Final evaluation of the project “Partnership for sustainable rice systems development in sub-Saharan Africa”

Final evaluation of the project “Partnership for sustainable rice systems development in sub-Saharan Africa”
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 67
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9251331979

Rice consumption in Africa has increased dramatically over recent decades, growing faster than consumption of any other major staple on the continent. However, apart from Egypt, no African country is currently self-sufficient in terms of rice consumption. FAO implemented the project from May 2014 to December 2019, with the ten ministries of agriculture from the beneficiary countries. The project goal was to develop sustainable and productive rice systems in Africa to increase food security and enhance sustainable development of the rice food chain among smallholder farmers. South-South Cooperation was demonstrated to be an excellent mechanism for pooling resources and efforts in innovation and development processes. Sharing knowledge with decision makers and political consultation at the highest level was useful to reaffirm and update policies strategies and intervention priorities, and to mobilize partners from a large number of countries. Several producers, producer groups and communities successfully moved from subsistence farming to commercial farming by increasing production, reducing post-harvest losses and improving quality of rice through the use of appropriate post-harvest management technologies and equipment.

Synthesis of evaluations of FAO’s contributions in the Africa Region (2019–2021)

Synthesis of evaluations of FAO’s contributions in the Africa Region (2019–2021)
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 62
Release: 2022-05-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9251362521

This report is a synthesis of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Office of Evaluation (OED) on evaluations completed from 2019 to 2021 on FAO’s work in the Africa region. It documents FAO’s contribution to results, identifies gaps and emerging issues and lessons learned. The synthesis is organized around the themes of sustainable production and value chain development, food security and nutrition, climate change and natural resources, resilience to threats and crises, and gender equality and empowerment of women. The synthesis used the Programme Priority Areas of the Strategic Framework 2022–2031 to analyse FAO’s contribution to results, finding many positive examples in the Africa region. However, the sustainability of results is a challenge for the region, due to several factors, including capacity constraints of government partners and limitations of FAO project designs. Gaps and emerging issues include the need for guidance on ‘accelerators’ of results, addressing youth as a key priority and new approaches to partnerships with civil society and the private sector. Lessons learned include the importance of good project design, suitably capacitated decentralized offices, effective knowledge management and strategic and inclusive partnerships to achieve results.

Evaluation of the Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM)

Evaluation of the Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM)
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2021-11-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 925135359X

The Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM) is a mechanism through which FAO’s resource partners make unearmarked or lightly earmarked voluntary contributions to support achievement of FAO’s Strategic Objectives. OED conducted an evaluation of the current phase of FMM (2018–2021). The purpose of the evaluation was to inform FMM’s main stakeholders about the fund’s overall performance and also inform its next phase (2022–2025). The evaluation assessed FMM’s strategic positioning; effectiveness of the revised governance and implementation arrangements; key contributions to the achievement of FAO’s Strategic Objectives; and the adaptability of FMM to respond to unplanned scenarios and changes. The evaluation found FMM to be of strategic relevance to FAO as a vehicle for financing innovation, under-funded or emerging areas with flexibility to allocate voluntary contributions to FAO priorities. The evaluation also found evidence of catalytic and transformative elements, primarily in past projects. However, there is considerable scope for improving the FMM so that it contributes to results under the new FAO Strategic Framework.

Realizing Africa's Rice Promise

Realizing Africa's Rice Promise
Author: Marco C S Wopereis
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2013-10-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1845938127

At a time when Africa's food security stands threatened, Realizing Africa's Rice Promise provides a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art research and recommendations for dealing with future challenges. With contributions from the key scientists working on rice in Africa, this volume addresses policy, genetic diversity and improvement, sustainable productivity enhancement, innovations and value chains. The book is useful for researchers, policy makers, agricultural ministries, donors, regional and sub-regional organizations, non-governmental development organizations and universities.

AgrInvest-Food Systems Project – Leveraging private finance for sustainable agrifood value chains in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya and Niger

AgrInvest-Food Systems Project – Leveraging private finance for sustainable agrifood value chains in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Kenya and Niger
Author: Ahairwe, P.E., Bilal, S.
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 60
Release: 2022-06-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9251364230

This technical note was written by the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) as part of the project “AgrInvest-Food Systems: Enabling inclusive and efficient private sector investment in agri-food systems”, implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the ECDPM. The AgrInvest-Food Systems Project (AgrInvest-FS) aims at attracting private investment into agrifood systems aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by leveraging public funds. The note applies a systematic approach to the five agrivalue chains over the four countries covered in the AgrInvest-FS project, to identify relevant financing instruments and relevant types of financing institutions, which could potentially be interested in financing a segment of the value chain.

Africa's Development Dynamics 2023 Investing in Sustainable Development

Africa's Development Dynamics 2023 Investing in Sustainable Development
Author: African Union Commission
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2023-07-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9264417591

Africa’s Development Dynamics uses lessons from Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa to develop policy recommendations and share good practices across the continent. Drawing on the most recent statistics, the analysis of development dynamics aims to assist African leaders in reaching the targets of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 at all levels: continental, regional, national and local.

Rice Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa

Rice Green Revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Keijiro Otsuka
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2023-03-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9811980462

This open access book seeks effective strategy to realize a rice Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa based on more than ten years of research team’s inquiries into determinants and consequences of new technology adoption in rice farming in seven countries in this region. Rigorous statistical analyses are carried out by using valuable household data of rice farmers. The book is actually sequel to the two earlier books on the same subject published by Springer and edited by K. Otsuka and D.F. Larson, An African Green Revolution published in 2013 and In Pursuit of an African Green Revolution in 2016. The main message of the first book was that rice is the most promising cereal crop in SSA because of the high transferability of Asian rice technology, whereas that of the second book was that rice cultivation training programs are effective in significantly increasing rice yield in SSA. This third book has wider coverage in terms of topics, study periods, and study sites. It continues to show the significant impacts of rice cultivation training on productivity and newly demonstrates the high sustainability of the productivity impact of the training and the existence of spillover effects from trainees to other farmers by using panel data. We newly assess the important role of mechanization in intensification of rice farming, high returns to large-scale irrigation schemes, and the critical role of rice millers in improving the quality of milled rice. Based on these studies, this book provides clear pathways toward full-fledged Green Revolution in rice farming in sub-Saharan Africa.

Crop Improvement, Adoption and Impact of Improved Varieties in Food Crops in Sub-Saharan Africa

Crop Improvement, Adoption and Impact of Improved Varieties in Food Crops in Sub-Saharan Africa
Author: Thomas S. Walker
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2015-10-26
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1780644019

Following on from the CGIAR study by Evenson and Gollin (published by CABI in 2003), this volume provides up-to-date estimates of adoption outcomes and productivity impacts of crop variety improvement research in sub-Saharan Africa. The book reports on the results of the DIIVA Project that focussed on the varietal generation, adoption and impact for 20 food crops in 30 countries. It also compares adoption outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa to those in South Asia, and guides future efforts for global agricultural research