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Agricultural development programmes have too long focused on semi-subsistence smallholders in an effort to achieve food security. We have to aim instead for an agricultural sector based on medium-sized, mixed family farms that contribute to the Af...

In his 1963 speech to the United Nations General Assembly, the late US president John F. Kennedy expressed two ambitions for that decade: to commit to a manned moon mission and to end world poverty and hunger. On 21 July 1969, Apollo 11 landed on...

Farmers’ organizations spur specialization, increasing employment and income.

African economic transformation should be inclusive, but how can this be achieved? Experts discussed this at the launch of the preview of the 2013 African Transformation Report.

How can we create a more inclusive economy and what obstacles lie in the way? This debate seeks answers.

Sharing Dutch agricultural expertise in lcoal partnerships can positively contribute to the eradication of rural poverty. 

Improving market access, linking farmers to markets, developing inclusive value chains; these are popular but challenging activities among development practitioners. The challenges results from the limited capabilities of (small) farmers to produc...

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

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

The ‘water diet’ implies  the challenge to make people aware that, in order to solve water issues, it is necessary to create a habit of sustainable food consumption.

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

Corridors and their use of PPPs do seem to offer a range of opportunities – the challenge is to put in place policies that ensure the benefits are spread more widely.

A top-down approach is unlikely to face the challenges of seasonal and poorly developed rural food markets. 

Farmers need to organize and operate as a business unit, to receive knowledge on value chains prices more equally. 

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.

Land grab is rarely challenged through a food security and food sovereignty perspective in research and policy elaboration, in spite of its multifarious impact on both of such key dimensions of human livelihood. 

Africa has the potential to be an agricultural power. However, the components of the value chain are delinked from one another, and there is a lack of creative investments, which could have spark-plug and catalytic effects on rural lives.

Food security is about making the right choices for food insecure people. Many interventions have had an impact on these people’s lives, but with significant differences in costs and benefits.

Experts will debate tough questions on how to feed the world’s population. It shed light on how effectively global knowledge and expertise on food security are being used.

I think the questions that are asked and discussed are based on tacit assumptions about the role of development INGOs – irrespective of whether their work is ‘thick’ or ‘thin’ in its scope – that I have difficulty saying I share.

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

For this special report, The Broker asked Carlos Oya and Pedro A. Sanchez to present their views on the global food crisis. Oya explores the problems of unequal food distribution and market liberalization. He argues that deregulated markets should...

Taking into account the many contributions to the 11th ISEE conference, there appear to be three main lessons for further work on payment for ecosystem services (PES) and on-farm conservation of agrobiodiversity, which could significantly contribu...

With the World Food Summit in Rome in November and the Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in early December 2009, climate change and hunger are once again hot topics. Agriculture is at the heart of both. Official delegations, civil society...

The opinion article of the December issue of The Broker notes that approximately 1.5 billion family farmers in the world live by producing food for themselves and for cities. In some regions, a policy emphasis on global markets and high-input agri...

This is the first report of the Broker thesis project. It highlights the theses submitted by four students from Africa. The theses have been reviewed by Meine Pieter van Dijk of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands;...

Jim Woodhill blogged for The Broker from the Convergence of Science conference in Ghana which focused on strengthening innovation systems for agriculture and rural poverty reduction.

What are the problems facing smallholder farmers in drought-prone areas in India? And how can research contribute to solutions? Dr. Y.V. Malla Reddy of Accion Fraterna (AF) Ecology Centre argues that agricultural research should change its vantage...