Widespread heat waves, floods, and droughts last year were a strong reminder of the threats posed by climate change. In the non-tropical dry areas where ICARDA works we are becoming accustomed to record high temperatures and increasing water scarcity year on year. Resilience and climate change adaptation are at the heart of ICARDA’s new Strategic Plan 2017-2026 – a bold and ambitious effort to harness cutting-edge science and deliver the tools and technologies that smallholder farmers need to maintain agricultural production and protect their livelihoods.

Effectiveness of Agri-Environmental Schemes (AESs) as tools to enhance the rural environment can be achieved not only by increasing uptake rates, but also by avoiding participating farmers abandoning the scheme once they are in. For this reason, it is important to also consider what affects farmers’ decisions to remain in the scheme rather than leave it at the end of the contractual obligation. However, up to now, there has been very little on this issue in the literature.

Smallholder irrigation expansion would signi cantly increase agricultural production, and reduce food insecurity and poverty levels in East Africa. This paper reviews literature on trends, constraints and opportunities of smallholder irrigation in four East African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Irrigation development has been slow in these countries, and has been mainly through traditional schemes.

Agricultural water management, particularly management of multi-purpose small reservoirs (SRs) in drier savanna areas of the northern Ghana, is being promoted as a key solution to improve agricultural production, enhance food security and livelihoods of smallholder farm households. However, little empirical evidence exist on how effective these small water infrastructures are in terms of delivering multiple benefits and their impact on the livelihood of smallholder farmers.

Understanding the impact of commercial agriculture in the face of global change is critical to support strategies that ensure food security and alleviate poverty among households. We assessed the contribution of commercial sugarcane cultivation to household-level food security among smallholder farmers in Busoga sub-region, eastern Uganda. Land use changes are motivated by quick commercial gains rather than sustained food production; a situation that influences food security.

A video showing how Lutheran World Federation is working with rural communities, village chiefs, local and national administration to raise awareness and to support people in claiming their legal rights in a context in which a land law was passed to protect small-scale farmers and rural communities but often the legal procedure is not respected and farmers lose the land on which their livelihood depends.

Data and information on land are fundamental for enabling smallholder farmers to gain secure access and control over their land, which provides the basis for investing in their operations.
This briefing paper outlines the importance and benefits of increasing the availability and accessibility of land information in support of improved food security and nutrition.

The scientific understanding of climate change is firmly established; it is occurring, it is primarily due to human activities, and it poses potentially serious risks to human and natural systems. Nevertheless, public understanding of this phenomenon varies widely among farmers and the public, the two-target audience of this paper. This paper introduces two research questions: (1) How climate change is perceived by public-farmers’ nexus; and (2) How perception and populism (as a thin-ideology moved by social forces) interact?

The VGGT are very necessary for Cambodia because of the role these guidelines play in protecting human rights, and especially land rights. Let's watch the video together in order to get more information on VGGT.

Ce Profil national genre des secteurs de l’agriculture et du développement rural a été préparé dans le cadre du projet de coopération technique de la FAO et de la Commission de la CEDEAO portant sur : « la Réponse Genre aux Plans Régionaux et Nationaux d’Investissement Agricole pour relever le défi Faim Zéro dans la région de la CEDEAO ». Le projet couvre les quinze pays membres de la CEDEAO sous le leadership de Bukar Tijani, Directeur General Adjoint et Représentant Régional pour l’Afrique de la FAO et Siga Fatima Jagne, Commissaire de la CEDEAO pour les Affaires Sociales et le Genre.

Participatory groundwater management is increasingly being recognised for its ability to address the challenges of equity, efficiency and sustainability. It can particularly help with effective engagement at the grassroots level for monitoring, recharging and managing the groundwater as a common pool resource. The main aim of this article is to discuss the training and management process used and the lessons learnt from a participatory groundwater management project, titled Managing Aquifer Recharge and Sustainable Groundwater Use through Village-level Intervention (MARVI).