Telephone farmers and an emerging ecosystem are unlocking the hidden middle of agricultural value chains in Kenya through innovation

PurposeThis article explores the potential of an emerging group of farmers in Kenya, namely the growing segment of urban-based medium-size farmers, often called “telephone farmers”. To what extent do they benefit from an emerging ecosystem to support them in operating their farms, and what does that mean for the Hidden middle of agricultural value chains, the actors between the farmers and consumers? Unlocking the potential production of telephone farmers will require more services from collectors, traders, transport firms, the storage facilities, wholesalers and processing units and retailers. Ultimately, optimized telephone farm production benefits the business of Hidden middle value chain actors, increases incomes and jobs and improves food security.Design/methodology/approachBased on a survey and in-depth interviews a profile of the telephone farmers is given and their role as innovators is analyzed. The Latia Resource Centre (LRC) provides assistance to medium-size farmers, like the telephone farmers, helping them to prepare business plans and use modern technology and contributing to an emerging ecosystem providing support to all farmers.FindingsThe article analyzes the medium-size telephone farmers. It documents the contributions of this new agricultural actor to developing value chains and a dynamic ecosystem. The paper profiles the telephone farmers first and then identifies what they need and the support they receive. The emerging innovative ecosystem impacts agricultural productivity and production and hence the development of value chains. Small farmers gain access to opportunities offered by telephone farmers, working for them as outgrower or farm worker.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors used a small sample of 51 farmers and covered only a two-year period.Social implicationsSmall farmers are being helped through the emerging eco-system and farm labor acquire skills, which they can also you on another or their own farm.Originality/valueBased on the analysis an even more effective ecosystem is suggested and policy recommendations are formulated before the conclusion is drawn that these medium-size farmers contribute to innovation diffusion, inclusive value chain development and food security and are becoming part of this expanding, innovative ecosystem. Following the debate on food security the results suggest to pay more attention to the development of telephone farmers given their role in developing agricultural value chains and innovative ecosystems.

Proposed changes to the H-2A program would affect labor costs in the United States and California

The H-2A visa program allows farmers in the United States to be certified by the U.S. Department of Labor to recruit and employ guest workers, usually for a maximum of 10 months, when they are unable to find enough workers living in the United States (including U.S. citizens, other legally authorized workers, and workers not authorized to work in the United States). We analyzed U.S. and California H-2A job certification data to determine how the program is currently used and how a proposed H-2A wage freeze would likely affect future farm labor costs. Our analysis suggests that changes in the H-2A visa program would likely expand the program while reducing labor costs in California and elsewhere.

Pola pengelolaan pendapatan keluarga buruh tani dalam rangka memenuhi kebutuhan hidup

Income management can be identified the pattern through income and expenditure streams. This study aims to determine the pattern of income management of farm labor families in Bakung Pringgodani Village in order to meet the needs of life. This research is a qualitative research with a case study method where researchers collect data will focus on a case encountered in a family of farm workers in Bakung Pringgodani Village. The obtained data were observed and analyzed carefully to the end with the aim of understanding a phenomenon or event experienced by the family farm laborers in the village of Bakung Pringgodani. The suggestions from this study are: Farm workers' families are expected to be able to make or arrange a written financial plan so that it can facilitate the allocation of income and control expenses in order to fulfill the needs of family life. Abstrak Pengelolaan pendapatan dapat diketahui dari pola pendapatan dan pengeluaran. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa pola pengelolaan pendapatan pada keluarga petani untuk memenuhi kebutuhan mereka, di Desa Bakung Pringgodani. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif yang menggunakan metode studi kasus, dimana peneliti focus pada kasus-kasus yang dialami para keluarga petani di Desa Bakung Pringgodani. Data yang telah terkumpul diobservasi dan dianalisa untuk menjabarkan dan memahami fenomena yang dialami oleh para keluarga petani di Desa Bakung Pringgodani. Oleh karena itu, para keluarga petani disarankan untuk menyusun rencana keuangan tertulis untuk membantu pengalokasian pendapatan dan mengontrol pengeluaran dalam pemenuhan kebutuhan keluarga

The future of fish in Africa: Employment and investment opportunities

One of the most pressing challenges facing food systems in Africa is ensuring availability of a healthy and sustainable diet to 2.4 billion people by 2050. The continent has struggled with development challenges, particularly chronic food insecurity and pervasive poverty. In Africa’s food systems, fish and other aquatic foods play a multifaceted role in generating income, and providing a critical source of essential micronutrients. To date, there are no estimates of investment and potential returns for domestic fish production in Africa. To contribute to policy debates about the future of fish in Africa, we applied the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agriculture Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) to explore two Pan-African scenarios for fish sector growth: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and a high-growth scenario for capture fisheries and aquaculture with accompanying strong gross domestic product growth (HIGH). Post-model analysis was used to estimate employment and aquaculture investment requirements for the sector in Africa. Africa’s fish sector is estimated to support 20.7 million jobs in 2030, and 21.6 million by 2050 under the BAU. Approximately 2.6 people will be employed indirectly along fisheries and aquaculture value chains for every person directly employed in the fish production stage. Under the HIGH scenario, total employment in Africa’s fish food system will reach 58.0 million jobs, representing 2.4% of total projected population in Africa by 2050. Aquaculture production value is estimated to achieve US$ 3.3 billion and US$ 20.4 billion per year under the BAU and HIGH scenarios by 2050, respectively. Farm-gate investment costs for the three key inputs (fish feeds, farm labor, and fish seed) to achieve the aquaculture volumes projected by 2050 are estimated at US$ 1.8 billion per year under the BAU and US$ 11.6 billion per year under the HIGH scenario. Sustained investments are critical to sustain capture fisheries and support aquaculture growth for food system transformation towards healthier diets.

