According to the World Health Organization (WHO), neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect almost 1,000,000,000 people in 149 countries (http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/ diseases/en/). Most are small family farmers living in the least-developed countries where health systems are often inadequate, and climate conditions are favourable to infectious and parasitic diseases. These diseases h...

Traditional yam-based cropping systems (shifting cultivation, slash-and-burn, and short fallow) often result in deforestation and soil nutrient depletion. The objective of this study was to determine the impact of yam-based systems with herbaceous legumes on dry matter (DM) production (tubers, shoots), nutrients removed and recycled, and the soil fertility changes. We compared smallholders' tra...

In sub-Saharan Africa, transaction costs are believed to be the most significant barrier that prevents smallholders and farmers from gaining access to markets and productive assets. In this study, we explore the impact of social capital on millet prices for three contrasted years in Senegal. Social capital is approximated using a unique data set on mobile phone communications between 9 million ...

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a leading complement and alternative to synthetic pesticides and a form of sustainable intensification with particular importance for tropical smallholders. Global pesticide use has grown over the past 20 years to 3.5 billion kg/year, amounting to a global market worth $45 billion. The external costs of pesticides are $4-$19 (€3-15) per kg of active ingredien...

This paper outlines the application of Systems Thinking in investigating ways to improve the returns to smallholder tree farmers in the Philippines. The paper illustrates how a systems approach was used in the conceptualisation of the project and how systems thinking facilitated a shared understanding of the how each individual’s research contributed to the broader project activities. Systems T...

We evaluate the short-term impact of financial support to smallholder farmers and training program to married women in two regions of Ethiopia. Using household-level panel data from the World Bank collected in 2010-2012, the combined Difference-In-Difference (DID) and matching methods are applied. The three main findings emerge from the analysis shows that first; the program seems to improve ru...

Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970's, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral la...

Most studies of input subsidy programmes confine their analyses to measuring programme effects over a one-year period. This article estimates the potential longer-run or enduring effects of fertiliser subsidy programmes on smallholder farm households' demand for commercial fertiliser and maize production over time. We use four waves of panel data on 462 farm households in Malawi for whom fertil...

This study evaluates the potential impact of improved agricultural technologies on smallholders’ crop productivity and welfare. We use household-level data from Ethiopian Rural Household Survey collected by IFPRI in 1989-2009. The survey covers around 1500 rural households drawn from four regions and 15 rural villages. Endogenous treatment effect model is employed to account for the selection b...

In recent years, the trend for foreign actors to secure land for agricultural production in low-income countries has increased substantially. The concurrent acquisition of water resources changes the institutional arrangement for water management in the investment areas. The consequences of 'land grabbing' on the local water governance systems have not so far been adequately examined. This pape...