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"Twigire Muhinzi is an exciting extension model because it combines two different kinds of Farmer to Farmer Extension approaches: Farmer Promoters (FP) with demonstration plots and Farmer Field Schools (FFS) with experimental plots. More than 1,000,000 farmers (>50% of all Rwandan Farmers) are already involved. The access to advisory services in Rwanda has increased from 32% in 2012 to 68% in 2015. The results are spectacular: Farmers produce more, increase their income significantly, save in groups, buy and sell in group and venture in all kinds of economic activities. Last but not least, the "FFS - The Plant is the Teacher program in Rwanda is among the 10 Finalists for the prestigious DAC Price for taking development. Registration before 30 April is compulsory both for national and international participants."

"The Hindu Business Line-. There are over 80 web sites and portals ran by Governments providing information to farmers on soil, plant protection, diseases, weather forecast, fertiliser use and farm and crop management. The number could be much more in the private sector. All this is likely to confuse the farmer. To tackle this, the Union Government has come up with the idea of a unified portal, to provide information on all farming needs. The portal www.farmer.gov.in, is not fully live yet. The basic version integrates the convergence technologies to offer latest information to farmers, instead of uploading dated information. "Compare this with the number of agri-climatic zones in the country. They are just 23. When they open the portal, the farmers see the Indian map. Depending on their location, they can select a State and the block they belong to," said Sanjeev Gupta, Joint Secretary of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Government of India. "

"The Week on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (WAIA) revolves around a regional fair to celebrate the innovativeness of smallholder farmers: the Eastern African Farmer Innovation Fair (EAFIF) to be held 28-29 May 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya. Four Prolinnova County Platforms in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are leading initiatives in their respective countries to identify innovative farmers and to help them prepare for the fair. This competitive call is inviting farmers or their contact organisations to apply to take part in the EAFIF. The top 15 women and men innovators will be selected to go to Nairobi. Priority will be given to women innovators. "

"The Week on Agricultural Innovation in Africa (WAIA) starts in only three months. It revolves around a regional fair to celebrate the innovativeness of smallholder farmers: the Eastern African Farmer Innovation Fair (EAFIF) to be held 28-29 May 2013 in Nairobi, Kenya."

Ethiopia's farmers are flocking to a hotline that provides free agricultural advice about planting crops, using fertiliser and preparing land as part of a government initiative to turn subsistence farmers into surplus sellers. The automated hotline has received nearly 1.5m calls from more than 300,000 farmers since it launched 12 weeks ago, according to Khalid Bomba, CEO of the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA), an internationally backed government initiative. The 90 lines are now taking an average of 35,000 calls a day.

"The Farmers' Forum, born in 2005, is an on-going, bottom-up process of consultation and dialogue among small farmers' and rural producers' organizations (FOs), IFAD, and governments, focused on rural development and poverty reduction. Engagement with rural organizations at field level, and dialogue at regional and international levels, are articulated as mutually reinforcing processes. Fully aligned with IFAD's strategic objectives, and rooted in concrete partnership and collaboration at national and regional levels, the Forum meets every two years for global consultation, in conjunction with IFAD's Governing Council. The forthcoming global meeting of the Farmers' Forum will be held between 17 and 20 February 2014. "

Food systems are often focused on maximizing profits rather than generating income on a sustainable basis for smallholder farmers. But in the context of rapid urbanization throughout the developing world, ensuring sustainable rural transformation and building vibrant rural communities is essential to global food security. Transformation of rural areas and sustainable smallholder agriculture involves creating viable market linkages between small farmers and consumers. This third session of AgTalks brings together experts to address various approaches to building these linkages and helping small farmers succeed. Speakers: Gabriela Soto Muñoz, Maximo Torero, Beatrice Makwenda and Kari Huhtala Date: 1 April 2015 Time: 2:30-5 p.m.

"CIARD, with the support of the GFAR Secretariat and FAO, organized an E-discussion from 20 October until 10 November 2014 for global participation on the Rights of Farmers to Data, Information and Knowledge. The outputs of the E-discussion and supplementary research will be used to develop a briefing paper for policy makers, actors and stakeholders on the rights of farmers for data, information and knowledge."

"A group of African farmers are producing a commodity, but every season they struggle to access the needed inputs - improved seeds, quality fertilizers and crop protection products - at the right time, in the right quantity and quality, in reasonable proximity to their farms and for a reasonable price. They often do not have the needed cash or credit to pay for the inputs. After harvest, the farmers struggle to sell their goods. Often, they have no choice but to sell their produce at the local market for a low price. They are not organized and do not have the capacity either to negotiate for better prices, or to store their produce until prices increase. Even the basic options needed to add value are beyond their reach."

"A 'Center for Commercial and Agricultural Information' (PICA) for the collection and the publication of price lists via the internet has been launched in Togo to enable farmers and traders to interact over prices and availability of products by ICT The center is equipped with computer and Internet facilities with a web page www.tradenet.biz with a strong integration of data and mobile technology. The center will allow producers and tradesmen to consult in real time over price lists that are in conformity with the ECOWAS region."

