agriculture
Guidelines on participation in rural development
Van Heck, B., 2003, Participatory development: guidelines on beneficiary participation in agricultural and rural development, FAO.
This manual provides suggestions on how to incorporate beneficiary participation in agricultural and rural development projects, while stimulating reflection on what participation is in development practice, on how it can mean different things, on its benefits and its constraints.
After a [...]
Africa up for grabs?
There has been a lot of interest in African land deals in the past few weeks. Amy Glass raised the case of Madagascar on this blog, and Gwynne Dyer in a syndicated article calls it a ‘neo-colonialist land grab’ noting the ‘new’ colonists now include a new set of powers including China India, South Korea and the Arab Gulf States. The scale of foreign companies entering the Africa land market is huge, and while all of these deals may not go through, the implications of the some that do go ahead have enormous implications for peasant agriculture on the continent.
Madagascar – Island up for grabs?
Madagascar has been in political turmoil these last few months, and there are no signs of improvement any time soon. Key to the recent downfall of former President Marc Ravolomanana was the announcement by South Korean firm Daewoo Logistics that they had leased 1.3 million hectares of land in the north of the island to grow corn and oil palms. According to officials of the former government, the agreement involved less than 4% of Madagascar’s largely unexploited arable land. Both parties cited considerable advantages for the country as a whole, including 6 billion USD in infrastructure development and 70,000 jobs. But what do deals like this really mean for the country’s rural poor, which make up almost 70% of the population?
Building on gender, agrobiodiversity and local knowledge
FAO, 2005, Building on gender, agrobiodiversity and local knowledge: a training manual.
This is a resource specifically targeted to trainers, to guide them through the issues of gender and local knowledge in the context of agrobiodiversity management and food security. The links between gender, agrobiodiversity and local knowledge are explored, in order to help people recognise [...]
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