The International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) has uncovered well-grounded resolve to place family farmers as protagonists in addressing a number of challenges we face, from eradicating hunger and poverty to conserving natural resources. Nothing comes closer to the sustainable food production paradigm than family farming. The diverse set of...

La visión integral del espacio rural que presentan algunos de los artículos publicados en este número de LEISA están basados en experiencias con una visión igualmente integral de la gestión y donde se comprueba, como es el caso de la conservación del bosque para una producción sostenible de yerba mate...

Access to credit and credit constraint are critical determinants of competitiveness in agriculture; they have an impact on the technical efficiency of farms. The objective of this study was to analyze how credit variables influence the technical efficiency of two groups of specialized smallholder farmers in Chile. The translog stochastic...

The weaknesses in the financial and technical capacity of Nigeria’s agrodealers came to light when many of them could not provide the financial backing for their role in distributing inputs under the growth enhancement support scheme. They are also not adequately equipped, organized, or buoyant enough to be able to...

Historically, economic development and growth in Nicaragua have strongly relied on agriculture. Depending on the periods, different value chains mostly oriented toward exports, have played a major role in agricultural growth and in the Nicaraguan economy: cattle and indigo before 1890, coffee from 1890 onward, agroindustrial crops (banana, cotton, and...

Organic food is growing in popularity worldwide. Organic market growth has been faster than production growth in recent years. There were 43.1 million hectares of organic land and 2 million organic producers in the world in 2013, of which 11.5 million hectares and 330,000 farmers were in Europe. The world...

En Santiago de Chile, durante la “Reunión sobre Mujeres en el Año de la Agricultura Familiar 2014”, en el marco de la Declaración Final de Santo Domingo sobre Política para las Mujeres Rurales, Autonomía Económica, Igualdad de Derechos y Lucha contra el Hambre del evento paralelo en la XII Conferencia...

This publication is an informative document intended for organic farmers, processors and retailers. It aims at presenting support measures under the common agricultural policy (CAP) and within the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) in favour of organic producers and gives an overview and useful references on the rules applicable...

The United Nations declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming. Although many forms of production were once family-based, agriculture is now one of the few that are still dominated by families. Because family farms are so prevalent, making them more productive could help combat poverty and hunger in many...

Este documento tiene por objeto enriquecer el conocimiento de los hombres y mujeres que hacen producir el campo y luchan día a día con las circunstancias que les impone el suelo y el agua. El riego público, manejado por los gobiernos locales, es solo parte de la solución. Por eso, es...

The primary objective of this project has been to promote a shift to agroecological farming. This involves rebuilding soil organic matter and protecting it from further depletion, and promoting are turn to productive diversity through intercropping and rotation. By increasing biodiversity and habitats, farmers are restoring the balance between pests...

This paper summarises and integrates two reports on agricultural commodity chains prepared in early 2013 as part of a study of ACP value chains. The reports were funded by FAO and commissioned by the ACP/EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA). The two original reports cover a total of...

Pour remplir sa mission de consolider la structuration du mouvement paysan pour qu’il soit un véritable interlocuteur auprès des autres acteurs sociaux, économiques et politiques, à tous les niveaux de la société congolaise, la CONAPAC vient de lancer son site web dont l’adresse officielle est www.conapacrdc.org. Ce site web de...

In Liberia, P4P addresses constraints along the value chain, including production, post-harvest handling, marketing and quality control. WFP works in partnership with the government, NGOs and other UN agencies, linking its purchasing activities to a capacity development programme focused on increasing smallholders’ market competitiveness and productivity. These activities help prepare...

La realización de los Encuentros Andinos “Saberes y Haceres de los Pobladores Rurales Andinos”, surge ante la necesidad de generar un espacio propio de comunicación, concertación y diálogo entre todas las organizaciones, instituciones y sobre todo, entre los pobladores rurales andinos, con el propósito de afrontar en forma conjunta los...

Sub-Saharan Africa has just experienced one of the best decades of growth since the 1960s. Between 2000 and 2012, gross domestic product (GDP) grew more than 4.5 percent a year on average, compared to around 2 percent in the prior 20 years (World Bank various years). In 2012, the region's...

The local farmers in Mutoko, Zimbabwe, face constant food insecurity due to a number of factors which include the loss of biodiversity and traditional food crops. One of the traditional crops that has dwindled in production over the years is the Bambara nut. In the resettlement sector in Mutoko, Bambara...

La declaración comienza y se define así: "Nosotras y nosotros, delegadas y delegados participantes en el 5º Foro Campesino, representantes de las organizaciones de productores a pequeña escala, hablamos en nombre de agricultores a pequeña escala, pescadores artesanales, pastoralistas, ganaderos y comunidades indígenas. A través de esta declaración queremos comunicar...

Recent global shocks and perceptions of their dimensions – uncertain food stocks, the aftermath of the last financial crisis and the new crisis many are facing now, reconstruction of stable economies, climate change and extreme weather events, energy pricing and shortage – influence state dispositions and priorities regarding agriculture and...

The Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (CACAARI) is one of six regional fora that promote agricultural research for development as part of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR). CACAARI is an important link in the GFAR chain, bringing together agricultural scientists, farmers, activists and...