Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) research methods have historically been influential in generating knowledge for long-term adaptation of human groups to their biophysical environments. This influence is especially true for the African continent, where interest in Indigenous knowledge is growing regarding development and climate change…

Understanding climate and its associated factors was familiar to Africans before contact was made with Western-made science. Introducing African learners to formal education seems to bring a disconnect between their indigenous knowledge about their environment and what is taught in the formal school curriculum. The indigenous knowledge systems…

Purpose: This study determined the extent to which transfer of training among trainees from national partners of an international bean research network in Africa was perceived to have taken place; including determining the factors that predicted transfer of training back to the job. Methodology/approach: Online data collection using the Learning…

Purpose: The sector-wide approach currently dominates as the strategy for developing the agricultural sector of many African countries. Although recognised that collaborative agricultural research is vital in ensuring success of sector-wide agricultural development strategies; there have been few efforts to understand the dynamics of national…

''Agriculture, Food, and Rural Land Use" constitutes a major part of the AP Human Geography course outline. This article explores challenging topics to teach, emerging research trends in agricultural geography, and sample teaching approaches for concretizing abstract topics. It addresses content identified as "essential knowledge"…

Purpose: To reflect on the opportunities that a systems understanding of innovation provides for addressing gender issues relevant to women, and to provide some insight on how these might be tackled. Approach: Review of literature relating to gender issues and how they relate to achieving, on the one hand, equity and efficiency goals, and on the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study report of the development of data networks and initial connectivity in the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) region and how that development evolved into the formation of research and education (R&E) networks that enable new collaborations and curriculum potential.…

Purpose: Capacity development for agricultural research and development is missing an opportunity. Initiatives tend to focus on developing capacity of individuals and even when the ultimate aim is social change leave the transformation of individual into social learning largely to chance. I use the lens of social learning systems, particularly…

Purpose: Within the context of the European-funded JOLISAA project (JOint Learning in and about Innovation Systems in African Agriculture), an inventory of agricultural innovation experiences was made in Benin, Kenya and South Africa. The objective was to assess multi-stakeholder agricultural innovation processes involving smallholders. Approach:…

In this Exemplars case, the fifth and final under the direction of the current coeditors, the authors present a reflective account of an ongoing, complex, multiyear, multinational monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system conducted for African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), an international development program. The…

In this article, the author expresses her view on how urban agriculture can be a source of hope among people particularly the uneducated and undereducated ones. The author shares that urban agriculture is a brilliant answer to the difficulties in these times of crisis. One of its most relevant elements is its impact in education: it allows people…

Micronutrient malnutrition affects the health and well being of 3 billion people globally. Identifying means to improve the micronutrient density in the edible portions of crops is an important way to combat nutrient deficiencies. By studying how plants obtain micronutrients from the soil, we can develop methods to enhance uptake. Although more…

This paper presents Peter McPherson's statement before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He begins by saying that people have an immediate problem that must be addressed, hopefully in a way that does not complicate long-term solutions. They also have a long-term and more complicated agricultural problem that the world has neglected over many…

In light of the recently developed European Union (EU) Biofuels Strategy, the literature is reviewed to examine (a) the coherency of biofuel production with the EU nonindustrial vision of agriculture, and (b) given its insufficient land base, the implications of a proposed bioenergy pact to grow biofuel crops in the developing world to meet EU…

This series addresses the relation of education to knowledge-based growth and broader measures of development beyond growth, central features of the modern world in which education has a central role. This role includes the effects of education on pure economic growth including its effects on the creation, adaptation, and dissemination of new…