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Methodological resources to implement an SCD approach

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The need to improve OP’s services to support better family farming to face the numerous challenges for its sustainable development


Dif­fif­fi­cul­ties in increa­sing agri­cul­tu­ral pro­duc­ti­vi­ty are well known to the deve­lop­ment com­mu­ni­ty, des­pite being com­plex and high­ly variable across nations. These dif­fi­cul­ties include, among others, poor access to bet­ter seeds and plan­ting mate­rials, poor soil fer­ti­li­ty and inade­quate access to fer­ti­li­zers (both orga­nic and inor­ga­nic), poor access to exten­sion and advi­so­ry ser­vices, dys­func­tio­nal mar­kets, and droughts and floods that may be lin­ked to cli­mate change.

Less well reco­gni­zed are the places of entry for treat­ments that can result in sys­te­mic and long-las­ting alte­ra­tions. There are inter­con­nec­ted and pros­pec­tive entrance sites that have been dis­co­ve­red, but they will undoub­ted­ly dif­fer from place to region. They are increa­sin­gly ser­ving as the foun­da­tion for agri­cul­tu­ral and rural deve­lop­ment ini­tia­tives fun­ded by the govern­ment and its deve­lop­ment part­ners, inclu­ding coope­ra­tives and other non-govern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tions, with the goal of enhan­cing the pro­duc­ti­vi­ty of far­mers’ out­put or har­vest. Enhan­cing the efff­fec­ti­ve­ness of agri­cul­tu­ral input and ser­vice deli­ve­ry sys­tems’ pro­duc­tion and deli­ve­ry pro­cesses is the fifirst step. For both rain­fed and irri­ga­ted situa­tions, increa­sing pro­duc­ti­vi­ty (yields per unit area plan­ted) requires high-qua­li­ty inputs (bet­ter seeds and fer­ti­li­zers). Moreo­ver, effec­tive consul­ting and exten­sion ser­vices are cru­cial for increa­sing the uptake and effi­ca­cy of enhan­ced inputs.

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