Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets in East Africa

Promising Crop Biotechnologies for Smallholder Farmers in East Africa: Bananas and Maize

In contrast to cross-breeding, genetic transformation allows for enhancement of one trait in a variety while retaining other desirable traits or attributes. Host varieties can be hybrids bred by scientists or endemic types maintained by farmers. Varieties that are popular among farmers are those whose traits or attributes are appreciated by farmers. Inserting a gene into a host variety that is ...

Promising Crop Biotechnologies for Smallholder Farmers in East Africa: Bananas and Maize

Uganda is among the world’s leading countries in terms of banana production and consumption. Bananas occupy the largest cultivated area among staple food crops in Uganda and are primarily grown on small subsistence farms (plots of less than 0.5 ha). In addition to being a major food staple, bananas are an important source of income, with excess production sold in local markets. Average per capi...

New Markets in Smallholder Farmers in Kenya’s Kiambu West District

Diagnostic research to enable adoption of transgenic crop varieties by smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Diagnostic research is important in helping to create an enabling environment for promising biotechnology products in smallholder agriculture, before rather than after release. The biotechnology products that now hold promise for poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa are those that tackle economically important, biotic or abiotic problems not easily addressed through conventional plant breeding or ...

What Factors Contribute to the Smallholder Farmers’ Farm Income Differential? Evidence from East Hararghe, Oromia, Ethiopia

Improvements in the farm household’s income and identifying the factors contribute to its improvement is very critical for enhancing food and poverty reduction strategy of Ethiopia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors contributing to rural farm households’ income differential in Haramaya district East Hararghe, Oromia, Ethiopia. The study used both primary and secondary data. Pr...