"Good health and productive agriculture are both essential in the fight against poverty. In a rapidly changing world, agriculture faces many challenges, both old (natural resource constraints, extreme weather conditions, and agricultural pests) and new (globalization, environmental degradation, problems of maintaining production in conflict situations). At the same time, new global health threats emerge, such as HIV/AIDS, SARS, and avian influenza, while old ones persist.

Agriculture produces food fundamental for human health. It therefore seems obvious that agriculture, food, and health are related! Agriculture affects whether people have enough food to eat, whether it is of sufficient nutritional value, and whether it is safe, all of which affect human health. But it is not so simple: history has taught that there are different ways of looking at the relationships between agriculture, food, and health. Agricultural connections to food and health are mediated by the natural environment, human culture, and technological change.

"Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the majority of people affected by HIV and AIDS globally, and it is being progressively undermined by the disease. In Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS is affecting the rural landscape in ways that demand a rethinking of development policy and practice, and parts of South Asia may soon face a similar situation.... There is clearly tremendous scope for agricultural policy to become more HIV-responsive, both to further AIDS-related objectives and to help achieve agricultural objectives. Yet there are no magic bullets.

"Agriculture is the main source of livelihood of the majority of people affected by HIV and AIDS globally, and it is being progressively undermined by the disease. In Sub-Saharan Africa AIDS is affecting the rural landscape in ways that demand a rethinking of development policy and practice, and parts of South Asia may soon face a similar situation.... There is clearly tremendous scope for agricultural policy to become more HIV-responsive, both to further AIDS-related objectives and to help achieve agricultural objectives. Yet there are no magic bullets.

"For the practice of agroforestry to yield its full potential, it needs to bring health and nutrition to the fore.

Agriculture is fundamental to achieving nutrition goals: it produces the food, energy, and nutrients essential for human health and well-being. Gains in food production have played a key role in feeding growing and malnourished populations. Yet they have not translated into a hunger-free world nor prevented the development of further nutritional challenges. Micronutrient deficiencies (for example, of vitamin A, iron, iodine, and zinc) are now recognized as being even more limiting for human growth, development, health, and productivity than energy deficits.

Malaria, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), and Japanese encephalitis are the major vector-borne diseases whose increase or decrease can be attributed to agricultural water development (see table). Others include dengue fever, yellow fever, and filariasis. Young children in poor communities are particularly affected: malaria is among the top five causes of death among under-fives in Sub-Saharan Africa; schistosomiasis among children affects growth, nutritional status, and cognitive development; and encephalitis occurs mainly in young children...

Policymaking initiatives in agriculture and public health are often pursued in a parallel and unconnected fashion. Yet coherent, joint action in agriculture and health could have large potential benefits and substantially reduce risks for the poor. Among development professionals there is growing recognition that agriculture influences health, and health influences agriculture, and that both in turn have profound implications for poverty reduction.

"To end hunger and prevent the recurrence of famine and starvation, we need to take the following steps: invest in public health, child nutrition, education, women’s and girls’ social status, and other components of human capital; reform public institutions and create innovative funding and partnership arrangements; change government policies at all levels to be both pro-poor and pro-growth; increase funding for scientific and technological research to boost agricultural production and efficiency; and develop specific policies and institutions to deal with environmental degradation caused

Contrairement aux prévisions communément admises quant à l’aggravation du déclin économique de l’Afrique, une récente étude présente une vision alternative plus positive de l’avenir de ce continent. De nouveaux engagements politiques, une gestion du programme de développement sous égide africaine ainsi que l’accroissement de l’intérêt et des investissements dans les petites exploitations agricoles ont le potentiel d’arrêter, voire d’inverser la tendance spiroïdale de la famine, de la pauvreté, de la dégradation environnementale, des maladies et des guerres civiles.

En las últimas décadas, el mundo ha hecho un progreso impresionante para mejorar la calidad de vida de millones de personas; sin embargo, todavía sigue inconclusa la tarea de garantizar la seguridad alimentaria a los más pobres de una manera sostenible. La explosión demográfica, la expansión urbana, la desnutrición y la mala salud persistentes, las tierras agrícolas degradadas y el agua escasa, la carencia de poder de las mujeres, la globalización acelerada y la rápida aparición de nuevas tecnologías - todos estos y muchos otros factores están influenciando este esfuerzo continuo.