The EU's rural development policy evolved as part of the development of the CAP, from a policy dealing with the structural problems of the farm sector to a policy addressing the multiple roles of farming in society and, in particular, challenges faced in its wider rural context.

The three-year project “Rural Development through Integrated Forest and Water Resource Management in Southeast Europe (LEIWW)” is jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the Standing Working Group for Regional Rural Development (SWG RRD). The project aims to improve the regional capacities for sustainable management of...

According to FAO estimates, the eradication of hunger and poverty in Côte d'Ivoire by 2030 will require additional annual investments of US $ 3.7 billion, of which almost 40 percent should be allocated to agriculture and rural development. To achieve this, investments should be responsible in order to generate sustainable...

Innovative boat clinics bring health and hope to thousands of men, women and children, among India’s poorest, who live along the mighty Brahmaputra river. As the monsoon rages, floodwaters ravage the remote island of Lamba Sapori in Dhemaji district in the northeastern state of Assam in India. Trapped in their waterlogged...

Agriculture in Europe results in the production of food for both the European population and for the export sector. Significant environmental and social problems have emerged with the intensification of European agriculture. These include the loss of biodiversity, the contamination of soils, water, and food with pesticides, and the eutrophication...

Wild Fruits is an Operational Group from Germany working on the production and processing potential of wild fruits such as chokeberries (Aronia spp.), roses (Rosa spp.) and flowering quinces (Chaenomeles spp.). There is a high market demand for these fruits which are considered health products, however there are very few...

Com a ajuda da ecochef Teresa Corção, que é também presidente do Instituto Maniva, hoje nós vamos em busca de "saberes e sabores". Teresa Corção é júri do concurso promovido pela campanha regional #mulheresruraismulherescomdireitos, que, até o próximo 1º de agosto, vai estar convocando as mulheres rurais de todo o país...

Under Suman Singh’s leadership, women in Madhubani, India, gain greater control over their lives. Women in inland fisheries in the Madhubani district of Bihar, India, started organizing way back in the year 1999, first registering a district level fisherwomen’s cooperative, and then cooperatives at the block or sub-district level throughout Madhubani....

Today’s agricultural policy is barely recognisable. Not only has the CAP been vastly simplified with the amalgamation of an array of different direct payment schemes into a single farm payment, it is also a more efficient mechanism, meeting more objectives at a lower cost. A policy that once ate up...

The benefits of mixed methods are well recognised. Using mixed methods, researchers are able to overcome shortcomings inherent in individual methods while enhancing the validity and reliability of their research findings. Mixed methods are commonly used in cross-sectional studies – to answer research questions, and/or explore contemporary social issues. However,...

Special hard cover edition! Food is a very important part of many European citizens' lives. It brings family and friends together around the table to talk, laugh and celebrate and in many places, food goes hand in hand with the local culture. Not only is food a hugely important part...

In the villages of Samrong Tong, district of Kampong Speu province, Cambodia, women vegetable farmers are at the forefront of promoting agroecology. In this short documentary, watch how the Women Organic Vegetable Producer Group, with the support of the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture (CEDAC), are able to...

Small-scale fisheries are part of the land - and seascape that many people are familiar with, mostly because of their presence in, and proximity to, places where tourism and recreational activities take place. Yet, unless one grows up in a fishing village, or comes from a fishing family, it is...

Sex-segregated employment data in the recently released State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018 report points to the need for better and more standardised data collection.  July 2018 witnessed the launch of ‘The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2018’ (SOFIA 2018)—the flagship report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)...

The ‘Study on risk management in EU agriculture’ provides an analysis of current agricultural risks and risk management instruments. It provides a mapping of relevant risks in EU agriculture. Information on availability and use of risk management instruments was collected in all Member States though consultations with public authorities, farmers’...

A new expert group is to be created by the European Commission to provide expertise, advice and possible recommendations on enhancing the role of the EU agri-food and agro-industrial sector in the sustainable economic development of Africa. The first step in the creation of the Task Force Rural Africa (TFRA) is...

This study presents the main trends in total factor and resource productivity in recent decades. The main pathways for sustainable intensification are explored through case studies and policy analysis. The paper presents a normative analysis of policy tools able to reconcile productivity and sustainability requirements and also provides policy recommendations...

The global environmental and social-economic crises of industrialized agriculture have led to the emergence of agroecology as an alternative approach aiming to increase the ecological, social and economic sustainability of agri–food systems. The ‘multi-level perspective’ is now a widely used framework to understand and promote the upscaling of local innovation niches, such as...

The member organizations of LIFE in Spain present amendments to the “Comprehensive Management Plan for the conservation of fishery resources affected by fisheries carried out with purse seines, trawls and passive gears in the Mediterranean coast of Spain”.

This article reviews a recent publication on women’s participation and leadership in fisherfolk organisations and collective action in fisheries. For all those who have been working with women in fisheries, this review of literature, undertaken by Enrique Alonso-Población and Susana V. Siar for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United...