The Nordic Africa Institute – Publications

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has emerged as an exogenous shock to global food supply chains, which foreshadows worrying impacts on Africa’s food security and nutrition, and threaten to derail national and global efforts to end hunger and poverty and to achieve sustainable development goals on the continent. This article provides an early assessment of the implications of the invasion for Africa’s food supply chains and food security. Two particularly aggravating factors, which explain the current and likely future impact of the invasion on Africa’s food security are discussed: the timing of the invasion and the two parties involved in the conflict. The article underlines four major channels by which the invasion disrupts African food supply chains: energy markets and shipping routes, availability and prices of agricultural production inputs, domestic food price inflation, and trade sanctions and other financial measures. In addition, the article considers the risk of social and political unrest that disruption to food supply chains and spikes in domestic food prices may inflame. Finally, the paper briefly discusses options for short- and long-term responses by African governments and their development partners to mitigate the repercussions of the conflict on food supply chains, boost food and nutrition security, and build resilience of Africa’s food systems

Apart from being a humanitarian tragedy, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has also emerged as an exogenous shock to global food supply chains, with severe consequences for many African countries in particular. Four months into the invasion, we can see three main threats to food security in Africa: a disruption to energy markets and shipping routes; a shortage of fertilizers; and the negative ‘third-party’ effects of sanctions imposed on and by Russia.

The COVID-19 pandemic had disruptive consequences for MENA countries’ agri-food value chains that exacerbated poverty and jeopardized food security. This study examines the relationship between individuals’ perception of contracting COVID-19 and their experience of food insecurity, using longitudinal data from the Combined COVID-19 MENA Monitor Household survey. It also investigates the underlying mechanisms of COVID-19 concerns and explores coping strategies employed by households to identify vulnerabilities in food security. The results provide compelling evidence of a strong association between individuals’ concern about the virus and various dimensions of food security, particularly reduced purchasing power and decreased meal frequency. Notably, this association follows an inverted U-shaped curve, with food insecurity initially increasing as worry grows, but declining after individuals contract the virus. High levels of concern were also linked to significant income decreases and worsening economic conditions. Moreover, individuals with higher concerns were more likely to rely on specific coping strategies, particularly spending savings and obtaining funds from relatives or friends. These findings underscore the need for government interventions during disease outbreaks and economic downturns to focus on alleviating individuals’ worry and fear to facilitate informed decision-making that minimizes food insecurity consequences. Additionally, the findings emphasize the need to strengthen social protection systems during public health and economic challenges to ensure food security for vulnerable populations. 

We examine the perceived business risks and impacts on performance associated with the Russian aggression in Ukraine in February 2022 among 450 Egyptian small and medium-sized agrifood enterprises. Our analysis identifies six distinct clusters of enterprises based on their perceived risks and three clusters based on the observed impacts of the war. We find a strong association between perceived business risks and observed impacts, suggesting that the risks identified by agrifood SMEs significantly influence their actual business performance. This underscores the importance of understanding and effectively managing perceived risks to mitigate the negative impacts of external shocks, enhance operational resilience, and improve overall performance. Moreover, the results indicate that the consequences of the war extend beyond direct effects on agrifood enterprises, affecting various stages of the agrifood chain. This implies that, in times of crisis, the absence of a well-functioning agrifood SME sector may threaten the sustainability of the entire agrifood value chain. These insights contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the experiences of agrifood SMEs during the early stages of the war, helping policymakers and enterprises prioritize risk management strategies and allocate resources effectively to enhance performance and competitiveness in times of crisis.

