From the R4D portal - http://www.research4development.info

Makutano Junction, the Kenyan TV drama series responds to text messages from its regular TV viewers requesting follow up information on development issues and shows that the message is getting into farming areas

A regional initiative of the International Potato Center has been helping small farmers in Bolivia access high-value markets for their traditional freeze-dried potato products

New standards proposed for livestock products from Africa could fundamentally change the way in which meat is imported into key markets and help poor livestock producers trade their way out of poverty

The DFID-supported programme providing business development services to small and medium-sized seed companies is helping to transform Africa's growing seed industry

Poor farmers across Sierra Leone now have better and more regular access to reliable advice on plant health problems, after the DFID-funded Global Plant Clinic provided the Sierra Leone government with a way forward

Research from the DFID Trade and Poverty in Latin America programme (COPLA), shows that the agricultural sector of the southern Peruvian Andes, where the poorest people in the country live, is vulnerable to the effects that the imports of goods from the US

DFID?s research programme SEACAP in South East Asia produces solutions for regional planning and local participation

A pilot initiative to provide training to radio and print journalists from East Africa, alongside a major international conference, has helped to strengthen links between scientific researchers and the media

A team of researchers led by the University of the Free State is working to give planners and farmers access to improved climate information and a range of options to help them prepare for a water-scarce future

Lessons of the new farmers of Namary in Niger were captured through the ?Adaptation Stories? initiative of the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) research and capacity development program

Searching for a new approach to livestock policy and institutional change to improve the livelihoods of poor livestock keepers has been the focus of a DFID-funded initiative

Enabling long-term sustainable use of land and water, through management by local communities

Investigating the impacts of diffuse agricultural pollution on water quality and on livelihoods in intensively irrigated tropical and sub-tropical areas

An innovative school gardening initiative in Kenya has been hailed a success following a pilot scheme, which also involved young people, teachers, project leaders, families and communities in the UK and India to garden and grow crops

Benchmarking procedures are promoted to improve the management of agricultural water services

The Vitamin A for Africa Programme (VITAA) successfully promotes a new orange-fleshed variety of sweet potato

Paddy production in Africa has been on the rise for six years, helped by new varieties of rice known as NERICA introduced by WARDA

Protecting humans by treating animals. Helping livestock keepers apply insecticide only to the parts of the body of animals where tsetse flies like to feed is a low cost, sustainable way to fight trypanosomiasis

Farmers and fishers involved in adopting Integrated Floodplain Management in Bangladesh have benefited from higher catches, higher incomes from crops and greater community solidarity

Agricultural lime is a farming input taken for granted in many countries; however this does not hold true in less-developed regions such as sub-Saharan Africa