This article focuses mainly on the five
primary case study countries. For forest impacts, the
concentration is on forest conversion to other land uses and
deforestation, defined as a (temporary or permanent) removal
of trees to less than 10 percent crown cover, which is
similar to the Food and Agricultural Organization's
(FAO's) definition. Selective logging is thus not
deforestation but may degrade forests and enable conversion.

During the past decade, the use of
conditional cash transfer programs to increase investment in
human capital has generated considerable excitement in both
research and policy forums. This article surveys the
existing literature, which suggests that most conditional
cash transfer programs are used for essentially one of two
purposes: restoring efficiency when externalities exist or
improving equity by targeting resources to poor households.

T he Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) committed to the mitigation of the effects of climate change by signing the Kyoto Protocol for climate change and other related environmental management protocols. Since 1994, DRC has produced two national climate change communication documents (RDC, Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature, Eaux, et Forêts 2001; RDC, Ministère de l’Environnement, Conservation de la Nature et Tourisme 2009).

The Future Agricultures Consortium was established in 2005 with support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) as a learning alliance of leading African and UK-based research organisations. The Consortium provides independent analysis and advice for improving agricultural policy-making. The aim is to encourage critical debate and policy dialogue on the future of agriculture in Africa, elaborating the practical and policy challenges of establishing and sustaining pro-poor agricultural growth.

Policy-makers often lack information and analytical capacity to effectively monitor how policies impact on different stakeholders. The MAFAP initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization seeks to bridge this gap.

The changes in global agricultural markets over the past decade have major implications on agricultural policy. What are the challenges and opportunities for development-oriented agricultural policy-making? And what advisory capacities are needed to deliver substantive advice to developing countries’ governments? The answers to these questions constitute a new agenda for contemporary capacity development for agricultural policy advice.

Many a dogma produced by agricultural policies over the past decades has proved disastrous for African agriculture. Ms Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union (AU), looks at lessons learnt and suggests ways to bring progress to Africa’s rural regions.

Initially hailed a huge success, Malawi’s effort to boost agriculture with fertiliser subsidies appears to have met with failure. The author has a look at what went wrong, arguing that developments must be assessed against the backdrop of politics.

Recent studies have shown that modern breeding for high yield, visual appearance and long shelf life led to an unintentional decline in taste and the content of essential nutrients in vegetables. AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is studying whether traditional vegetables are more nutritious than modern varieties and whether early growth stages of these vegetables offer consumers a higher content of phytonutrients.

Last year Angola earned 48 billion US dollars from petroleum. Yet the country that was once Africa’s largest agricultural producer is reduced to importing food. Now the government and private investors want to develop the agricultural sector, in the hope that Angola could become a new Brazil. But will there still be room for small-scale farmers?

This report aims to provide a conceptual framework to address food security under conditions of water scarcity in agriculture. It has been prepared by a team of FAO staff and consultants in the framework of the project `Coping with water scarcity: the role of agriculture?, and has been discussed at an Expert Consultation meeting organized in FAO, Rome in December 2009 on the same subject. It was subsequently edited and revised, taking account of discussions in the Expert Consultation and materials presented to the meeting.

En pocas palabras, la escasez de agua tiene lugar cuando la demanda supera el suministro de agua dulce en un área determinada. Escasez de agua = un exceso de demanda de agua para el suministro disponible Esta situación aparece como consecuencia de una elevada demanda agregada por parte de todos los sectores que consumen agua respecto al suministro disponible, bajo las condiciones de infraestructuras y las disposiciones institucionales existentes.