Food systems can disenfranchise marginalised and vulnerable communities worldwide.
Pxfuel
Helping transform food systems so they serve people around the world starts with taking an active approach to addressing inequalities.
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The global community must understand the importance of soil in order to protect it.
Ethiopians take part in a national mass tree-planting drive.
Minasse Wondimu Hailu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Paying attention to tree seed to enhance forest landscape restoration: new resources for Africa are available.
Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Africa’s Great Green Wall must immediately speed up to meet the needs of people along the edges of the Sahara Desert.
Women with a loads on their heads crossing river Niger using the railway bridge at Jebba.
Jorge Fernández/LightRocket via Getty Images
Broader local engagement and inclusion of multiple voices could improve development projects
Farmers working the land in the Western Sahara, Egypt.
DeAgostini/Getty Images
A changing climate threatens the balance that communities in drylands have created.
Sale of charcoal in Nairobi, Kenya.
CIFOR/Axel Fassio
Demand for charcoal continues to increase in Kenya, it’s vital that the sector is better governed
Photo by MONIRUL BHUIYAN/AFP via Getty Images
Evidence shows that farms that share landscapes with wild nature, such as remnant forests and trees, benefit from the ecosystem services provided.
Young Kenyans typically see farming playing some role in their future, although few respondents want only to farm.
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Young people typically see farming playing some role in their future as they prefer to remain in their rural homes, although few respondents want only to farm.
A maize farmer in Kenya surveys his degraded land.
Photo by David Bathgate/Corbis via Getty Images
Regreening Africa works directly with 500,000 households to restore one million hectares of agricultural land.
COVID-19 mitigation could open new opportunities for agroecological innovation, here a multifunctional landscape in Ethiopia.
Michael Hauser (ICRISAT)
It’s time to redesign food systems that deliver healthy foods, allow farming families to make a good living, and support thriving societies.
Most households didn’t want their future generations to become farmers.
DIVatUSAID/Flickr
Understanding rural household aspirations and taking them seriously in development planning could offer great potential in shaping the future of rural spaces.
Hard work and poor prospects for smallholder farming households in Africa.
Swathi Sridharan (formerly ICRISAT, Bulawayo)
Smallholder farming might not be able to generate enough value on its own, but farmers still need support.
Soil health maps can help smallholder farmers make better decisions on improving their yields.
Rod Waddington/Flickr
Ethiopian researchers put together maps which show where there are soil fertility issues and whether nutrients are missing.
Coffee bushes in a shade-grown plantation in the Andes, Ecuador.
Morley Read/Shutterstock
Because the interactions between trees, soils, crops and livestock can be positive or negative, their relationship must be balanced and understood.
About 40% of Cameroon’s territory is covered in forest.
Philippe JONG/Shutterstock
Forest communities have seen little or no change in improving livelihoods and stopping deforestation.
India has developed a pioneering national agroforestry policy.
Suleman Merchant/Shutterstock
If we need more trees, many will have to be introduced into managed agricultural mosaic landscapes.
Water quality is compromised by cultivation, pesticides, household waste and clothes washing.
Martchan/Shutterstock
Declining water quantity and quality means people have to travel further to find good water sources.
One third of the world’s land has been severely degraded from its natural state.
Milo Mitchell/Flickr
A Land Degradation Surveillance framework could solve this problem by systematically measuring and tracking indicators of land health in Africa.
Scientists must remember that farmers are focused on the best return from their inputs with little risk as possible.
Dominic Chavez/World Bank/Flickr
Soil scientists have rarely gone the extra mile to translate their knowledge into forms that can be integrated into economic decision making.