In recent years, large-scale agricultural investment projects have increased in sub-Saharan Africa as a result of the growing appetites of local and international investors for land resources. Research has so far mainly focused on land issues, but the water implications of these land deals are starting to surface. Taking the Office du Niger (ON), in Mali, as a case study, it is shown that while around 100,000 ha is currently being cultivated, mostly by smallholders, a total of 600,000 ha of land has been allocated in the past ten years to investors in large-scale farming.

Many people want to improve the governance of forest areas, yet what is considered good governance is not necessarily self-evident or agreed upon by everyone. This study demonstrates the diversity of views held by communities and government officials in Malinau, Indonesian Borneo about what they consider to be good governance. Each group described how they thought decisions about forests should be made, including how to represent interests, allocate land rights, distribute cash benefits from forests, share information and manage forests.

The socioeconomic area of HarvestPlus LAC seeks to generate information to guide the decision related to biofortified crops in the region. The idea of this seminar is to present advances made in three socioeconomic studies: a. Potential departments/regions for an intervention with biofortified crops (cassava, rice, beans and maize) in Colombia; b. Adoption, consumption and commercialization of improved rice varieties in Bolivia and c. Preliminary results of a consumer acceptance of a High Iron Bean variety (Super Chiva) in Guatemala.