The Backpack Farm team is constantly posting new research supporting both our mission to educate smallholder farmers and the core value of the companies to support eco-friendly farming. Research includes a variety of topics including women and farming, water, child malnutrition, GM crops in Africa and Microfinance and Impact Investing. We hope to inspire you to learn more about the power of multi-functional farming and the potential of smallholder farmers in East Africa to feed themselves and the world.
FAVORITES - HANDS ON TRAINNIG
Learning targets for farmers: 1) Understand that soil fertility management is neither limited to the addition of mineral fertilizers nor to increasing crop yield alone. It consists of protecting the soil and enhancing the organic matter content as well as biological activity in the soil to encourage optimal nutrition, water supply and health of plants and increases consistency of yields. 2) Know the tools and approaches for organic soil fertility management and be able to combine them in an appropriate way so as to correspond to local conditions and combat soil degradation.
Fertile land and sufficient water are vital for sustaining agriculture and livelihoods. Productivity of land, however, has been decreasing with the increasing intensification of agriculture. Though there are other constraints, the intensification of agriculture is a major factor contributing to the recurrent cycles of famine in many African regions. Land degradation occurs in different forms on various land use types:
Sustainable Development & Water
Ecosystems for water and food security
United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP) 2011
This publication provides an overview of the linkages between ecosystems, water, and food security. It further explores how to manage ecosystems for a variety of ecosystem services such as provisioning of water and food, and how to manage ecosystems in a sustainable way so they can substantially contribute to enhancing current and future food security and generate regulatory services such as the moderation of extreme events such as floods, droughts and storms, climate regulation and erosion prevention.
Water & Food Security: Irrigation and the Fight Against Povery
UN Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO)
Water storage in an era of climate change: Addressing the challenge of increasing rainfall variability
IWMI, February 2010.
Rainfall variability is a key constraint to agricultural production and economic growth in many developing countries. This is likely to be exacerbated in many places as rainfall variability is amplified (even where the total amount of rain increases) as a result of climate change. Changes in rainfall will also increase variability in groundwater recharge and river flow, thus affecting all water sources. Water storage, in its various forms, provides a mechanism for dealing with variability which, if planned and managed correctly, increases water security, agricultural productivity and adaptive capacity.
As such, water storage can make an important contribution to safeguarding livelihoods and reducing rural poverty. However, ill-conceived water storage is a waste of financial resources and, rather than mitigate, may aggravate unpleasant climate change impacts. Systems that combine complementary storage options are likely to be more adaptable and acceptable than those based on a single storage type. More systematic planning and management is required to avoid the mistakes of the past and to ensure more effective and suitable storage systems for the future.
Water and Conflict, incorporating peace-building into Water development, Catholic Relief Service
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2009.
This document is intended to assist water development practitioners, civil society peacebuilders, and human rights advocates as they seek to integrate water and peacebuilding into their project programming. It is both Informative—to provide a conceptual framework for the major issues and dynamics and programmatic—to provide practical guidance and tools for action.
Water Operators Partnerships Building WOPs for Sustainable Development in Water and Sanitation, UN HABITAT, IWA.
The purpose of this publication is to provide information on the functioning of Water Operators Partnerships and to highlight the opportunities and preconditions behind this approach. The actions required by water operators and the financial and practical support necessary from other parties are illustrated through a series of practical examples.
A Critical Review of Public-Public Partnerships in Water Services
Boag, G. and McDonald, D.A., 2010
There is a profusion of literature on the commercialization of water services around the world, but relatively little of this research speaks of alternatives to privatization. The literature that does exist tends to be scattered in its regional and thematic orientation and inconsistent in its analytical frameworks. The writing on public-public partnerships (PUPs) is arguably the best known and most rigorous of this literature. This paper provides a critical review of the PUPs literature, in part to reveal some of these problematic trends, but ultimately in an effort to advance our understanding and practice of public alternatives in the water sector (and beyond).
