In 2013, Humidtropics adopted the concept of Flagship Projects as the main vehicle through which the Program will carry out its research to achieve the Intermediate Development Outcomes. There are five Flagship Projects, of which one is mainstreamed to ensure coherence throughout the Program. The remaining four Flagship Projects are based on geographic location, including the Central America and the Caribbean Flagship, where the North Nicaragua (Nicanorte) Action Site is located. Within the Action Site, the Program is taking on a series of challenges, such as degraded soils, the reduction … [Read more...]
Adapting Humidtropics Research Methods to Fit Local Stakeholder Interests in Thailand
Last month I travelled to Thailand to launch a situational analysis in the northern province of Nan. In line with what I had previously done in Northwest Vietnam and in Uganda and West Kenya, I had come to Thailand to present the expected outline of a Humidtropics situational analysis report. This is meant to paint a broad picture of the current situation of agrifood production, marketing and natural resources management systems, while relating those to rural development indicators and expected outcomes of Humidtropics. I was the main facilitator for the situational analysis launch meeting … [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...]