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When the Dutch private sector is involved in development in Africa, a dilemma may arise. The Dutch government claims that businesses could have a positive impact on local economic development on the continent in the longer term. But do their activ...

Hilal Elver is the third UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Will she have sufficient clout to contribute to the transition towards a more sustainable food system?

If one message should be taken from the European Development Days it is that the world will not be able to tackle its many future economic, social and ecological challenges without sustainable development partnerships.

The rising production of soy for the global market has been one of the main drivers of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. This is not only affecting the biodiversity of the Amazon region, but is also engendering severe violent conflicts in the...

To feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable and inclusive way with good quality food is one of the main tasks for our time. The solution lies partly at the local level: the livelihoods, and the cultural, socioeconomic, and environmenta...

After our three-month debate on food security, the report with the main findings and recommendations is online. Over 90 international experts helped determine key challenges and offered answers on how a knowledge-based policy can tackle global foo...

Assuming a joint approach would unleash agricultural potential and strengthen the market, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have dominated global food security strategies. The debate highlights several strategies, for example, focusing on the loc...

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.

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.

If the corporate world is to pursue a global food security agenda, it cannot ignore the role of small-scale farming systems. Therefore it is essential they make connections with local organisations.

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.

More guidelines on food security include the Right to Food. At the same time donors and governments heavily support private sector development to increase agricultural investment and growth. The focus should be kept on smallholder farmers. 

In the global water agenda two issues call for urgent global action: the mechanism of carbon taxing and the shortage of phosphate fertilizer.

Breaking through elite cooperations with technological innovation  Morrison Rwakakambe, Chief Executive Officer at the Agency for Transformation (AfT), asks are traditional cooperatives in Uganda relevant today?

Oxfam Novib’s Tom van der Lee writes that development aid should not only support small-scale farmers, but should find links with climate change, land grabbing, biofuels policies, and price volatility.

Policy aimed at intensification of small scale agriculture most effectively stimulates global food security argue Wolvekamp (Both Ends), Ritsema (SLM) and Kessler (SML-WUR).

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.

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...

This blog is about the ‘It’s Down 2 Earth’ conference on agriculture, food security and climate change held in The Hague between 31 October and 5 November 2010.

This week the three-day international conference on Global Land Grabbing will start in Brighton, United Kingdom. Land grabbing has been an issue for some years now, but the focus among academics seems to be changing. This is the outcome of the “Th...

Did you know that 85% of food production in developing countries comes from small farms? Scope for efficiency gains! Bigger farms like in Switzerland (dairy) and Spain (cheese, tigernuts) have much to gain as well.5% effiiciency gain in food secto...

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...

The retail revolution is threatening the livelihoods of millions of farmers in many developing countries. But recent research in India demonstrates that it is possible for small farmers and artisans to be included in modern, integrated value chains.