Organic agriculture has experienced remarkable growth in recent decades as societal interest in environmental protection and healthy eating has increased. Research has shown that relative to conventional agriculture, organic farming is more e cient in its use of non-renewable energy, maintains or improves soil quality, and has less of a detrimental e ect on water quality and biodiversity. Studies have had more mixed findings, however, when examining the impact of organic farming on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change.
Since development agencies often implement interventions through collective-action groups such as farmer cooperatives and self-help groups, there is a need to understand how participation is affected by group-level and leader attributes. This study collected gender-disaggregated, quantitative and qualitative data on sixty-eight self-help groups in Zambia to understand the participation of men and women farmers in different crop-production activities. Results show that participation rates of men and women are the same across all maize production activities except harvesting.
The European small ruminants (i.e. sheep and goats) farming sector (ESRS) provides economic, social and environmental benefits to society, but is also one of the most vulnerable livestock sectors in Europe. This sector has diverse livestock species, breeds, production systems and products, which makes difficult to have a clear vision of its challenges through using conventional analyses. A multi-stakeholder and multi-step approach, including 90 surveys, was used to identify and assess the main challenges for the sustainability of the ESRS to prioritize actions.
Agricultural production is a crucial and fundamental aspect of a stable society in China that depends heavily on the climate situation. With the desire to achieve future sustainable development, China’s government is taking actions to adapt to climate change and to ensure food self-sufficiency.
The profound changes in European policy for farms advisory services (FAS) require a period of experimentation and results observation before the new CAP 2021-2027. This paper focuses on Measure 2 of Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014-2020. The paper is focused on the description of case studies in three Italian regions: Campania, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto. Different Measure 2 – sub-measure 2.1 models are analyzed through a qualitative approach, using a conceptual framework adapted by Birner et al. (2009).
This final Deliverable of SALSA's WP4 'Participatory foresight analysis' aims to make a reflection precisely about the participatory character of the activities undertaken and the outcomes obtained in this WP. Namely, the objective of this deliverable is twofold: (i) to assess the engagement of stakeholders in these participatory scenario planning activities, and (ii) to discuss the legitimacy of the scenario planning method adopted in this research. In total, the regional foresight workshops held as part of this WP involved 243 participants, with women representing 42%.
In the context of the SALSA project, the overall aim of WP6 is to identify, develop and disseminate policy tools and other support mechanisms that are most appropriate for maintaining and enhancing the contribution of small farms to sustainable FNS in the European and African context (SALSA Objective 4).
The current deliverable (D6.1) is divided into two parts, each corresponding to one of its two main audiences, namely:
The aim of the SALSA 'Living Document' is to document the main outcomes that have emerged throughout the four years of the SALSA research project and to associate them with key messages.
Originally, the idea was to "open" the Living Document for a limited amount of time after one of the identified key deliverables had been finalised. This in order to allow SALSA partners and the Expert Stakeholder Panel (ESP) to provide insights and perspectives and thereby learn from each other.
Innovation platforms are fast becoming part of the mantra of agricultural research and development projects and programs with an innovation objective.
This document was prepared under the project Capacity Development for Agricultural Innovation Systems (CDAIS), a global partnership (Agrinatura, FAO and eight pilot countries) that aims to strengthen the capacity of countries and key stakeholders to innovate in complex agricultural systems, thereby achieving improved rural livelihoods. CDAIS uses a continuous learning cycle approach to support national agricultural innovation systems in eight countries in Africa, in Asia and Central America.