It has been decades since Africa’s independence, and the peasants (rural land cultivators) are still suffering. How did Africa ignore the agricultural sector, after the peasants ushered the continent’s independence? Agriculture has become Africa’s “sunset” sector making the continent the most impoverished region, with over 70% rural poverty, heavy dependence on donor food aid valued at over US$ 51 million annually and high rates of unemployment.  At least Africa is now embarking on agrarian reforms after years of neo-colonialism.    

Un camino para superar la pobreza rural

Para su tesis doctoral en la U. de Oxford, el ecólogo Felipe Roa Clavijo analizó los procesos agrarios en Colombia entre 2013 y 2016. Su investigación, que ganó el premio Alejandro Ángel Escobar, encontró que la solución para impulsar el desarrollo rural es generar métodos de producción que dialoguen con el medio ambiente.

Por Andrea Ana Gálvez

En Argentina 763.500 niños y niñas de entre 5 y 15 años realizan actividades productivas, según la encuesta EANNA. Ahora con el tratado de la Unión Europea y Mercosur, las condiciones laborales de los agricultores en Suramérica podrían incluso empeorar.

La falta de gasolina está llevando al borde del colapso a la industria agrícola venezolana y amenaza con más hambre y malnutrición. Productores calculan que el área plantada con los principales cultivos del país, maíz y arroz, se reducirá un 50 por ciento este año.

This week in Geneva, the Human Rights Council is expected to take a position on the follow-up to a draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Persons Working in Rural Areas. Five years after the start of the negotiations, we are at a turning point.

The failure to secure the property rights of rural communities shows a clear policy gap between citizens and rights to land as per the Constitution and the attitude and practices of the state, traditional leaders, white farmers and mining companies in relation to such rights. 

Absent from the discourse spurred by the motion passed in the National Assembly on 27 February is what could be achieved in the interim for land reform programme using existing legislation while the country awaits a verdict on the constitutional amendment to determine whether is possible to expropriate land w

The Second Regional Land Forum kicked off in Bangkok, Thailand in the early morning of May 28th and the opening session was certainly one to remember! Live drones, talk of big data and using NASA related technology to propel land rights forward, were but a few of the impressive topics on the table. Participants gathered to hear a variety of ‘flash talks’, quick yet effective pitches about notable initiatives relating to data, technology and land rights.

Access to justice is a key governance concern in developed and developing countries alike. Community legal workers aim to help poor or comparatively powerless people defend themselves against land grabs, obtain public services, and challenge corruption. Can this bottom-up approach counter powerful interests seeking to entrench their control? Can legal empowerment help respond to rising authoritarianism and repression of civil society?

On Wednesday, 6 September 2017, Barbuda, the less known sister isle of the popular resort island of Antigua, bore the full brunt of Hurricane Irma as it struck the Leeward Islands of the Eastern Caribbean. The island suffered near total destruction: 95% of the island’s buildings were damaged, 60% of the population were rendered homeless, and a 2-year-old child was tragically killed. Antigua, on the older hand, was relatively untouched.

“No sé si toda mi vida voy a trabajar la tierra”, así expresó Carla —una joven de una comunidad del municipio de Palacagüina en el departamento de Madriz, quien trabaja en tierra ajena, lo hace a medias con otra mujer que utiliza la parcela del marido— al participar en un estudio que realiza el Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Nitlapan-UCA, la Asociación para la Diversificación y Desarrollo Agrícola Comunal (Addac) y Octupan sobre la situación de jóvenes rurales y su acceso a la tierra.  

“No sé si toda mi vida voy a trabajar la tierra”, así expresó Carla —una joven de una comunidad del municipio de Palacagüina en el departamento de Madriz, quien trabaja en tierra ajena, lo hace a medias con otra mujer que utiliza la parcela del marido— al participar en un estudio que realiza el Instituto de Investigación y Desarrollo Nitlapan-UCA, la Asociación para la Diversificación y Desarrollo Agrícola Comunal (Addac) y Octupan sobre la situación de jóvenes rurales y su acceso a la tierra.  

First global benchmark for measuring and reporting land information aims to improve tenure security and enable fair compensation

The potential for conflicts related to large-scale land acquisitions could be cut down significantly if seven key pieces of information are included in every property transaction, land professionals say.