The Mediterranean region is grappling with significant challenges involving water insecurity (e.g. water stress), energy insecurity (e.g. electrification level), food insecurity (e.g. undernourishment and malnutrition), and ecosystem insecurity (e.g. biodiversity loss, deforestation and pollution). These challenges, amplified by climate change, have profound implications for sustainable development in the region, evidenced by the fact that most countries have yet to achieve, or are not progressing towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) relating to food security (SDG 2 – zero hunger), water security (SDG 6 – clean water and sanitation), energy (SDG 7 – affordable and clean energy), and ecosystems, both marine ecosystems (SDG 14 – life below water) and terrestrial ecosystems (SDG 15 – life on land). Traditionally, the approaches and efforts to address sustainability challenges in the Mediterranean WEFE sectors have been supply-oriented, sector-focused, and fragmented, often failing to adequately consider the intricate interconnections between different resource systems. However, scholars and policymakers in the Mediterranean are increasingly acknowledging the need for systematic and integrated governance approaches and innovative tools to account for interdependencies between sustainability challenges and approach them holistically to address sustainable development challenges in the Mediterranean region. This need has prompted the emergence of integrated approaches for analysing and managing the interactions between components of the WEFE nexus and their trade-offs and synergies. The WEFE nexus has therefore evolved to focus on achieving SDGs by improving water, energy and food security, as well as the functionality of ecosystems through increasing the efficiency of resource use, reducing trade-offs, strengthening synergies, and enhancing governance across different sectors. However, existing research efforts and policy initiatives on the WEFE nexus in Mediterranean countries have tended to be conceptual, reaffirming the importance of the concept, but there is still a lack of concrete examples of the actual implementation of such an approach. This limited effective implementation of WEFE nexus approaches in the region can be attributed to the fact that WEFE nexus approaches are data-driven and require widely accessible information and reliable data, which in many cases underpin the implementation of nexus approaches.

To transition from conceptualisation to implementation of the WEFE nexus approach, it is essential to develop appropriate methodologies and indicators for measuring, monitoring, and examining progress. The operationalisation of the WEFE nexus approach involves methodological challenges. First and foremost is that there is no single methodology best suited for all WEFE nexus challenges and at all scales, due to the diverse nature of the addressed problems, different resolutions and boundary conditions. Moreover, there is the need to better integrate both nature and societal domains. Holistic, predictive, transferable and scalable methodologies represent the general features most appropriate for operationalising the WEFE nexus approach. Finally, when operationalising the WEFE nexus approach, it is crucial to consider the existence of trade-offs (conflicting goals) and synergies (mutually beneficial outcomes) between sectoral sustainability policies across the SDGs. An awareness of the interconnection between goals is essential for making informed decisions. Without this awareness, trade-offs may arise, and progress towards one sustainability target could potentially hinder advancements towards other targets. Therefore, sustainability policies that effectively balance the preservation of ecological integrity and the promotion of economic growth and social equity often result in more instances of synergistic interactions between different SDGs. WEFE nexus interventions that holistically address both ecological and socioeconomic concerns tend to yield positive outcomes across multiple goals.

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges to small and medium agri-food enterprises (SMAEs) in developing countries. However, research investigating what risks Covid-19 posed to these firms, how they responded, and what business opportunities emerged to SMAEs from the pandemic remains scanty. Drawing on a sample of 166 specialist SMAEs in Egypt, this study addressed these entwined questions by using multiple indicators and multiple causes (MIMIC) and mediation analysis. Our results point out that the Covid-19 pandemic exposed Egyptian SMAEs to complex and multidimensional risks, and caused profound effects on both upstream and downstream stages of their supply chains. In general, Egyptian SMAEs adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ approach to cope with such Covid-19 risks and impacts, which was attributed to their lack of sufficient financial resources to develop risk management strategies and formalize structures to deal with unexpected events. Interestingly, the results showed that several business opportunities emerged from pandemic; but SMAEs' resource disadvantages constrained their capacity to seize and exploit these opportunities. Moreover, we found that mitigation strategies adopted by SMAEs present a mediating factor between perceived Covid-19 risks and perceived business opportunities. Overall, our findings call for a paradigm shift in relation to enterprise risk management in developing countries' SMAEs toward more holistic frameworks to enhance their preparedness to future shocks, make mature operational and strategic management decisions, and exploit strategic opportunities.

