Does Zero Tillage Improve the Livelihoods of Smallholder Cropping Farmers?

‘Livelihoods and economic crisis: the case of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe (1999-2008)’

In the past decade a political and economic crisis has unfolded in Zimbabwe, resulting in two-digit negative growth rates, sky-rocketing inflation, decline in the rule of law and a disintegration of markets, notably rural input, output and labour markets. There has been little or no primary data collection to document the effects of these crises on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers. This p...

Crop diversification and livelihoods of smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe: adaptive management for environmental change

This paper demonstrates how crop diversification impacts on two outcomes of climate smart agriculture; increased productivity (legume and cereal crop productivity) and enhanced resilience (household income, food security, and nutrition) in rural Zimbabwe. Using data from over 500 smallholder farmers, we jointly estimate crop diversification and each of the outcome variables within a conditional...

Does use of ICT-based market information services (MIS) improve welfare of smallholder farmers? Evidence from Kenya

The need to provide agricultural information to farmers has led to emergence of numerous ICT-based MIS projects in developing country. These projects aim at promoting commercialization of smallholder agriculture and subsequently their welfare. This study examines the welfare effects one such project in western Kenya. It uses household food security and access to medical health services as proxi...

Climate change and smallholder farmers in Malawi

Pluriactivity: An Entrepreneurial Strategy for Smallholder Farmers

     Rural entrepreneurship is a new way in development theories for empowerment and capacity building in rural areas to change the current pattern of human living to a desirable and merit pattern. One of the manifestations of entrepreneurship is pluriactivity. Therefore, the purpose of this study was conducted on analyzing and pondering in the farmers' pluriactivity. Pluriactivity is defined a...