The majority of Africans live on small one or two acre farms. Farmers often have to cope with low rainfall, poor soils and low prices.They also have very few support services to help them improve their farms. As a result, they struggle to grow enough food to eat or sell.
Why we got involved
At the same time as pressures on small farms have mounted, the support services from many governments in Africa have declined. It was hoped that the private sector would take over this role, but this only happened in richer areas where there was money to be made. Poorer communities were left with no support at all.
What makes FARM-Africa different?
FARM-Africa believes that smallholder farmers should take the lead in solving their problems.They have farmed for generations and have a unique knowledge of their land and environment.That's why FARM-Africa works alongside local people to build on their existing skills. We listen to them, respect them and support them in finding their own solutions.
Driven by the needs of farmers, FARM-Africa has focused smallholder development work on:
- Agricultural innovation through partnerships between farmers and researchers
- Developing models of small livestock production that boost farm incomes and are technically and financially sustainable
- Exploring new ways of delivering inputs, such as veterinary drugs and fertilisers to farmers living in remote places
- Helping local organisations to plan and carry out development work in their communities
FARM-Africa believes that, although land is limited, there is always room for improvement. We can help increase crop yields, diversify crops and boost livestock production. We can also train others to turn basic commodities, like milk, into high value products such as cheese or butter.
Farmers Participatory Research
The Farmers Participatory Research Project in Ethiopia aimed to influence the research agenda so that farmers' priorities were put first. Unlike many other agencies, we did not devise or impose blanket solutions to unique, local problems. Instead, we worked with farmers to identify the problems they actually faced and developed solutions with them. For example, we worked with farmers to test new crop varieties and ways of controlling pests in their fields. These key points continue to be essential to our success:
- Trials that are managed and evaluated by farmers - such as growing different varieties of new crops
- Ongoing training programmes for staff and local farmers to ensure successes are passed on and adopted
This approach has proved highly beneficial to the livelihoods of farmers. But we still need governments to adopt it. In Ethiopia, this has proved difficult.That's because research, extension and training are all separate organisations under different ministries -they seldom communicate with each other, let alone with rural farmers.
We have, however, succeeded in getting our'grassroots' approach and procedures taught in the local agricultural colleges, so the next generation of researchers, extension staff and field-level advisory staff will learn how to work directly with farmers.
The first Innovations Award
In 2004, FARM-Africa Tanzania was given the first Innovations Award at our Annual General Meeting in London. The award was in recognition of the research project's approach in developing links with the private sector.
"FARM-Africa is a leading NGO, well known for innovations that enable our farmers in Africa to work out of poverty."
Dr Babagana Ahmadu, Director,
Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture,
African Union
By establishing a relationship with a private company, FARM-Africa Tanzania gave farmers the opportunity to test different varieties of new crops, such as tomatoes, cabbages and cucumber.The short maturity periods of the vegetables meant that in just 75 days farmers were already generating income from the sales of their crops. They also now stock the seeds to sell to other local farmers, enabling many more farmers to diversify by growing vegetables.
Next section - Goats lead the way 
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