Like many other developing countries, urban sprawl is a growing phenomenon in India, which poses socio-economic and environmental challenges that worryingly affect urban sustainability. In this study, a latent class clustering approach was used to investigate perceptions of urban sprawl among 622 urban and peri-urban dwellers in Hyderabad. The empirical results clustered the respondents into three distinct classes based on their perceptions of urban sprawl impacts: ‘undecided respondents’, ‘negative perceivers’, and ‘opportunity perceivers’. The majority of respondents were undecided with no strong views towards the impacts of urban sprawl, which may increase their vulnerability and hinder effective adaptation to the adverse economic, social and environmental effects of urban sprawl. This also provokes concerns about the effectiveness of government interventions to build public awareness of urban development and its impacts on the city. With regard to the role of demographic and socio-economic characteristics in shaping the perception of the respondents, the results revealed that social caste plays a determining role in forming dwellers’ perception. In particular, members of marginalised social castes were more likely to form positive perceptions of the impacts of urban sprawl as urban expansion generates better and stable income that improve their social status. In addition, individuals with higher levels of education were more likely to form negative or positive perceptions, implying that efforts to raise social capital could be a useful means for mitigating the impacts of urban sprawl. Finally, membership in community development organisations was a key factor in dictating membership of the negative perceivers’ class. Overall, our findings suggest that an appropriate policy framework and specific programmes are needed for enhancing dwellers’ perception towards the impacts of urban sprawl, which can enhance the design, acceptance, and implementation of a more sustainable governance of urbanisation and contribute to achieving urban sustainability in developing countries.

Purpose – A better understanding of the determinants of demand through accurate estimates of the elasticityof import demand can help policymakers and exporters improve their market access and competitiveness. This study analyzed the EU’s demand for imported potato from major suppliers between 1994 and 2018, with the aim to evaluate the competitiveness of Egyptian potato.

Design/methodology/approach – This study adopted an import-differentiated framework to investigatedemand relationships among the major potato suppliers to the EU’s. To evaluate the competitiveness of Egyptian potato on the EU market, expenditure and price demand elasticities for various suppliers werecalculated and compared.

Findings – The empirical results indicated that as income allocation of fresh potatoes increases, theinvestigated EU markets import more potatoes from other suppliers compared to imports from Egypt. The results show that EU importers may switch to potato imports from other suppliers as the import price ofEgyptian potatoes increases, which enter the EU markets before domestically produced potatoes are harvested.

Research limitations/implications – Due to data unavailability, the present study relied on yearly data onquantities and prices of EU potato imports. A higher frequency of observations should allow for consideringseasonal effects, and thereby providing a more transparent picture of market dynamics and demand behaviorof EU countries with respect to potato import from various sources of origin.

Originality/value – The study used a system-wide and source differentiated approach to analyze importdemand. In particular, the empirical approach allowed for comparing different demand models (AIDS,Rotterdam, NBR and CBS) to filter out the superior and most suitable model for that data because the suitabilityand performance of a demand model depends rather on data than on universal criteria.

For thousands of years, Ethiopia has depended on its smallholding farmers to provide the bulk of its food needs. But now, such farmers find themselves under threat from environmental degradation, climate change and declining productivity. As a result, smallholder agriculture has increasingly become subsistence-oriented, with many of these farmers trapped in a cycle of poverty. Smallholders have long been marginalised by mainstream development policies, and only more recently has their crucial importance been recognised for addressing rural poverty through agricultural reform.

This collection, written by leading Ethiopian scholars, explores the scope and impact of Ethiopia’s policy reforms over the past two decades on the smallholder sector. Focusing on the Lake Tana basin in northwestern Ethiopia, an area with untapped potential for growth, the contributors argue that any effective policy will need to go beyond agriculture to consider the role of health, nutrition and local food customs, as well as including increased safeguards for smallholder’s land rights. They in turn show that smallholders represent a vitally overlooked component of development strategy, not only in Ethiopia but across the global South.

