About SmallHolder Voices
Sharing Knowledge to Drive Best Practice
Rationale
The Smallholder Voices portal is created by the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET)Â to share case studies and initiatives on smallholder farmer voices to foster discussion and debate to inform policy making in Africa.Â
The portal is part of a project funded by the Open Society Foundation (OSF). Under the project, ACET is conducting a global scan to identify successful and innovative efforts to foster market development and strengthen linkages between policy design and smallholder interests in areas such as employment, skills development and youth leadership, land tenure and agro-processing.Â
The OSF Smallholder Voices (SHV) project seeks to promote informed agricultural policy dialogue focused on inclusivity and value creation among a wide range of stakeholders. This group of stakeholders will include smallholder farmers and other disadvantaged groups involved in agriculture, where there is an evident need for them to be more deeply involved and integrated into markets and influencing policy in general.Â
How it works
ACET identifies case studies, articles and initiatives from Africa and other parts of the world on topics that highlight initiatives where the involvement of Smallholder Farmer Voices has been employed to tackle an issue. A one-page summary is developed by the ACET team from each identified case study and posted, along with a link to the original case study.Â
Smallholder farmers, academics and policy makers are invited to read and share their thoughts and ideas on the platform for discussion.
The case studies are categorised under five main, searchable headings or types
Case study type descriptions
Production (land tenure)
This category presents case studies that investigate issues pertaining to the land tenure regime and the state of land markets in a country as well as the policy and institutional environment that determine this.
Input Market
This category covers case studies that explore the market structure, conduct and performance (SCP) of agricultural inputs such as credit, chemicals, improved seed, equipment, and irrigation, among others. It also includes case studies that look into the policy and institutional environment that shape SCP of agricultural input markets.
Output Market
This category encompasses case studies that explore the market structure, conduct and performance (SCP) of agricultural commodities. It also includes case studies that look into the policy and institutional environment that shape SCP of agricultural output markets.
Research and Development
This category includes case studies conducted on the policy and institutional landscape that affect budget allocation and priority setting in agricultural research and development.
Agriculture Advisory Services
This category presents case studies conducted on agricultural advisory services in areas of information provision on market, climate and improved agricultural practices, along with their know-how. It also includes case studies that look into the policy and institutional environment that shape agricultural advisory services.
What the site offers
The best part of this portal is its interactive and engaging features. We want to stimulate discussion on critical issues between smallholder farmers, their representatives and other key stakeholders such as policy makers.
Users can therefore start or contribute to discussions on the platform, directly respond to specific posts or comments and be notified when someone replies to their comments. You can also share parts of a case study you are reading directly to your social media handles by just highlighting the portion you want to share and choosing which medium you want to share to.
Latest Case Studies
Here are case studies of successful and innovative efforts that strengthen linkages between policy design and small-holder interests in different areas across the agriculture value chain.
Use of civil society organisations to raise the voice of the poor in agricultural policy
The study examines the role CSOs could play in coalescing highly scattered rural people in developing countries and elevating their voices in the policy arenas. It also discusses the type of ecosystem needed for the mushrooming of CSOs that cater to the specific needs of rural people.
Budget Monitoring and Learning Review: Engaging Policy Makers in Agricultural Advocacy in Tanzania
The agriculture sector has received little attention from the African governments as reflected in the budget allocation, albeit its importance in the fight against poverty and for economic transformation. To reverse the trend, African governments made a pledge to earmark at least 10% of their budget to agriculture sector—often dubbed as Malabo Declaration.
Making agricultural research work for small farmers and agroecological approaches in West Africa
Over the last two decades, agricultural research organisations in West Africa have produced new varieties of crops, mostly cereals, but adoption by farmers has been rather low. Farmers continue to favor traditional varieties. Increasingly, scientists are driven to involve farmers in the process to improve uptake.
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