KETERCAPAIAN TUJUAN PEMBANGUNAN BERKELANJUTAN DESA KUTAWARGI KECAMATAN RAWAMERTA

Desa Kutawargi merupakan salah satu Desa yang ada di kecamatan Rawamerta dan berbatasan dengan kecamatan Lamaran dan Majalaya. Desa ini mempunyai potensi yaitu petani yang dimana rata-rata sebagian masyarakatnya yaitu buruh tani dan ternak hewan. Pengambilan data untuk profil desa dilakukan melalui survey terhadap perkembangan pada Desa tersebut. Oleh karena itu, difokuskan untuk mencari data yang bersangkutan dengan profil Desa. Dari hasil survey dan pengumpulan data permasalahan di Desa Kutwargi ini adalah tidak memiliki produk unggulan. Dilihat dari letak geografis dan masyarakat yang memililiki pastisipasi yang tinggi Desa Kutawargi bisa berkembang lebih baik dengan menciptakan produk unggulan. Dengan kata lain BUMDES dapat menggali potensi desa dan memanfaatkannya menjadi bentuk usaha yang menjadi pendapatan desa.Kata kunci : Profil Desa, Potensi Desa, Produk UnggulanKutawargi Village is one of the villages in Rawamerta sub-district and borders with Lamaran and Majalaya districts. This village has the potential, namely farmers, where on average part of the community is farm labor and livestock. Data collection for village profiles was carried out through surveys of developments in the village. Therefore, it is focused on finding data related to the Village profile. From the survey results and data collection, the problem in Kutwargi Village is that it does not have superior products. Judging from the geographical location and the people who have high participation, Kutawargi Village can develop better by creating superior products. In other words, BUMDES can explore the potential of the village and use it as a form of business that becomes village income.Keywords : Village Profile, Village Potential ,superior product

Revisiting nutrition–labor productivity link: new empirical evidence from farm households in Ethiopia

Background Among others, the productive use of surplus labor is a viable mechanism to transform the agricultural sector and thus the whole economy in low-income countries. It is critically important to understand the factors that condition labor productivity to design and deploy effective agricultural and labor market policies. A few studies confirm that, at low-income levels, improving nutrition can contribute to the labor productivity of households. These studies rely heavily on self-reported farm data, which are prone to systematic and random measurement errors. The empirical evidence on this topic remains inadequate and inconclusive for this reason. Here, we substantiate whether better nutritional status enhances the labor productivity of farm households using objective measures of plot-level data from a recent household survey in Ethiopia. We also employ alternative measures of nutrition status indicators known as, Food Consumption Score (FCS) and Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS), inter alia, to capture additional aspects of nutrition such as diet quality and diversity, which are overlooked by calorie intake data. To deal with possible endogeneity, we employ a panel fixed effect estimation technique with a rich set of household socioeconomic and plot characteristics. Results We observe that the impact of current nutritional status, as measured by HDDS, on labor productivity varies considerably depending on the initial level of diet quality and diversity with a stronger and positive effect for low-consumption households. In an alternative specification, we also observe a positive farm labor productivity effect of current nutritional status as measured by FCS with a homogenous effect across households. However, the effect of the outcome of past nutritional status as evaluated by the Activity of Daily Living Index (ADLI) seems negligible. Conclusion Our findings indicate that improving nutrition can contribute to farm labor productivity at least for households with low current diet quality and diversity. Also, based on the findings, we conclude that there is a possibility of a low consumption–low productivity trap in Ethiopia.

Transforming to a regenerative U.S. agriculture: the role of policy, process, and education

U.S. agriculture is both a major source of global food and a key contributor to multiple interconnected crises. Climate change, biodiversity loss, and severe impacts on soil and water quality are among the challenges caused by U.S. industrial agriculture. Regenerative methods of farming are necessary to confront all these challenges simultaneously, in addition to addressing the increasing challenges to farm labor conditions. Transforming U.S. agriculture to a regenerative system will require a focus on creating traction for the values, beliefs, worldviews, and paradigms that effectively support such transformation while decreasing the friction that works against them. With a focus on creating traction for transformation, we review the factors and processes that tend to promote and maintain ecological improvements on farms. Starting from a case study that points to some of the sources of friction and traction in the current U.S. agricultural system, we use the framework of three spheres of transformation to focus discussion on how processes that form beliefs and values shape and can reshape farming. We develop a series of points of entry for engaging the systemic changes that will offer farmers traction for transformation. We review literature on agricultural networks, polycentric governance, social learning, agricultural education, and farmer characteristics that lend themselves to ecologically mindful change, thereby identifying interventions that tend to provide traction for change. These approaches, and the supports that allow rural communities and the people that work in them to survive and thrive, are necessary to create the traction needed for farms to undergo a shift to regenerative agricultural practices. We link these changes to the promise of the twentieth century New Deal agricultural programs and the potential of the Green New Deal.