Climate change is causing growing variability and uncertainty in rainfall in Africa. Since the continent's food production systems are dominantly rain-fed, these changes are putting food security at even higher risk. In order to reduce this dependency, institutional reforms in the agricultural water sectors have become a priority in research and policy.

In this report, Atakilte Beyene, senior researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, together with twelve researchers based in Africa, studies current agricultural water reforms in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and other East African countries. The report consists of four case studies and an introductory section. The first case study evaluates the performance of community participation in water resources governance in the Mount Kenya Region. It uncovers the implication of a ban on traditional institutions on water security at a catchment level. The second case analyses the prospects of introducing pro-poor water schemes in conditions where climate change and water inequality are already challenges. It identifies incentive mechanisms that enhance more efficient distribution and utilization of water resources. The third case examines impacts of competitive and intensive farming strategies, especially irrigation schemes, on water demands. The final case study explores how advances in information and communication technologies improve water-use management systems across organizational and geographic scales.

Failures in considering and properly addressing local resistance have become costly for both the local people and the investors. Land acquisition policies need to be accompanied by mechanisms that address local grievances and conflicts. These aspects are crucial not only to alleviate unjust practices, but also to enhance confidence of investors and performance of the investments.

Over the last 15 years, Ethiopia has seen remarkable economic growth. The agricultural sector is part of this growth, but its proportional contribution to the overall economy has gone down. There is an urgent need to transform Ethiopian agriculture, not least when it comes to the inefficient land laws that impede young people from investing in farmland. This policy note identifies the structural problems that constrain such a transformation and gives recommendations on how they can be addressed.

Widespread poverty as well as food and income insecurity plague Africa’s dominant smallholder agriculture. Paradoxically, the very people who mainly depend on agriculture are not able to secure their own food and nutrition needs. Today, three-quarters of Africa’s malnourished children and the majority of people living in absolute poverty are found among the smallholder farmers who are key to the development of the continent.

This book studies how Tanzania in a period of 25-30 years became a tobacco producer and exporter. But its emphasis is on production, and therefore on the producers. It analyses the processes that made Tanzanians into peasant producers of tobacco for the international market. The dynamics of the organization of production under changing conditions of production. The effects on the development of productive forces, reproduction processes and the standard of living among the producers.

This study explored the use of conservation agriculture (CA) as a climate adaptationstrategy among smallholder farmers in Eastern Zambia. Using 761 household interviewsand 33 focus group discussions (FGDs) with smallholder farmers from six districts, datawas collected on how smallholder farmers in the region experience climate change,what CA practices they had adopted, and benefits and challenges associated withCA practice. Results show that men and women farmers had similar experiences ofclimate change, namely late onset of a shortened rainy season, intra-seasonal droughtand higher temperatures. Farmers’ perceptions of gender-mediated effects of climatechange had important nuances. The three most cited effects of climate change onwomen mentioned by women were lower crop yields, outbreaks of armyworms andreduced livestock fodder. The men thought women were most affected by increasedhunger, lower crop yields and reduced domestic water sources. According to the womenFGDs, men were most affected through reduced crop yields, increases in livestockdiseases and increased hunger. The men self-reported reduced crop yields, reducedwater for livestock and outbreaks of armyworms. Both men and women saw CA ashaving climate change adaptation benefits. For the women, men most benefitted fromCA through the high moisture holding capacity of basins, higher crop yields and reducedlabor requirements through use of oxen ripping. The men most appreciated the highcrop yields, improved soil fertility and reduced costs as less fertilizer is used. The womencited the high moisture holding capacity of basins, high crop yields and improved soilfertility as benefits they most commonly derived from CA, while the men thought thewomen most benefitted from CA through the higher crop yields, improved soil fertilityand crop tolerance to droughts. The study concludes that there is room for CA to serveas a climate smart agricultural system for both men and women smallholder farmers inEastern Zambia. However, this will require addressing important challenges of high weedpressure, high labor demands, and low access to manure, and CA farming implements.The CA package for Zambia should include access to timely climate information andclimate informed crop choices

