Despite the growth in the agricultural sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, 8 out of every 10 farmers, small-scale producers who are at the base of domestic food production, remain largely excluded from the related benefits. Government efforts for strengthening agriculture allocate public resources to few lines of spending that favour a minority. Investment on small-scale agriculture is difficult to track and where possible, it is disproportionately lower than this group´s contribution to the sector.

The spike in prices of cereals on world markets in 2007-2008 was as unwelcome as it was unexpected. For poor and vulnerable people it meant hardship as the costs of cereals in many parts of the developing world rose sharply.

Securing water is critical to achieve food security and improve rural livelihoods, especially for the women and men living in arid and semi-arid areas. But accessing this scarce resource can be difficult for those engaged in rural agriculture, women in particular.

This article reviews recent research on contemporary transformations of global land governance. It shows how changes in global governance have facilitated and responded to radical revalorizations of land, together driving the intensified competition and struggles over land observed in many other contributions to this special issue. The rules in place to govern land use are shifting from ‘territorial’ toward ‘flow-centered’ arrangements, the latter referring to governance that targets particular flows of resources or goods, such as certification of agricultural or wood products.

BANGKOK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Focusing the lens of social and economic development on women and girls is the most inexpensive and effective tool in the fight against hunger and malnutrition, says a new study on gender and food security in the Asia Pacific region.

Women’s education alone resulted in a 43 percent reduction in hunger from 1970 to 1995, while women living longer led to an additional 12 percent decline in hunger levels, according to the report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

ETC Group has been monitoring the power and global reach of agro-industrial corporations for several decades – including the increasingly consolidated control of agricultural inputs for the industrial food chain: proprietary seeds and livestock genetics, chemical pesticides and fertilizers and animal pharmaceuticals. Collectively, these inputs are the chemical and biological engines that drive industrial agriculture.

For those who see agroecological approaches as necessary for achieving the food, health, and environmental targets of post 2015 agenda, agroecology is not only central to maintaining ecosystem integrity, but also to realizing food sovereignty of those involved in food production and consumption.

Mediante la presente Resolución se aprueba el Plan de Apoyo a Pequeños y Medianos Productores, que ejecutará la Subsecretaría de Desarrollo Rural y Agricultura Familiar. El Plan se implementará a partir de una estrategia de intervención que apunta al desarrollo autónomo y sustentable de los productores de la agricultura familiar, con el propósito de generar las bases materiales y humanas de un verdadero desarrollo genuino con inclusión en un marco de concertación de políticas, entre el Estado nacional, las provincias, los municipios y las organizaciones de productores.

El presente Decreto Supremo tiene por objeto implementar mecanismos de resguardo de las áreas productivas a fin de garantizar la seguridad alimentaria con soberanía. En este marco se definen las siguientes categorías de áreas: a) áreas productivas agropecuarias urbanas, que son espacios de uso agropecuario, piscícola o agroforestal de extensiones influenciables o colindantes con urbanizaciones; b) áreas rurales de vocación productiva, cuyas características, tengan continuidad superficial y preponderancia para la seguridad alimentaria.

During the Donor Roundtable Meeting in Washington on the margins of the annual land conference at the World Bank on 12 April 2013 participants agreed to establish a new

La presente Ley establece los mecanismos y políticas sectoriales para la prevención, protección y fortalecimiento de las naciones y los pueblos indígenas originarios que se encuentran en situación de alta vulnerabilidad. Los mecanismos de protección contemplan el impedir cualquier tipo de perturbación en los territorios ocupados por dichas naciones y pueblos, como así también la promoción de iniciativas comunitarias para el aprovechamiento sustentable de los recursos naturales, facilitando la rehabilitación de la seguridad alimentaria y el acceso a los servicios básicos.