Month: July 2013

Improving local rice production capacity is a key element on the agenda of most countries in
the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU).

This paper investigates the interdependence of decisions on the adoption of agricultural technology and the simultaneous interaction between adoption and food security situations of smallholders, using a sample of 260 households from rural Ethiopia.

A new high-yielding upland rice variety known as New Rice for Africa (NERICA) has been
recognised widely as a promising technology for addressing the food shortage and poverty
problems in sub-Saharan Africa.

The influence of food aid and remittances on West African food import demand is evaluated using a Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) model. Our results show that imports of oilseeds and the rest of the agricultural products category are highly price elastic, and that fruit and vegetables and dairy products are least responsive to price changes.

The determinants of the technical efficiency (TE) of adopters and non-adopters of soil and
water conservation (SWC) technologies in the upper Rwizi micro-catchment of south-western Uganda are compared using cross-sectional survey data from 246 smallholder farmers.

Limited access to timely and adequate information has been identified as a major hindrance
to smallholder agriculture in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. This has negatively affected
the socio-economic welfare of smallholder farmers, resulting in high numbers of food insecure households.