The subject of food security and land issues in Africa has become one of increased importance and contention over recent years. In particular, the focus has shifted to the role new Global South donors - in particular India, China and Brazil - are playing in shaping African agriculture through their increased involvement and investment in the continent. Approaching the topic through the framework of South-South co-operation (SSC), this highly original volume presents a critical analysis of the ways in which Chinese, Indian and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture are structured and implemented. Do these investments have the potential to create new opportunities to improve local living standards, transfer new technology and knowhow to African producers, and reverse the persistent productivity decline in African agriculture? Or will they simply aggravate the problem of food insecurity by accelerating the process of land alienation and displacement of local people from their land? Topical and comprehensive, ‘Agricultural Development and Food Security in Africa’ offers fresh insight into a set of relationships that will shape both Africa and the world over the coming decades.

This paper evaluates the carrying capacity of cultivated land in Guangdong Province,China, using the entropy weight method. Ecological and environmental pressuresignificantly impacts capacity, while economic and social factors are stable.Production pressure fluctuates and rises. To improve capacity, we must reduce ecologicaland environmental pressure, protect cultivated land resources, develop andpromote green technology, and maintain water conservation facilities. The resultsindicate that reducing ecological and environmental pressure is essential to improvethe carrying capacity of cultivated land in Guangdong Province. In conclusion, thisstudy highlights the importance of balancing economic growth with environmentalsustainability in developing regions like Guangdong Province. It suggests that aholistic approach that considers ecological, economic, and social factors is necessaryto ensure long-term food security and sustainable land use practices.

Recognising and including the knowledge and leadership of indigenous peoples in building resilient food systems is crucial for equitable transformation. Kenyan decision makers must empower indigenous peoples to engage in local climate adaptation and agricultural sector planning, and at the same time protect those peoples’ rights.

Energy crisis and climate change have generated global demands for alternative non-fossil fuel sources. This has led to a rapid increase of investments in production of liquid biofuels based on agricultural feed stocks such as sugar cane. Most African governments see biofuels as a potential for increasing agricultural productivity and export incomes and thus strengthening their national economies, improving energy balances and rural employment. At the same time climate change may be addressed through reduction of green house gas emissions.

There are, however, a number of uncertainties mounting that challenge this scenario. Using in-depth African case studies this book addresses this knowledge gap by examining the impacts of large-scale biofuel production on African agriculture in regard to vital land outsourcing and food security issues. The surge for African biofuels has also opened space for private investors both domestic and external to multiply and network 'independently' of the state. The biofuel expansion thus generates new economic alliances and production relations, resulting in new forms of inclusions and exclusions within the rural population.

An essential book for anyone wishing to understand the startling impact of biofuels and land outsourcing on Africa.

The objective of the present work is through the case of Botswana to discuss the creation of poverty in the period of transition from tribal to modern society in the Third World today. This is done by an analysis focusing at the peasantry. The recently renewed fashion of blaming the peasants for lack of improved food production and thus for poverty at local and national levels is questioned.

Background: The global food system is causing considerable environmental harm. A transition towards more sustainable consumption is needed. Targeted public policy interventions are crucial for stimulating such transition. While there is extensive research about the promotion of more environmentally sustainable food consumption, this knowledge is scattered across different sources. This systematic map aims to collate and describe the available evidence on public policy interventions such as laws, directives, taxes and information campaigns, for achieving sustainable food consumption patterns.

Methods: We will search bibliographic databases, specialist websites, Google Scholar and bibliographies of relevant reviews. Searches for academic literature will be performed in English, while searches for grey literature will be performed in English, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian. Screening, including consistency checking exercises, will be done at two levels: title and abstract, and full text. We will use machine learning algorithms to support screening at the title and abstract level. Coding and meta-data extraction will include bibliographic information, policy details and context, and measured environmental outcome(s). The evidence base will be summarised narratively using tables and graphs and presented as an online interactive searchable database and a website that will allow for visualisation, filtering and exploring systematic map findings, knowledge gaps and clusters.

