The increasing demand for agricultural commodities is a major cause of tropical deforestation. However, pressure is increasing for greater sustainability of commodity value chains. This includes the demand to establish new crop plantations and pasture areas on already deforested land so that new forest clearing for agriculture is minimized. Where tree crops are planted as part of agroforestry systems on deforested land, this amounts to a form of re-agro-forestation which can generate environmental benefits in addition to crop production.
Providing food and other products to a growing human population while safeguarding natural ecosystems and the provision of their services is a significant scientific, social and political challenge. With food demand likely to double over the next four decades, anthropization is already driving climate change and is the principal force behind species extinction, among other environmental impacts. The sustainable intensification of production on current agricultural lands has been suggested as a key solution to the competition for land between agriculture and natural ecosystems.
Brazilian agriculture is a success story. The country that until the 1960s systematically received food donations from abroad. and up to the 1980s was still a large food importer, had its agriculture profoundly changed. The traditional agriculture that prevailed in Brazil until the 1970s was progressively transformed in the following decades into a modern and highly competitive agriculture based on science.
Transgenic maize was approved in Brazil in 2008/2009. In 2012, it occupied 73% of the country maize growing area. This high adoption rate confirms studies indicating that technology use has been the major driving force in Brazilian agriculture. Maize seed market in the world has been a concentrated sector. Although, when this sector is associated with transgenesis, this concentration increases sharply. In one side, there is the idea that companies can benefit from gains of scale and complementarities to maximize their efficiency in research and development (R&D).
Family farms are by far the most numerous component of the agricultural sector in the Brazilian Amazon. However socially vital for the development of the region, these small landholdings' agricultural and cattle ranching activities frequently overdraw and degrade natural resources, threatening important ecosystem services. Predominant agricultural practices have been marked by shifting cultivation, with intense use of fire and low productivity, causing high rate of destruction of natural forests.
The "Technological Innovation Act", promulgated in Brazil in 2004, represents the main legal framework implemented to promote technological innovation and to delineate a favorable scenario for scientific development in Brazil. It regulates specially the relationship between Scientific and Technological Institutions (STI) - such as universities and public research institutes - and private companies in Brazil.
El Instituto Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Planificación Económica y Social (ILPES) de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) ha instituido un espacio periódico abierto a la interlocución con los especialistas en planificación para el desarrollo en la región, denominado Jornadas de Planificación. Entre el 17 y el 17 de mayo de 2016, estas jornadas se combinaron con el Seminario Internacional “Los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible y la Construcción de Futuros para América Latina y el Caribe”.
Les politiques publiques en faveur du développement rural se matérialisent au travers d’instruments incitatifs, de règlements particuliers, ou encore par l’accompagnement des initiatives particulières. Ceux-ci répondent en général à la mise en place d’une stratégie nationale d’appui à une filière agricole. Dans le cas du quinoa cultivé au Chili, chaque région de production observe un développement propre.
Note de synthèse du rapport réalisé par la commission Agriculture et alimentation (C2A) de Coordination SUD. Il met en lumière les enjeux d’une adaptation des agricultures familiales aux changements climatiques sous l’angle des politiques publiques à partir de l’étude de cas des politiques mises en place au Costa Rica, au Niger et au Vietnam.
Au cours des vingt dernières années, l’évolution des politiques économiques au Nord comme au Sud a été marquée par la mise en place de processus de libéralisation. Selon les contextes institutionnels, la libéralisation peut prendre des formes très contrastées. Au Costa Rica, suite à l’adhésion du pays à l’OMC, la libéralisation de la filière haricot a été très marquée, du fait d’une protection tarifaire basse, alors que celle de la filière lait n’a pas été effective, du fait d’une protection tarifaire élevée, notamment.