Agrobiodiversity is the subset of biodiversity found within agricultural ecosystems. It feeds us with nutrients vital to our health. It fuels and furnishes our homes. It underpins cultural traditions. It sustains farm productivity in the face of climate change. But agrobiodiversity is rapidly being lost.  Just three crops account for half...

This project led by the Himalayan Permaculture Center is implemented in the Karnali Province, where the NGO has been working since 2011. In this Province, which has the lowest population density and is home to the poorest and marginalized population in Nepal, the project works to collaboratively design and create...

The Government of Nepal  launched a series of programmatic frameworks in the food and agriculture sectors that will help the country transform its agrifood systems, making them more resilient and sustainable for the benefit of all people in Nepal, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said...

The agricultural sector, particularly in low-income countries, is facing multiple challenges including climate change, soaring food, fuel and fertilizer prices, biodiversity loss, and lack of adequate investment in agricultural development. With world hunger levels on the rise,1 an urgent move away from industrial agriculture and intensive farming practices is essential...

Humans depend on a thin planetary ‘skin’ made up of life in all its diversity: biodiversity. Agriculture now covers the largest portion (46%) of the global land surface area; its ecological health and resilience in the face of changing climate is therefore critical to human survival. The biodiversity found within...

We met Dal Bahadur Kandel, a farmer in Sundwari village, during an ICIMOD/GRAPE team visit to Karnali Province, western Nepal, in November 2022. Kandel gave us a tour of his traditional farm, a 2,500-m2 property around his home. He showed us the different crops he was cultivating – gourds, melons, cauliflower,...

The Government of Nepal today launched a series of programmatic frameworks in the food and agriculture sectors that will help the country transform its agrifood systems, making them more resilient and sustainable for the benefit of all people in Nepal, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)...

CARE’s Farmer Field and Business School (FFBS) model focuses on improving small-scale farmers’ productivity, resilience and access to markets. FFBS is a hands-on, learning-by-doing approach through which groups of farmers meet regularly during the course of their value chain production cycle to learn about new agricultural techniques and to experiment...

The Family Farming Knowledge Platform in collaboration with the Barefoot Guide Connection organized a series of “writeshops”, writing classes to support practitioners to write their own experience, generating knowledge which highlight the practices, changes, innovations and impacts of what they do in support of family farming. These writeshops represented an opportunity...

It was a good day. Sun and cloud were playing hide and seek creating a komorebi (sunbeam) effect in the forest near Syaubaari, Jhumlawang, where my dad and I were looking for edible wild mushrooms. It had rained the night before, so the ground was damp and squishy, giving leeches...

It had been a year since I completed my bachelor’s degree in agriculture, but the dilemma of what to do next still continued. “Should I find a job or get a master’s degree? If I am going for master’s degree, which subject should I choose, what is my field of...

While crop diversification has many benefits and is a stated government objective across the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) of South Asia, the complexity of assessment has led to a rather limited understanding on the progress towards, and status of, smallholder crop diversification. Most studies focus on specific commodities or report...

Non-extractive and power-equalising research involves different knowledge holders (e.g. researchers and farmers) in a process of close cooperative engagement, jointly producing new knowledge, with mutual learning. As such, this form of cooperative enquiry is a significant reversal from dominant roles, locations, and ways of knowing. I offer some examples and reflections on...

A voice comes through the radio. It is Ramkali Mahato’s favourite show. She turns up the volume to hear local women talking with elected officials about empowerment issues and traditional social norms. Inspired by the show, Ramkali now strives to do the same in her daily life, speaking up against...

Dilemma It had been a year since I completed my bachelor’s degree in agriculture, but the dilemma of what to do next still continued. “Should I find a job or get a master’s degree? If I am going for a master’s degree, which subject should I choose, what is my field...

This report provides a collection and analysis of six case studies which introduce trailblazing shared label initiatives by smallholder organisations across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Each case study explores the motivation for collective marketing action, the choice of claims to make through a shared label, the control over the...

Small-scale farmers in low- and middle-income countries face vastly different realities, which translate into diverse challenges and opportunities. Some businesses, governments and development agencies have been promoting smallholder inclusion in global value chains and smallholder commercialisation as an essential part of addressing challenges and creating opportunities. This is happening against a backdrop of growing corporate concentration in agri-food...

An organized cooperative can enable women to access government services and support. The women farmers from the indigenous groups and “so-called”, lower caste, in Kailali District in Nepal have been discriminated against for a long time. They were unable to access support because they live on government lands with no land...

It was a good day. Sun and cloud were playing hide and seek creating a komorebi (sunbeam)effect in the forest near Syaubaari, Jhumlawang, where my dad and I were looking for edible wild mushrooms. It had rained the night before, so the ground was damp and squishy, giving leeches a chance to...

Small-scale farmers in low- and middle-income countries face vastly different realities, which translate into diverse challenges and opportunities. Some businesses, governments and development agencies have been promoting smallholder inclusion in global value chains and smallholder commercialisation as an essential part of addressing challenges and creating opportunities. This is happening against...