 Research and advocacy increases the impact of our grassroots programmes significantly, improving policy and practice, and extending successful lessons far and wide.
Whether promoting new methods to improve agricultural practice, working to incorporate marginalised farmers’ voices into local policy, or providing evidence from grassroots work to support national policy change, this work is central to finding solutions for Africa’s rural livelihoods. At national level we make sure that we have an impact on policy by working in partnership with the government and ensuring that lessons from our work are widely distributed. For example, our work with private sector animal healthcare services in Kenya has now been accepted by the Kenyan Government's Kenya Veterinary Board and our staff have helped to draft the new national livestock policy. At international level we use our contacts within the international NGO, academic and government sectors to lobby for policy change, supporting our arguments with evidence from our projects. For example, in 2005 we were an active member of the MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY campaign, lobbying the government to improve the lives of Africans.
FARM-Africa’s ongoing campaign
Over the last four years, FARM-Africa has played a central role in advocating increased investment in smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa as the most efficient way of achieving equitable economic growth and broad-based poverty reduction. Keeping up the pressure with the publication of materials and presentation of papers and submissions to government, we are delighted to see the arrival of a new publication by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) entitled: In 2003/4, our partnership with fellow NGO Harvest Help and academic organisation Imperial College London saw the launch of a radical report calling for increased investment in the smallholder agriculture sector. Dr Christie Peacock, FARM- Africa’s Chief Executive, was an expert witness at the International Development Committee’s discussion of DFID's agricultural policy in June 2004. In their report, published in September 2004, it was clear that they had drawn upon FARM-Africa’s extensive practical experience of working with Africa's farmers. In June 2005, Dr Peacock spoke at a conference held by IFPRI. The conference discussed the future of smallholder farming and examined its role in economic growth and poverty reduction in the developing world.
FARM-Africa has also been closely involved in the process that led to the development of DFID's new agricultural policy 'Growth and poverty reduction: the role of agriculture', published in December 2005. | 