"The EU-funded project JOLISAA coordinated by CIRAD, France; the Prolinnova international network hosted by ETC Foundation, Netherlands; the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); the AusAID-funded project Food System Innovation for Food Security (FSIFS) and other partners are to meet in May 2013to jointly discuss approaches to enhance knowledge-to-action linkages among actors in agricultural innovation systems in Africa. During WAIA, a workshop on Agricultural Innovation Systems in Africa (AISA) will take place, preceded by an Eastern Africa Farmer Innovation Fair to showcase the achievements of individual and groups of smallholder farmers in improving their farming and their livelihoods. "

"The learning route on Farmers' Organisations in Morocco shows three different types of organisation to the ruteros, all with their own characteristics. The route has arrived in the region of Meknès, where ANOC is supporting sheep and goat producers."

"This 13 minute video was produced by the USAID Cambodia MSME Project to assist Cambodian farmers to improve aquaculture production. This video explains the basic steps to show aquaculture farmers how they can increase pond fish production an average of 300% per year. The step-by-step explanation is easy to follow and results in significant increases in pond productivity and increased incomes. "

As a pre-meeting activity to the 7th GFRAS Annual Meeting an e-discussion takes place from 23 August to 2 September to prepare the topic of "The Role of Rural Advisory Services (RAS) for Inclusive Agripreneurship". Stephen C. Mukembo gave us a first definition of agripreneurship: "the application of entrepreneurial principles to identify, develop, and manage viable agricultural enterprises/projects optimally and sustainably for profit and improved livelihoods". How is this different from agribusiness start-ups mentioned by Sivakumar P S? Who are these famous agripreneurs? Farmers? Young business men exploring opportunities in agriculture? Women who venture into off-farm activities? And: Aren't all farmers agripreneurs?

"12 August 2016 - Did you know that the world will need to feed two billion more people by 2050? Or that farmer populations in developing countries are ageing rapidly (the average age of farmers is about 60)?"

"The objective of the Agricultural Competitiveness Project for Cameroon is to increase the competitiveness of eligible producer organizations working on target value chains. From the beginning to its end, the project created thousands of jobs; rice productivity improved of 109%, corn productivity improved of 112% and hens are laying more eggs. Farmers are increasingly involved in cooperation projects with other farmers or use micro-finance credits"

"Ratings for the Agriculture Support Services Project for Tunisia were as follows: outcomes were moderately unsatisfactory, risk to development outcome was significant, Bank performance was moderately unsatisfactory, and Borrower performance was moderately unsatisfactory. Some lessons learned included: the benefits of a comprehensive project design can be outweighed by complexity, difficulty in implementation, and resources being spread too thin, even in a middle-income country like Tunisia. The effectiveness of complex projects implemented by multiple actors can be undermined unless the project management unit (or its parent agency) has sufficient authority to proactively coordinate key implementation agencies. Attempts to move from public to private provision of services can be undermined if there is not sufficient attention to beneficiary, needs, perceptions, and incentives, both for producers and service providers. Lack of ownership of producer associations by farmers limits their utility in providing farmers with inputs, access to services and inserting their interests into agricultural policy."

"Dakar, 25 nov (APS) - Un programme d'éducation et de formation dédié aux agriculteurs et à l'agro-industrie, mis en place dans le cadre du Programme ''Farmer to Farmer F2F'' (agriculteur à agriculteur), a été lancé mardi à Dakar à l'initiative de l'Agence des Etats-Unis pour le développement international (USAID). L'investissement dans l'éducation, la formation et la recherche ont aujourd'hui été identifiés comme un moyen efficace pour l'évolution des exigences du marché de l'économie agricole, et face au vieillissement de la population des professionnels du secteur, a souligné la directrice de l'organisation Winrock International."

CTA organised the CTA Top 20 cross-learning write-shop from 13-17 October 2014. The meeting brought together authors and case owners of the CTA Top 20 innovations, technical experts, editors and designers to produce: (i) Fact sheets, guidebooks and posters of the CTA Top 20 innovations for widespread dissemination in print and electronic formats; (ii) a publication/manuscript consisting of the CTA Top 20 innovations as case stories and; (iii) a technical report on the CTA Top 20 as input into a policy brief on scaling up innovations. It is expected that by increasing access to existing knowledge on the CTA Top 20 innovations, this will contribute to increasing productivity and earning potential of smallholder farmers. The write-shop was a success.

"[LONDON] Smallholder farmers in Africa must participate in research to ensure higher crop yields and to fend off hunger as the continent's population grows, according to a report published today (18 April). A combination of traditional knowledge and modern science will be key to achieving higher productivity at lower ecological cost - known as 'sustainable intensification' - the report says. 'Sustainable Intensification: A New Paradigm for African Agriculture' was written by the Montpellier Panel, a group of international experts from the fields of agriculture, sustainable development, trade, policy and global development. "