In the context of Uganda, this study delves into gender-based strategies aimed at enhancing women's engagement in milk safety, value addition and marketing within smallholder livestock farming. The objectives were twofold: first, to document the current practices of women in milk safety, value addition, and marketing channels; second, to examine the constraints, opportunities, and strategies related to the production of safe milk and milk products, along with accessing sustainable markets. Conducted in four sub-counties of Kiruhura district, this research employed both qualitative participatory methods and structured questionnaires, including twelve focused group discussions and twenty key informant interviews with both women and men. Notably, 217 structured questionnaires were administered. The findings illuminate that women play a central role in milk processing, water provisioning, sanitation, hygiene practices and were the primary contributors to milk value addition, particularly in the production of butter and ghee. Despite their active involvement, women face challenges in accessing adequate milk quantities, employ traditional labor-intensive procedures and encounter difficulties in marketing their processed products. Men, often the household heads, held decision-making authority over milk consumption and control the selling of milk, contributing to gender disparities. Addressing these challenges necessitates comprehensive support, including training and capacity-building initiatives for both men and women in milk value addition, credit access, and market entry. The study underscores the potential for improved women's access to milk quantities, particularly for butter and ghee production, to strengthen rural livelihoods and boost dairy production in Uganda. 

The Nile River Basin supports the livelihoods of millions of people in Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda, principally as water for agriculture and hydropower. The resource is the focus of much contested development, not only between upstream and downstream neighbours, but also from countries outside the region. This book investigates the water, land and energy nexus in the Nile Basin.

It explains how the current surge in land and energy investments, both by foreign actors as well as domestic investors, affects already strained transboundary relations in the region and how investments are intertwined within wider contexts of Nile Basin history, politics and economy. Overall, the book presents a range of perspectives, drawing on political science, international relations theory, sociology, history and political ecology.

Agriculture remains the main source of livelihood for most rural people in East Africa. Farming is dominated by smallholders, of whom the majority are women. Their tenure and access to land is important for reducing rural poverty, enhancing food security and stimulating agricultural development. Secure tenure represents one of the most critical challenges to the development of sustainable agriculture in the region. In an effort to understand the land question and its variation across the region, this book analyses the land reforms, their context and dynamics.

The book presents recent studies on the dynamics of land tenure and land tenure reforms in East Africa with a focus on Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. By selecting these five countries, the book is able to show the changing practices and variations in the land tenure dynamics and explain how they relate to historical and more contemporary issues.

The chapters are written by researchers, policy makers and activists with a diverse background and experience/expertise in relation to the land question. Their contributions offer a multiperspective basis for critical rethinking and reflection on the future of the land question in East Africa.

PurposeThis study examines the willingness of Spanish and Lithuanian grain farmers to adopt a combined approach of preventive site-specific spraying (PSSS) and selective harvesting (SH), two precision agricultural technologies (below referred to as PSSS-SH) aimed at mitigating the risk of mycotoxin contamination in barley and wheat.

MethodsData were collected from 190 commercial grain farmers using a choice experimental survey. The empirical analysis relied on the estimation of mixed logit and integrated latent class models.

ResultsThe surveyed farmers were heterogeneous in their preference for the PSSS-SH technology, with a majority (81%) reporting that they were willing to adopt and pay for the PSSS-SH technology. Furthermore, the farmers’ willingness to adopt PSSS-SH technology was influenced by the trade-offs between the potential production, economic and environmental changes.

