Global population is projected for a rise from the present tally of about 7.1 billion to over 9 billion around 2050. This translates into an annual demand of over one billion extra tonnes of extra cereals and 200 million tonnes of livestock products, which means more aggressive agricultural expansion. Is this a problem? There are two ways to view it: we will need to produce more food and more importantly, produce more nutritious food. The latter has lately been a key challenge in the global food sector: eradicate hunger with high-quality food (Sustainable Development Goal 2).

NAGAPATTINAM, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Last year farmer Veeramani leased a modest plot of land from his village temple in southern India to grow rice. He borrowed 40,000 rupees ($625) to prepare the field before the rains.

Then the rains failed. Veeramani, 31, was so distressed he suffered a massive heart attack on his field and died, leaving behind his wife, Kavita, and two young daughters. He also left a sizeable debt that Kavita was not aware of.

“Us guys, we bust our butts. It’s dangerous work doing what we do, but I love it out here. There’s nothing like it.” So stated Tony Gale, a veteran logger from rural New York, in an interview with Huffington Post. The digital media company recently published a comprehensive piece on the intersection between suburban development and rural communities, and Gale is representative of many in America’s rural workforce who are challenged by the changing dynamics brought about by urban sprawl.

Colombia is home to a swathe of rainforest roughly the size of Germany and England combined.

CAQUETA, Colombia, June 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Seen from the air, muddy rivers snake through rolling forested hills stretching to the horizon in Colombia's southern province of Caqueta that for decades were rebel lairs and an epicentre of the civil war.

A peace deal signed last year between the government and the rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) ended half a century of conflict.

National laws and regulations in low- and middle-income countries consistently fail to protect the land rights of women living in indigenous and rural communities, making them ill-prepared to reach the targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals or the Paris Agreement on climate change, a new report called “Power and Potential” released by the Rights and Resources Initiative, or RRI

SANTIAGO, May 18 2017 (IPS) - Water at high prices, sold as a market good, and small farmers almost a species in extinction, replaced by seasonal workers, are the visible effects of the crisis in rural Chile, 50 years after a land reform which postulated that “the land is for those who work it.”

Dr. Othello Brandy, chairman of the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), on Tuesday told a gathering of civil society organization (CSOs) that the country may likely go revert to serious crises if the Draft Land Rights Act is not passed by the current lawmakers before the end of their tenures.

“If the act is not passed, it means only a few people will continue to have rights over your land, including the right to say what they do and not do with the land, because the tribal title that you hold for your land does not give any legitimate ownership right to you,” Brandy warned.

There are serious concerns that government reforms will further exacerbate land tenure and food insecurity for the majority of the population in Myanmar who rely on their farm fields and forests for their livelihoods.

Next time you bite into a chocolate bar, think of Africa. The continent produces nearly 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, a growing output that requires carving more than 325,000 acres of new farmland from forests every year – a drop in the bucket of overall agricultural expansion there.

Community groups in South Sumatra are protesting against Asia Pulp & Paper's planned choice of timber supplier for its massive new pulp and tissue mill, which they say used the army and police to intimidate them during a public consultation over land use.

Community groups have launched a protest against one of the suppliers to Asia Pulp and Paper’s (APP) new mill in South Sumatra, Indonesia, accusing the company of using intimidation tactics during a public consultation over land rights. 

Date: 2 March 2017

Source: Telesur

The Indigenous and Afro-Colombian community of Marmato won a major court victory in their 10-year fight against a massive Canadian gold mine.

Date: 27 February 2017

Source: New China

In Namibia's northern Omusati region, Esra Kuutumbeni toils on her pearl millet field as she hopes for improved yields of the staple crop, following a dry spell the preceding year.

"I wake up early to work on my field to ensure that weeds do not outgrow my crops. I want to be food sufficient, sell surplus and be an independent woman," she said.