Since the mid-2000s agricultural and food prices moved to a higher level and in parallel with prices of other commodities – and at times have also been very volatile. These events led to concerns which, in different ways, brought to the forefront a debate about food security. Both developed and...

Historically, scientists learnt from farmers to unravel the interplay between nature and farming. Pablo Tittonell believes that this year, the International Year of Soils, presents an opportunity to foster a true dialogue of wisdoms, bringing farmer knowledge and scientific knowledge closer together again.

Au Maroc, les transformations du milieu rural et le manque d’opportunités de travail en milieu urbain incitent de plus en plus de jeunes diplômés, partis en ville, à retourner dans leurs villages d’origine pour y tenter un ancrage socioprofessionnel. Par l’analyse des trajectoires individuelles de jeunes diplômés de la région...

There is rich literature on the biophysical benefits of zero tillage (ZT) while that on its economic benefits, especially in the context of small and medium-scale farmers, is scanty. Using a combination of Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) models and a case study from a large...

This articule argues that tackling gender injustice and truly empowering women is not only a fundamental prerequisite for improving food and nutrition security. It needs to be seen as a goal in its own right. In Brief sets out a preliminary vision for gender-just food and nutrition security, which puts...

In this study the focus is on the position of young people on farms in the Netherlands. In addition to work on farm, more than 40% of the youngsters have off farm labour. The young people are highly educated and often administratively active. The majority wants to take over the...

Biowatch is among the organisations and international social movements that see agroecology as a means to realise the goal of food sovereignty. In 2007 civil society and social movement organisations representing millions of farmers met in Nyéléni in Mali to launch an international movement for food sovereignty. This movement views...

As cities continue to expand and ever more people migrate to urban areas, current unsustainable patterns of urbanisation and ineffective policies are no longer acceptable. The typical approaches that maintain the separation between rural and urban neglect all of the ways that connect both worlds. And nowhere else are rural...

Farmers who are trying to build up healthy soil on their land can find it a particularly prolonged process. Work with local community organisation in Nicaragua, however, shows that results can be seen relatively quickly and achieved on a broad scale, with a long-term farmer-led strategy. From its origins in...

The brochure provides an overview of sustainable land management and climate change Adaptation in Central Asia and how they relate to the partnership between ADB and ICARDA.

Del 14 al 17 de abril de 2015, en el Palacio de Convenciones de La Habana, Cuba se realizó la Convención Internacional Agroforestal  que integró los eventos: 6to Congreso Forestal de Cuba II Congreso Internacional de Café y Cacao VI Encuentro Internacional de Jóvenes Investigadores Durante cuatro días investigadores, académicos, empresarios, productores, comunicadores, entre otros...

This fact sheet offers an overview of small farmers'main constraints and on IFAD's main operations in the country. Poverty is essentially a rural phenomenon in Morocco. About three quarters of poor people in the country live in rural areas. Under an ambitious poverty reduction programme called the National Initiative for...

La obra es una compilación de 14 de los trabajos producidos por Manuel Chiriboga Vega entre 1997 y 2011, donde identifica y analiza profundamente los factores y políticas que afectan al agro y al sector rural, de manera especial a la agricultura familiar campesina, y plantea remover esos factores de...

This paper explores aspects of promoting rural women’s leadership in producers’ organizations (POs). Despite the vast amount of work that women perform in the agriculture sector, their role remains largely unrecognized. The concerns and issues of women farmers are scarcely heard at the local, national and global levels. One reason...

Biowatch advocates for agroecology as a proven, multi-faceted approach to creating a sustainable, diverse, just food system that applies ecological principles and methods to farming, while addressing wider environmental, economic, social, cultural, and political dimensions in order to transform the industrialised food system.

There is a wide consensus among scholars and policy makers that knowledge is a key resource to support European agriculture in meeting new challenges such as e.g. international competition, food safety, health or environmental issues. Organisations delivering farm advice are targeted by different EU policies, such as the “Farm Advisory...

This technical note proposes a framework for understanding the contribution of social protection to rural women’s empowerment, particularly how different social protection schemes contribute to this goal and what gaps need to be addressed by other rural services and livelihood interventions to achieve women’s economic empowerment in rural areas. The...

En este sitio se encuentra el programa, documentación, principales noticias, entre otros documentos relacionados con el Encuentro Nacional de Agroecología.

Se evaluó el efecto a nivel de invernadero de un biofertilizante integrado en soporte orgánico mineral, en un cultivo de lechuga, var. Batavia, en la Sabana de Bogotá. Se evaluaron cinco tratamientos cada uno con 22 plantas así, compost + biofertilizante (T1), biofertilizante en soporte orgánico mineral (T2), biofertilizante común...

“If you have a healthy, living soil, you have healthy plants and healthy people. These three things are closely linked.” Irene Cardoso, a professor of soil science at the Federal University of Viçosa and a member of ILEIA’s board is passionate about soils and family farmers. In her role as...