#theme:agriculture

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This report provides an overview of a project that aims to help Indian smallholders to join the global carbon market in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The project is based on the SMART-CDM approach, which introduces specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and tangible practices that smallholders can take to improve their access to carbon markets. The approach helps smallholders to work together and is based on 40 possible activities designed to reduce emissions or sequester carbon through activities related to tree-planting, agriculture activities and energy consumption reduction activities. Implementation of the project has been facilitated through cooperation with livelihood programmes.

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The flower trade from Kenya and Ethiopia has brought direct financial benefits to both countries which contribute to agricultural GDP. Moreover it has brought substantial indirect benefits in the form of employment, organisational and institutional capacity gains, and it has acted as a role model for national enterprise development led by the private sector. Providing trading advantages in the market of flowers to Norway offers an effective high profile modality to strengthen the social and environmental responsibility aspects of this labour intensive and water thirsty industry. Due in part to the quality pressures from the West, and to the demanding and ever changing safety and environmental standards needed, the industry presents a unique opportunity to be a leader in social change in these exporting countries.

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The recent rise in the number of food insecure people in the world, coupled with incidences of crop failure due to adverse weather, have made world leaders increasingly aware that future climate change may severely limit our ability to feed the growing population towards 2050. So far, in addition to industrial emission control, Norwegian efforts to restrict climate change have focused on mitigation through forest protection (REDD+) and clean energy (Energy+). A third area of attention is climate-smart agriculture. Producing food in a more ‘climate smart’ way is seen as having three advantages: 1) Providing food for an increasing population, 2) maintaining food production under a changing climate, and 3) reducing greenhouse gas emission from agriculture while absorbing carbon in vegetation and soil. This report explores how Norway can support Africa’s efforts to make agriculture more climate-smart through support to African universities.

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This PhD thesis focuses on certain characteristics of the state and of state formation in Malawi, with particular emphasis on the effects of development aid. It consists of three papers for publication in journals, each focusing on different aspects of the state and state formation, and an introductory discussion. The first paper looks at the institutional set-up of the state. The second paper focuses on bureaucratic practice. The third paper explores some observed and some potential consequences of the poverty line. All papers refer to different academic debates, but they all point to aspects of state formation associated with aid and development. They demonstrate some forms of dissonance: here used as a metaphor for the difference between how social phenomena appear when seen through the logic of the state, and how social life is experienced in actual, local, daily interactions. The conclusion is that aid can increase this dissonance.

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The Mozambican Land Law of 1997 has been referred to as one of the best in the world, for the way in which it protects and codifies local people’s land rights. The law aims to balance different objectives and structures within one official tenure system. While accommodating ‘traditional’ community land rights, the law also protects equal rights for men and women based on the principle of non-discrimination in the Mozambican Constitution. The Land Law further has provisions that open up for external and larger-scale investments in agriculture, forestry, and natural resource extraction. According to the law, the absence of a formal title shall not prejudice (traditional) land use and benefit rights; but it also provides procedures for formalising land rights for local communities, individuals and corporations. A central dilemma in the implementation of the Mozambican Land Law is that resources are needed both to claim legally established rights, and to be able to benefit from them.

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This report analyses the connected problem of food security and climate change. It observes that a social vulnerability lens is essential to understand why certain individuals, households or communities experience differences in food insecurity risks, even when they are in the same geographic region. Examples of strategies for community-based adaptation include improving water management practices, adopting practices to conserving soil moisture, organic matter and nutrients, and setting up community-based seeds and grain banks. The report includes the following recommendations: integrate food security and climate change concerns; increase resilience of food systems to climate change; develop low emissions agricultural strategies that do not compromise food security; collect information locally, share knowledge globally and refocus research to address a more complex set of objectives; facilitate participation of all stakeholders in decision-making and implementation.

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ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook has been designed to support practitioners, decision-makers, and development partners who work at the intersection of ICT and agriculture. It becomes to become a practical guide in understanding current trends, implementing appropriate interventions, and evaluating the impact of those programs. It combines cutting-edge expertise in ICT with empirical knowledge of a wide range of agricultural sectors, from governance to supply chain management.

