At over 5,000 meters, Mount Kilimanjaro’s rounded, snow-capped peak is an iconic African symbol. The National Park’s forested slopes rise up to the peak, above the plains of northern Tanzania. Slightly lower down, at altitudes between 1,000 and 1,500 meters, farmers grow crops in the fertile soil: coffee, bananas, fodder...

To the untrained eye it might look like a scruffy forest with a messy understory of weeds. But on closer inspection, Tomas Pinto has created a multilayered ecosystem rich in biodiversity. Under Tomas’s careful stewardship, this forest feed communities in Timor-Leste.

A maioria dos nossos problemas globais: escassez de energia e de água, degradação ambiental, mudança climática, desigualdade econômica, insegurança alimentar e outros, não podem ser abordados de forma separada, já que estes estão interconectados e são interdependentes. Quando um dos problemas se agrava, os efeitos se estendem por todo o...

Since the Green Revolution, worldwide agriculture has been characterized by a typical top–down approach. The degree of autonomy, creativity, and responsibility of farmers has been limited by the continuous external inputs of chemicals, machinery, advice, subsidies and knowledge. The issue of sustainability has brought complexity and uncertainty to this mainly linear...

The Shashe farms in the Runde catchment area of Zimbabwe extend across three villages. Since 2010, over 500 families from the region have worked alongside ZIMSOFF (Zimbabwe Smallholder Organic Farmers Forum) and AZTREC (Association of Zimbabwe Traditional Environmental Conversationists) to revive arid cattle-ranching land into rich, abundant food forests. At the...

The upcoming publication of the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies, planned for 29 April, is an ideal opportunity to increase organic land and consumption in the EU. This target may sound at first ambitious, but in reality, it is achievable. The new Commission’s Green Deal highlights the need to increase the environmental ambition of the EU...

This Market brief series is based on a study commissioned by IFOAM – Organics International in 2020 in order to better understand possible interventions that can promote market development and trade of organic produce in Africa. The Tunisia Market brief is part of a series with 12 specific Market briefs. They...

Climate change remains the most significant challenge facing farmers in Benin. Irregular and unpredictable rains, coupled with prolonged droughts and increased incidents of high winds, are decimating crop production across many regions. The Project for Adaptation to Climate Change (PAda-Clim-Benin), with financial support from Bread for the World (Germany) and DM...

Durante estos días, en los que muchos gobiernos ensayan la estrategia del cierre de fronteras y límites entre regiones dentro de un mismo país en el intento de contener la expansión de la pandemia del COVID-19, es que se puede observar la fragilidad de los sistemas alimentarios dependientes. La limitación o...

In the Plateaux region of Togo, the natural richness of the soil means that farming is the primary livelihood of those who live there. In the Kpélé Prefecture, in the south-west, the relatively mild climates and good rainfall should make it perfect for agriculture. However, the farming communities have witnessed...

European agriculture is reaching a dead end. Day by day, the biological diversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing – putting the future of our food, our livelihood, health and environment under severe threat. Bees and other pollinating insects, play a crucial role in biodiversity and agriculture. They form an...

Extensionists often give information away for free, but selling it may get you a more tuned-in audience. This is the conclusion of researcher Gérard Zoundji and colleagues in a recent paper published in Experimental Agriculture.

DCA works to promote Agroecology in all our Right to Food activities because Agroecology is a climate-friendly way to build sustainability and resilience as well as increasing food production. The components of Agroecology help us form strong links between our rights-based approach; farmers’ participation, organisation and empowerment; fair and sustainable agriculture and...

Water and food security of agro-pastoral communities in the area are under threat. Flash floods, erratic rainfall, and an ongoing battle with crop pests have made steady and healthy crop growth difficult. As a result, food shortages are causing acute malnutrition, and conflicts regularly arise amongst neighbouring communities fighting for...

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...

Regulations to curb the indiscriminate and dangerous use of pesticides on seed and in fields must go hand in hand with other measures, such as promoting hedgerows that fulfil important ecological functions for birds and pollinators. Also, environmentally-friendly alternatives could be further investigated and promoted. Green, innovative technologies, such as...

When 27-year old Neeraj Kumar heard about the Access Agriculture “Young Entrepreneur Challenge Fund 2019” announcement, he was excited to learn that winners would receive a Digisoft portable smart projector. Neeraj is co-founder of Khetee, an NGO based in Durdih village in Bihar, a state in eastern India. What impressed him most...

The Organic Agriculture Centre of Kenya (OACK) saw that by providing the right skills, information and support, they could help small-scale farmers move away from subsistence farming and into thriving livelihoods that improve their local communities and the landscapes they live in. Kangari village in Murang’a county, Kenya, has practiced mono-cropping...

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...

The holistic gardening project in Emuhaya, Western Kenya, is attracting local and international acclaim. Bio Gardening Innovations (BIOGI) is equipping smallholder farmers to break away from monocultures and create thriving, overflowing “food forests” on their farmland.