If the current trend in global meat demand persists, meat production will need to rise from 300 million tons today to 470 million tons by 2050. Climate and our natural resources would lose out, our author warns. In contrast,...[more]

Nowadays it is hard to imagine European livestock production without soya-based feed. But this trend has had a massive impact on rural areas in the global South – the bulk of the soya fed to livestock in Europe is imported from...[more]

This year’s theme for World Food Day – which is observed every year on October 16th in more than 150 countries – is “Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition”. Our author Amrit Patel looks at the measures needed...[more]

With its abundance of natural resources, Africa appears to be predestined for a type of economy that centres on the use of bio-based resources. However, before a comprehensive approach can be applied, a large number of framework...[more]

The bioeconomy above all focuses on technological innovation to make better use of available resources. In principle, this is not a bad idea, says Barbara Unmüßig. The question though is for the benefit of whom and at whose...[more]

To alleviate poverty and hunger in rural areas is a core political objective of the German Federal Ministry for Economic co-operation and Development (BMZ). A key element of this task is the promotion of the farming and food...[more]

Close ties between development policy and agribusiness bear a lot of risks – both for the environment and for low-income small farmers, maintains Marita Wiggerthale from Oxfam Germany.[more]

Early in June 2014, the Micronutrient Forum Global Conference, took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Here, Marie Ruel, Director of the Poverty, Health and Nutrition division at the International Food Policy Research Institute...[more]

Is there good reason to make family farms a focus of global attention for a year? Or is it not rather reckless to advocate a concept while completely disregarding the fact that the necessary conditions are often not in place? A...[more]

Devastation brought by Typhoon Haiyan on the Philippine island of Leyte in November 2013 need not have assumed such awesome proportions if the island’s original natural environment had not been destroyed by deforestation and...[more]

Publicly elected women representatives in India ought to take advantage of their influence to defend women’s rights.[more]

Despite comprehensive government food subsidies, endemic hunger continues to afflict a large proportion of the Indian population. Amrit Pratel describes what measures have to be taken to raise productivity in agriculture and make...[more]

Many a dogma produced by agricultural policies over the past decades has proved disastrous for African agriculture. Ms Rhoda Peace Tumusiime, Commissioner of Rural Economy and Agriculture of the African Union (AU), looks at...[more]

Initially hailed a huge success, Malawi’s effort to boost agriculture with fertiliser subsidies appears to have met with failure. The author has a look at what went wrong, arguing that developments must be assessed against the...[more]

Why do you care about women’s land rights? Isn’t it enough for the household to have land?“ This question is a common refrain Agnes Quisumbing, researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute, IFPRI, hears from...[more]

“A good incentive for soil conservation”[more]

“Smallholders and the climate could lose out”[more]

The United Nations has declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming. Rightly so, says Eve Crowley, Principal Advisor for Gender, Equity and Rural Employment at the FAO, for family farmers play a key role in numerous...[more]

A development policy opting exclusively for value chain development and the integration of producers in modern markets overlooks the reality for the majority of smallholders, our author maintains. Policy should pay greater...[more]

“It’s time for the international community to do more to help large and small farmers manage the many-fold risks they are faced with every day”, writes the CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) Jin-Yong Cai in a...[more]