The interrelations of human beings with ecosystems experience rising importance in sustainable land use planning and lead to the concept of socio-ecological system. Socio-Ecological Systems (SES) include both, a bio-geo-physical component and the related local to regional actors. Their system…

The new report from global Water Initiative- West Africa GWI – West Africa titled Irrigation, food security and poverty – Lessons from three large dams in West Africa. This report summarises the results of four years of research on three existing dam and rice field sites: Sélingué in Mali, Bagré in…

Data and information on land are fundamental for enabling smallholder farmers to gain secure access and control over their land, which provides the basis for investing in their operations. This briefing paper outlines the importance and benefits of increasing the availability and accessibility of…

International donors and advisory bodies, governments and non‐governmental organisations (NGOs) are actively promoting conservation agriculture (CA) to improve agricultural productivity and resilience to climate change impacts. However, many smallholder farmers continue to dis‐adopt (abandon) the…

Shocking statistics reveal African nations that should be on a 'soil watchlist'

The 2014–2015 Global Food Policy Report, IFPRI’s flagship publication, puts into perspective the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions in 2014 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2015

Global analyses of vulnerability reveal generic insights into the relation between socio-ecological systems and the stress impacting upon them including climate and market variability.

Soil damage, climate change, water and energy availability are all challenges for farming.

Ecosystems provide essential services to society, from pollination and filtering of pollution to climate and water regulation.

‘Researchers at the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment (IonE), United States, have used household census data to map smallholder farms in developing countries.‘Despite the fact that smallholder and family farms are crucial to feeding the planet, little is known regarding the…

Index insurance has a role to play in agricultural development and risk management, yet it faces operational and technical challenges to reach scale and sustainability. Data are a key challenge and were the focus of the project “Improving Agricultural Risk Management in Sub-Saharan Africa: Remote…