For agroforesters, there is nothing more refreshing than seeing a hill covered with trees interplanted with crops. For agroforesters concerned with livelihoods, health and nutrition, there is nothing sweeter than seeing a hill covered with fruit trees and nutritious vegetables. Both these cases applied to me when I recently visited Humidtropics' sites in Son La Province of Northwest Vietnam. The primary purpose of my visit on June 15–17, 2015, was to represent the East and Central Asia Region, and the Thailand and Vietnam country programs of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) at … [Read more...]
Nutrition-Sensitive Landscapes: Farm and Landscape Modelling to Improve Nutrition in Kenya
Mary Adoyo* is a Kenyan smallholder farmer in Masana sub-location, Vihiga county in Western Kenya. For much of the year, she manages the family farm alone while her husband works in Nairobi to support his family with monthly remittances. She produces enough maize on their one acre plot to supply her family with maize meals for only six months of the year. Their farm also produces beans, bananas, sweet potatoes, avocados, mangoes, papayas, lettuce, kales and traditional Kenyan vegetables such as mitoo (Crotalaria spp.). Many of these products are sold locally to generate money to purchase food … [Read more...]
Road to Self-Reliance: the Story of an Innovation Platform in Uganda
Innovation platforms are structures that bring together different stakeholders from the same area to identify solutions to common problems. They exist as long as necessary to handle existing challenges and new ones that might emerge during the process, and they take advantage of opportunities that help them create solutions to existing problems. Past experience has shown that when platforms are driven by specific projects, there is often a risk that they will cease functioning if funding no longer becomes available. For platform members, stakeholders, and the communities who benefit from the … [Read more...]