Economists who analyze household decisionmaking allocation have traditionally assumed that the household acts as a single unit. They assume that there exists one decisionmaker whose preferences form the basis of household welfare and that all household resources are effectively pooled. This approach is known as the “unitary model,” the “common preference model,” or the “joint family utility model,” depending on the study consulted.

This book synthesizes IFPRI's recent work on the role of gender in household decisionmaking in developing countries, provides evidence on how reducing gender gaps can contribute to improved food security, health, and nutrition in developing countries, and gives examples of interventions that actually work to reduce gender disparities. It is an accessible, easy-to-read synthesis of the gender research that IFPRI has undertaken in the 1990s.

Growing processing tomatoes represents one of the most intensive forms of land use in terms of water consumption and nutrient inputs. During the last decade in many European countries and in the United States, Integrated Crop Management guidelines have also been applied for fertilisation and reducing nitrogen inputs to crops has become compulsory. A large number of Best Management Practices, rules and tools have been developed to steer farmers toward sustainable farming practices.

A major reason given for the decline in per capita food production in Nigeria over the last two to three decades is the gradual decline in land productivity. Available information shows that in southern Nigeria, for example, there was recorded a consistent decline in yield per hectare of major food crops between 1995 and 2000. Evidence from the literature suggests that the main reason for this persistent decline in soil productivity is the perpetuation of unsustainable soil management practices by small food crop farmers that dominate the food production landscape in the country.

Extensive livestock farming systems in the Less Favored Areas (LFA) of the European Union (EU) are under social stress and requirement to adapt their production practices to new economic and social realities. This research argues that a restructuring plan for the cereal-sheep system of Castile-La Mancha may represent economic and ecological synergies. The potential implementation of a technical strategy (integrating cereal and sheep farming and increasing acreage of annual forage legumes) has been tested within a community-based research project carried out over three phases.

De workshop 'Toekomstverkenningen landbouwverkenningen in het Maashorstgebied' maakt onderdeel uit van het project 'Toekomstverkenningen van de landbouw in 2030' van Praktijkonderzoek Plant en Omgeving (PPO) en Praktijkonderzoek Veehouderij (PV). Met het project 'Toekomstverkenningen van de landbouw in 2030', geeft het Praktijkonderzoek concrete invulling aan het thema 'systeeminnovaties'. Het project wordt uitgevoerd op twee niveaus: landelijk en regionaal.

De implementatie van de Europese Kaderrichtlijn Water (KRW) is in Nederland de verantwoor-delijkheid van VenW. Omdat de KRW gevolgen kan hebben voor de beleidsterreinen van LNV heeft zij Alterra gevraagd op zeer korte termijn de mogelijke consequenties van de KRW voor de sectoren landbouw, natuur, recreatie en visserij inzichtelijk te maken. Een scenariostudie: op basis van expert-kennis zijn een viertal scenario’s uitgewerkt waarbij alle noodzakelijke stappen om de KRW te realiseren zijn doorlopen.

Soil erosion by water is an old problem in Ethiopia. The prevalence of mountainous and undulating landscapes, coupled with the expansion of arable farming on steep areas due to population pressure have aggravated the soil erosion problem in the country. Prompted by one of the great famines in the country in 1973, the international community and the Ethiopian government began to carry out massive conservation measures that covered extensive areas. Since then, the conservation movement has continued.

Being one of the oldest civilisations in the world, Ethiopia has an agricultural tradition that is over 2,500 years old. However the land has brought into cultivation at different times in history. Generally the Northern part of the country has experienced intensive agriculture for a long time, whereas the southwestern highlands, which show relatively less soil degradation were brought into agriculture in the last couple of centuries.

Ce recueil d'initiatives rcentes de dveloppement durable dans le domaine de la gestion des terres et de l'agriculture a t labor comme document d'appui au Rapport de la Commission de travail examinant le volet Terres et agriculture pour les chapitres 10, 12 et 14 de l'Action 21. Ce rapport prsente un ensemble de 75 tudes de cas provenant de 45 pays et illustrant les diffrents aspects d'une amlioration de la gestion des terres et de l'agriculture et du dveloppement durable.