LEISA's Farm

New books available online

posted by Karen

More and more books are being made available online, which for those of you with good access to fast downloading facilities and printers, is good news.

Here are two new books we think are worth highlighting:

Firstly, we have "Inclusive Improvement: Standards and Smallholders" written by Coen van Beuningen and Peter Knorringa, published by HIVOS. The word "standards" in the title refers to quality management standards such as those used in ISO (International Organization for Standardization), or in the fair trade and organic certification arena. With that made clear, the book argues that "combining sustainable development and poverty reduction is feasible." This book draws on 20 years of experience, and its central theme is management - how through improved management, smallholder families involved in commodity chains can increase their income. The book addresses all actors in commodity chains, most importantly stressing the difference between smallholder groups managing their own processes ("inclusive improvement") and how greater co-operation is needed amongst supporting actors such as certification bodies, trainers, buyers or funding organisations. A total of 149 pages, the book is very accessible and also contains a useful glossary. It is especially interesting as it draws heavily on examples and experiences, and is self-critical in a spirit of further learning and sharing. It proposes various tools to guide the way forward. Click here to access the page where you can read more and download it at no cost.

Next, is the "Right to Food Methodological Toolbox" published by the FAO. The Toolbox is split into six small volumes, covering topics including methods for monitoring the human right to food, a guide for conducting a right to food assessment, and budgets for advancing the right to food. Working on the premise of food security as a basic human right, the Toolbox is a collection of highly practical methods and guidelines for achieving this right. It fills a gap in the literature and will be of use for practitioners as well as policy-makers involved in strengthening in-country capacities to secure this basic right. Click here to access the page where you can download the various sections at no cost.    

 

LEISA Network's new website on documentation

contributed by Jorge Chavez-Tafur and Frank van Schoubroeck

Worldwide, thousands of NGOs, government agencies and farmers' organisations carry out work in support of small-scale farming. This work is often inspiring and innovative. Yet a lot of it goes unnoticed outside the farming communities, because most fieldworkers do not feel confident to report it to the outside world.

LEISA magazine partners have developed various methodologies to support field workers put their successes and challenges on paper. They have developed different tools to report and analyse the relevance of the experience for small-scale farming. In the process, they learnt what works for field workers, what not, and why.

All these lessons are being summarised in a website-under-construction. This website shows how you can systematically approach field-work reporting. It provides information about methodologies, tools, cases, and references to other websites and documents with practical tips. You can visit the website, get inspired, and leave comments. Your documenting experience thus can become part of our "learning to learn" approach on working with small-scale family farming!

Click the screenshot below to check it online.

Now out: Kilimo Endelevu Africa (KEA), vol. 1 issue 1

posted by Bertie

A joyous welcome to the youngest LEISA edition: Kilimo Endelevu Africa (KEA)!
ALIN, the Arid Lands Information Network, is a Kenya-based organisation working for community development. ALIN recently joined the LEISA Network and has now launched its Kilimo Endelevu Africa (KEA). This East-African edition is the eighth in the row of LEISA magazines, and like the other editions this one also contains success stories about small-scale farming and articles on agricultural technologies involving little or marginal external inputs, but building on local knowledge and traditional technologies.

Kilimo Endelevu Africa (KEA) is published quarterly by ALIN and ILEIA.
The theme of the first issue is "The role of rural entrepreneurship in development". Click here for more info or to download the issue.

Radio Scriptwriting Competition on Smallholder Farmer Innovation

posted by Bertie
Source: Farm Radio International

A few weeks ago, Farm Radio International launched the Scriptwriting Competition on Smallholder Farmer Innovation. Already 65 participants from more than 20 different countries have signed up.

The Scriptwriting Competition is open to organisations and individuals working with radio in Africa. Broadcasters, radio stations, production organisations, radio projects, farmers' associations with a radio show, etc. are all invited to submit their radio scripts to Farm Radio International before November 1, 2009.

The competition is committed to promoting gender equality and encourages scripts that feature innovations by women and men who are involved in farming and food production. To assist participants with writing the radio scripts, a free, two-month on-line scriptwriting training course will be offered, starting on August 24, 2009. For those with limited internet access, the course will be available on a CD-ROM.

The script is to be prepared by talking with local farmers. Scripts can take a variety of formats – for example, dramas, interviews or two-host conversations.

Each participant can submit one script for the competition and this script must be an original piece of work written specifically for this competition. It must be in English or French, be between 500-2000 words, and include references to information sources used to prepare the script (e.g., farmers, agricultural institutions, NGOs, documents, etc.). Please note that only one script per participant is accepted! However, there can be more than one participant per radio station or organisation.

You have until November 1st, 2009 to submit your script, so there’s no need to stress. In a week (August 24) the online Scriptwriting Competition Course will start. If you follow the course you will learn how to create inspiring radio pieces about smallholder farmer innovation and write them down in script format.

To read more about the competition, click here.
To read more about the online course, click here.

Gleanings: Seedling, Altieri, ICTUpdate

posted by Bertie

• Newly published: Seedling, issue July 2009.

