Strong rural organizations like producer groups and cooperatives are crucial to hunger and poverty reduction. They allow small producers toplay a greater role in meeting growing food demand on local, national and international markets, while improving their own economic, social and political opportunities. This thinking connects a series of case...

This book presents findings from a detailed study of how domestic staples value chains are structured and performing in Asia after the food price hike of 2007–2008. Three questions are asked in the study: (1) Are staples value chains transforming structurally? (2) Is the conduct of staples value chains’ actors...

The lacunae in fishing-community engagement in the management and governance of marine and coastal protected areas (MCPAs) were discussed in the 2009 Chennai Workshop organized by the ICSF.  The workshop reviewed existing legal and institutional mechanisms for creating, implementing and reporting MCPAs in India, and discussed their impact from the...

The initial project dates back to 2003 (in the context of Leader+), when 8 farmers developed a quality programme for growing, feeding and breeding the typical “Alpine Grey” cattle. Following the decline of the milk market, the local farmers'' cooperative had the idea of extending the quality programme to the...

Conservation Agriculture (CA) is defined as a production system in which crop, soil, nutrient, pest, water and energy management components and operations are based on a sustainable ecological foundation provided by three interlinked principles of: (1) minimum soil disturbance (no-till direct seeding); (2) maintenance of soil cover (mulch cover from...

Durante el período comprendido de marzo a abril de 2012 se distribuyó la colección hortícola de otoño-invierno del Programa Pro-Huerta en el área de influencia de la Agencia de Extensión (AER) INTA La Carlota, departamento Juárez Célman, Córdoba; la misma comprende cuatro localidades (La Carlota, Santa Eufemia, Alejandro Roca y...

This article traces multiple directions in the evolution of agroecology, from its early emphasis on ecological processes in agricultural systems, to its emergence as a multidimensional approach focusing on broader agro-food systems. This review is timely, as agroecology is being increasingly applied within a diversity of scientific-, policy-, and farmer-based...

Como parte de la campaña regional COME SANO, la FAO ha promocionado y coordinado la elaboración y la difusión de cuñas radiales que informan a los consumidores, principalmente a familias pobres de áreas rurales, de los cuidados básicos en la manipulación y preparación higiénica de los alimentos. La campaña radial es...

Strong rural organizations like producer groups and cooperatives are crucial to hunger and poverty reduction. They allow small producers toplay a greater role in meeting growing food demand on local, national and international markets, while improving their own economic, social and political opportunities. This thinking connects a series of case...

Agroecology today has a strong focus on bringing sustainability to food, feed, and fiber production. But there is also a larger focus on the social, economic, and political “drivers” that move food systems beyond the conditions that have created un-sustainability in modern industrial agriculture. With its ecosystem foundation, the science...

Escobar’s (2012) study takes this observation as its guiding premise. He analyzes two particularly salient circumstances which underscore the inherently dynamic and multi-dimensional interface of a given CCT.

The pressure on biodiversity continues to increase. Habitat loss and degradation from agriculture and infrastructure development, overexploitation, pollution and invasive alien species remain the predominant threats. Climate change is increasing in importance and will have profound impacts, particularly in combination with other threats. Greater integration of policies and institutional responses,...

The sub-Saharan Africa’s population is growing exponentially and it has to fulfill its food and nutrition requirement. An attractive strategy for increasing productivity and labour utilization per unit area of available land is to intensify land use. Intercropping is advanced as one of the integrated soil fertility management practices consisting...

La productividad de los bovinos en el trópico está determinada por la cantidad y calidad de nutrientes aportados por las especies forrajeras existentes en las praderas; sin embargo, la mayor parte de estas especies presenta una baja eficiencia productiva, con evidentes signos de degradación del suelo, generalmente relacionada con el...

Munira Shemsudin, Gender & HIV/AIDS Programme Officer for Self Help Africa in Ethiopia, talks about the power of investing in women farmers.

El plátano en Colombia sirve como sustento de familias campesinas que lo siembran en asocio con otros cultivos, el rendimiento de este varía de acuerdo con las condiciones de las zonas ecológicas y edáficas, la temperatura y el cultivar utilizado. El paquete tecnológico que acá se presenta está dirigido a...

La producción ganadera es una de las formas de uso de la tierra más frecuente teniendo Colombia el porcentaje más alto en área de pasturas en relación al total utilizado en actividades agropecuarias. En la región Caribe al igual que en el contexto nacional, la ganadería es el sistema de...

There is often a mismatch between the apparent benevolent intents and the practical manifestations of the large scale land deals. The empirical realities of the large-scale land deals call for critical scrutiny and interrogation of the underlying interests of the stakeholders involved to assess the extent to which they genuinely...

Agriculture operates within complex systems and is multifunctional in its nature. A multifunctional approach to implementing agricultural knowledge, science and technology (AKST) will enhance its impact on hunger and poverty, improving human nutrition and livelihoods in an equitable, environmentally, socially and economically sustainable manner. Multifunctionality recognizes the inescapable interconnectedness of...

The business is owned by a family which has been involved in cereal cultivation since 1996. Their income prior to the implementation of the project came exclusively from crop production and grants. The son of the family, who is an alumnus of the Agronomic Institute of Bucharest, had the idea...