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Women’s Rights and Gender Equality is a sub-programme of the Norwegian Programme for Development, Research and Education (NUFU). The sub-programme started in 2009 and is expected to end in 2013. Five projects were funded where Norwegian universities work with partners in Tanzania, Malawi, Ethiopia, South Africa and Palestine. The programme has been successful, and has contributed to individual and institutional capacity on women’s rights and gender equality directly and mainstreamed into areas such as agricultural production and food science, education and maternal health. The report recommends that women’s rights and gender equality is included as one of the priority topics also in future university cooperation programmes.

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This study on energy smart food production by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) stresses that agriculture's dependence on fossil fuels is undermining efforts to build a more sustainable world economy. It notes that world food production consumes 30 per cent of all available energy, most of which occurs after the food leaves the farm. The paper calls for: increasing the efficiency of direct and indirect energy use in agrifood systems; using more renewable energy as a substitute for fossil fuels; and improving access to energy services for poor households. It also outlines numerous approaches to adapt practices to become less energy intensive.

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Recent large-scale land acquisitions for agricultural production, also known as land grabbing, have attracted headline attention. However, water as both a target and driver of this phenomenon has been largely ignored in the debate. This special issue of Water Alternatives aims to fill this gap and to widen the perspective beyond the limited focus on agriculture-driven resource grabbing. The articles in this collection demonstrate that the fluid nature of water and its hydrologic complexity often obscure how water grabbing takes place and what the associated impacts on the environment and diverse social groups are. The discussed factors combined with the powerful material, discursive and symbolic characteristics of water make water grabbing a site for conflict with potential drastic impacts on the current and future uses and benefits of water.

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The document seeks to identify effective investment strategies in reducing the vulnerability of major crops for the Ecuadorian economy, the same as are set in the Basic Food Basket, so that the country can, on one hand, reduce risks and, on the other, invest efficiently in sustainable development. This document was produced under the Strengthening Negotiations under the framework of the Bali Road Map Project, and includes the following sections: 1. Why food safety is a key sector for the country 2. Description of the food security sector 3. Proposed adaptation measures for the food sovereignty sector 4. Key issues for assessing investment and financial flows to address climate change adaptation 5. Methodology for assessing investment and financial flows The original document is in Spanish.

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Considering the current impacts of climate change in the study area, it is concluded that farmers need external help and support to effectively cope with changing climate and to adapt to current and future climate change. Climate plays a central role in agriculture, which is the main stay of the Rwandan economy and community livelihood. Rwanda has experienced the irregularities of rainfall but the impact of climate has no significance on crop production.

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Four fifths of the developing world’s food is produced on about half a billion small farms. Smallholder farmers live and earn their livelihoods in the world’s most ecologically and climatically vulnerable landscapes and they are at the forefront of the world’s efforts to deal with climate change and environmental degradation. Yet they are themselves among the poorest and least food secure people on earth. This proceedings document draws on the discussion that took place during the thirty-fifth session of the International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) Governing Council’s meeting held in February 2012. The panel discussions focused on developing innovative ways to address the many overlapping issues regarding the promotion of sustainable smallholder agriculture.

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The study objective of evaluating and costing the most suitable climate change adaptation measures responding to the Rwandan Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, 2008-2012, in which climate change and its adverse impacts were recently identified as a high priority. The EDPRS highlights the establishment of criteria for secure settlements in the areas that are exposed to meteorological hazards, as well as the development and implementation of early warning systems to improve drought and food security. This study has particularly focused on coffee and banana farming systems and aimed at analysing shocks due to climate change from farmer to policymaker perspectives. And discusses implementation strategies for adaping to climate change.

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Report based on assessment of the policies and actions taken since 2007 by four international groups of actors: the U.N., the G-20, the World Bank and international donors. The authors document the welcome renewal of attention to agricultural development but warn that policy reforms fall well short of what is needed to meet the world’s current and future food needs in a sustainable way. Rich-country governments must take responsibility for agricultural policies that are contributing to fragility and volatility in food systems around the world and to support the renewed interest in many developing countries to increase agricultural development and reduce dependence on food imports.

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Oxfam commissioned this research to assess the contribution of different agricultural business models to poverty alleviation, livelihood security, climate resilience, and empowerment of women in the sesame sector in Metekel and Assosa in Benishangul Gumuz, Ethiopia.... Women are marginalized in sesame cultivation as they are excluded from the sales process and expected to manage household labor, thus facing a double work burden. Working as daily laborers on large-scale farms is particularly disadvantageous for women. The smallholder model is more suitable for women since it allows them to manage their double workload burden according to their needs.