While conflict and competition over land is a major trend in Africa, and there are allegations of ‘land grabbing’ of large areas of land from local people, usually by foreign companies, other more localised forms of competition over land are less well understood. This paper presents the case of disputes...

Article relatant les résultats d'études qui démontrent la capacité d’adaptation du mil aux variations du climat, dans les systèmes agricoles dominés par des exploitations familiales au sein desquelles des variétés cultivées présentent une forte diversité génétique.

Recurring drought and crop failure in many parts of the world have led to food and nutrition insecurity, and a dependence on food aid. But recently, some farmers in Kenya have been developing their own sustainable way to secure enough nutritious food along with extra income so that they can...

Face à l’arrivée d’investisseurs  dans le périmètre irrigué de l’Office du Niger (Mali), la recherche-action menée par l’UMR G-EAU avec comme objectifs : d'analyser et comparer les pratiques foncières des exploitants familiaux et des investisseurs ; d'accompagner les acteurs dans l’identification des enjeux à long terme et l’anticipation des conséquences des nouvelles attributions foncières...

Food fairs are an important tool and space to promote food sovereignty as they take place in local public spaces and within people’s own socio-cultural settings. One excellent example was a food fair in Ghana, organised by the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD). Women farmers exhibited traditional...

Groundnut is among the most important crops for smallholder farmers in Tanzania, providing both food and income for households. Groundnut is a nutritious source of fats, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals for human consumption and parts of the crop can be used for livestock feed. This study identified factors which...

The study conducted in Southern Zambia investigated smallholder farmers’ use of indigenous knowledge to respond to rainfall variations and soil fertility problems. Farmer and key informant interviews and observations were employed to collect data. A total of 60 smallholder farmers and 6 key informants were interviewed. Chipepo lies in the...

This edition opens with a report of the last session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which has helped to ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment feature prominently in the post-2015 Development Agenda. This will take over from the Millennium Development Goals, whose 2015 deadline is now close. Today, the post-2015 Development Agenda...

Field schools in Mali that have been training farmers on alternative methods of pest control have succeeded in reducing the use of toxic pesticides by participating cotton farmers in the country. These reductions are a staggering 92 percent, according to a new FAO study published today by the London-based Royal...

This issue highlights experiences of development approaches that are helping in the fight against poverty in rural areas. Reducing rural poverty is one of FAO’s strategic objectives for the coming years, to which the Dimitra project is making a special contribution. Innovative methodologies have been developed which seek to place...

The warehouse receipt system for maize (Zea mays L.) was introduced in Uganda to enhance farmer access to markets and credit in order to increase the efficiency of the maize value chain and to improve smallholder incomes. Though, since the inception of the warehouse receipt system in Uganda, there has...

This report presents the synthesis of case studies analysed by the action-research activity. The aim is to give a description of the practices carried out by farmers, individually or collectively, which can be considered as sustainable ways to use plant genetic resources with the purpose that these practices be spread...

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...

Soutenu par le gouvernement du Sénégal, ce programme appelé « Achat par les Africains pour les Africains », lancé en 2012,  renforce  la sécurité alimentaire et le développement économique et social des communautés rurales. Dans 200 cantines des écoles de la région de Kédougou au Sénégal, les enfants mangent désormais...

This research examines the relationship between household wellbeing and the use of conservation agriculture (CA) by smallholder farmers in Mozambique. Wellbeing indicators are regressed on household demographic attributes, farm management practices, and a variable indicating farmer adoption of CA. Findings suggest that households using CA have higher wellbeing index scores...

PISA (Programme Italien pour la sécurité alimentaire), un chantier de la FAO.

Programme Italien pour la sécurité alimentaire (PISA), appui aux transformatrices de produits halieutiques au Sénégal.

Etat des lieux du secteur agricole de la République Démocratique du Congo, qui a toujours été considéré comme une perspective de développement intéressante susceptible de contribuer au décollage économique du pays. Les agriculteurs et les agricultrices restent  le groupe cible le plus important dans la lutte contre la pauvreté en...

L’objet de ce projet est d’étudier l’impact d’actions ciblées d’appui aux exploitations familiales. Ce projet est issu d’une demande de l’IFPRI adressée au Gret afin de mettre en application au Sénégal des leçons tirées du projet Fomento au Brésil. Le GRET a s'associe à la FONGS  pour la mise en...

In 2000, twelve smallholder farming families, which had gathered extensive experience on agroecological methods by working closely with a grassroots organization called the Association of Zimbabwe Traditional Environmental Conservationists (AZTREC), organized themselves into a group. They initiated a project to set up a school for farmer-to-farmer training in Zimbabwe which...