SICK WATER: The Central Role of Wastewater Management in Sustainable Development
UN HABITAT and UNEP
Over half of the world’s hospitals beds are occupied with people suffering from illnesses linked with contaminated water and more people die as a result of polluted water than are killed by all forms of violence including wars. At least 1.8 million children under five years-old die every year from water related disease, or one every 20 seconds.
Chemical Fertilizers in Our Water: An Analysis of Nitrates in the Groundwater in Punjab
Greenpeace India Society, November 2009
A chemical intensive model of agriculture was introduced in India in the 1960s as part of the Green Revolution. This model and the supporting government policies, such as the chemical fertilizer subsidy policy, provoked indiscriminate use of chemicals. This has not only led to deterioration of the environment but also degraded and contaminated the natural resources base, and is now posing a threat to human health.
Social, Cultural and Behavioral Correlates of Household Water Treatment and Storage
This report describes a predictive model of communication for water treatment and safe storage behavior that can be used to design effective water treatment interventions by changing water treatment behavior. The findings show that a consumer-centred approach to water treatment is necessary to understand the range of issues properly and to find effective solutions. Surprisingly, the literature revealed that water treatment is not always perceived to have health benefits. Diarrhea is not always seen as a significant health threat and water treatment and storage are sometimes not done adequately enough to reduce the incidence of disease. People do not easily change and sustain new behaviors as intended. Mothers do not necessarily have sufficient decision-making power within their homes to take effective action and community resources need to be tapped by water treatment programs to facilitate the development of water treatment as a social norm.
Human Rights Based Approach and Water Governance
UNDP promotes a human rights based approach (HRBA) in its work to improve water resources management and access to water and sanitation. The document highlights the synergy between an HRBA and water governance. It provides examples of the Water Governance Programme’s work with the right to water and sanitation.
IFPRI and Veolia joint study: The world’s freshwater supply is in demand—and under threat
(Greater Efficiency in Water Management Will Reduce Risk for Half of the Global Economy)
Essential to sustaining life and supporting a healthy environment, water is also imperative for economic growth. Yet as water demand for household, industrial, and agricultural uses grows—especially in the developing world—watersheds and irrigated lands are deteriorating and ground and surface water pollution is increasing. Climate change further exacerbates these water woes—now and in the future. In lieu of available sustainable practices—will significantly undermine society’s ability to grow, and will impact the quality of life of millions of people and our planet’s environmental water resources.
Drinking Water: Understanding the Science and Policy behind a Critical Resource
This booklet provides an introduction to drinking water issues. It draws from a body of independent, peer-reviewed expert consensus reports from the National Research Council to provide an overview of public water supply and demand, water management and conservation, options for the government and the private sector, and the economic and ecological aspects of drinking water. The booklet focuses primarily on issues in the United States; references to international water issues are generally used for comparison purposes or to illustrate certain issues in greater depth.
Connections between poverty, water and agriculture: evidence from 10 river basins
The authors analyzed livelihood conditions in 10 river basins over three continents to identify general links between water, agriculture and poverty. There were significant variations in hydrological conditions, livelihood strategies and institutions across basins, but also systematic patterns across levels of economic development. At all levels, access to water is influenced by local, regional or national institutions, while the importance of national versus local institutions and livelihood strategies vary with economic development. The cross-basin analysis suggests a framework for thinking about water–agriculture–poverty links that can inform future research and policy development.
UN FAO Report: Groundwater use for irrigation - a global inventory
This paper present a new global inventory on the extent of areas irrigated with groundwater, surface water or non-conventional sources, and it determine the related consumptive water uses. The inventory provides data for 15 038 national and sub-national administrative units. Irrigated area was provided by census-based statistics from international and national organizations. A global model was then applied to simulate consumptive water uses for irrigation by water source
Transparency International Report: Integrity pacts in the water sector: An implementation guide for government officials
Corruption in the water sector is one of the key reasons why 1.2 billon people still have no guaranteed access to water, and 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation. The Integrity Pact (IP) is a powerful tool developed by Transparency International (TI) to help governments, businesses and civil society fight corruption in public contracting. A key advantage of an IP is that it is a tool that can be implemented within the ordinary authority of contracting officials and bodies, with the support of civil society (one or several NGOs).
Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Africa
United Nations New York and Geneva, 2008
This study examines the relationship between organic agriculture and food security in Africa, particularly East Africa, which is where the CBTF has been implementing a project on organic agriculture since 2004. Organic agriculture is a holistic production system based on active agro- ecosystem management rather than on external inputs, and it utilizes both traditional and scientific knowledge.
International Land Deals in Africa
The first detailed study of large scale land acquisitions in Africa analyses the modalities and likely impacts. The study highlights the possible opportunities (investments, rising agricultural productivity and rural incomes
Pulling Agricultural Innovation and the Market Together - Working Paper 215
Feeding an additional three billion people over the next four decades, along with providing food security for another one billion people that are currently hungry or malnourished, is a huge challenge. Meeting those goals in a context of land and water scarcity, climate change, and declining crop yields will require another giant leap in agricultural innovation.
Women, Farming & Water
ACF International network positioning paper The Human Right to Water.
Moselle Vieillemard, 2008.
It is necessary to pay special attention to issues of gender, understood as: equality between men and women, boys and girls; the active involvement and participation of women in decision-making processes and the management of water and water facilities. ACF-IN would like to underline here the fact that it is women and girls who usually shoulder the burden of fetching water. Therefore, women who spend time fetching water are not able to educate and take care of their children or their homes. Consequently, promoting the involvement and participation of women in all water management processes should be a means of increasing development and reducing poverty.
Livelihoods and Gender Roles in Drip-Irrigation Technology: A Case of Nepal
IWMI, 2005
This paper attempts to understand gender issues in micro-irrigation technology by exploring the dynamics of gender, water and rural livelihoods. Based on an empirical study in the rural areas of West Nepal undertaken in 2003, the paper assesses the socioeconomic impact of drip-irrigation systems on men and women’s lives.
Women and Water Management: an Integrated Approach
UNEP, 2010.
Water is essential for human development, but we are not as aware of is the importance of a gender approach toward the water supply and managing issues. This report looks upon and examines the important role women play in the reproduction and managing the water systems and resources.
Gender and Water, Securing water for improved rural livelihoods: The multiple-uses system approach. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) December 2007
Although international policymakers are increasingly recognizing women’s roles in agriculture, in general and irrigated agriculture in particular, many women farmers remain poor, vulnerable to food insecurity and marginalized. Women manage water and hygiene for good health are their responsibility, and they often play an active role in the construction and preventive maintenance and repair of sanitation facilities. Women and girls also walk for hours to fetch drinking water.
Reducing Poverty through Investments in Agricultural Water Management, Poverty and Gender Issues and Synthesis of Sub-Saharan Africa Case Study Reports, Submitted by International Water Management Institute August 2005
The question is not whether agricultural growth can potentially be the engine of overall economic growth and poverty eradication, but how can agricultural growth, targeted to the poor and women, be achieved in today’s global context, which presents harder conditions for poverty alleviation through agricultural growth than for the high- and middle-income countries that escaped poverty in this way in the past?
Gender: A Key dimension Linking Agricultural Programs to improved nutrition And Health, 2011 International Food Policy Research Institute.
How can standard agricultural development strategies—promoting agricultural intensification, greater linkages to markets, and high-value production—also create positive impacts on health and nutrition? This brief argues that a key element linking these programs to improved outcomes is the dimension of gender roles and gender
equity.
The Gender Implications of Large-Scale Land Deals, IFPRI Discussion Paper 01056, January 2011
Large-scale acquisitions of land by foreign and domestic investors in developing countries are currently a subject of a heated debate among development practitioners and researchers, national governments, the 1 international investment community, and civil society organizations at national and international levels.
