Skip to: ’I am now a better farmer’ Muzamani Lihinga is on his new crop variety in Zimbabwe  

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  • Translated by Obey Mugwira, and Manata Jeko, Field Officer CTDT Zimbabwe My name is Muzamani Lihinga. I am a 63 year old smallholder farmer from Maihwa village ward 6 of Chilonga in Chiredzi district to the South East of Zimbabwe. I am a member and facilitator of Hlubuko Farmer Field School (FFS). Effects of climate […]

  • By Joseph Mwitumwa, Seed Production and Marketing Officer – CTDT Zambia CTDT Zambia supported a total of 88 smallholder farmers drawn from six FFS with trainings in seed production and marketing. This is to strengthen farmers capacities in production, facilitate access to quality seed and provide them with options to improve their livelihoods. Out of the […]

  • By Diana Mapulanga, Communications Officer, and Edwin Abwino, Programme Assistant – CTDT Zambia Through the SD=HS project, CTDT is keenly working to foster collaborations between the breeders and smallholder farmers in the development of new crop varieties through Participatory Plant breeding using the farmer field school (FFS) approach. This is seen as a mechanism that […]

  • By Juliet Nangamba, Programs Manager CTDT-Zambia Farmer Field Schools (FFS) in Shibuyunji and Chikankata district were established as FFS to participate in managing diversity based on participatory plant breeding. In 2021, some FFS were identified as successful and  transitioned to participate in the farmer seed enterprise component of the SD=HS program. The learning and results […]

  • Sahadev KC, SD=HS program officer, LI-BIRD Background The national seed system of Nepal receives many new varieties of different crops from Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC). However, during the whole process of crop varietal development farmers, who are ultimate users of the new varieties are rarely involved in the research and development. Therefore, many new […]

  • Saroj Pant, Neglected and Underutilized Species Officer, LI-BIRD In Nepal, SD=HS project supports small holder farmers (particularly women) to increase their intake of nutritious food based on the local biodiversity and management of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS). One of the approaches to achieve this goal is farmer field school (FFS) approach. This blog focuses […]

  • Rajendra Dhakal, SD=HS Technical Coordinator at Oxfam Nepal In Nepal, the Sowing Diversity=Harvesting Security project is implemented jointly by Oxfam in Nepal and LI-BIRD. Nepal was selected to implement the phase II of SD=HS in 2019, since then the project has been successful in many ways. We wish to honestly share our successes and challenges […]

  • Aakash Koirala and Niranjan Pudasaini, Senior Program Officers at LI-BIRD Community Seed Bank in Nepal A Community Seed Bank (CSB) is a local institution collectively managed by a group of farmers for the maintenance, conservation and exchange of locally available seeds (Shrestha, 2019 , Vernooy et al., 2020). Generally, CSB is considered as a comprehensive […]

  • Rajendra Dhakal Budget is regarded as a neutral tool. However, its impact differs for men and women. Women, men, girls, and boys often have very different practical and strategic needs and roles in society (See Building New Masculinities from the Peruvian Andes blog). These differences mean that budgets which appear neutral on the surface may […]

  • Juliet Nangamba The world celebrated International Women’s day whose theme was ‘Gender equality for a sustainable tomorrow.’ Gender equity is a means through which gender equality can be achieved to foster sustainable development. Community Technology Development Trust (CTDT) in Zambia a partner organisation of the SD=HS programme has had a focus on gender to ensure […]

  • Angel Villavicencio Durán& Saúl Povez (FOVIDA), Ana Lucía Núñez & Carolina Oviedo (Oxfam Peru) Within the framework of the SD=HD project, executed by FOVIDA and financed by Oxfam, workshops on New Masculinities are being held with the participation of local authorities and producers from the districts of Acostambo and Ñahuinpuquio (Tayacaja), Paucará and Rosario (Acobamba) […]

  • Local food plants can support a community in difficult times, especially when dealing with erratic climate patterns or in the face of a pandemic. Through Farmer Field Schools (FFS), SD=HS promotes local food plant management to guarantee smallholder farmers’ food and nutrition security. One of SD=HS’ focus is on local food plant for nutrition. Local […]

  • Harrie Oostingh This year we will celebrate the 50st anniversary of the UN Conference on the Environment in Stockholm and the 30st anniversary of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Yet we are far from reaching the objectives of these declarations. Different reports have given evidence of an unprecedented loss of biodiversity, which for […]

  • Rajendra Dhakal In Nepal, women make up for 60% of the participants of the SD=HS project. Especially in Farmers Field School (FFS), women participants account for 75% of participants. This is encouraging as SD=HS prioritizes women’s participation in all activities and in leadership positions within FFS, community seed banks, and farmer’s seed enterprises. However, if […]

  • Two years into its second phase, the SD=HS programme is undergoing a mid-term evaluation. While the final report presents a comprehensive overview of our work and of the results seen, we wish to share a few highlights based on stories collected by partners and evaluators. The mid-term evaluation review assessed the extent to which activities […]

  • Juliet Nangamba A recurrent activity under the SD=HS program is the end of season evaluation of Farmer Field Schools. In a two-day workshop, facilitators who support Farmer Field Schools from around the country join the master trainers and project staff and look at the season’s results and the challenges or difficulties they all faced. Participants […]

  • Joshua Enyetu In Uganda, as in other parts of the world, SD=HS supports smallholder farmers to improve management of local food plants to ensure their food and nutrition security. The motors of these efforts are Farmer Field Schools (FSS). This story shows how the members of a FFS in the northern part of the country […]

  • Rajendra Dhakal Good quality seeds can help farmers adapt to the impact of climate change and ultimately help achieve food and nutrition security. With this in mind, one of the main goals of the SD=HS project is that indigenous peoples and smallholder farmers enhance their livelihoods, income and seed security through the improved production and […]

  • Tsungai Bwerazuva Champion Farmers Seeds Cooperative Company is a farmer-led enterprise that produces and sells high quality and certified seed of highly-adaptable, high-yielding and drought tolerant varieties of sorghum, groundnuts, maize (hybrid and open pollinated), sugar bean, cowpea and pearl millet – all of which are very important for the food and income security of […]

  • Susan Bragdon The world is not on track to achieve the Agenda 2030 vision for sustainable development that is human rights based, gender sensitive and planet centered. In fact, with less than a decade to go, we are moving backward on many of the interlinked global challenges identified by the Agenda’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related […]

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