The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale. An estimated 500 million acres, an area eight times the size of Britain, was reported bought or leased across the developing world between 2000 and 2011, often at the expense of local food security and land rights. When the price of food spiked in 2008, pushing the number of hungry people in the world to over one billion, the interest of investors spiked as well, and within a year foreign land deals in the developing

Empirical investigation of the impact of institutional and socioeconomic factors on agricultural productivity and natural resource conditions is important for an informed evaluation of current policies, and to identify areas for future improvements. In this line, the current study addresses three topics of relevance to the process of agricultural intensification and natural resource management in the context of the less-favoured Highlands of Tigray, Ethiopia.

The publication presents updated and new analyses of land, labor, and total productivity trends in African agriculture. It brings together analyses of a unique mix of data sources and evaluations of public policies and development projects to recommend ways to increase agricultural productivity in Africa.

Unless countries can manage to mobilize millions of land users to invest their scarce resources in protecting regenerating trees, the battle against land degradation cannot be won. These experiences from Niger show that hundreds of thousands of smallholder farm families have substantially increased tree cover on their farm land by investing in the management of on-farm trees. This has improved their production systems and their livelihoods. There is no reason to believe that similar success cannot be achieved in many more countries throughout African drylands and sub-humid area.

The adoption of FMNR increased by 50% over 20 years; about 90% of all farmers now encourage natural regeneration on the land that they manage. The key to success is having local institutions that are respected and effective. The experience in Bankass shows that reforestation rates of at least 250 trees per hectare can be achieved by farmer managed natural regeneration on Sahelian agricultural lands, recreating an agroforestry parkland at a fraction of the cost of establishing conventional plantations.

Being one of the oldest civilisations in the world, Ethiopia has an agricultural tradition that is over 2,500 years old. However the land has brought into cultivation at different times in history. Generally the Northern part of the country has experienced intensive agriculture for a long time, whereas the southwestern highlands, which show relatively less soil degradation were brought into agriculture in the last couple of centuries.

El Observatorio del Cambio Rural – Ocaru- en el marco de su campaña <>, comparte los aportes para la implementación del Decenio de las Naciones Unidas de la Agricultura Familiar en Ecuador, coordinado por el Comité Nacional de Agricultura Familiar Campesina Comunitaria del Ecuador – CNAFCC. En alianza con: Plataforma Tierra y Territorios y el Instituto de Estudios Ecuatorianos.

Este es un documento que tiene como objetivo aportar en la construcción del Plan de Acción Nacional del Decenio de la Agricultura Familiar en Ecuador.

Este documento resume las propuestas de 75 personas, 50 mujeres y 25 hombres, representantes de organizaciones de la agricultura familiar, organizaciones campesinas e indígenas, movimientos por la agroecología, organismos de Naciones Unidas, ONG locales e internacionales; organizaciones de zonas urbanas y rurales, y universidades.

El presente informe sistematiza los resultados del Diálogo Independiente Regional llevado a cabo el 12 de mayo para recoger aportes de diversos actores para la Cumbre de la ONU sobre los Sistemas Alimentarios 2021, con el objetivo de que la comunidad vinculada al tema de la tierra haga llegar su voz a este importante espacio.

El presente estudio fue realizado durante los meses de noviembre y diciembre de 2018 y se preparó sobre la base de los resultados del trabajo de coordinación, orientación y seguimiento realizado durante los estudios de los siete consultores contratados en común acuerdo entre la COPROFAM,1 cada una de sus organizaciones afiliadas en cada país y el programa FIDA Mercosur CLAEH.

Global food production must ramp up in the face of enormous challenges. We are all familiar with many of the key metrics surrounding the central food security challenge: By the year 2050, the earth’s population is expected to soar from the current 7bn about 9.6bn. It is estimated that in the next 40 to 50 years, we will need to produce as much food as was necessary in the previous 10,000.

The African Highlands Initiative works to enhance livelihoods and reverse natural resource degradation
through the development of innovative methods,practices,policies and approaches.