Water Supply in Rural Ghana: Do Women Benefit?
The One Pager, by UNDP's International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, examines the impact of water provision on women's time allocation in rural Ghana. The document notes that while having access to water infrastructure can reduce the time burden on women, it is not implicit that the time saved would be devoted to paid activities. It calls for additional public policies to achieve that goal.
Africa: Water & Irrigation
Rural water supply in Uganda: Major strides in sector coordination and performance
Water of adequate quantity and quality is essential to sustaining human life and meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Although progress has been made globally in providing access to improved water sources, challenges remain in many countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
Uganda has been no stranger to these challenges. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with rapid population growth putting pressure on freshwater resource availability. Poverty incidence remains high, in spite of progress made, and is firmly entrenched in rural areas, which are home to more than 80% of Ugandans.
In the early 1990s, the rural water sector was characterised by a relatively weak sector policy framework, limited sector coordination and insufficient institutional capacity. More than 60% of the rural population – some 9 million rural inhabitants – lacked access to safe drinking water.
Nevertheless, Uganda has made notable progress in rural water sector coordination and performance, and has increased rural access to improved water sources. Sector progress surged in the late 1990s and into the mid-2000s. Challenges going forward include declining sector resource allocation, some fragmentation of sector activities and changing political economy priorities.
Institutional Alternatives in African Smallholder Irrigation
Lessons from International Experience with Irrigation Management Transfer
IWMI, 2002
This report reviews several decades of global experience in transferring management of government-run irrigation systems to farmer associations or other nongovernment agencies in an attempt to apply the lessons of success to the African smallholder irrigation context.
Poverty Reduction and Irrigated Agriculture, IPTRID
Issues Paper No. 1, January 1999
The aim of this paper is to show how the means to reduce poverty lies in: (a) the socio-economic conditions that irrigated agriculture can change; and (b) the way irrigation development is pursued.
Irrigated agriculture remains a resource that many poor producers want, and still ask for. It remains a vital activity in the livelihoods of many small producers who value the security it provides. It can also be a vehicle to provide basic needs for, and reduce the vulnerability of, poor people.
Saline Water Management for Irrigation, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (New Delhi, India).
ICID, August 2003
This document is a contribution towards further projecting and promoting the promising use of saline water and reuse of drainage and waste waters for developing irrigation, which has to be environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially acceptable with an assurance of the food security to the international community, particularly in the semiarid and arid regions of the world.
Determinant of Smallholder Farmer Labor Allocation Decisions in Uganda,
IFPRI Discussion Paper 00887, August 2009
This study analyses the factors that influence household labor allocation decisions and demand for farm labor in Uganda. Data were collected from 660 households in three banana-based production zones with divergent production constraints and opportunities.
Mapping South African Farming Sector Vulnerability to Climate Change and Variability, A Sub-national Assessment
IFPRI Discussion Paper 00885, August 2009
This paper analyzes the vulnerability of South African farmers to climate change and variability by developing a vulnerability index and comparing vulnerability indicators across the nine provinces of the country.
Measuring Irrigation Performance in Africa
IFPRI Discussion Paper 00894, September 2009
The paper develops indicators to look at the performance of the irrigation sector in Sub-Saharan Africa, where demand for food is high and irrigation has a proven potential to boost levels of agricultural productivity.
Review of Trade and Markets Relevant to Food Security in the Greater Horn of Africa A special report by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) June 2007
The food security situation of a given country within the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) is influenced by both national and external markets including the movement of people, produce, livestock, and consumer goods. Policies that originate from within and outside the region and govern or influence these flows have had significant ripple effects on countries within GHA and the food security status of some populations.
Urban Water Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa
In the face of rapid urbanization, public sector utilities in developing countries are experiencing growing demands for water services. Increasingly, the gap left in public service provision is being filled by small-scale domestic private providers.The document summarizes results from case studies of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. It notes that although small-scale private providers increase water supply coverage and reduce time spent on fetching water, in the absence of a coherent policy framework with effective tariff enforcement and water quality monitoring, services delivery is often costly and of varying quality.
