Shifting cultivation is a dominant form of farming in the eastern Himalayas, practised by a diverse group of indigenous people from the most marginalized social and economic groups. The survival of these indigenous people and the survival of their forests are inextricably linked. However, policy makers and natural resource managers perceive shifting cultivation to be wasteful, destructive to forests, and unsustainable.

Arable land in Bhutan is under serious threats of land degradation. Proper land management approach is needed to control soil erosion problems. This study is an attempt to characterize and document the conventional and the community-based land management approaches, applied in Chukha and Dagana districts, respectively. The study tried to make a comparative assessment of their social, economic and environmental impacts on the participating farmers.

Argentina is a major producer of agricultural goods, agriculture being a key sector both for its production scale and for its exports and GDP. The country is a leading food producer, with large-scale agricultural and livestock industries that have greatly benefitted from the commodity price boom of the past decade. From 2003 to 2015, the Government of Argentina pursued a growth-with-social-inclusion development strategy, introducing several measures in support of consumers through social protection, price controls and protectionist/restrictive trade policies.

The Summary Report of the 3rd Mekong Regional Land Forum provides a comprehensive review of the key messages from the event including a synthesis of keynote speeches, key take-aways, the links to all presentations and additional documentation.

Does climate change drive conflict over land use in Mali?

This study investigates the alleged relationship between climate change and conflicts, using the Inland Delta of the Niger River in Mali as a case study, where this region is an African hotspot area in terms of land use conflicts.

The author emphasises that, despite the clear climate developments in the region throughout the last century, researchers are much less sure about future changes. Moreover, the paper finds that:

In May 2012, the Committee on World Food Security approved the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (the “Guidelines”). The Guidelines have been described as a catalysing instrument that improves the conditions of land and natural resources, in the agricultural, fishery and forestry sectors. They address problems related to poor governance of land tenure and the growing pressure exerted on natural resources, thereby helping countries to achieve food security for all.

This publication will demonstrate how the project was a catalyst leading to improvements in conditions in the Senegal River Basin, under which land is held or occupied in agriculture sectors. The VGGT addresses problems of weak governance of tenure and the growing pressure on natural resources, assisting countries to achieve food security for all. The project focused on four separate Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSPs) located in Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal.

FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in May 2012. These Voluntary Guidelines have been described as a catalyst leading to improvements in the conditions under which land is held or occupied in the agriculture sectors. The Guidelines address problems of weak governance of tenure and the growing pressure on natural resources, thereby assisting countries to achieve food security for all.

Is there an alternative model to small family farming that could provide sustainable livelihoods to millions of resource-constrained and often non-viable smallholders in developing countries? Could group farming constitute such an alternative, wherein smallholders voluntarily pool land, labour and capital to create larger farms that they manage collectively?

Mobile phone use is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, spurring a growing focus on mobile phones as tools to increase agricultural yields and incomes on smallholder farms. However, the research to date on this topic is mixed, with studies finding both positive and neutral associations between phones and yields. In this paper we examine perceptions about the impacts of mobile phones on agricultural productivity, and the relationships between mobile phone use and agricultural yield.

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is an important grain legume for food and cash of the smallholder farmers worldwide. However, the total potential benefits to be derived from the common bean as a source of food and income, its complementarities with non-legume food crops, and significance to the environment are underexploited. Intensification of common bean could provide approaches that offer new techniques to better manage and monitor globally complex systems of sustainable food production.