In August 2018, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a speak-out for SADC smallholder farmers in Windhoek, Namibia, on Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs). FISPs are government agricultural programmes that promote Green Revolution inputs produced by multinational corporations, such as chemical fertilizers. In...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

Livestock are found in all regions of the world and supply a wide range of products and services such as meat, milk, eggs, fibre, hides and skins, natural fertilizers, fuel, transport and drought power. They are kept by more than half of rural households and are essential to livelihoods, nutrition...

En la edición 2018 el Anuario de la Agricultura Familiar vuelve a acoger relevantes reflexiones de más de 40 autores y autoras representativos de distintas sensibilidades y ámbitos de estudio. También aglutina más de 300 datos estadísticos de la agricultura, la ganadería, la distribución y el consumo de alimentos en...

European agriculture faces increasing restrictions on the use of external production inputs, such as artificial fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics. Organic farmers have experience in dealing with these issues, which is why organic farming may open new avenues for soil management strategies, weed and pest control, and livestock health and wellbeing,...

Within the scope outlined in the generic scoping report for the regional and subregional assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services (decision IPBES-3/1, annex III), particular challenges found across the Asia-Pacific region include climate change (particularly sea-level rise, increased intensity of extreme storm events, ocean acidification and glacier retreat), population growth,...

There is an international consensus about the unprecedented and pressing challenges that the world is facing in the 21st century, such as hunger and how to feed a growing population, eroding livelihoods of smallscale urban and rural food producers and workers, diet-related diseases, natural resource depletion, environmental degradation and climate change (FAO, 2017). It is also recognized worldwide that...

Champasack, Laos – In recent years, the shed house was introduced to farmers as an alternative technology for growing vegetables during rainy season because the shed house is roofed with transparent plastic. However, due to the use of plastic, the temperature in the house increases, which is not suitable for...

Farming the land as if nature doesn’t matter has been the model for much of the Western world’s food production system for at least the past 75 years. The results haven’t been pretty: depleted soil, chemically fouled waters, true family farms all but eliminated, a worsening of public health and...

A transition to an agriculture based on agroecological principles would provide rural families with significant socioeconomic and environmental benefits. If agroecology has such great potential to feeding the world, why it is not adopted more widely by farmers? Most research analyzing factorsneeded for scaling up agroecology focuses on the social...

Dairy farming is currently facing a number of challenges. On the one hand, the products have to meet high environmental standards and animal welfare requirements, on the other hand the market demands cheap products. Kirsten Wosnitza, who runs a farm of 120 dairy cows in Schleswig-Holstein with her husband Gerd...

The emerging food sovereignty paradigm offers a viable alternative for food, farming and well−being in terraced landscapes and the territories they are embedded in. This paper first defines ‘food sovereignty’ and briefly describes the origins and history of this policy framework for food and agriculture. The second part of this...

This document represents an attempt by the Chair to capture the richness of the contributions presented during the Symposium by different stakeholders and experts, to be more fully registered in the full report of the Symposium to be prepared by FAO, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views...

Changes in farming and land-use practices over the last 60 years have resulted in a significant decline in overall agrobiodiversity. This decline in domesticated crop and livestock breeds, as well as edible wild plant and animal species, is occurring at an incredible rate.This paper focuses on the contributions that agroecology...

La salud y el derecho a una alimentación adecuada son derechos que se encuentran avalados y secundados por numerosos tratados, acuerdos y jurisprudencia desde el nivel internacional hasta el local. Sin embargo, a pesar de los compromisos, nos encontramos ante una situación de emergencia debido al ininterrumpido aumento de la...

Maize is the predominant crop in Zambia, both in terms of production and consumption, and levels of crop diversity on Zambian farms tend to be very low. The country’s maize-centric food system contributes to poverty, malnutrition, and vulnerability to drought, pests and diseases. Growing a wider variety of nutritious crops...

Romanian Rural Network News no.6/2018.  a 

El informe ha sido elaborado por la Fundación Entretantos, con el apoyo de la Red de Ciudades por la Agroecología y la Fundación RUAF. Consiste en el estudio comparado de políticas alimentarias desarrolladas en once ciudades integradas en dicha Red, partiendo de un análisis de políticas alimentarias urbanas a nivel internacional y...

The three-year project “Rural Development through Integrated Forest and Water Resource Management in Southeast Europe (LEIWW)” is jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Standing Working Group for Regional Rural Development (SWG RRD). The project aims to improve the regional capacities for sustainable management of...

Agriculture in Europe results in the production of food for both the European population and for the export sector. Significant environmental and social problems have emerged with the intensification of European agriculture. These include the loss of biodiversity, the contamination of soils, water, and food with pesticides, and the eutrophication...