Kenya - Bondo villagers preserve water as a human right
A project to enhance water governance using a "Human Rights Based Approach", funded by UNDP Kenya and by the UNDP Water Governance Facility at the Stockholm International Water Institute, was piloted in the Nyanza province of Kenya. The project is a success story as villagers in the region put an end to vandalism of water pipelines and started benefit-sharing discussions with water providers.
Why “Free” Is the Wrong Price for Water - Even If You Live on $1 a Day
Water is the most vital substance in every aspect of human endeavor, but the economics of water are a mash-up of tradition, wishful thinking, and poor planning.
In most communities, in fact, the water bill isn’t for water at all - it is typically just for the cost of getting the water to us, the pumps, the electricity, the staff to monitor water pressure and water safety, and to be on stand-by for water-main breaks. The water itself costs nothing. But “free” turns out to be exactly the wrong price for water - whether that water is being used by global corporations, farmers, ordinary middle-class citizens, or the poorest people on Earth.
Water that is so cheap provides no incentive for big users - companies, farmers, even cities - to spend the money necessary to better manage their water. Why spend $1 million to use $100,000 less water? And inexpensive tap-water service for industrialized societies doesn’t pay its carrying costs - that’s why municipal water systems are crumbling, because the water service is so cheap that utilities don’t have the revenue to maintain, let alone modernize, water systems.
Genetically Modifies crops in Africa
Genetically Modified Crops in Africa: Implications for Small Farmers, Genetic Resources Action International, GRAIN, August 2002.
The briefing looks at the push to bring GM crops and technologies to Africa and tries to sort out what the implications will be for Africa’s small farmers. It especially focuses on the situation in East and Southern Africa. The briefing does not share the optimism of the proponents of genetic engineering. Rather, it views genetic engineering as an extension of the Green Revolution paradigm that failed to address the needs of Africa’s small farmers and served only to exacerbate their problems.
Genetically Modified Crops and Sustainable Poverty Alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa, An Assessment of Current Evidence, Aaron deGrassi
Paper recasts the debate over biotechnology by moving past overly general hyperbole, and instead empirically evaluating current experiences with genetically modified crops in Africa. The debate is moved from hypothetical risks, to actual results. The ‘appropriateness’ of GM cotton, sweet potatoes, and maize is evaluated using six criteria widely accepted in crop breeding: demand led, site specific, poverty focused, cost effective, and institutionally and environmentally sustainable.
ICT (Mobile) For Development
The use of ICT in the Water Sector
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential to make a fundamental difference to the lives of people all over the world. By creating access to information, enabling communication and facilitating transactions, technical solutions can help reaching development objectives in various sectors. As the field of ICT for development is inherently multidisciplinary, it off ers opportunities for e. g. good governance, health or education. This topic sheet highlights the role of ICT in supporting GTZ projects on water supply and sanitation and water resource management.
Dial “A” for Agriculture: Using Information and Communication Technologies for Agricultural Extension in Developing Countries
Jenny Aker (Tuft University), October 2011
Agriculture can serve as an important engine for economic growth in developing countries. Yet yields in developing countries have lagged far behind those in developed countries for decades. One potential mechanism for increasing yields and hence agricultural production is the use of improved technologies, such as fertilizers, improved seeds and cropping techniques. Traditional public-sector programs have attempted to overcome barriers to technological adoption by using agricultural extension services at the village or farm level. Yet despite decades of experience with a variety of extension programs and new technologies, adoption rates still remain relatively low in low-income countries. The rapid spread of mobile phone coverage in developing countries provides a unique opportunity to facilitate technological
adoption via ICT-based agricultural extension programs. This paper provides a review of the current programs using ICT for agriculture, with a particular focus on agricultural extension and market information systems. It addresses some of the potential constraints to such programs in terms of design and implementation, and provides a summary of the initial findings. We then conclude with some recommendations for implementing field-based research on the causal impact of ICT-based agricultural extension programs on farmers’ knowledge, technological adoption and welfare in developing countries and directions for future research.
