Populations

Dataset

EPAR Technical Report #207
Publication Date: 12/17/2012
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

This report provides a general overview of the markets for yams in Nigeria. The first section describes trends in yam production and consumption and international trade since 1990. The second section summarizes the varieties grown in Nigeria and their uses, followed by a discussion of the importance of yams as a source of nutrition and household income. The final section provides details about the production and marketing systems for yams in Nigeria, including environmental and gender considerations. Nigeria is the world’s largest yam producer in terms of quantity. Yam production and consumption have increased over the past twenty years, though more recently, production has been somewhat in decline and yields have been stagnant. The Nigerian government has played a more active role in improving agricultural production and export of root and tuber crops including yams in recent years, but so far with limited success. Yam producers and traders report diverse constraints to their full participation in the market, including high cost of inputs, planting materials and labor, lack of credit, limited access to proper, secure storage facilities, and high transportation costs.

EPAR Technical Report #206
Publication Date: 12/12/2012
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

This report provides a general overview of the market for yams in Ghana. We begin by describing historical trends in yam production and consumption since 1996, recent international trade, and prices. The second section summarizes the varieties grown in Ghana and their uses. The next several sections review available information about the production and marketing systems, followed by a discussion of the importance of yams as a source of nutrition and household income. The limited information available on sweet potato production in Ghana is presented in the appendix. We find that yam production in Ghana has increased steadily over the last 15 years, and that while yam yields have increased from 12.8 MT/Ha in 1996 to 15.6 MT/Ha in 2011, an estimated yield gap of 33.4 MT/Ha persists. Yam export levels have varied over the past 15 years, but show a generally positive trend. Most yam farmers are male smallholders with low levels of education, while most retailers, wholesalers and cross-border traders are women.

EPAR Technical Report #223
Publication Date: 12/10/2012
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

Cassava is a tuber crop originating in South America and grown in tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world. Cassava use varies significantly by region. In Africa, cassava is primarily grown for food. In Asia, production is typically for industrial purposes, including ethanol, while in Latin America and the Caribbean it is commonly used in animal feed. Both roots and leaves are consumed, though most information on production focuses on roots. There are bitter and sweet varieties; bitter cassava has a high cyanide content and must be processed prior to consumption, while sweet varieties can be eaten directly. This report presents information about current production, constraints, and future potential of cassava. We discuss cassava’s importance in Africa, current worldwide production, projections for supply and demand, production constraints, and current policies affecting cassava production and trade. We include global information but focus on Africa, particularly Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania.

EPAR Technical Report #28
Publication Date: 08/10/2009
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

Smallholder farmers in Africa are largely located in poor rural areas, are often geographically dispersed, and have limited access to road and communication infrastructure, thus raising the cost of market participation. This is especially true for farmers growing relatively low value staple crops. This literature review summarizes research on the challenges and innovations in linking smallholder producers of staple grains to markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on post-harvest issues including storage, aggregation, and transportation. For each post-harvest stage, we describe challenges faced by farmers and current efforts to address these challenges. In our review, we find a large amount of literature on the constraints to smallholder production and marketing but relatively few examples of innovative or novel technologies designed to improve storage and transportation for rural smallholder producers in Africa. Existing technologies have often been available for some time but have not seen widespread adoption, apparently due to high costs or inadequate funding for on-farm testing and extension. We conclude that the literature is somewhat divided as to whether interventions linking smallholder farmers to markets should be entirely market-driven and focus on linkages that can be profitable without subsidization, or whether NGO- and donor-driven interventions should play a role.

EPAR Research Brief #51
Publication Date: 07/02/2009
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

Yam is a major staple in West and Central Africa and an important supplementary food in East Africa. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), virtually all yams are produced for human consumption, with women responsible for processing yams for consumption. This brief provides an overview of the role of women in yam production, and provides a framework for analyzing barriers to women and technology’s impact on women throughout the cropping cycle. We find that though yam was traditionally considered a man’s crop, it is clear that women farmers contribute greatly to yam cultivation, especially during weeding, harvesting, and processing. Propagation of improved varieties with resistance to pests and diseases like yam mosaic disease has great potential to benefit women farmers. Increased yields and lower post-harvest losses will increase household food security.  However, because yams extract high amounts of nutrients from the soil, soil and land management techniques are necessary to ensure future gains in yield. Women’s groups serve as potential venues for dissemination of new yam cultivation and processing technologies.  Additionally, women’s groups can undertake new propagation techniques as income generating activities.  Women farmers need increased extension efforts to fully benefit from technology improvements.

