This report responds to heightened concerns over rising levels of farmer-herder conflict across a wide band of semi-arid Africa. We assess the quantitative evidence behind this general impression and review the explanations in the scientific literature, in the light of known issues with long-standing attitudes towards pastoralism and mobile populations. Looking at the data available, we find that total levels of all forms of violence have been rising in the last ten years — especially in some countries in West and Central Africa.

In the last decade, efforts to re-localize the food system have been gaining ground in a way that is intended to induce changes in the primary sector, thereby improving its conditions and sustainability. The European Union has identified food as one of the ten key sectors with outstanding potential for an ecological transition, and public procurement of (organic) food as an appropriate policy to foster agricultural development and support small farmers.

It is likely that rural women will disproportionately bear the socio-economic hardships from COVID-19. Restrictions on the movement of people and goods are disrupting agricultural value chains and food systems. Women have weaker land tenure security and less access to productive resources than men. As markets close and cross-border trade declines;women suffer from not being able to sell their produce;and from lacking access to inputs needed for the next planting season. Lockdowns result in increased domestic and care work for women.

A nine-minute video. Most rural people in Uganda have rights to their rural land through customary tenure arrangements;representing 75-80% of land holdings: but only 15-20% of the land is formally registered. Often women;especially widows;experience land grabbing;arbitrary eviction and poor access to justice. GLTN and others are working to help vulnerable smallholder farmers in South Western and Elgon regions through the implementation of a ‘Securing Land Tenure for Improved Food Security in select areas in Ugandaproject. The video illustrates some of this work.

There is a risk of salinity and degradation in soil structure due to excessive irrigation in the GAP-Harran Plain. The purpose of the research is to determine farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for applications of sustainable agricultural land usage practices to avoid salinization in soil based on irrigation problems related to the demands of the farmers’, their needs, and which factors affect their willingness to accept payment. The basic material of the research was obtained through face-to-face questionnaires from farmers who were selected by a method of simple random sampling in 2018.

This Case Study looks at the implementation of the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Lands Management Law (VFV Law) in seven villages in Sagaing Region, to assess the practices on the ground and how the law impacts the land tenure security of smallholder farmers.

Smallholder farmers are an important piece in the country’s agriculture puzzle and attainment of food security.

With the globe facing looming food security issues, the smallholder farmers are and have always been stakeholders not be left behind.

Yes, we cannot talk food security without inputs from the small scale farmers. They need to be incorporated in every step, as the country takes baby steps initiatives towards being self sufficient. 

An agreement between the Zimbabwean Government and the Commercial Farmers Union on compensation for land taken from white farmers was finally agreed on 29 July 2020;20 years after the land reform programme began. There had been previous attempts;but the science of asset valuation is far from exact. The issue had blocked international recognition of the Zimbabwean Government. Looks at the detractors and sceptics and asks how the agreed sum of US$3.5 billion will be paid for. Believes this is an immensely important step in a long-running and frustrating saga.

This paper highlights how farmers in a northern Lao village transformed their customary land rights – in the face of incoherent overlapping state territorialization attempts – into a territorial strategy to secure their land tenure. By planting rubber, some villagers have engaged in a crop boom to lay claim to land which has recently been zoned for upland rice cultivation (and conservation) as part of a state-led land use planning initiative.

Inequalities in land rights exist globally, both in formal and customary settings. This is because land rights are either strong or weak, and held by various categories of people. The weaker variants of the inequalities tend to stifle tenure security, reduce land use, and threaten the food security of those dependent on the land for survival. This paper investigated the implications of customary land rights inequalities and varying tenure insecurity for food security among smallholder farmers in northwest Ghana.

Climate change increases the vulnerability of agricultural sector due to the increasing threat from pest attacks. Mitigation of a threat that results from climate change requires adaptation strategies. This study investigates farmers’ willingness to participate in the process of climate change adaptation in Yogyakarta, Indonesia; particularly in facing the increasing risk of pest attacks. Using a logistic regression model, we tested the impacts of social capital on farmers’ willingness to participate.

Ulster University and the Uzbek Forum for Human Rights has released the first sector wide study on corporate integrity in Uzbekistan.

The report and associated policy brief focus on the cotton cluster system, a landmark privatisation initiative designed to improve agro-industrial productivity, and address the structural drivers of systematic forced labour in Uzbekistan. State-organised forced labour regimes in Uzbekistan’s cotton sector have attracted significant domestic and international criticism over the past decade.