Articles
Adoption and Diffusion of Agricultural Innovations
Lee Swan
To bring about meaningful change it is essential that the change agency/agents also have an understanding of the factors and practices to consider and apply in achieving adoption, and diffusion, among the target communities and individual farmers.
Updates on impact of maresha seeder to the small holder farmers of East Africa
Harold Msanya
In April 2018, the team in East Africa involving ECHO, CFGB and local farmers Maresha started developing a low-cost seeder modified from the Ethiopian traditional ripper named Maresha. The team aimed at reducing the drudgery of Conservation Agriculture (CA) farmers during the planting seasons. Almost five years have gone since the first prototype which was using the rolling basket as a driving mechanism was developed. Within this period, many improvements were done on the seeder resulting to a product which is now used by farmers.
Principles of best practices for food drying employed by smallholder farmers
Sophia Kasubi
Food drying is a local innovation that has existed for many years in Tanzanian communities and elsewhere all over the world. The purpose of food drying is to preserve and ensure that a certain type of food is available during the off-season (Wakholi et al., 2015). Thus, it is best to collect and dry these foods, even in the wild, during the growing season, to be used later to ensure food security and improve nutrition in the household.