Much of sub-Saharan Africa’s farmland is (still) cultivated with the hand hoe, and agricultural processing and transport are often done manually. This limits the potential of agriculture in the region. Mechanization can help to alleviate food shortages and enhance agricultural development. However, this implies high levels of investment for farmers...

Research on water management to achieve higher productivity in irrigated agriculture has identified raised-bed systems as an important component of improved wheat production package. Through this farmers in Egypt have successfully achieved higher yields while ensuring savings in irrigation water. This technology was disseminated for sustainable agricultural intensification on a...

The aim of this study has been to analyse the changes in farm structures in the post socialist Central and Eastern Member States of the EU (EU-10) through the period since their accession to the EU, to explain the drivers of these changes, to evaluate the different development paths of...

L'agriculture tunisienne, considérée jusque là comme un secteur refuge et défiscalisé par les agriculteurs et les investisseurs privés tunisiens, ne peut tenir, éventuellement, la concurrence prévue par la libéralisation des échanges des produits agricoles avec l'Europe qu'à plusieurs conditions. La première consiste pour ce secteur à accroître ses exportations à 8%...

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...

Think of Italy and one thinks of food, but not many people think 'mountains.' Yet mountains remain a principle source of the traditional, handcrafted food production Italy is famous for. Since climate and gradients combined render large-scale industrial agriculture unfeasible, food traditions and environmental health endure in most of Italy's mountains....

Farmers’ Rights Global Consultation, held between 27-30 of September in Bali, organized by the Government of Indonesia with support from The Government of Norway and The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA).  

Coinciding with World Food Day, the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB), in a new report titled “Transitioning out of GM maize: towards nutrition security, climate adaptation, agro-ecology and social justice” makes a compelling case for South Africa to urgently transition out of GM maize production, to systems that are socially...

West Asia and North Africa is the most water scarce region in the world. The mounting challenges with climate change is fast undermining the region’s ability to feed its growing population. The region is the most food-import dependent in the world. Farmers confront erratic rainfall, frequent droughts, increasing salinity, and...

After decades of successful collaboration, China and FAO have agreed to broaden the scope of their cooperation, building on their achievements to further promote rural development worldwide.

Mono-cropping of cash crops for generating incomes has displaced mixed farming systems and associated local crop diversity, negatively impacting on food security and climate resilience. Initiatives to produce improved varieties through participatory varietal selection, intercropping trials with pulses and millets and promoting local millet seed production through community seed banks...

Le projet porte sur les voies à explorer pour retrouver des équilibres entre les usages pour l’élevage et la capacité des végétations steppiques à se renouveler. La transformation des sociétés basées sur l’élevage avait été appelée la "Révolution silencieuse" du pastoralisme au Maghreb dès les années 1990. Elle s’expliquait par...

Aquaponics is a symbiotic integration of two mature food production disciplines. Aquaculture (the science of fish farming) and hydroponics (the science of growing plants without soil) are combined within a closed recirculating system. This technology describes in detail how to build Bumina and Yumina special aquaponic type systems. Bumina system...

Este artículo incluye algunos ejemplos de uso de la tracción animal como fuente de energía para operaciones de post-cosecha. Detalla las características del equipo de tiro impulsado por animales, molienda motorizada de granos (molinos de placa, de rodillos y de martillos), extracción de aceite motorizada (prensa de tornillo sinfín, prensa...

Enike and Istvan run a CSA farm that provides many of our Ecoruralis hosts with their weekly box on a year-round basis. The essential aspects of shared risk and benefits are in place, as is the year-long commitment to their farm, even if payment is made on a weekly basis....

Despite its enormous contribution to food security and to rural economy, small-scale agriculture faces a number of intertwined constraints that are impeding its productivity, its profitability and its contribution to economic growth. These include a limited access to productive assets (land, water and capital), poor linkages to markets and the...

In the coming year, the Commission will work in the framework of the 10 priorities outlined in the Political Guidelines – presented at the start of our mandate following discussions with the European Parliament and inspired by the European Council's 'Strategic agenda for the Union in times of change' –...

The project 'Economic Assessment of GHG mitigation policy options for EU agriculture (EcAMPA)' is designed to assess some aspects of a potential inclusion of the agricultural sector into the EU 2030 climate policy framework. In the context of possible reductions of non-CO2 emissions from EU agriculture, the scenario results of...

The overall objective of the ER+ component is to assist ultra-poor women and their families in disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh in lifting themselves above the lower poverty line toward greater food security. To achieve the objective, a third “promotional” year has been introduced to ER, during which women—either ER laborers/trainees...

Rural land provides a range of key functions and services on which society depends. However environmental and social benefits continue to be undervalued in land management decisions. Using the concepts of public goods and ecosystem services, the PEGASUS project will investigate new ways of thinking about the way farmland and forests...