Technology introduction and the intensive use of resources, particularly in smallholder farming systems, are at the core of debates about future food security and sustainable livelihoods. In Brazil, land use changes promoted by competing agricultural chains require a search for alternative modes of production for family farms. We analyse the technical and economic viability of intensification of dairy farming by smallholders in the “Balde Cheio” (Full Bucket) programme.

The study reported in this paper measures differences in profitability betweenconservation farming (CF) practices and conventional agriculture by comparing the value ofdifferential output with the differential input costs. The main objective is to address and fillseveral important knowledge gaps by investigating three key features of conservationfarming in Zambia: 1) the process by which CF originated and spread; 2) the scale of CF adoption across household groups and regions; and 3) the impact of CF on crop output, input use, cost of production and farm income.

Agriculture is considered one of the vital activities in Egypt; it consumes about 83� % of the Egyptian Nile water quota. This activity is becoming negatively affected by water pollution causing negative repercussion on land productivity and subsequently food security. This paper assesses the water quality for agriculture along the mainstream of the Nile in Egypt through spatial distributions modelling of total dissolved solids (TDS), using spatial statistical analysis.

People in southern Africa are facing escalating levels of risk, uncertainty and consequently vulnerability as a result of multiple interacting stressors, including HIV/AIDS, poverty, food insecurity, weak governance, climate change and land degradation, to name but a few. Vulnerability or livelihood insecurity emerges when poor people as individuals or social units have to face harmful threats or shocks with inadequate capacity to respond effectively. In such situations, people often have no choice but to turn to their immediate environment for support.

In the Mediterranean region, crop productivity and food security are closely linked to the adaptation of cropping systems to multiple abiotic stresses. Limited and unpredictable rainfall and low soil fertility have reduced agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. For this reason, crop management technologies have been developed, with a special focus on the Mediterranean region, to enhance crop production by increasing land productivity and sustaining soil fertility under influence of climate changes and population increases.

There have been major shifts/changes in land use patterns in Rwanda over the past twelve years. A few striking observations include: As a percentage of total farmland, cultivated land increased. The increase in cultivated land occurred at the expense of pasture and fallow and woodlot. The share of pasture and fallow decreased from 22% in 1990 to 14% in 2002 and woodlot decreased from 11% in 1990 to 7% in 2002. This trend of increasing cultivated land is apparent from the mid-eighties to today.

Cloud forest in the Central Highlands of Guatemala provides important ecosystem services for the Q’eqchi’ Maya but has been disappearing at an increasing rate in recent decades. This research documents changes in cloud forest cover, explores some contributing factors to deforestation, and considers forest preservation and food security implications for Q’eqchi’ communities. We used a transdisciplinary framework that synthesized remote sensing/GIS analysis of land cover change, focus group dialogs, and surveys.

Tourism is one of the most rapidly growing economic sectors in the world, especially indeveloping countries; growth rates in international tourist arrivals and receipts in these countries are roughly double the world average. In Zambia, the tourism sector has grown steadily in recent years; international tourist arrivals from 1990 to 2005 grew at an average annual rate of 9.7%, and tourism receipts grew at 10.2%, compared to average growth rates for developing countries of 6.6% and 9.9%, respectively.

Meat production in South Africa is on an increasing trend. In South Africa rising wealth, urbanisation and a growing middle class means South Africans are eating more processed and high-protein foods, especially meat and dairy products. These foods are more land- and water-intensive than fruit, vegetable and grain crops, and further stress existing resources. Traditional agricultural farms cannot keep up with the increasing demand for animal products and these farms are being replaced with concentrated animal feeding operations.

This paper explores the concept of homegardens and their potential functions as strategic elements in land-use planning, and adaptation and mitigation to climate change in Sri Lanka.

A multi-scale study has been undertaken to explore the relationships between climate, water resources, land use and diffuse pollution in order to assess the significance of projected future changes in climate and the uncertainty inherent in these projections. Two climate simulations from the GCM–RCM Perturbed Physics Ensemble developed by the UK Met Office Hadley Centre, broadly representing the extremes of future climate simulations, were downscaled and applied to a grid-based dynamic national water balance and nitrate model for Scotland.

This project was initiated to promote conservation agriculture (CA) in Tanzania so as to improve the food security and rural livelihood of small- and medium-scale farmers through the scaling-up of CA as a sustainable land management (SLM) tool as well as increasing the numbers of SLM-CA farmer field schools (FFS) in communities. The project had two phases from 2004 to 2010. It was funded by a Government of Germany trust fund and implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture in Tanzania.