Context and backgroundThis study focuses on land governance in Mali, particularly customary land in rural areas because of its importance in the development of agriculture, which occupies more than 80% of the population. The Malian State has undertaken reforms in order to secure customary land through their recognition and confirmation. Our study, through a systemic analysis of documentary data and field surveys, consisted in listing these reforms in order to see how they take into account socio-cultural realities. How are these measures perceived by local people? What are their effects?

Land and natural resource tenure security is a central yet often neglected area for economic development and poverty reduction in the developing world. Land is fundamental to the lives of poor rural people. It is a source of food, shelter, income and social identity. Secure access to land reduces vulnerability to hunger and poverty. There are some 1.3 billion extremely poor people in the world, struggling to survive on less than US$1.25 a day, and close to a billion continue to suffer from chronic under-nourishment.

We analyze rural households’ purchases of food (cereals and non-cereals) in Sub-Saharan Africa using nationally representative data with 65,000 observations covering 7 countries over a decade. We distinguish between three strata of countries: lower stratum in income and urbanization, middle stratum, and upper stratum. The paper breaks ground by the breadth and time length of the sample. We find that purchases form the majority of rural food consumption whether in favorable or unfavorable agroecological zones and over country and income strata and for most food products.

Supporting young people to enter food value chains can help reduce high levels of youth unemployment across sub-Saharan Africa. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and WorldFish conducted a study to understand the drivers of, and hindrances to, youth entry into aquaculture value chains in Nigeria to support development of youth-inclusive policy for rural areas.

By 2050, the United Nations projects that 68 percent of the world population will live in cities (UN DESA 2019). However, with continuous population growth, the number of people living in rural areas of many low- and low-middle-income countries (LMICs) will continue to rise. Two- thirds of the extreme poor live in rural areas (World Bank 2016) and the livelihoods of two to three billion rural people, often the most food in-secure and vulnerable, still depend primarly on small farms (Laborde, Parent, and Smaller 2020; Woodhill, Hasnain, and Griffith 2020).

Cambodia’s rain-fed and flooded rice fields are important and productive sources of inland fish and other aquatic animals, including frogs and snails. These aquatic resources are important to millions
of Cambodians, particularly those in rural areas. They make important contributions to rural
livelihoods, to food security, climate change, nutrition and income generation. Through their roles
in protecting wild fish during dry periods and providing good habitats for fish to breed, spawn and

The role of gender in institutions and governance affecting rural areas is complex and multifaceted; the tools and methods to analyze and explore their interactions must address this complexity. Researchers, practitioners and policymakers from various disciplinary backgrounds have used a wide range of tools. This paper provides them with guidance on the tools that are available, and points to gaps where methodological development is needed.

By the mid-century, urban areas are expected to house two-thirds of the world’s population of approximately 10 billion people. The key challenge will be to provide food for all with fewer farmers in rural areas and limited options for expanding cultivated fields in urban areas, with sustainable soil management being a fundamental criterion for achieving sustainability goals. Understanding how nature works in a fast changing world and fostering nature-based agriculture (such as lowinput

Much has been written about energy poverty, but there is relatively limited evidence of what determines the gender gap in energy poverty and how it can be overcome in rural areas. This study used Focus Group Discussions, in-depth interviews with farmers and Key Informant Interviews to analyze gendered information, access, adoption and use of rural energy technologies in the domestic and productive spheres. We find striking differences in how men and women adopt and use energy technologies in both spheres.

Globally, nearly half of all workers in rural areas work in agriculture (International Labour Organization 2020). Women are heavily involved in agricultural production, but often get assigned different roles and responsibilities compared to men (Doss 2018). In many contexts, women have less decision-making power than men regarding their households’ agricultural production or on how to spend agricultural income (FAO 2011).

Current food systems fail to address the triple burden of malnutrition — undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overnutrition (Popkin, 2019; Béné, 2019; Fanzo, 2020). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that approximately 462 million people worldwide are underweight, while 1.9 billion adults (39%) are overweight or obese. In 2020, globally, 149 million children under the age of five were stunted, 45 million were wasted, and 38.9 million were overweight or obese (FAO, 2021).

Providing farmers with essential agricultural information and training in the era of COVID-19 has been a challenge that has prompted a renewed interest in digital extension services. There is a distinct gender gap, however, between men’s and women’s access to, use of, and ability to benefit from information and communication technologies (ICTs).