In light of the uncertainties surrounding the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, policy makers must ensure that national responses to the virus do not trigger a food crisis. The Covid-19 outbreak can shift the balance between food demand and supply, especially considering many countries having declared lockdowns and their borders closed. Countries...

The main target group is para-veterinarians involved in the development of small poultry farm at village level. The intention is that the paravets will extract from the manual the materials they need for training.

Small-scale fishworkers face many challenges in Peru but the government pays little attention to the informal and uncontrolled sector. Peru’s marine waters are among the world’s richest fisheries. This is mainly due to the Peruvian anchovy fishery (anchoveta), mostly run by industrial operations producing yields of 3-6 million tonnes per year...

Increasing demands for agricultural commodities are resulting in more intensely managed landscapes. This is at odds with biodiversity conservation and largely ignores farmland biodiversity’s supporting function for high and stable yields. An overhaul of agroeconomic models to account for the biodiversity-production mutualism is urgently needed to answer a question of utmost...

This publication offers a synthesis of the major factors at play in the global food and agricultural landscape. Statistics are presented in four thematic chapters, covering the economic importance of agricultural activities, inputs, outputs and factors of production, their implications for food security and nutrition and their impacts on the...

Mélanie Besse, jeune viticultrice valaisanne de 26 ans, est ainsi l’une des premières professionnelles – et la seule femme - en Suisse à traiter elle-même, selon un programme bio, l’ensemble de son domaine de 4,5 hectares de vignes en terrasses au drone. Nous avons suivi ce chantier exceptionnel lors du...

Los pedidos a los productores de la economía popular aumentaron entre el 40 y el 80 por ciento, dependiendo de la organización. El caso de Mercado Territorial, una comercializadora que creció aliada a la Universidad de Quilmes, con una consigna que hoy cobra un valor extra: que la construcción de...

While the COVID-19 pandemic is devastating lives, public health systems, livelihoods and economies all over the world, populations living in food crisis contexts are particularly exposed to its effects.  Countries with existing humanitarian crises are particularly exposed to the effects of the pandemic, which is already directly affecting food systems through...

Rice is the second most important cereal crop in Tanzania after maize and the majority of rice farmers depend on it both for food and as a cash crop. However, highly competitive annual and perennial wild rice species have been identified as one of the important constraints to rice production...

Helping to write a script for a farmer training video on vermiwash triggered my interest in trying it out myself, as I began to wonder if ideas from tropical India could work in temperate Belgium.  

Argentina es el primer país exportador mundial de harina y aceite de soja, con ingresos promedio de 19.000 millones de dólares anuales. En la última campaña, 2019/2020, se sembraron 17,2 millones de hectáreas y se cosecharon 50,7 millones de toneladas de soja (https://www.bcr.com.ar /es/mercados/gea/estimaciones-naciona les-de-produccion/estimaciones). La cadena productiva de la...

Mulching is the process of covering the topsoil with plant material such as leaves, grass, twigs, crop residues, straw etc. A mulch cover enhances the activity of soil organisms such as earthworms. They help to create a soil structure with plenty of smaller and larger pores through which rainwater can...

The objective of this practice was to focus on the suitability and replication potential of salt-tolerant rice varieties as alternatives in saline impacted areas, and thus contribute to the region’s resilience and food security. The Philippines is among the most disaster-prone countries in the world. More than 200 climate-related natural...

Farm inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers, and herbicides are conventionally packaged in large bag sizes that are beyond the financial means of small farmers. The technology demonstrates ways of mobilizing the private sector to make small quantities of appropriate inputs available in mini-packs. It also demonstrates novel ways of...

A really good teacher will teach you both subject matter and how to explain it to others. Elías Sánchez mentored thousands of Central Americans in organic agriculture. He started his adult life as a rural schoolteacher because he wanted to help people. But he soon realized that rural people needed...

In mountain areas, water continues to be a scarce commodity not only for irrigation purposes but even for drinking and other domestic uses. These challenges are encountered very frequently in India. These difficulties are present, inspite of the fact that important rivers namely the Sutlez, Beas, Ravi and their tributaries...

This is a story of hope and decolonisation in a time of crises. The Indigenous Bagungu People of western Uganda have lived along the shores of Itaka Mwitanzige (Lake Albert) since time immemorial. But for over a century, colonialism and globalisation have damaged and repressed both the Bagungu's traditional, Earth-centred culture and...

Today, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries are facing a health, economic and social crisis unprecedented in recent history. A crisis of such scope and depth calls for actions in response to the many challenges that arise. We have known for a long time that it is not possible to...

Vulnerability to climate change has forced the Pacific republic to build resilience through community approaches to fisheries management. The Republic of Kiribati faces many development challenges due to its remoteness and limited resources—financial, infrastructural, institutional and environmental. With population pressure increasing, land is not only scarce but at a perilously low...

Este ensayo de reflexión expone la situación de la pobreza rural en América Latina y sus particularidades desde un enfoque de desarrollo rural. Conceptualiza la importancia de la agricultura familiar para la construcción de una nueva ruralidad para los países de la región, y aspira a generar insumos de sustento...