In Sub-Sahara Africa, majority of the population derives its livelihood from agriculture. Smallholder agriculture accounts for 75% of agricultural production of which the majority constitutes of rainfed farming. Drought is Africa’s principal form of natural disaster which often it affects rainfed agriculture dramatically.

The AgWater Solutions Project aimed at designing agricultural water management (AWM) strategies for smallholder farmers in sub Saharan Africa and in India. The project was managed by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and operated jointly with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI) and International Development Enterprise (IDE).

This issue of Unasylva contains, as promised in the previous edition, additional articles on sustainable mountain development. These articles help to complete the focus on the topic and should also help to promote interest in the recently declared International Year of the Mountain (2000) for which FAO has been designated lead agency status within the United Nations system.

Les principales recommandations que l’on peut formuler suite à cette étude s’articulent autour des axes suivants: (i) r enforcer la coordination entre les organismes de développement et les services statistiques nationaux afin de valoriser au maximum les données et les informations disponibles sur la relation genre et eau et de favoriser la production de nouvelles données ; (ii) s ystématiser la désagrégation selon le genre dans le traitement des données d’enquêtes nationales ; (iii) i ntégrer davantage les données relatives aux dimensions

This paper is based on the outcomes of a training workshop on modernization of irrigation management organized in 2007 for 25 participants with a focus on the Gandorinala and Bennithora projects.

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Session: Sess. 3

Este mes nos es grato invitarles a participar en una consulta electrónica sobre las Directrices Voluntarias sobre la Gobernanza Responsable en la Tenencia de la Tierra y Otros Recursos Naturales. Tras un prolongado proceso de consultas regionales, y antes de acometer la redacción del borrador cero, se están solicitando ahora materiales adicionales para la elaboración de estas directrices.

This conmpendium of recent sustainable development initiatives in the field of agriculture and land management has been developed as a supporting document for the Task Manager's Report on the Land and Agriculture Cluster for Chapters 10, 12 and 14 of Agenda 21. The report draws together 75 cases from over 45 countries, illustrating the many features of improved land management and sustainable agriculture and rural development.

Meeting symbol/code: APRC 00 3

Une analyse a été conduite au Niger afin d’évaluer les besoins liés á la gestion de l’eau à usage agricole (GEA) et d’identifier les priorités d’investissements dans le but de réduire la pauvreté en milieu rurale en terme de: recherché; assistance technique; formation; appui aux politiques. La méthodologie a été structurée en cinq phases: (1) Analyse des parties prenantes; (2) Atelier de lancement; (3) Interviews et visites de terrain; (4) Discussion des résultats préliminaires avec l’équipe nationale; et (5) Atelier de validation.

Southern Africa is particularly susceptible to climate variability and drought and is increasingly being threatened by desertification processes, degradation of land and water resources and loss of biodiversity. Although rainfed farming is a high-risk enterprise, it is also a way of life and people are committed to making the best of the scarce resources at their disposal. However, droughts tend to reduce production to below the already marginal levels, thus threatening subsistence farming.