Agriculture in African South of the Sahara (SSA) can be transformed if the right public support is provided at the initial stage, and it can sustain itself once the enabling environment is put in place. Successes are also specific to the location of projects. In Ghana, interesting insights are...

The majority of African farmers lack the means to mitigate the impact of risks such as those associated with rainfall and commodity prices. Because most farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa are risk-averse, they may be willing to invest in productive assets that can mitigate the impacts of such risks...

Mechanization is a key to agricultural productivity growth in developing countries. Farm implements, ranging from hand tools to draft animals to milling machines to power tillers and tractors, often play complementary roles with each other, and supporting adoption of certain farm implements may...

Despite recent studies on improved seed varieties estimating the adoption rates of maize in 1998 at 40 percent (Manyong et al. 2000) and rice at 60 percent (Larsson 2005), true adoption rates appear to be unknown. This knowledge gap exists due to the ambiguity surrounding what constitutes...

Small-scale private irrigation (SPRI) schemes make up most of the irrigated area in Nigeria, although they constitute only about three percent of the cultivated area in the country. Farmers' demand for SPRI is potentially affected by diverse sets of agroecological, socioeconomic and risk...

Small-scale private irrigation schemes (SPRI) have been the driving force behind the expansion of irrigated areas in Nigeria, despite government efforts to promote large-scale public irrigation schemes. SPRI allows adjustment of irrigation schedules in accordance with observed crop needs. The...

The principal objective of this paper is to review and assess the policy implications and potential for Nigeria to transform its domestic rice sector and become more competitive with imports in order to ultimately displace them over time. Preliminary results show that import restrictions alone...