A cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence and to identify risk factors for bovine brucellosis seropositivity in traditional and smallholder dairy cattle production systems in the Tanga region of North-eastern Tanzania. The study populations comprised 246 indigenous and 409 crossbred cattle, randomly selected from 105 smallholder dairy and 25 tradition...

Future climate changes will affect smallholder farmers in the developing world, posing threats to household food security. Nevertheless, there remains limited comparable evidence across multiple countries and regions regarding the global extent of climate shocks affecting smallholder food security. We examine data from 5,299 household surveys across 15 countries in Latin America, Africa and Sou...

Natural resource degradation and water scarcity are a global concern, which typically threatens the sustainability of smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in semi-arid developing areas. As part of research efforts, a number of water-conservation technologies (WCT) have been developed, yet with low adoption rates in smallholder farming environments. This paper discusses the concepts of adoption and ...

Policymakers in many African countries, and other parts of the world where a significant part of the rural population is poor and food insecure, face a two‐edged dilemma. On the one hand there is a need to increase the quantity of marketed food staple surpluses to feed a growing population, especially rapidly growing urban centers where unrest can be politically destabilizing. Many of these new...

The study compared economic efficiency among smallholder farmers who practiced low external input technology [LEIT] and high external input technology [HEIT] agriculture in a harsh macroeconomic environment typified by inadequate fertilizer subsidy in Imo State, Nigeria. Cross sectional data generated from 160 smallholder farmers randomly selected from 2 out of the 3 agricultural zones in Imo S...

Striga hermonthica (witchweed) is a parasitic weed that attacks and significantly reduces the yields of maize, sorghum, millet, and sugarcane throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Low cost management methods such as hand weeding, short crop rotations, trap cropping, or conventional biocontrol have not been effective. Likewise, Striga-tolerant or herbicide-resistant maize cultivars are higher yielding,...

The objective of this study was to determine the financial efficiency of health and pig management education intervention in reducing the incidence rate of porcine cysticercosis to smallholder pig farmers in Mbulu District, northern Tanzania. We used investment appraisal analytical method (a simple form of cost-benefit analysis) in an Excel spreadsheet model. Sensitivity analyses were also cond...

Traditional smallholder farming systems are characterized by low yields and high risks of crop failure and food insecurity. Through a biophysical model, PARCHED-THIRST and a socio-economic farming systems simulation model, OLYMPE, we evaluated the performance of farming practices based on maize yield, gross margin and total family balance over a 10-year period in semi-arid Olifants River Basin ...

In recent decades, significant international assistance has been provided to assist the establishment of market information systems (MISs) in a range of developing countries, including many in Africa. However, experience with state-run MISs, looking to provide current price information to market participants, has not been encouraging. Volatile horticultural markets provide particular challenges...

Introduction This chapter addresses the question “Can smallholder livestock production systems in developing countries be transformed to take advantage of the increasing demand for meat?”, a question that has been posed by many authors (for example, Tarawali et al. 2011). On the basis of a case study that followed smallholder cattle development in Ea Kar, a district in the central highlands of ...