The major issues in impact assessment for farmer participatory research (FPR) are analyzed. There are many potential ways in which FPR can have an impact; for example, increasing agricultural productivity, improving the management of natural resources or leading to a wider dissemination of innovations. FPR may also be more effective in reaching specific target groups, and it many reduce research costs and develop community capacity. Impact will be measured by different groups, and for different reasons, according to the circumstances.

As the share of small ruminant meat, especially sheep, in the demand and consumption of meat in general grows, information about consumer expenditure behaviour and demand parameters for live sheep will be valuable for several interest groups in the sheep industry. Using the Heckman two-stage approach, this study shows that sheep prices and household income, as well as socio-demographic factors, including household size and composition, significantly affect the likelihood of buying live sheep and expenditures on live sheep.

Farmer-herder conflicts are enduring features of social life in the Sudano-Sahelian zone.

A survey was carried out between August and December 2004 in four sites in Niger,

namely Bokki, Katanga, Sabon Gida and Tountoubé to determine the proximate and

long-term causes of conflict over natural resource use, to evaluate the appropriateness of

existing institutional arrangements for managing conflicts and identify innovative options

and incentives to reduce the incidence and severity of conflicts. The research was

Marketing transactions take place in an environment where information is shared and exchanged among and between sellers, buyers and middlemen. It is argued that traders and middlemen have a competitive advantage over producers in negotiating for prices, because the former have access to prices in both primary and terminal markets, while the latter only have limited access to prices in the primary markets. This Research Brief highlights the situation regarding access to livestock marketing information by producers in pastoral markets of Kenya.

Availability of major feed resources, cattle fattening practices and marketing system were studied to generate baseline information which can be used for future interventions to develop market oriented cattle fattening program within the integrated mixed crop-livestock system. The study was conducted using cross-sectional survey by interviewing a total of 153 cattle fattener households proportionally selected from four kebeles in Weina-Dega and two kebeles in Sub- Kolla agro-ecologies of Bure Woreda in Amhara National Regional State, Ethiopia.