Financial cooperatives and microfinance institutions (MFIs) are the two major sources of rural finance in Ethiopia. Whereas MFIs are relatively new, financial cooperatives have existed for centuries in various forms. The coexistence of two different institutions serving the same group of people, and delivering the same financial services, raises several policy questions. Those questions have become particularly relevant, as the government has embarked on developing a new strategy for improving rural financial services delivery.

Long-term investments in agricultural water management (AWM) interventions in the Volta and Limpopo river basins have aimed at improving water availability and quality for smallholder farming systems. However, sustained and wider uptake of AWM technologies and approaches has not been as successful. We need to learn from successful AWM interventions, those interventions that have led to a sustained or increased uptake of AWM technologies or approaches, and which have led to improved well-being of farmers and livestock keepers in the rural development context of sub-Sahara Africa.

In developing regions with high levels of poverty and a dependence on climate sensitive agriculture, studies focusing on climate change adaptation, planning, and policy processes, have gained relative importance over the years. This study assesses the impact of farmer perceptions regarding climate change on the use of sustainable agricultural practices as an adaptation strategy in the Chinyanja Triangle, Southern Africa.

Groundwater pumping for irrigation has exploded across India since the 1970’s largely due to a proliferation of cheap pump sets and highly subsidized energy. In much of Western and peninsular India, aquifers have been overexploited with substantial decreases in water tables leading to even higher amounts of energy used for pumping. As solar irrigation pumps become more effective and affordable, the prospect of uncontrolled solar pumping further exacerbating the unsustainable use of groundwater has led to calls by some for the government to buy back excess electricity generated on farms.

The review, coordinated by Bioversity International, presents an impartial, evidence-based review of cacao propagation methods, to serve as a basis for the assessment and implementation of strategies for providing farmers with quality planting materials, adapted to current and future needs (cultural, institutional, technical, environmental and financial). It describes the various propagation methods available for the production and supply of large numbers of cacao plants to growers.

Analysis of marketing performance of vegetable plays an important role in an ongoing or future market development plan. The study primarily examines market structure of major actors and assessing the market performance for key vegetable marketing actors and channels by quantifying costs and profit margins. The data was generated by household survey using pre-tested structured questionnaires. This was supplemented by secondary data collected from different published and unpublished sources.

This report reflects upon the consolidated findings from the baseline and scoping studies conducted under the auspices of Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) Adaptation Programme in Africa. It identifies gaps in climate information access and use at the local level, type of climate services farmers and pastoralists need in Tanzania, relevant channels to reach farmers with requested services, lead-time and gender specific requirements.

Twenty million people live in or near Indonesia' s natural forests. The country's humid tropical forests are primarily in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya. A devastating regional economic crisis that began in mid-1997 affected Indonesia more strongly than any other country in Asia. A random sample survey of 1050 households was conducted in six outer island provinces to understand the effects of the crisis on the well-being of forest villagers and on their agricultural and forest clearing practices.