Working Paper Series

This study explored how sustainable agricultural practices, particularly organic cotton farming, influence labor relations and food security in central India, focusing on the intersections of caste, class, and gender. Findings show that labor shortages in organic farming can enhance the bargaining power of marginalized workers and shift gender norms by increasing women's participation in farm work. The findings suggest that promoting organic farming can improve wages and food security for landless laborers.

WP 026-2024: Who benefits from organic cotton? Intersectional labour dynamics of gender, caste and class in Central India

Agrobiodiversity conservation is essential for the sustainability of agri-food systems. Smallholder farmers, as primary stewards of crop and varietal diversity, play an important role in this conservation effort. This paper employs a gendered perspective to explore farmers' perceptions of agrobiodiversity status and trends. Drawing on case studies from Burkina Faso and Ghana, it seeks to identify the factors that influence farmers’ decisions to reduce, maintain, or enhance their crop and varietal diversity.

WP 025-2024: Not all is lost - A case study of agrobiodiversity trends in Ghanaian and Burkinabe villages

The working paper proposes and tests a new approach to classifying livestock production systems. Our approach complements farm level classifications with a classification of livestock management practices at herd level. We define the livestock management system as a typical combination of herd structure, feeding, and herd management, and their interlinkages. Based on existing literature, we identified 12 distinct livestock management systems for Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, we empirically applied the approach using ILRI’s IMPACTLite dataset. By focussing on livestock management practices on herd level (rather than the household level) our approach can support researchers and development practitioners in collecting high-quality data, developing better data structures, understanding livestock production systems, assessing change in livestock management and guide more targeted interventions.

WP 024-2024: From the herd’s perspective: Rethinking livestock classification systems

Equipping the next generation with sustainability skills is of utmost importance for a sustainable transformation of agriculture. This paper explores the integration of sustainability topics, across all dimension of sustainability-social, environmental and economic- in the curricula of Agricultural Technical and Vocational Education and Training (ATVET) institutions in four countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The study investigates the perceptions of teachers and students on the extent of sustainability inclusion in ATVET course content, and examines the barriers and opportunities for mainstreaming sustainability topics in agricultural training and education.

WP 023-2024: Moving from Productivity to Sustainability in Agricultural Education? Perspectives from Students and Teachers in four African Countries

As digital technologies are ubiquitous, there are high hopes and many intriguing initiatives related to digital agriculture and its potential to address many challenges of smallholder agriculture. However, the question of how and to what extent digital tools address these challenges remain. Current debates argue that it is an overhype that diverts attention from finding real solutions to farmers' challenges on the ground, while others are not convinced that African countries are ready for a digital revolution. This paper models a classification framework to analyse these tools, explores pathways through which they can transform African agriculture and identifies untapped potentials of digitalisation for sustainable transformation.

WP 022-2024: Silicon Savannah and Smallholder Farming: How can Digitalization Contribute to Sustainable Agricultural Transformation in Africa?

This study examines the sustainability implications of livestock transitions in Africa, using an innovative framework to analyse management strategies and drivers of change in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Zambia. The results highlight that livestock keepers adjust their management practices, including mobility patterns, feeding strategies, and production goals to cope with socio-economic and environmental changes, leading to the emergence and proliferation of specific herd systems. These emerging livestock pathways translate into trade-offs across several dimension, calling for governance structures and tailored policies to enhance the sustainable development of livestock.

WP 021-2024: Redefining livestock systems for sustainable transitions in Africa

There are heavy - at times dogmatic - debates on which technological pathway toward farm mechanization - animal traction, two-wheel tractors, four-wheel tractors - should be supported by African governments and development partners. This paper introduces a novel “best-fit” framework that allows for assessing the comparative advantages and disadvantages of the three technological pathways depending on the agro-ecological and socio-economic context.

WP 012-2022: Animal traction, two-wheel tractors, or four-wheel tractors? A best-fit approach to guide farm mechanization in Africa

The paper takes a unique “whole-family” approach to study the actors shaping youth aspirations towards farming in Zambia, highlighting the influential role of parents and their farm characteristics and revealing important gender differences.

WP 009-2021: The farming question: Intergenerational linkages, gender and youth aspirations in rural Zambia

The paper assesses the potential and challenges of digital tools for livestock development by presenting a classification framework, taking stock of digital tools in India and Kenya and providing insights from three on-the-ground case studies: Herdman, a tool for Indian dairy organizations working with small-scale livestock keepers; Farmtree, a tool supporting medium-scale livestock keepers in India to manage their herds, and iCow, an e-extension tool for farmers in Kenya.

WP 008-2021: Connected cows and cyber chickens? Stocktaking and case studies of digital livestock tools in Kenya and India

Against the background of the “herbicide revolution”, the paper examines the role of edible weeds for rural diets in Zambia and explores how herbicides affect the consumption of edible weeds.

WP 007-2021: Edible weeds and food and nutrition security in the face of the herbicide revolution. A case study from Zambia

The paper disentangles the effects of different Covid-19 lockdown measures – such as movement restrictions, workplace closures, and banning public events – on different dimensions of food and nutrition security. The results highlight both the need and scope to design nutrition-sensitive lockdowns, which are effective from an epidemiological perspective but minimize trade-offs with food and nutrition security.

WP 006-2020: Between pandemics and famines: Towards nutrition-sensitive lockdowns during Covid-19 and beyond

Facing Covid-19, developing countries were confronted with large trade-offs between the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic (“flatten the curve”) and food and nutrition security. In this paper, we explore how five African countries - Zambia, Ghana, Benin, Kenya, and Uganda - maneuvered between these trade-offs when designing their policy responses to the first wave of the pandemic.

WP 005-2020: ‘We would rather die from Covid-19 than from hunger´ - Exploring lockdown stringencies in five African countries

Small scale gold mining in Ghana increasingly comprises the use of large machinery and hazardous chemicals, which can affect human and environmental health. The paper examines the legal framework
and governance challenges of small-scale gold mining in Ghana and proposes solutions for better governance.

Governance challenges of small-scale gold mining in Ghana: Insights from a process net-map study

The paper explores how the rise of agricultural mechanization changes the face of African farming and which policies can ensure that mechanization unfolds in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable way.

Impacts of agricultural mechanization: Evidence from four African countries

Studying “market queens” in Ghana, this paper busts several widespread myths in the development literature, which often portrays women as powerless.

The myth of the Market Queens: A Case Study of Women and Power in Ghanaian Markets

Based on case studies on Hello Tractor in Nigeria and EM3 Agri-Services in India, the paper assesses how Uber-type solutions for tractor hire address the challenges of rural markets and help smallholder farmers to mechanization.

Uber for tractors? Opportunities and challenges of digital tools for tractor hire in India and Nigeria