EPAR Research Brief #32
Publication Date: 06/30/2009
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

Though not indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), cassava plays, to varying degrees, five major roles in African development: famine-reserve crop, rural food staple, cash crop for urban consumption, livestock feed, and industrial raw material. Cassava production in SSA was historically a significant staple crop for smallholder farmers and continues to be the second most important food crop in Africa (after maize) in terms of calories consumed. Subsistence crops such as cassava are often considered women’s crops with the standard explanation that women are responsible for feeding the family and thus prefer to grow crops for the household. This brief reviews the role that women play in cassava production, and considers ways to better address gender issues from planting through post-harvest production. We find that the potential gains to cassava production made possible through improved technology will not be fully realized without the participation of women farmers and without women farmers having access to credit, markets, and extension services. Additionally, evidence from SSA suggests that labor for harvesting and processing, rather than labor for weeding, has become the key labor constraint for cassava, and addressing this concern may be more important than further yield increases for raising production levels.

EPAR Research Brief #40
Publication Date: 06/29/2009
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

The millets, a group of small-seeded grasses indigenous to Africa, are an extremely important staple food in resource-poor regions of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Millet requires few inputs, suffers less from insect pests and disease than other grains,  and can tolerate areas even too hot and dry for sorghum.  These characteristics make millet an essential component of food security and risk management strategies for many Africans, though both consumption and production per capita of millet has declined in the last 20 years as farmers have shifted toward maize and rice production. This brief provides an overview of the role of women in millet production, and provides a framework for analyzing barriers to women and technology’s impact on women throughout the cropping cycle. We find that the shift away from millet may result in poorer nutrition and increased time burden for women where they must find alternatives to millet fuel, but that little is known about these consequences. Investing in improved varieties that account for both men’s and women’s preferences, introducing labor-saving technology, and increasing market access all have the potential to increase millet’s production and consumption on the continent. 

EPAR Research Brief #39
Publication Date: 06/05/2009
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

Sorghum grows well in arid and semi-arid agroecological zones and is thus one of the most important cereals in the Sahel region of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Both men and women cultivate sorghum primarily for household consumption, though women are nearly exclusively responsible for post-harvest production of the grain, including brewing and selling sorghum beer.  This brief provides an overview of the role of women in sorghum production, and provides a framework for analyzing barriers to women and technology’s impact on women throughout the cropping cycle. We find that improved sorghum varieties have the potential to greatly increase sorghum yields in SSA by alleviating cultivation threats from striga, pests, and drought.  Because women farmers are the primary cultivators of sorghum, they stand to benefit most from these improved varieties. However, low adoption rates of new technologies suggest that more resources need to be dedicated to extension efforts and informal seed distribution networks that include women farmers. Post-harvest processing of sorghum is both time and labor intensive and is causing many women farmers to transition to maize or rice.  Finally, increased demand for sorghum as a biofuel stock may not translate into gains for women farmers as expected, because women farmers tend to lack input resources, and women farmers often lose control over crops as they transition to cash crops.  

EPAR Research Brief #38
Publication Date: 06/01/2009
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), maize alone provides an estimated one third of the mean caloric intake and in 2006, accounted for 21% of all harvested food crops, making it the single most important food crop in the region. In addition, maize is also used as feedgrain and fodder, adding to its importance in integrated smallholder farming systems in SSA. In general, women are the main producers of staple crops such as maize. Understanding the gender dimensions of maize is particularly challenging because maize is used as both a subsistence and cash crop, and may be considered either a male or female crop depending on farmer circumstances and how the particular variety is promoted. This brief provides an overview of the role of women in maize production, and provides a framework for analyzing barriers to women and technology’s impact on women throughout the cropping cycle. We find that lower access to factors such as extension access, education level, land, and labor contribute to female’s lower rate of maize technology adoption. Understanding women’s disproportionate access to resources and how improved technology may change allocation of resources should help project developers improve both women’s and men’s productivity.

EPAR Research Brief #36
Publication Date: 05/18/2009
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

In the last half century, the increased opportunity cost of women’s time in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has led to remarkable growth in the consumption of wheat and other easy-to-prepare staples. Wheat tends to be grown and processed on a large scale in SSA. Ethiopia (SSA’s largest producer of wheat) is the exception, where smallholders are responsible for 76% of total production. This brief provides an overview of the role of women in wheat production, and provides a framework for analyzing technology’s impact on women throughout the cropping cycle. We find that many constraints exist to adoption of improved wheat varieties by women. A review of improved wheat variety adoption in the developing world found that it takes 5-10 years after breeding to the release and another 5-10 years for full adoption, but this length of time has been found to be reduced with the use of participatory breeding, varietal selection, and gender analysis. By including women in every stage of development and planning of new technologies, programs can become more aware of the needs of targeted women and therefore, increase adoption rates and improve the productivity of men and women in wheat farming.