Agriculture and Environment Strategy 2009-2014
not have the social power or networks to overcome such barriers. We also observe that as income opportunities stagnate or decline, men and youths tend to migrate from rural areas in search of alternative work, returning only occasionally—or not at all if they die from conflict or disease. These absences result in an increasing number of female-headed households. In these cases, women must shoulder the full responsibility of supporting their children, but rarely do they have the same rights in decision making and resource access as their men. The challenges of greater global competition for agricultural goods, declining market access, diminishing government support, and weak farmer organization create a demanding environment for poor farmers. While CRS is unable to tackle the most fundamental problems associated with global Levels of production are a major problem in many poor areas, and
trade policies, we believe there are opportunities to improve agricultural productivity through greater support to farmer groups, better use of existing technologies, and the development of ways to link smallholder farmers to markets.
increased production can be achieved
Current Focus
either by expanding the area of
Across the globe, CRS agricultural programs aspire to sustainable production
production or by increasing yields.
practices. In most regions, agriculture programs work within a defined project territory, using a part of a watershed as the intervention area. Watershed-based approaches begin with a mapping exercise with the local communities, and planning is done through public-private watershed committees. Implementation plans aim to improve surface water collection and management, improve water-use systems, invest in infrastructure such as small dams, and modify land use practices to reduce land degradation. Productivity enhancement. Levels of production are a major problem in many poor areas, and increased production can be achieved either by expanding the area of production or by increasing yields. Given the pressure on land, CRS promotes the use of new varieties, fertilizers, and crop rotations to increase the yield per unit. Africa probably has more available land for expanding agricultural production than any other continent, but as shown in Figure 4, it also has the lowest performance in improving unit-yield gains. The potential for increasing production and productivity is high, and greater efforts are required to deploy competitive technologies into the farming community. However, this must be done in a demand-driven context, such that surplus production can be sold to identified buyers.
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