Blogs

Rosario Cadima is an enterprising farmer who spends two days a week buying and selling potatoes at the fair in Colomi, Cochabamba. Juan Almanza, who is an extensionist, had given her a DVD with a series of agricultural learning videos aimed at farmers like her.

The DVD included seven videos in Spanish, Quechua and Aymara on caring for the soil. One of the videos was about peanuts (groundnuts), which like other legumes, fixes nitrogen for the soil. Rosario recently watched the DVD with her parents, grandfather and other family members. They watched all of the videos over three...

Some 30 years ago, eminent anthropologist Paul Richards described the practices of smallholder farmers as a type of performance, similar to theatre or a musical act. Farmers acquire skills and competence through practice, rehearsal and improvisation. I have recently learned that the same applies to the marketing of farm produce.

In the Ecuadorean Andes, SWISSAID has been supporting women’s associations for 12 years to strengthen their skills on ecological farming. They taught farmers to produce various types of compost, including with manure of guinea pigs, as well as...

Guest blog dedicated to Access Agriculture 10th Anniversary

It is no secret that a picture is worth a thousand words. That's why I am taking this shortcut to show to you some of our best experiences of using training videos from Access Agriculture (www.accessagriculture.org), which is the leading platform for promotion of sustainable agricultural practices.

This great experience has not only been beneficial to me both personally and professionally, but also to a large number...

An interactive webinar titled ‘Helping share farmers’ best-kept secrets on soil health with other farmers’, was organised by the 4 per1000 Initiative and Access Agriculture on 8 July.

The 4 per 1000 initiative aims to boost carbon storage in agricultural soils by 0.4% each year to help mitigate climate change and increase food security

Introductory remarks by Samuel Ottnad, on behalf of 4 per 1000 Initiative and by Blessings Flao on behalf of Access Agriculture, kicked off the webinar, followed by two presentations.

The first...