• Miguel Altieri published an online essay Agroecology, small farms and food sovereignty. In: Monthly Review, July-August 2009.

• ICTUpdate Special 50th issue, August 2009. Feature articles on The Women of Uganda Network improving access to ICTs for women farmers and entrepreneurs, on ICT training for rural communities in Kenya, on mobile phone market information services for farmers, etc.

  
  

Photo contest: the future of family farming

A lot to win !! LEISA Magazine jubilee photo contest

posted by Bertie

What do you think about the future of small-scale family farming? What changes will happen or have already happened? Are your neighbours moving to the city? Have farming methods and markets changed a lot in your lifetime? Will your children become farmers? How has mobile phone changed your life? Which technologies will you use in the future?

Photograph your ideas about families, farming and change and send them to us. It doesn’t have to be a real situation – you can also envisage your ideas of change and photograph that. Digital photos can be sent to jubilee(at)ileia.nl (mention ‘Contest’ in the subject heading) and should be a minimum size of 1 MB. Printed photographs can be sent by regular mail to: ILEIA Photo Contest, PO Box 2067, 3800 CB Amersfoort, The Netherlands. If you mention your address, we will return photos afterwards. The closing date for this contest is September 1, 2009. Winners will be announced in our December issue.

A lot to win !! The prize for the best picture – which will be chosen by the editors of LEISA Magazine – is a beautiful netbook – a compact laptop with many useful features. The second prize is a lightweight digital camera, and the third prize is a combined radio with nine functions. We will also give away ten USB sticks. The best entries will be published in LEISA Magazine next year, and will feature on our website and weblog.

"When you don't have access to resources...

...you have to create your own."

By Dave M. Matthews
CNN June 29, 2009

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — On a plot of soil, nestled against the backdrop of skyscrapers in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, a group of residents are turning a lack of access to fresh produce into a revival of old traditions and self-empowerment.

HABESHA Gardens is one of many urban gardens sprouting up around the country. Fruits and vegetables are thriving in this community garden located in an economically depressed area of the city known as Mechanicsville.

Click here to read the whole article.

Linked by Bertie via.

Yes it's out: LEISA Magazine 25:2

posted by Bertie

Theme of this issue:
Farmers as entrepreneurs
Small-scale farmers and their support institutions are becoming more convinced that there is little future for them unless they become more entrepreneurial in their approach to farming. Which means that they produce increasingly for markets - local, regional as well as global, and with a profit motive. There's nothing new about rural entrepreneurship. But the challenges faced by family farms in the South right now are unique in scope and scale.
What options are there for small-scale farmers to become more entrepreneurial?
Read/Download the articles.

Wish to subscribe to the print version? Click here and fill in the subscription form.

Now out: E-LEISA 2009 number 2

Yesterday our e-newsletter E-LEISA was e-mailed to all its subscribers.

In this issue:

• Out now: Farmers as entrepreneurs, LEISA Magazine 25.2, June 2009
• A renewed LEISA Magazine: what information do you need?
• What does family farming mean to you?
• Open Forum: How sustainable is organic farming/Value chains
• Meet our editors in...
• On our blog
• News from the Global LEISA Network
• Upcoming issue: food sovereignty

Click here to read the full content of the E-LEISA. Would you like to subscribe to the mailing list? Scroll down the E-LEISA web page and submit your e-mail address.

AGROMISA turns 75 !

Posted by Mundie

Agromisa is celebrating its 75th birthday this year. It has come a long way.

Working for four years in rural Mozambique (until end of 2007), there were many times I realised that agricultural field workers could benefit from getting more information on sustainable agriculture practices. As soon as you left the capital Maputo - where you can find a wealth of resources on any topic - somehow the flow of books and other print resources stopped. Even in the provincial capital Chimoio, where my work was based, a very small selection of books could only be found in the stationery shops. You would go out into the districts and visit agricultural extension offices and although the offices had little besides furniture in them, you would sometimes come across a few familiar booklets.

It is these booklets, - called "Agrodoks" - for which people around the world know Agromisa best: handy little guides explaining different aspects of sustainable small-scale farming in the tropics. Published in English, Portuguese and French - topics ranging from rabbit-rearing and bee-keeping to soil fertility management and storage of fruits and vegetables - field workers around the world have enjoyed the tips and ideas coming from the wide range of booklets since the 1970s.

But Agromisa has been doing more than that in its long history. Originally set up in 1934 in Wageningen, the Netherlands, students at the Agricultural University (at that time still a college) became actively involved, and in 1960, they started organising annual "Agromisa Weeks", as an orientation to students and others who were going to work in the tropics. Later, a "question and answer" service was built into Agromisa's website.

75 years on, Agromisa manages to keep its core business of producing agricultural booklets going although it's harder these days to find young volunteers and students to give their time to writing them. Some of the Agrodoks are now being translated into other languages, such as Kiswahili (see left). Before the end of this year, the 50th Agrodok will be published on the topic of: "Packaging of agricultural products".

See Agromisa website for more information and to access the Agrodok publications.