Market Development, Crop Insurance & Extension Services
Small Scale Postharvest Handling Practices: A Manual for Horticultural Crops (4th edition).
Kitinoja and Kader, University of California, Davis. Postharvest Technology Center, Hort Series Publication 8E. July 2002
The three main objectives of applying postharvest technology to harvested fruits and vegetables:
- Maintain quality (appearance, texture, flavor and nutritive value
- Protect food safety
- Reduce losses between harvest and consumption.
Effective management during the postharvest period, rather than the level of sophistication of any given technology, is the key in reaching the desired objectives. While large scale operations may benefit from investing in costly handling machinery and high-tech postharvest treatments, often these options are not practical for smallscale handlers. Instead, simple, low cost technologies often can be more appropriate for small volume, limited resource commercial operations, farmers involved in direct marketing, as well as for suppliers to exporters in developing countries. Many recent innovations in postharvest technology in developed countries have been in response to the desire to avoid the use of costly labor and the desire for cosmetically "perfect" produce. These methods may not be sustainable over the long
term, due to socioeconomic, cultural and/or environmental concerns. For example, the use of postharvest pesticides may reduce the incidence of surface defects but can be costly both in terms of money and environmental consequences. In addition, the growing demand for organically produced fruits and vegetables offers new opportunities for small-scale producers and marketers.
Local conditions for small-scale handlers may include labor surpluses, lack of credit for investments in postharvest technology, unreliable electric power supply, lack of transport options, storage facilities and/or packaging materials, as well as a host of other constraints. Fortunately, there is a wide range of simple postharvest technologies from which to choose, and many practices have the potential of meeting the special needs of small-scale food handlers and marketers. Many of the practices included in the manual have successfully been used to reduce losses and maintain produce quality of horticultural crops in various parts of the world for many years.
The effectiveness of micro-insurance in helping small-holders manage weather-related risks
R4D / DFID Research, February 2011 (Harvard Business School)
Review will examine the effectiveness of weather insurance and area-yield based crop insurance in helping small holders manage weather-related risk in low and middle-income countries. It discusses where index-insurance products are available, do small-scale farmers take them up and, if not, what barriers exist?
Microfinance & Impact Investing
Impact Investing (SE Asia & Africa)
CGAP Report, 2010
Investments designed specifically to promote development are not new, but their application across a broad range of sectors—from moderate-income housing, to health care, water and sanitation, and rural development—is recent. And they raise several critical questions for development policy. Are they an effective new tool for long-term development? Are they likely to reach the scale necessary to be part of an overall development strategy?
This report offers an important survey and analysis of the field. Impact investing has the potential to spur development in regions and sectors that traditional foreign direct investment does not target, but it faces many challenges, notably market fragmentation and a lack of infrastructure. The authors, former executive vice president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and former CGD visiting fellow, John Simon, and Julia Barmeier suggest concrete steps that will help the market mature and grow, with separate and specific recommendations for practitioners, development finance institutions, and regulators.
Child Nutrition
Roadmap to End Childhood Hunger in America by 2015
Presented by National Anti-Hunger Organizations, 2009
16.7 million American children—nearly one in four—live in households that do not have access to enough nutritious food to lead active, healthy lives. Child hunger is unacceptable. We have enough food. We need to ensure that all kids have access to the family and program resources that provide them adequate nutritious food.
Improving Child Nutrition for Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Africa, 2004 International Food Policy Research Institute 2004
While famines and other episodes of severe hunger receive significant press coverage and attract much public attention, chronic hunger and malnutrition are considerably more prevalent in Africa. It is estimated that 14 percent of children are born with low birthweights every year, around 45 million preschool children are malnourished, and 192 million Africans of all ages are hungry.
