At the beginning of its establishment, the Humidtropics Innovation Platform of the Kiboga and Kyankwanzi districts in Uganda identified the following commodities as important components of the main farming system: maize, soybean, agro-forestry and livestock (both districts selected poultry and piggery, and in Kyankwanzi, cattle was added as it is part of the wider cattle corridor in Uganda). With the two districts being established maize growers, the Platform decided to first focus on the soybean and maize components of the system. Later on, they would start building up the system … [Read more...]
Can Home Gardens be a Catalyst for Market-Based Integrated Systems?
At the start of the rainy season, some upland areas in Thailand and Vietnam offer a depressing sight of bare red-colored hill slopes, deep erosion gullies and the occasional charred tree trunk. Maize monocropping on sloping lands is the main direct culprit. The practice is destructive, yet profitable for farmers, at least in the short-run. The practice is stimulated by a high demand for maize from the rapidly growing livestock sector in other parts of the country, which is in turn related to rising urban incomes and associated changes in food habits. Hill slopes are difficult to cultivate, let … [Read more...]
Maize, Pigs, Plums and Tea – Linking Smallholder Farmers to Markets in Northwest Vietnam
One of the key recommendations emerging from a situational analysis conducted by Humidtropics in four provinces of Northwest Vietnam is to use existing success stories of marketing business models to replicate those within value chains for indigenous local foods targeting niche markets. As a result, Humidtropics scientists from ILRI partnered with the Agriculture Economics and Value Chains Department of the Centre for Agrarian Systems Research and Development (CASRAD) to conduct a value chain assessment on four agricultural products: maize, pigs, plums and tea. This assessment provided … [Read more...]