and a larger portion of total export earnings. However the levels of land and labor productivity rank among the worst in the world. The book explains Africa’s productivity gap and proposes ways to close it, by examining recent experience in Africa and by drawing on lessons from Asia.




Agroforestry - The Future of Global Land Use


Book Description

This volume contains a solid body of the current state of knowledge on the various themes and activities in agroforestry worldwide. It is organized into three sections: the Introduction section consists of the summaries of six keynote speeches at the 2nd World Congress of Agroforestry held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2009; that is followed by two sections of peer-reviewed thematic chapters grouped as “Global Perspectives” (seven chapters) and “Regional Perspectives” (eleven chapters), authored by professional leaders in their respective agroforestry-related fields worldwide. A total of 130 professionals from institutions in 33 countries in both developing and the industrialized temperate regions of the world contributed to the book as chapter authors and/or reviewers. Thus, the book presents a comprehensive and authoritative account of the global picture of agroforestry today.