During the 20th century hunger has become a problem of poverty amidst plenty rather than absolute food scarcity. The question is whether this will remain so or whether the hunger of the poor will once more be exacerbated by rising food prices. In this paper we discuss biophysical conditions, social forces and non-linear interactions that may critically influence the global availability of food in the long term.

Conclusion: "Most relevant reports and surveys I have been able to access state essentially that people from all parts of Burma leave home either in obedience to a direct relocation order from the military or civil authorities or as a result of a process whereby coercive measures imposed by the authorities play a major role in forcing down household incomes to the point where the family cannot survive. At this point, leaving home may seem to be the only option.

Biofuel development in Tanzania places at stake 4 highly strategic national resources: land, water, forests and labour, and for generations to come. This alone is sufficient reason for the Tanzanian general public and rural communities in particular, to wrestle back the initiative and seek direct engagement in determining the best way forward for the nation.

The paper shows that pre-colonial ecologies of agricultural systems in some parts of rural Zambia were sustainable and resilient to prevailing environmental conditions, and were therefore able to ensure relative food security, under communal land tenure. However, colonial policies of land alienation and labour migration impacted negatively on food production systems of some ethnic groups like the citemene system of the Bemba and the flood plain cultivation system of the Lozi, making them extremely vulnerable due to the absence of large numbers of males.

A key challenge facing South Africa’s economic development is overcoming the structural poverty created through the systematic dispossession of the majority of its citizens. Although radically marginalized during apartheid, there is poor public acknowledgement of the losses experienced by those families who, through the passing of various racially biased, land and labour laws, became farm labour on commercial farms.

This paper presents an overview of pastoral systems and addresses rights issues around access and control of resources in the context of climate change.

In many developing countries, supermarkets are growing fast. This growth entails a change in the food chain that supplies fresh foods from farmers and processed foods via agroprocessors. Farmers who wish to participate in the food chain have to adapt to the supermarkets' requirements. It is the task of governments to improve infrastructures, and access to support services and financial services.

The Royal government of Bhutan launched the Tenth Five Year Plan that outlines strategies from 2008-2013 to reduce poverty and to increase education initiatives.

In a world of food abundance, millions of people suffer from poor nutrition. In some parts of the world, the poor have inadequate access to energy from food to meet their energy requirements. In these locations, food shortage is often a seasonal phenomenon and micronutrients are also generally lacking in the diet. Elsewhere, there is a stable supply of energy but the poor have monotonous diets lacking in essential micronutrients.

Across vast areas of the world, human activity has degraded once fertile and productive land. Deforestation, overgrazing, continuous farming and poor irrigation practices have affected almost 2 billion hectares worldwide, threatening the health and livelihoods of over one billion people. In this edition of New Agriculturist, a collection of articles explores some of the approaches and policies that can help to successfully rehabilitate degraded land.

Following from the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture project, this book examines the relationships and linkages between land use and water management and social systems. Given that agriculture is the largest economic sector in many developing countries, this volume provides innovative ideas for the prevention of land degradation and for improving the sustainability of food production in the developing world.

Divided into three parts, this collaborative work looks at the varied challenges brought about as a result of corruption in the water sector. It also looks at recent research conducted and provides an overview of the water sector corruption challenges in country profiles across the globe. Corruption in the water sector puts the lives and livelihoods of billions of people at risk. The onset of climate change and the increasing stress on water supply around the world make the fight against corruption in water more urgent than ever.