In the developing world, smallholders form the backbone of the agricultural sector and their importance in rural areas is almost uniform across countries. There is no unique and unambiguous definition of a smallholder. Often scale, measured in terms of the farm size is used to classify producers. For example, households...

All the way around the world in countries as diverse as the United States, Japan, France, China or Mali, people who farm and people who eat are forming communities around locally grown food. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), Teikei, AMAP, Reciproco, ASC – the names may be different but the essence...

En este artículo se analizan las potencialidades de la agroecología basada en el control de las comunidades locales para hacer frente a enormes problemas humanos como el hambre y el deterioro ambiental. Para ello se revisa la literatura existente y se analizan diversas experiencias locales como la milpa mexicana, las...

El cambio climático es una preocupación tanto para decisores como para la gente común, ya que afecta los medios de vida de los más vulnerables, en este caso, de los pequeños productores que se encuentran en el altiplano andino. El presente documento presenta la sistematización de las buenas prácticas más...

l’initiative d’Alliance Provence, une rencontre a été organisée entre des représentants des réseaux Equiterre, Urgenci, Alliance PEC Rhône-Alpes et Alliance Provence. Cette rencontre a permis de revenir sur les origines de l’Agriculture soutenue par la communauté (traduction française littérale des Community Supported Agriculture américaines), et la façon dont le modèle...

Les bas-fonds sont aujourd’hui au centre de nombreux projets de développement visant une  sécurisation alimentaire à travers des projets de petite irrigation. La première partie de ce  travail traite des stratégies mises en oeuvre par le gouvernement béninois qui a fait de  l’aménagement des bas-fonds une de ses priorités. Cependant,...

With financial assistance from the Irish embassy and the embassy of the kingdom of The Netherlands, SNV supports since 2007 fruit marketing cooperatives in Southern Ethiopia. SNV strengthens the cooperatives through facilitating business to business arrangements, business planning and improved operational management, and access to critical services. Results of the...

Urban agriculture may have a role to play in addressing urban food insecurity problems, which are bound to become increasingly important with the secular trend towards the urbanization of poverty and of population in developing regions. Our understanding of the importance, nature and food security implications of urban agriculture is...

Thousands of small scale farmers in India commit duicide, because they can no longer solve their debt problems. Two decades ago they took up modern farming and with the help of government subsidies they started growing commercial crops. In the beginning harvests were good, but as time went on, the...

Pasture is one of the most vital natural resources for Central Asia countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It accounts for nearly 260 million hectares of land resources being a basis for livestock breeding which is an income source for the majority of Central Asia population. Pasture land is...

The rural familiar agroindustry is an alternative in the search for new niche markets, using the greater diversity of existing products and product  differentiation by transforming them inside the property.  Its  implementation  is  considered  an  effective  alternative  as  policy  fot  Rural Development,  but  despite  all  efforts  there  are  many limitations ...

In  the  face  a  complex  food  problems  consists  of  a  scenario  of  nutritional  transition  and  a productive  model  guided  by  the  industrialization  of  agriculture  and  food,  causing  the marginalization of most family farmers, in Brazil there is political and social actions that tend to destabilize  supply  chains  dominate.  In  the ...

In close cooperation with the German Development Service (DED) and the Centre for  international Migration and Development (CIM) a number of projects have been carried out in recent years, ranging from direct support of communities to the promotion of trans-border cooperation and regional partnerships. The successes of the initial years...

The traditional polders in The Netherlands have been formed from the 12th century onwards, when people started creating arable land by draining delta swamps into nearby rivers. In the process, the drained peat started oxidizing, thus soil levels lowered, up to river water levels and lower. Throughout the centuries farmers...

The restoration of damaged agricultural systems, especially in the traditional agriculture is one of the challenges that impose the changing conditions of the planet in the last decades. The objective of the present work was to evaluate the sequels of these phenomena and to put into practice measures to mitigate...

De façon à répondre aux exigences d’économies d’échelle manifestées par les grandes firmes semencières et agroindustrielles, nombreuses ont été les agricultures ayant connu récemment des évolutions non compatibles avec les exigences du développement durable, tant par la dégradation des agro écosystèmes qu’elles induisent, que par le primat des logiques de...

In order to meet economy of scale demands made by large seed and agroindustrial companies, many areas of agriculture have recently evolved in ways which are incompatible with sustainable development, both in terms of damage to agroecosystems and by the continued belief in principles of land concentration and underuse. Farming...

Se caracterizó el comportamiento socioproductivo en las parcelas del Consejo Popular de Santiago de las Vegas. Se realizaron entrevistas directas y observación directa a una muestra representativa del 20% de los parceleros. Se efectuó un análisis de componentes principales como herramienta en la agrupación de los parceleros para la caracterización...

Rotational farming is an agricultural practice that involves alternating cultivation between different plots within the same location whilst leaving the other plots follow. It is often misunderstood, and is considered to be a destructive farming technique which depletes soil nutrient content as it often involves the clearing of land by burning....

Agriculture, particularly family farming, has had, and still has, an important role in many rural communities as a basis for economic activity, local social organization and as a lifestyle, although its economic role has declined over time. The development of agriculture has turned into an industry where profitability is linked...