Aquaculture holds a big potential to satisfy the growing demand for aquatic food. Setting out from lessons learnt in past development projects, our author describes what fish farming systems must look like to fit the needs of smallholders and the environment.
Like in other areas of livestock keeping, the growing demand for fish raises the question of how the feeding of animals can be maintained without competing with the provision of food for humans. The use of insect proteins could help save natural resources while simultaneously making use of organic waste.
Experts agree that the rising demand for fish for human consumption cannot be met without a major expansion and sustainable intensification of aquaculture. Our WorldFish authors describe the areas in which research plays a particularly important role in this context.
In Kenya, insecure land tenure and inequitable access to land, forest and water resources have contributed to conflict and violence, which has in turn exacerbated food insecurity. To address these interlinked problems, a new set of laws and policies on food security and land governance are currently being introduced or designed by the Government of Kenya. The new Food Security Bill explicitly recognizes the link between food security and land access, and the 2012 land laws target the corrupt system of land administration that made much of Kenya’s land grabbing possible.
Previous studies have combined climate, crop and economic models to examine the impact of climate change on agricultural production and food security, but results have varied widely due to differences in models, scenarios and input data. Recent work has examined (and narrowed) these differences through systematic model intercomparison using a high-emissions pathway to highlight the differences. This paper extends that analysis to explore a range of plausible socioeconomic scenarios and emission pathways.
L’analyse des aménagements hydro-agricoles en Afrique de l’Ouest permet de tirer des leçons concernant l’affectation foncière, qui peuvent servir pour orienter les aménagements en cours, ou ceux qui sont prévus dans les années à venir. Sans affectation foncière adéquate, les objectifs principaux des barrages – la lutte contre la pauvreté et l’amélioration de la production nationale de céréales – pourront difficilement être atteints.
In the context of the global land rush, some portray large-scale land acquisitions as a potent threat to the livelihoods of already marginalized rural farming households in Africa. In order to avoid the potential pitfall of studying a particular project that may well have atypical effects, this paper systematically investigates the impact on commercial farm wage incomes for rural smallholder households of all pledged investments in the agricultural sector in Zambia between 1994 and 2007.
This report was commissioned by UN-Habitat to review the laws and land tenure of a selected number of southern African countries. It involved the appointment of country specialists who researched and produced country chapters for their respective countries namely, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. A regional expert was appointed to produce a regional overview to serve as a source document for the country reports, as well as provide overall coordination of the project. The project was carried out over a period of roughly one year, which began in March 2004.
Analysis of land allocation strategies in irrigated agriculture schemes in West Africa yields lessons which can guide the design and implementation of current and forthcoming projects. Allocation of insufficient land makes the main purposes of large dam projects – to combat poverty and to increase national cereal production – more difficult to achieve. Research by the Global Water Initiative (GWI) at three dam project sites in West Africa shows that the area of land allocated per family is usually about 1 hectare (ha).
The aim of the study was to identify potential constraints to mutual resource utilization in the bordering areas of Nyangatom and to identify and develop participatory mitigation measures to resource utilization problems based on community and government proposals. The study employed Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and Key Informant Interview (KII) to collect the primary data. 1 FGD and 2-3 FGDs were held in each kebele. Livestock production is the major source of livelihood followed by crop production in the district.
The Department of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries is currently developing a project in conjunction with the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) to create Agri-parks in locations throughout South Africa. These Agri-parks aim to involve smallholders and local producers in the entire process of agriculture to address both food security and poverty. The Department hopes to fight issues such as the 14 million hungry South Africans, unused potential farmland, and the inequality between private agricultural business and the people.
The Road Selection Model was developed for the purpose of transportation improvement in informal settlements that minimises demolition of houses and compensation costs required in roads widening. The need of the model was to guide and support decision makers on challenges of widening narrow roads for accessibility and mobility improvement as part of upgrading informal settlements.