Nerica – New Rice for Africa is the name of the great biotechnological success in rice breeding. What scientists created in the lab using modern methods, namely hybrids of African rice and Asian rice, had already come into being decades ago by chance in West African ?elds.

As part of its commitment to local community development in Mozambique, the Community Land initiative (iTC), a project financed by a group of European donors, is supporting part of a honey production chain in Mozambique, specifically in Sussundenga district, Manica province. The support consists of building capacity among local honey producers groups.

The years of war have led to a rapid decline in the nutritional status of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. To cover their protein requirements, the rural population in the Kivu region in the east of the country have turned to raising guinea pigs. For many families these rodents are nowadays not just a vital element of their food security, but also an essential source of income.

Although the commercial cultivation of genetically modified (GM) plants in Africa has been relatively modest until now, a number of research and development projects in this field are already operating in several African countries. These involve breeding drought-tolerant, pest-resistant or nutrient-enriched maize, or cassava varieties with greater disease and pest resistance. 

African Governments are planning to leapfrog development and move to a middle income economy in a short time. This requires a sustainable strong economic growth, based primarily on African agricultural resources and initially with huge resources from outside, partly provided by donors but mainly from the private sector through sustainable and responsible investments. All actors should engage in a serious dialogue on how to facilitate and create good investments in order to attract the necessary resources for development.

Source: Fao.org

Les pressions sur les ressources naturelles, de plus en plus intenses, les inégalités qui continuent de se creuser et les répercussions négatives du changement climatique compromettent la capacité de l'homme à se nourrir par lui-même à l'avenir. Tel est le message alarmant d'un nouveau rapport de la FAO publié aujourd'hui.

Agricultural value chains link urban consumption with rural production. Changing demand, as a consequence of urbanization, emergence of «modern» consumption patterns or new trends in international trade, impacts on rural areas along value chains and spills over to marketing and production systems.These rural urban linkages bear challenges but also mutual benefits for producers and consumers and can be promising entry points for development interventions.This is illustrated with the case of the Kenyan potato value chain.

As the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries (MAFF) aimed to finalize in the end of 2016 the draft law on agricultural lands that is currently in 6th draft, MRLG, together with other partners, has supported the NGO Forum on Cambodia to mobilize representatives of farmer organizations and CSOs so that they could voice their concerns over the draft law directly to MAFF. In close cooperation with MAFF, a 2-day national consultation workshop was held on 19-20 December 2016 in Phnom Penh.

This short video examines an initiative by Earth Systems to develop a tea sector dialogue platform that brings together key stakeholders in the value chain to jointly examine challenges and opportunities for the development of a more equitable and sustainable tea sector in Laos. The video highlights the outcomes and lessons from a tea stakeholder workshop held in Phongsaly province, northern Laos, in July 2016.

The Lao tea sector is small in the global context but has significant potential to grow and further contribute to the local economies of tea production areas in the north and south of Lao PDR. This Industry Position Paper, developed by Earth Systems in consultation with leading tea industry stakeholders, outlines key challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of the sector. 

The Lao tea sector is small in the global context but has significant potential to grow and further contribute to the local economies of tea production areas in the north and south of Lao PDR. This Industry Position Paper, developed by Earth Systems in consultation with leading tea industry stakeholders, outlines key challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of the sector. 

This conference paper examines how the ideology and programmatic set of policies coined in the term ‘neoliberal modernization’ applies to agriculture and practices in the Mekong region.