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GAIN and Incofin Investment Management Announce New Collaboration to Unlock the Potential of SMEs to Improve Diets and Nutrition in Africa
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) and Incofin Investment Management (Incofin IM) have announced a new collaboration to take forward and manage the newly established Nutritious Food Financing Facility (N3F).
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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WEST AFRICA: Germany Will Finance Agro-Ecology to the Tune of €16 million
The German international development cooperation agency (GIZ) announced a €16 million grant for the promotion of sustainable agriculture techniques in West Africa over the next five years.
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Badly Needed, Hard to Deliver: The Challenges of Selling Drought Insurance to African Farmers
Millions of poor farmers in Africa can't move beyond subsistence levels because of droughts and other weather disasters. Insuring farmers against these risks is key to helping build their resilience to climate shocks. But providing this insurance – while making a profit – is no easy matter. Jim Hight explores the challenges in discussing WorldCover, a drought insurance provider that's gaining traction in Africa.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
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Smallholders as Customers, Not Pupils: Making the Case for Good Agricultural Practices
Good agricultural practices offer smallholders the promise of improved food safety, food quality and environmental stewardship. But they also bring the risks of implementing costly new methods and standards. To overcome farmers' reluctance to adopt these practices, Ben Fowler of MarketShare Associates and Clara Yoon at MEDA write that agricultural organizations should adopt a customer-centric approach – treating smallholders as customers rather than beneficiaries of know-how.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
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‘Pilots Never Fail, Pilots Never Scale’: Why the Global Development Community Needs a More Realistic Approach to Reaching Billions
We live in an era that calls for large-scale social and environmental transformation – but our standard approaches aren't working. As Lennart Woltering at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center sees it, we need larger systems change. He shares a new paper that argues that agricultural development should stop focusing narrowly on making an impact through specific projects, and instead transform the underlying system so new technologies can be used by millions.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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New Report Posits The Social Good Of A Legal Cannabis Industry In Africa
A new research report from cannabis research firm New Frontier Data looks at the potential benefits a legal cannabis industry might have for several fast-growing African nations
- Categories
- Agriculture
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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‘Appeasement Reporting’ in Development Projects: Satisfying Donors at the Expense of Beneficiaries
“Appeasement reporting” is a common practice among development organizations, says Richard Tinsley. The term refers to their tendency to slant donor reporting, making all projects appear successful and concealing any failures or lack of beneficiary interest. This appeases donors hoping for impactful projects – but it has a detrimental effect on beneficiaries, future projects and the organizations involved. Tinsley explores the causes and consequences of this practice, using the example of farmer co-ops for smallholders.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Impact Assessment
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Serving Smallholder Farmers in the Digital Age: Why it Requires Treating Data Like an Asset
As mobile technology becomes nearly ubiquitous, the next wave of users is expected to come from rural regions, where smallholder farmers produce the majority of the food yet often live in poverty. In these areas, data-driven agriculture is already creating a new economy – one in which data itself is the currency that can help lift farmers out of poverty. Bobbi Gray and Ellen Galdava discuss an upcoming Grameen Foundation paper, supported by USAID and FHI 360, on this quickly shifting dynamic.
- Categories
- Agriculture
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