Human activities have helped to speed up the process of desertification in Burkina Faso. In order to curb this scourge and its disastrous consequences, the NGO “TERRE VERTE” has, since 1989, carried out a rural development project referred to as bocage perimeter, (“Wegoubri” in the Mooré language). This new concept...

During the last decades, droughts have become more frequent in the Mediterranean, West Asia and North African countries, and have had negative socio-economic impacts which are frequently linked to a high exploitation of available water resources. The Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change states that extreme...

his is a story about how FAO assisted groups of farmers in five farming communities in the moist savannah zone of South Western Burkina Faso to enhance their crop-livestock systems through Conservation Agriculture (CA) practices, including crop diversification, using an innovative farmer discovery process, to bring about agricultural intensification and...

Actualmente en nuestro país se están tomando medidas que fomentan y exigen un desarrollo sustentable en el manejo de los suelos del país. A lo largo de la historia hubo períodos de expansión agrícola que fueron acompañados de severa degradación de los suelos, llegando inclusive a dejar grandes áreas inutilizadas...

Take a tour, accompanied by curious sheep and geese, of Mark Cooper's self-sufficient small farm. Over several years, he transformed a rundown house and hillsides of berry brambles into pasture and gardens where he produces and preserves most of his family's food. Visit the Goose Grotto in a constructed pond,...

Similar to other countries in the Sahel region, Senegal’s indigenous food production is hampered by lack of moisture and sandy soils low in organic matter. Soil erosion and degradation threaten large areas of farm land. In central Senegal’s groundnut basin, the low-lying area between the Ferlo and Gambia rivers, the...

This research estimates the impact of INDAP’s Credit Program on the per hectare agricultural income of small agricultural producers. To accomplish this, a Treatment Effects Model (TEM) is employed to simultaneously estimate producer incomes and program participation functions, correcting for the potential presence of selectivity bias through the correlation between...

This report was prepared as background information for the FAO/ISEAL expert meeting on Climate Standards for Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing held in Rome on 11 November 2009. The report aims to scope the possibility for a modular climate assurance system that can be applied in the agriculture, forestry and fishery...

Ce numéro d’Options méditerranéennes restitue des actes de la deuxième réunion thématique d’experts sur le pastoralisme méditerranéen qui s’est tenu à Tirana (Albanie du 12 au 14 novembre 2009. Trente participants de douze pays méditerranéens ont participé à cette réunion ainsi qu’un certain nombre d’organisations internationales : Fao, Pnud-Albanie, Icomos,...

Los avances en electrificación y la creciente presencia de biocombustibles han marcado el panorama energético en las áreas rurales en los últimos años. En 2010, ambos procesos podrían tropezar con sus límites —remarcándose la necesidad de buscar alternativas.

This study is commissioned by the Global Organic Market Access (GOMA) project, a collaboration among FAO, UNCTAD and IFOAM, to provide information that enables stakeholders and GOMA to develop an optimal strategy for facilitating organic trade (and thereby also organic sector development in Asia) through equivalence, harmonization and/or other forms...

Located in the center of Niger, Keita Department is a 4,860 sq km plateau with rocky slopes and valleys forming a complex system of watersheds subject to strong winds and water erosion. Plateau slopes covered by forests in 1962 were completely deforested by 1984. As in other Sahelian nations, droughts...

This guide draws on the lessons learned in the framework of the project “Increasing incomes and food security of small farmers in West and Central Africa through exports of organic and fair-trade tropical products”, implemented by FAO in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Senegal and Sierra Leone from September 2005 to...

This issue of Caravan illustrates some of ICARDA’s strategic research — the use of new tools such as GIS, molecular markers and thermographic imaging, and new research methods in biodiversity conservation and plant breeding. It also describes applied research on water management, conservation agriculture and cropping systems. It discusses the...

Burkina Faso has few natural resources and a weak industrial base. Approximately 90 percent of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture. Food insecurity is commonplace in many parts of the country.1 During the 1960s, Burkina Faso’s rainfall averaged 700 mm/year. Along with other countries in West Africa’s Sahel, the...

This document defines operative procedures and minimum requirements for building smallholder groups’ management capacity for organic agriculture and fair trade certification.

Agroecology is the application of ecological principles to the interactions between human beings and their environment, as well as to their consequences, with the goal of minimising the negative effects of certain human activities. It aims at protecting the environment, ensuring the sustainable renewal of the natural resources (water, soil,...

Lil' Farm is located in Orange County, NC and owned and operated by George O'Neil with the help of a handful of volunteers.

Senegal, like all Sahelian countries, suffers from the combined effects of population growth and climate disturbances that affect its productive bio- system and induce degradation. This is manifested in different forms depending on the physical environment and production systems in different eco-geographic areas. Several factors are responsible for the degradation...

This article discusses the mitigation and adaptation potential of organic agricultural systems along three main features: farming system design, cropland management and grassland and livestock management. An important potential contribution of organically managed systems to climate change mitigation is identified in the careful management of nutrients and, hence, the reduction...