In recent years, the international status of agriculture in the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—has been continuously improved. In 2018, the gross agricultural production of the BRICS countries accounted for more than 50% of the world’s total. Further strengthening the developing cooperation of the BRICS countries is of great significance for ensuring global food security.
The paper is one of a series of research papers that are designed to timely disseminate research and policy analytical outputs generated by the USAID funded Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy (FSP) and its Associate Awards. The FSP project is managed by the Food Security Group of the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University (MSU), and implemented in partnership with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the University of Pretoria (UP).
The food security research project (FSRP) aims to contribute to effective policy dialogue, capacity building, and ultimately an improved agricultural policy environment in Zambia, through collaboration with government and the private sector. It achieves these objectives through in-service capacity building, applied analysis, and policy outreach. A hallmark of the Michigan State University/FSRP approach is the “joint products” approach, whereby training, applied research and outreach are undertaken collaboratively with in-country stakeholders and government counterparts.
The food security research project (FSRP) aims to contribute to effective policy dialogue, capacity building, and ultimately an improved agricultural policy environment in Zambia, through collaboration with government and the private sector. It achieves these objectives through in-service capacity building, applied analysis, and policy outreach. A hallmark of the Michigan State University/FSRP approach is the “joint products” approach, whereby training, applied research and outreach are undertaken collaboratively with in-country stakeholders and government counterparts.
The food security research project (FSRP) aims to contribute to effective policy dialogue, capacity building, and ultimately an improved agricultural policy environment in Zambia, through collaboration with government and the private sector. It achieves these objectives through in-service capacity building, applied analysis, and policy outreach. A hallmark of the Michigan State University/FSRP approach is the “joint products” approach, whereby training, applied research and outreach are undertaken collaboratively with in-country stakeholders and government counterparts.
Small-scale farmers in the Brazilian Amazon collectively hold tenure over more than 12 million ha of permanent forest reserves, as required by the Forest Code. The trade-off between forest conservation and other land uses entails opportunity costs for them and for the country, which have not been sufficiently studied. We assessed the potential income generated by multiple use forest management for farmers and compared it to the income potentially derived from six other agricultural land uses.
There is a blossoming of voluntary certification initiatives for sustainable agro-food products and production processes. With these certification initiatives come traceability in supply chains, to guarantee the sustainability of the products consumed. No systematic analysis exists of traceability systems for sustainability in agro-food supply chains.
The use of technology in agriculture plays an important role in the production chain cycle, as well as in the improvement of processes and productivity. To develop a model for measuring the technological capacity of family agriculture systems, it is necessary to assess the gaps related to indicators and the technological potentialities of these farmer groups, which are often not considered when they require financial support and do not get enough. Thus, the aim of this study is to identify the indicators used to evaluate the technological capacity of farm systems and agriculture.
Visible and near-infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (VIS-NIR) has shown levels of accuracy comparable to conventional laboratory methods for estimating soil properties. Soil chemical and physical properties have been predicted by reflectance spectroscopy successfully on subtropical and temperate soils, whereas soils from tropical agro-forest regions have received less attention, especially those from tropical rainforests. A spectral characterization provides a proficient pathway for soil characterization.
The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Collaborative Research on Grain Legumes (Legume Innovation Lab; LIL), supports ten multi-disciplinary collaborative research and institutional capacity strengthening subcontracted projects working in 13 Feed the Future countries in Africa and Central America and the Caribbean involving scientists at 10 US universities, 3 USDA/ARS research centers, and 23 developing country national agriculture research systems and universities.