With only 30 to 50% of the total arable land, small farmers feed the people of Europe. Small farms are significantly more productive per unit of land. ECVC released a factsheet on peasant farming in Europe.  

En este número de la revista Enlace presenta una serie de artículos que ayudan a entender mejor las interacciones económicas, científicas y hasta culturales que permiten que el trabajo de mejoramiento de maíz pueda realizarse. Además, busca que, al terminar de leerlo, el lector tenga un conocimiento más profundo sobre...

FONTAGRO anuncia la apertura de la Convocatoria Ordinaria 2017 para la presentación de proyectos sobre “Innovaciones para la intensificación sostenible de la agricultura familiar ante el cambio climático”, el 17 de abril próximo. La convocatoria apoyará plataformas de innovación constituidas por agentes públicos y privados que comparten visión, misión y objetivos,...

L’objectif principal de la Route est d’améliorer la compréhension, parmi les projets du FIDA et les principales parties prenantes, des problématiques liées à la garantie des droits à la terre et à l’eau dans des systèmes d’irrigation pour une meilleure productivité agricole, et ainsi améliorer les moyens d’existence des personnes...

Organic and eco-sustainable farming is particularly suited to farms situated within parks, because it does not harm local ecosystems as it does not use pesticides and promotes biodiversity, improving biological links and creating ideal habitats for animal life. It also promotes grants that reward farmers for acting as “guardians/stewards of...

Over half of the world’s land area is grazed in various ways: in mixed farming systems, ranching, by wildlife and through pastoralism. Pastoralism is practised mainly on the grasslands that cover about a quarter of the world’s surface (Follet & Reed 2010). It is also closely associated with mobile herds...

Banana cultivation demands a large and frequent water supply throughout the production cycle to ensure optimal growth of the plantation, productivity and fruit quality. The types of irrigation used for banana can be sub foliar spray, suprafoliar spray, and drip gravity. The selection of the irrigation system to use depends...

Este texto presenta una reflexión sobre las lógicas epistemológicas y políticas que atraviesan los estudios sobre las migraciones en América Latina desde tres dimensiones: 1) la creciente heterogeneidad de flujos y la necesidad de repensar las categorías conceptuales con las que se aborda las migraciones; 2) el diálogo y apropiación...

This paper helps to fill an important gap that exists in gender responsive fish value chains by analysing the factors that influence women’s participation in fish value chains and value chain governance in Malawi. The study was based on the premise that there is limited information on how fish trade...

Supporting farm businesses is a key priority of the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), notably through investments in physical assets (Measure 4) and farm and business development (Measure 6). Such investments can help farms to modernise their processes or diversify their activities, enabling them to survive in the modern economy by...

What started out as an aspiration to be self sufficient, has evolved into a vision to grow and support young farmers into a profession that has enormous reward, alongside huge risk, immense challenges and a great deal of fulfillment. What’s more Joel can see the future in small-scale farming and...

The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food has issued a damning indictment of the harmful effects of pesticides on flora, fauna and human beings.

Zone climatique géologiquement très ancienne, la zone soudano-sahélienne a vu son sol profondément transformé sous l’effet du climat chaud et humide des temps très anciens. Ceci a eu comme résultat une désagrégation et une érosion du sol avec la formation d’une croûte latéritique imperméable qui empêche l’infiltration de l’eau et...

This report assesses trends in investments, human resource capacity, and outputs in agricultural research in SSA, excluding the private (for-profit) sector. The analysis uses information collected by Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI)—led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) within the portfolio of the CGIAR Research Program on...

AGORA is one of the four programmes making up Research4Life coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on behalf of its many public and private partners. Since its launch in 2003, AGORA's goal has been that to provide free (complementary to open access) or low cost access to peer-reviewed journals and e- books in agriculture and related biological, environmental and...

Global change presents risks and opportunities for social-ecological systems worldwide. Key challenges for sustainability science are to identify plausible future changes in social-ecological systems and find ways to reach socially and environmentally desirable conditions. In this context, regional-scale studies are important, but to date, many such studies have focused on...

Located about 70 km north east from Hanoi, Vietnam, the villages of Xuan An and Ngoc Son (Bac Giang province) include 285 households. Rice is the main staple crop. Local rice and vegetable production strongly relies on synthetic inputs specifically Nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides which increase production costs and raise...

Silk manufacturing is as an ancient tradition in Azerbaijan, and spring is silkworm season. The Otharashvili family in Gakh region have a long, enclosed porch that they dedicate to the care and feeding of these distinctive white larvae. Care means maintaining the right temperature and humidity in the room. Feeding...

“Invest more in smallholder agriculture”. That's the message a group of farmers and villagers from Kasama, Zambia – a landlocked country in Southern Africa – set out to tell the world when they created an investment report like no other. Carved into the very land that farmers use to feed...

The profile features farmers in New Zealand who came to the idea of regenerative agriculture due to an awareness of the ecological limits being breached by New Zealand agriculture. They believe that while farming is responsible for many of the environmental problems faced by their country, they also believe that better...