In the early 1980s, Germany’s KfW Development Bank financed the first irrigation project around Mount Kenya. A reliable supply of water was expected to enable farmers to achieve stable yields. In this way, they could not only safeguard their own food supply but also supply new markets and earn themselves an income. The following article takes stock of progress and benefits.

Despite good potential for food production, South Sudan’s agriculture is not feeding its population. The impacts of decades of armed conflict are posing enormous challenges for the sector. Farmer Field Schools seem to be a promising instrument to improve food security and livelihoods of small-scale farmers in the country.

Improving watershed conservation and household food security has been one of the major development challenges in the semi-arid areas of northern Ethiopia. The initial survey by ILRI’s Improving Productivity and Marketing Success project has revealed that physical conservation measures alone do not result in higher farmers’ income. However, the introduction of market-oriented commodity development such as beekeeping, sheep-fattening, and high value crops resulted in farmers’ income rising fivefold from 2005 to 2009.

Government has come together with the private sector and donor community to develop sustainable, profitable agribusinesses across the high-potential Southern region of Tanzania. This region is a key focus for efforts to improve the operating environment for investments in agriculture. Through the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT), US$3.5b will be mobilized in investment into this region over the next 20 years. 

The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (“SAGCOT”) has been established as a public private partnership with the objective to enhance Tanzania’s food security and accelerate agricultural transformation. The mandate of the partnership is to achieve these objectives by catalyzing responsible private sector led agricultural development. Partners commit to ensure that investments improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers and their communities, are sustainable in terms of natural resource use.

In October 2011, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) requested the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) to prepare "a comparative study of constraints to smallholder investment in agriculture in different contexts with policy options for addressing these constraints, taking into consideration the work done on this topic by IFAD, and by FAO in the context of COAG, and the work of other key partners.

Tanzania has a long history of sugar cane production and it has now a prioritized national policy to attract foreign investments into modern and industrial scale sugar cane production. Between 2001 and 2010, the production of sugar in Tanzania increased from 130,000 Mt pa to 280,000 Mt pa. This has been principally due to the refurbishment of four old sugar cane estates and rejuvenation of sugar cane farms. However, production capacities in existing mills are now approaching their limit and annual consumption is at 500,000 MT pa and growing rapidly.

Na última década o processo de mundialização do capital intensificou a territorialização das corporações multinacionais em diversos países da África, Ásia e América Latina. Estas empresas têm comprado e ou arrendado terras para a produção de monocultivos agrícolas e agroenergia. Denominamos, neste artigo, como - estrangeirização de terras – considerando que cada vez mais, estas corporações ampliam seus controles territoriais ameaçando a soberania dos países.

In international debates about land governance, Mozambique is often mentioned as an example of a country with favorable framework for local communities to benefit from landbased investments. However, it is also one of the countries highlighted in land grab debates for being one of the top countries where foreign companies and national elites are acquiring large extensions of land. It is increasingly clear that in spite of the favorable legal framework and pro-poor policies, local communities are under stress.

The article highlights the benefits of adopting the practice of long-term planning with the aim of helping decision makers and politicians to include scenario thinking in the process of determining food security in Israel, 2050. This study addresses the question of food security, a step that is in contrast with agricultural planning considerations of the past that have mainly focused on maximizing profits or relied on a closed mathematical model.

Includes agriculture, pro-poor growth and rural livelihoods: debates, scales and guidelines; land, farm size and food security; supermarkets and contract farming; gender and agricultural growth; promoting agriculture in post-conflict states. A number of Topic Guides are being produced for DFID’s Climate, Environment, Infrastructure and Livelihoods Advisers.

This report highlights the great potential of the agribusiness sector in Africa by drawing on experience in Africa as well as other regions. The evidence demonstrates that good policies, a conducive business environment, and strategic support from governments can help agribusiness reach its potential. Africa is now at a crossroads, from which it can take concrete steps to realize its potential or continue to lose competitiveness, missing a major opportunity for increased growth, employment, and food security. The report pursues several lines of analysis.