El árbol del cacao es originario de América y fue domesticado hace aproximadamente tres mil años. La semilla, fue la primera moneda de intercambio comercial que existió en el México prehispánico. Los antiguos pobladores elaboraron una vigorizante bebida de chocolate para consumo de gobernantes, guerreros, sacerdotes y ceremonias nupciales.

Em 2009, Ivanete de Souza, agricultora do interior de Santa Catarina, enfrentou um de seus maiores desafios: assumir a presidência da Cooperativa de Produção Agropecuária de Jaraguá do Sul, da qual é sócia-fundadora, e que foi criada em 2004 para apoiar a comercialização de leite de pequenos produtores da região. Cinco...

As línguas indígenas em risco de extinção -os perigos desta perda identitária e o método ninho de língua – quando os nativos percebem que a língua está se perdendo, colocam as crianças para conviverem com os avós e demais idosos, para se acostumarem a falar e ouvir na língua do...

Alina Arieta sits in front of her wooden hut, opposite a field of beans. The 50-year-old farmer worries that the soil is too dry and that this harvest will be a bad one. With 300 other families, Alina and her four kids, live in the village of Montelara, in Colombia’s La...

Los frijoles son plantas trepadoras que se enredan alrededor del maíz en la milpa y en otras plantas. Sus pequeñas flores de colores rojo, violeta y blanco se convierten en largas vainas o ejotes, donde se desarrollan alrededor de seis frijolitos. De las 150 especies de frijoles que hay en...

It is estimated that about half of the world’s obsolete pesticides can be found in the former Soviet Union, with many of them stored throughout Central Asia. As an important centre for agriculture, particularly cotton production, the subregion was a heavy user of pesticides. What remain are inappropriate burial sites,...

Current food systems are at a crossroads. There is a strong need for transforming food production and consumption patterns in a sustainable way. One where farmers adapt and build resilience to the increasing challenges from climate change and where nutritious food is available for all. Agroecology provides one solution towards...

This edition of the EU Rural Review tells the story of networking and how it has evolved as a rural development policy tool. The emphasis is on the lessons learned over the past decade of ENRD activity and from the mainstreaming of the networking concept across a range of policy...

Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system that promotes and enhances agro-ecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of management practices in preference to the use of off-farm inputs, taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using agronomic, biological, and...

É possível que tenhamos que dizer adeus a algumas das nossas comidas e bebidas preferidas por culpa das mudanças climáticas. Com as transformações nos padrões de temperatura da Terra e a ocorrência cada vez mais frequente de eventos climáticos extremos (ondas de muito frio, calor, tufões e furacões), plantações podem...

It takes many years to develop new varieties of apples and pears and even longer before the newly planted trees start producing marketable volumes of fruit. For this reason, fruit growers are very interested in assessing whether there are new varieties which could help them respond to market demands. The...

Na Amazônia, a expansão de sistemas de produção sustentáveis é fundamental na estratégia de preservação da floresta. Baseada em produtos tradicionais da sociobiodiversidade e da agroecologia, contribui para reduzir o desmatamento. São mais de 400 mil famílias vivendo da floresta e produzindo alimentos, cosméticos, artesanato e outros produtos e serviços...

As lutas pelas terras e territórios indígenas ocorrem diariamente, numa longa história de resistências, violências e transformações. Há vitórias, como a retomada de terras e a integridade dos povos que não se deixam submeter, garantindo seus direitos fundamentais anteriores ao Estado. Entrevistamos duas mulheres líderes de povos indígenas do Brasil: Gliceria,...

La tropilaelapsose affecte les larves et les pupes des abeilles. Elle est causée par des acariens du genre Tropilaelaps. Les parasites se nourrissent de larves et de pupes d'abeilles et provoquent des malformations, la mort et, en conséquence, l’essaimage ou le déclin des colonies. Les acariens tropilaelaps sont des parasites naturels communs...

Autrefois maintenues à distance des politiques publiques, les entreprises multinationales sont aujourd’hui couramment considérées comme des partenaires clefs pour la conception et la mise en œuvre de politiques, aussi bien par les dirigeants africains que par les donateurs. Comment s’est opéré ce changement de paradigme ? A quel point le «...

The scientific and economic rationale of small family farms has been explained in the early 20th century itself. If Alexander Chayanov unravelled the nature and rationality of Russian peasantry, later on, Georescue Roegen analysed and confirmed it. Hayami and Ellis, among others, proved its modernization potential, while Kumarappa and Scott...

The farm crisis is real, as is the climate crisis. Left unchecked, the climate crisis will dramatically deepen the income crisis on Canada’s farms as farmers struggle to deal with continued warming, more intense storms, and increasingly unpredictable weather. It is clear that climate change represents a major challenge to...

No es ninguna novedad que seamos las mujeres quienes experimentamos en nuestros cuerpos, en nuestros hijos e hijas, en nuestros territorios, en nuestros quehaceres cotidianos los efectos del cambio climático con una severidad desproporcionada. ¿Por qué? Por el solo hecho de ser mujeres, porque precisamente nuestros derechos básicos continúan siendo...

In 2014 five herb producers joined forces in the organic herb farm ‘Under the Sun’, making them the biggest Portuguese exporter of aromatic and medicinal plants. To save energy costs for herb drying, Gonçalo Costa Martins, one of the farmers, cooperated with a local engineer. Together they created an innovative...

Fishers from the Amazon region gathered to exchange ideas about common challenges and opportunities to sustain and develop indigenous fisheries in the light of the SSF Guidelines