Livestock are kept for a wide range of purposes in Africa, and there is considerable diversity in animal husbandry. Among the most important advantages in keeping animals is their contribution to maintaining and even improving soil fertility. Furthermore, animal husbandry offers economic, social and cultural benefits. However, the authors also look at the constraints that smallholders face in livestock husbandry.

The former Soviet Central Asian republics have undergone de-intensification of their livestock sectors, resulting in an increased reliance on natural pastures. Property rights systems are key to the sustainable management of this resource. However, as the authors demonstrate, it is not easy to implement the respective reform processes.

China has a longstanding tradition of using biogas for decentralised energy supply. Already, there are nearly 42 million household digesters in the rural areas, a figure set to double by 2020. But the country has even more ambitious plans. In order to achieve its own climate targets and raise the share of renewables in overall energy supply to 15 per cent by 2020, it wants to set up 16,000 middle- and large-scale biogas plants. However, implementation isn’t quite so easy.

É cada vez mais forte a percepção das populações, de governos e de instituições internacionais de que a humanidade não pode continuar a ser empurrada para o precipício, com as políticas das últimas décadas, de intensificação da produção agropecuária e florestal e o aumento do poder hegemónico de grandes companhias multinacionais da indústria e da distribuição, que controlam a produção e detêm cada vez mais terra, provocando o esgotamento de recursos naturais, acidentes climáticos, pragas e doenças, desertificação de muitas regiões, fome e subnutrição, esvaziamento e asfixia de economias loc

Au Niger le foncier aménagé se trouve aujourd’hui face à une double problématique : d’une part les anciens propriétaires coutumiers ou leurs descendants réclament des droits de propriété sur cet espace supposé appartenir à l’État, et d’autre part les structures publiques qui gèrent ce domaine ne disposent pas de documents juridiques pour justifier les droits de l’État sur les périmètres irrigués et, en conséquence, pour protéger le foncier aménagé.

In Niger the land converted for public use is now facing a dual problem: on one hand, customary landowners or their descendants claim property rights on this space which supposedly belongs to the State, on the other hand, government bodies who manage this area do not have the legal documents to justify the State's rights over the developed (irrigated) land and, consequently, to protect it. How to ensure secure land tenure for the State on the developed land while preserving the legitimate rights of those working the land?

The Guiding Principles are designed to help a number of stakeholders develop larger-scale agricultural investments that are more likely to prove sustainable, beneficial, and successful for communities, investors and governments.

Recent actual and expected changes in global agricultural commodity prices have fostered a renewed business interest in tropical agriculture. Agricultural commercialisation concessions (ACCs) are contracts between governments and agribusiness companies allowing the company to supply inputs, purchase farm produce and also sometimes run processing operations and/or provide storage, marketing and distribution services in a given geographical area.

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept reflects an ambition to improve the integration of agriculture development and climate responsiveness. It aims to achieve food security and broader development goals under a changing climate and increasing food demand.

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept reflects an ambition to improve the integration of agriculture development and climate responsiveness. It aims to achieve food security and broader development goals under a changing climate and increasing food demand.

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept reflects an ambition to improve the integration of agriculture development and climate responsiveness. It aims to achieve food security and broader development goals under a changing climate and increasing food demand.

The climate-smart agriculture (CSA) concept reflects an ambition to improve the integration of agriculture development and climate responsiveness. It aims to achieve food security and broader development goals under a changing climate and increasing food demand.