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Income inequality is among the world’s most pressing issues, as highlighted in the recent Report of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Post-2015 Agenda. 1  In developing countries, income inequality is synonymous with spatial dispari…

After decades of investment programmes in agriculture and rural development, 2 billion people still suffer from undernutrition. How can we make sure these investments have a greater impact in reducing this number?

The African Studies Centre (ASC), the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS/EUR) and globalization think tank The Broker are excited to announce that they will be hosting the Secretariat fo…

Although governments and development agencies see farming as an important engine for job creation, rural non-farm businesses do not seem to generate enough work.

The rush for African farmland has created new opportunities for political and customary institutions to extract rents from hitherto poorly monetized land resources. This has facilitated the formation of new alliances shaped around global capital….

Will the BRICS Development Bank’s constructive capacities overcome its destructive ones? The world is watching.

Economic policy should focus on poverty reduction rather than on growth and should start in rural areas. First of two blog posts by David Woodward.

Halving extreme poverty and hunger is the aim of Millennium Development Goal one. Although this goal is in reach, feeding a growing world population with good quality food remains a major challenge. Especially if you take into account climate chan…

To achieve maximum impact on food and nutrition security, knowledge and research policy should focus on local agriculture and food sectors. This means including small-scale farmers in regional food chains as well as making investments in the food…

The global land rush has not lifted small-scale farmers out of poverty, nor has it increased agricultural productivity and food security. Speculative land acquisitions often leave fertile land unused, and deprive local communities of vital resources.

The final report of the Tracking Development project concludes that successful development strategies focus on small-scale farmers and give them and small entrepreneurs the freedom and protection to build on a future rather than on industrialisation.

Sustainable development goals should pay more attention to sanitation, gender and rural areas.

The right approach to solve food insecurity is a holistic approach, because otherwise you are likely to end up with large quantities of food lying around and rotting in the villages. 

New initiatives based on horizontally structured partnerships for rural development are more equal forms of rural development than traditional PPPs.

Mining companies can contribute to the development of rural communities by encouraging and supporting local farmers to develop more productive activities, beyond their subsistence activities.

Private sector and value-chain development will not contribute to poverty reduction without accountable, effective, inclusive rural governance. Economic development yes, poverty reduction no.

Netherlands-African Business Council (NABC) is activating the Dutch private sector for market development and knowledge transfer to local farmers in Africa.

Many small-scale farmers look for opportunities out of agriculture. The only way by doing this without increasing their food insecurity is rural employment. Farmer organisations can help, to spur up specialisation.

The inequality debate should try to find answers to two questions: the issue of definition and measurement, and the means by which to reduce inequality.

Research showed that food security intervention in Ethiopia succeeds in improving food security and reducing poverty in rural areas. Preconditions for success include households’ asset ownership and improving alternative sources of income.

The key areas to prioritize in the UN’s Post-2015 development agenda will soon be determined in a worldwide consultation process coordinated by the UN. Feeding into this process, The Broker brings together international experts to pool their knowl…

Ik zie inderdaad het nut in van een kennisplatform dat zich richt op water en ontwikkelinghulp. Mijn verhaal heeft betrekking op waterbeheer en bescherming tegen overstromingen. Niet op drinkwatervoorziening en afvalwater behandeling.Zo’n 6000 jaa…

The official presentation in the Netherlands of the Rural Poverty Report 2011 of the IFAD last week at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague coincided with the findings of the G20 agricultural ministers meeting to establ…

Editor Evert-jan Quak comments and reflects on new research, publications, blog posts, conferences and current affairs in the field of food security. 

Solar panels were first introduced to Africa during the 1970s. A number of large systems were installed to power electric wire fences around game reserves and to pump water from wells. In the early 1990s, solar energy began to be used for househol…

Many western politicians are fond of giving public money to farmers to grow more food. A relatively recent phenomenon is to pay farmers to not produce food – or, more accurately, to pay them to produce nature. In Europe we spend billions of euros…