ConclusionProfit maximization is not the only motivation for a farmer’s decision to adopt PSSS-SH, there are also important non-financial benefits that align with the observed choices. Furthermore, the perceived usefulness of the technology, the willingness and readiness to use the technology, and the farmer characteristics (e.g. cooperative membership, employment status, share of household income from grain production and past experience with precision farming technology) were positively associated with uptake of the PSSS-SH technology. Therefore, extension programmes should have a special focus on the perceived usefulness of the technology, the willingness and readiness of farmers to use it, and its unique characteristics.

Measuring sustainability at farm level is a priority for both research and policy and requires sustainability indicators to track progress. Indicators make the sustainability concept more concrete and guide farm level decisions, playing a decisive role in determining food system impacts on societies and the environment. Data availability is often a limiting factor when choosing indicators, but not enough attention is paid to the role of data in indicator construction and assessment results. This paper assessed the critical role of data in indicator construction and the potential limitations that current data availability imposes on farm-level sustainability assessments, using the example of dairy farms in Sweden. To do so we used a five-step approach consisting of a literature review, an inventory of data sources, an expert consultation, a matching and gap analysis, and a critical assessment. We found that 20 indicators categorized under 12 out of 20 sustainability themes had measurement issues due to missing scope, temporary data, or additional data requirements. At least some indicators were measurable within all themes in the social and economic dimensions while all indicators for pesticides, non-renewable energy, and soil quality in the environmental dimension had measurement issues. In the critical assessment, we argue that for some indicators, there are trade-offs between data availability and issues of comprehensibility and analytical validity. Furthermore, we found that no single data source could be used to measure all themes; which means that merging of different data sets is needed for a broader on-farm sustainability assessment. Our findings are relevant for the discussion on sustainability indicators and will inform future programs aimed at collecting sustainability data at farm level, which should consider the broad data needs identified and the potential to merge data to enable holistic sustainability assessments.

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a fungal disease that affects a variety of cereals. FHB is most commonly caused by the fungal pathogen Fusarium graminearum. FHB infected crops can develop a wide variety of mycotoxins, which are very dangerous to humans and animals. FHB is currently being controlled by chemical fungicides, which are very dangerous for the environment and are only effective under certain conditions. Resistant varieties and well-chosen agricultural technologies can help reduce the prevalence of FHB in plants. However, at present there are no fully resistant varieties. The article analyses the possible ways to identify FHB infected areas in winter wheat and barley crops and how this data can be used to map field infestation. For the detection of FHB is used field scanning and analysis of the multispectral or hyperspectral data results on field contamination. According exact field locations affected by FHB, harvesting trajectories can be designed to distinguish between completely uninfected, minimally infected, and heavily infected plants. According to this, the harvest can later be sorted into top quality, medium and low quality.

The spiral of violence in the Sahel is threatening to engulf the biosphere reserve in the cross-border territory shared by Burkina Faso, Benin and Niger. The rising violence is causing massive displacement and all three countries should respond jointly by mobilising and coordinating state armed forces to protect affected populations. But a joint military response is not enough. The three states should also collaborate to address the root causes of the insecurity: the land and pastoralism crisis; inconsistency in the distribution of forest resources; and a poorly integrated approach to managing the biosphere reserve.

Is Africa rising? Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa experience remarkable growth. Afro-optimists claim that an economic transformation is imminent, while critics argue that growth is mainly in the extractive sectors, with little improvement being noted among the rural and urban poor.

This collection of essays focuses on East Africa, with an emphasis on Tanzania. It is published as Professor Kjell Havnevik retires from the Nordic Africa Institute. He has carried out research, taught and supervised students, and participated in policy debates on agriculture, the environment and development policies in Africa.

In this volume, authors review the challenges that agricultural producers have faced in the past and risk facing today and tomorrow; customary and individual land tenure regimes; the character of current growth; and policy dialogue between the donor community and the Tanzanian government. Several contributions converge on the drive for large-scale land acquisitions, their potential and shortcomings, as well as on the policy alternative – investment in small-scale farming. The book also includes essays on religion and education.

In addressing all these development issues, these essays are a fitting tribute to the work of Kjell Havnevik, his colleagues and students.