In many developing countries, supermarkets are growing fast. This growth entails a change in the food chain that supplies fresh foods from farmers and processed foods via agroprocessors. Farmers who wish to participate in the food chain have to adapt to the supermarkets' requirements. It is the task of governments to improve infrastructures, and access to support services and financial services.

Poverty in rural households have deepened in the past two years through world events: unprecedented rises in food and fuel prices were followed by global economic meltdown, all amidst growing climate uncertainty. Balancing water availability within and across growing seasons, water harvesting helps to buffer households against drought. Research on water harvesting in South Africa has focused on rural household livelihoods. Innovative results on appropriate water harvesting technologies and food security facilitation techniques are now being implemented in villages across South Africa.

Agricultural value chains link urban consumption with rural production. Changing demand, as a consequence of urbanization, emergence of «modern» consumption patterns or new trends in international trade, impacts on rural areas along value chains and spills over to marketing and production systems.These rural urban linkages bear challenges but also mutual benefits for producers and consumers and can be promising entry points for development interventions.This is illustrated with the case of the Kenyan potato value chain.

This short video examines an initiative by Earth Systems to develop a tea sector dialogue platform that brings together key stakeholders in the value chain to jointly examine challenges and opportunities for the development of a more equitable and sustainable tea sector in Laos. The video highlights the outcomes and lessons from a tea stakeholder workshop held in Phongsaly province, northern Laos, in July 2016.

The eucalypt sector in Lao PDR consists of several large eucalypt developers and a growing smallholder base. This Discussion Paper, developed through a multi-stakeholder process coordinated by Earth Systems, assesses the status of and explores key challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of the eucalypt sector in Lao PDR. 

The Lao tea sector is small in the global context but has significant potential to grow and further contribute to the local economies of tea production areas in the north and south of Lao PDR. This Industry Position Paper, developed by Earth Systems in consultation with leading tea industry stakeholders, outlines key challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of the sector. 

The Lao tea sector is small in the global context but has significant potential to grow and further contribute to the local economies of tea production areas in the north and south of Lao PDR. This Industry Position Paper, developed by Earth Systems in consultation with leading tea industry stakeholders, outlines key challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of the sector. 

This country level analysis addresses land governance in Viet Nam in two ways. First, it summarises what the existing body of knowledge tells us about power and configurations that shape access to and exclusion from land, particularly among smallholders, the rural poor, ethnic minorities and women. Second, it draws upon existing literature and expert assessment to provide a preliminary analysis of the openings for and obstacles to land governance reform afforded by the political economic structures and dynamics in the country.

This conference paper examines how the ideology and programmatic set of policies coined in the term ‘neoliberal modernization’ applies to agriculture and practices in the Mekong region.

This country level analysis addresses land governance in Laos in two ways. First, it summarises what the existing body of knowledge tells us about power and configurations that shape access to and exclusion from land, particularly among smallholders, the rural poor, ethnic minorities and women. Second, it draws upon existing literature and expert assessment to provide a preliminary analysis of the openings for and obstacles to land governance reform afforded by the political economic structures and dynamics in the country.

La spiruline est une algue produite en quantité au Burkina Faso. Sa composition nutritionnelle exceptionnelle lui donne un rôle efficace pour la récupération des personnes dénutries ou immunitairement affaiblies. Considérant cela, une association française et une burkinabé ont créé, en partenariat, un projet pour la promotion de la spiruline et de conseils nutritionnels dans le milieu rural.

Les chercheurs de l’université de Californie font état d’une surprenante découverte: un gène qui «étanchéifie» les plants de riz les protège également de la sécheresse. Le gène Sub1a, naturellement présent dans certaines variétés à faible rendement, en Inde, a été découvert dans les années 1990 à l’Institut international de recherche sur le riz, aux Philippines.